Week of March 18 (Game 1) – To quote the movie Rocky 4 featuring Ivan Drago, “You see. You see. He’s not a machine, he’s a man” that same sentiment was echoing in the ears of the entire Sour Grapes team as they showed the rest of the Over-30 league that Yellow Submarine is not invincible, shutting down the juggernaut by the score of 3 – 0. In the process, this also put an end to that three game winning streak of Yellow Submarine.
The first period was played very sluggishly as both teams tried to find not only their running legs but also their offensive games. The result was a vanilla-like effort by both teams that produced little scoring chances and no goals.
In the second period, only two minutes in, Sour Grapes broke through on Big Mike Surette’s unassisted long shot that surprised the goalie giving his team the lead. Finally, Big Mike broke through on the score sheet getting credit for his first point this season. Now he only needs four more points to surpass his total “delay of game” penalty totals for this season. Four minutes later, while his team was playing short-handed saw George Medeiros scoring to continue his hot scoring streak (3 goals in his last two games) as he was set up by the hustle of Rick Cassano.
Halfway through the third period, Sergio Costa gave his Sour Grapes team some much needed breathing room, as he was set up by Rick and Dan Broderick. All that was left in doubt was whether fill in goalie Sandra Glista would keep her shutout, which she did, stopping all twenty-three shots she faced.
The win by Sour Grapes increased their lead over Shark Attack to five points for that final playoff spot and clearly shifted the pressure over to Shark Attack to respond accordingly.
Week of March 18 (Game 2) – Most Over-30 games that result in wins place an emphasis on speed and a strong running game; however, the Pylons went against the popular thinking and employed the Turtle offense, using a slow and steady attack that resulted in a come from behind 4 – 3 win over Shark Attack in overtime.
Shark Attack came out running and playing smothering team defense that limited the Pylons scoring chances. Four minutes in on the fore check, Ron Aquino scored his first-ever Over-30 league goal when he jumped on a turnover by the defense of the Pylons to give Shark Attack the early lead. Less than a minute later saw Mauro Colucciello convert off some tic-tac-toe passing between Mark Stickney and Jim Barber, increasing the lead by two. This was the best period Shark Attack had played this season and it paid off.
Throughout the second period, Shark Attack continued to smother the scoring chances of the Pylons until Joe “Turtle” Mancinelli took advantage of a defensive breakdown that allowed him to walk out front untouched to score for the Pylons, set up by Anthony Lauletta and John Kelleher.
The third period featured a few momentum swings by both teams. Less than a minute in, Anthony took a feed from Joe and John out front to score and tie this game up. Halfway through the period, Shark Attack found itself on the power play and took advantage when Niko Vramis converted off some perimeter passing by Mauro and Bill Abcunas. The next four minutes were played at a fast pace up and down when another defensive zone coverage breakdown by Shark Attack resulted in Joe scoring again batting the ball into the short side with some crafty hand-eye skills with just over a minute to play, set up by Jamie Kehoe and Shawn Miville.
In overtime, both teams had scoring chances yet the Turtle completed his hat trick when he beat the goalie from thirty feet out on the left wing to seal the win for his team.
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