Week of October 22 (Game 1) – This week’s match-up featured two teams heading in different directions. Sour Grapes, which had started the season winless after five games with a 0-3-2 record has righted their ship with wins in their last two games. Shark Attack, on the other hand is in freefall, starting their season at 3-1-1 and challenging Yellow Submarine for first place overall, has now lost their last two games displaying an anemic offense, being outscored by a 1–8 margin. Sour Grapes utilized a very strong running game together with an aggressive fore check to soundly shut out Shark Attack by a 3 – 0 score. In the process, Sour Grapes moved into third place overall in the standings.
Late in the first period, the red hot prodigal son Dave Costa (the Portuguese Wonder kid) scored his third goal in his last two games on a brilliant individual effort giving his Sour grapes the early lead.
In the second period, the running game and aggressive fore checking by Sour Grapes started paying off, as the constant pressure wore down the defense of Shark Attack, forcing turnovers and missed assignments. Two minutes into the period, it was Angelo Deluca (Kato who?) who took advantage of a turnover and scored down the middle, set up by Sergio Costa and George Medeiros. Five minutes later saw Ricky Cassano finish off the game’s scoring as he was set up by Dave.
The third period saw Sour Grapes clamp down on the defense by disrupting any semblance of a scoring opportunity from Shark Attack, keeping scoring attempts on the perimeter. Goalie Jeff Deharo did the rest in stopping all twenty-five shots faced to preserve the shutout (his first of the season) and leap into the top spot of the goalie race. For Sour Grapes on offense, George Medeiros was a one man wrecking crew, not giving the defense any room to make plays, while on defense very big Mike Surette stood out playing solid position and jumping into the offensive attack multiple times.
Week of October 22 (Game 2) – Perhaps going undefeated after seven games and building up a comfortable cushion in the team standings affected the focus of Yellow Submarine as they uncharacteristically fell apart at the end of the second period, yet recovered to hold on and tie 11 Guys, 1 Ball by a 3 – 3 score. In each Over-30 season there are moments that define what kind of season your team will have. This may turn out to be the game that turned the season around for 11 Guys, 1 Ball. They may have shown the rest of the league that Yellow Submarine is not invincible; they bleed just like the rest of the teams!
Late in the first period, who else but the hottest goal scorer in the Over 30 league this season, Umberto Papa Smurf Biancardi scored his fourth goal in the last three games, set up by Matty Iannello and Ray Nickerson to give Yellow Submarine the early lead. For yellow Submarine, they have now scored the first goal of the game in seven of the first eight games they have played. Consistent and impressive!
Two minutes into the second period, Yellow Submarine struck again, this time scoring two goals in just over thirty seconds led by Ray being set up by Matty, followed by Matty getting a return set up by Ray and Ed Nigro (finally scoring his first point of the season!). Yellow Submarine was cruising and coasting to another win until………………..the infamous last minute of this period when all hell broke loose. Needing something to happen and quickly, Carlos Machado tapped in a loose ball in the crease off a scramble after shots by Shawn Wyatt and John Mastrocola. Twenty four seconds later, Carlos (this week’s Portuguese Power) struck again, this time on a rocket of a curved shot, on a set up by John that beat the goalie cleanly. Before Yellow Submarine could recover, on the ensuing face off, Tony Medeiros scored only sixteen seconds later on an unassisted goal to tie this game up. Shock and awe just took place on the Over-30 rink! Yellow Submarine looked stunned while 11 guys, 1 Ball played with a lot of confidence. Both teams had scoring chances after this, but, the goalies stood their ground as the game ended up in a well deserved tie.
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