Week of January 28 (Game 1) – Do you believe in miracles? On those rare occasions that the Hockey Gods come together and smile down on either a team or player in the Over-30 league, the results can be dramatic. Even more so when the Gods favor both a team AND a player in the same game. Such was the case for Shark Attack, as they played their best game as a team and defeated Sour Grapes by the score of 2 – 1, breaking that four month losing streak dating back to October 1, while also witnessing Jim Barber break a 15 game scoring drought that dated back to mid-August.
Things did not start off promising for Shark Attack halfway into the first period as Sour Grapes grabbed the early lead when Angelo “Otak” Deluca received a breakout pass from Gary Goodwin and walked down the middle of the rink, surprisingly watching the defense of Shark Attack part like the Red Sea and keep backing up towards their goalie, giving Otak a free shot. Otak made his opportunity count on a shot taken from about 35 feet out that found nothing but net to the far side. For Otak, aka Kato, it was his first goal scored in his pink stick bag challenge (only 5 more to go!).
In the second period, Shark Attack took the lead and all the momentum as first Mark Stickney scored on the power play three minutes in, on some nifty perimeter passing by Mauro Colucciello and Bill Abcunas. Three minutes later, we had that rare “hell freezing over” and “pigs flying” moment as Jim Barber actually scored a goal. Actually, it was by accident as he stumbled on his first attempt, slid to his left in close and lifted his shot past a stunned goalie. Nevertheless, Mr. Barber did score to give his team a huge confidence boost.
The third period saw each team with some scoring opportunities, however, the team defense of Shark Attack continued to swarm and stifle all scoring chances by Sour Grapes, keeping these to the sides, away from the prime scoring areas. In the end, the aggressive fore checking led to the defense of Sour Grapes being out of gas and struggling to keep up.
Week of January 28 (Game 2) – In a game played between the league’s two undefeated teams, something had to give, especially with both teams playing without their respective captain and team leaders. In the absence of Matty I and Dominic, emerged Ray Nickerson and Tony Medeiros leading the respective teams. Yellow Submarine remained undefeated early into the new season with a comeback 4 – 3 win over previously undefeated 11 Guys, 1 Ball.
Halfway through the first period, the hustle of Tony and John Mastrocola resulted in Alex Leone scoring from the point, giving 11 Guys, 1 Ball the early lead. A minute and a half later saw Ray Nickerson being set up by Tony Bono out front to tie this game up.
With momentum on their side, Yellow Submarine took advantage of a defensive turnover three minutes in as rookie Bob Snyder stayed hot in scoring his second goal in as many games, set up by Ray and John Carey. However, John Mastrocola found his running game as he was set up on the wing by the passing of the Portuguese duo of Tony and Carlos Machado only three minutes later.
Three minutes into the third period saw Tony reinforce his self-imposed title of the Portuguese Power (Dominic who?) by scoring on a booming slap shot off a pass from Shawn Wyatt. 11 guys, 1 Ball had the momentum and were heading for another win when a costly penalty with only three minutes left allowed Ray to score from the left wing as he was set up by Ed Nigro and Brian Kehoe on the power play.
With this game heading to overtime, Tony Bono (playing defense most of this game) alertly jumped up into the offense on a counterattack, received a pass from Ray and Bob, to score the game winning goal with just over a minute to play. Ironically, the significance of Tony’s moment in the spotlight did not go unnoticed as his daughter Faith just happened to be keeping time during his game. How did Faith react upon seeing dear old dad score the game winning goal? She missed it as she was texting a friend!
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