Week of November 12 (Game 1) – With the playoffs looming in the horizon and grouped in a cluster of four teams all fighting for three playoff spots, going up against the best team in the league in Yellow Submarine would go a long way in determining the fate of the Pylons. Win and it would move them up the standings and ease the pressure. Lose and it would put even more emphasis on those last two games remaining. Fortunately for the Pylons, option one prevailed as they defeated Yellow Submarine 6 – 5 in overtime. Yellow Submarine clinched first place overall with the point.
In the first period, the Pylons sent a very strong message to Yellow Submarine that they were determined to hand the Submariners to their second loss of the season. Just over one minute in, Pat Pirone scored his second goal in as many games, set up by Nick Romano and Naz. Five minutes later saw Shawn Miville bump up his team’s lead, set up by Nick and Naz. Needing a spark, Yellow Submarine got it less than a minute later from an unexpected source as Tony Bono scored his first goal of the season, set up by Matty Iannello and Walter Maslak.
The second period saw Yellow Submarine maintain the momentum switch as less than two minutes in, Brian Kehoe scored set up by Tony and Walter. This was followed three minutes later by Ray Nickerson scoring on a setup from Matty and Tony. With just over two minutes left in the period, taking advantage of a defensive turnover saw Nick score, assisted by Shawn.
The third period saw four goals scored with Yellow Submarine grabbing back the momentum, only to be stunned as the Pylons re-tied the game with under a minute to play. At the eight minute mark, Anthony Lauletta was set up by Shawn. A minute later saw Ray score his second goal set up by Matty. Three minutes later saw Brian score his second goal, set up by Matty. With fifty seconds left in the period, it was Nick scoring set up by Shawn to send this game into overtime.
In OT, Shawn and Anthony took advantage of a turnover to break in on a two-on-one with Shawn setting up Anthony at the top of the crease who calmly waited and waited moving across the crease for the goalie to commit then buried his shot upstairs, giving his team the victory. It was a goal scorer’s move and goal that even the Great One nodded his approval.
Week of November 12 (Game 2) – Facing the same challenge as the Pylons, both Sour Grapes and 11 Guys, 1 Ball were desperate for a win to solidify their possible playoff positioning. Sour Grapes jumped out to a solid lead and held on to defeat 11 Guys, 1 Ball by a 4 – 3 score.
11 Guys, 1 Ball jumped into the lead less than four minutes into this game as Dominic Defrancisco was set up by Tony Medeiros and Alex Leone. It was in the second period that Sour Grapes took advantage and control of this game as Angelo Deluca was set up by Jason Glista and Gary Goodwin four minutes in. That was followed by Jason scoring three minutes later, set up by Angelo and Dave Costa. Rounding out the scoring in the period saw Sergio Costa take advantage of a defensive turnover a minute later as he was set up by Chris Chiavelli and Ricky Cassano.
A minute into the third period and needing some momentum to get back into this game saw Tony score an unassisted goal for 11 Guys, 1 Ball. The game’s key moment occurred with six minutes left to play as Sour Grapes Gary Goodwin took advantage of 11 Guys, 1 Ball hearing a whistle downstairs and stopping while Gary alertly came out from behind the net to dig out a loose ball and score. Even with the referee yelling “ball is loose” 11 Guys, 1 Ball let up at the wrong time. With two minutes to play, Dominic scored his second goal of the game set up by Alex and Brien Sullivan; however, the damage was done to 11 Guys, 1 Ball not winning this game and also damaging their playoff hopes.
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