Over 30 Hockey League

Week of March 25 (Game 1) – In a back and forth evenly played game, 11 Guys, 1 Ball took the season series, two games to one, over Pylons by winning 4 – 3 in overtime and in the process tied for second place overall, just a half game back from first place.  Buckle up people, we have a standings race developing for all the playoff seeds.

The Pylons came out running with an aggressive fore check that paid off just over a minute into the game as Nick Romano scored an unassisted goal.  However, with just under two minutes to play in the period, Dominic Defrancisco tied it up for 11 Guys, 1 Ball, as he was set up by the defense of Brien Sullivan and Alex Leone.

In the second period, the Pylons again struck quickly at the start of the period and re-took the lead as Shawn Miville scored on a bomb coming off the left wing only thirty seconds in, as he was sprung down the wing by the passing of Naz and John Kelleher.  Once again, it was Dominic who answered back for 11 Guys, 1 Ball with just under three minutes, as he was set up by Shawn Wyatt and Ray Dow.  With forty-seven seconds left in the second period, the Pylons took their third lead of the game as Pat Pirone scored out front, assisted by Jamie Kehoe and Tony Mastrocola.  But, as had happened the previous two goals, here came 11 Guys, 1 Ball storming back to re-tie it by someone other than Dominic as Shawn Wyatt bull rushed to the front of the net to bury his goal, converting a rebound of a Tony Medeiros shot (What? You think Tony actually gave up the shot and actually passed the ball?  Not!!).

After a scoreless third period with both teams having scoring opportunities, the game was decided in overtime by John Leite with just under two minutes left as he took a loose ball behind the net, came around the other side of the net on the right side, was allowed to walk out front untouched, and scored top corner far side for the game winning goal.

Week of March 25 (Game 2) – During the course of every Over-30 league season, there is one game for each team that usually stands out as a defining moment for that team.  Such may be the case for Shark Attack after they exploded offensively going on an offensive assault to dominate Yellow Submarine by the lopsided score of 7 – 1.  It was as if all the frustration and bad bounces and bad goals just turned on a switch to this team resulting in the best game they have played this season or the last.  With the win, Shark Attack jumped back into the playoff race, keeping Sour Grapes directly in front of them for that final playoff spot.  For Yellow Submarine, it appears their boat is listing badly, losing their second straight game, and is starting to take on water at the wrong time of the season!

Things did not start out promising for Shark Attack as they were caught running around and getting outshot 13-9 and out chanced by Yellow Submarine.  If not for the stellar play of goalie Alby Luise this could have easily been an early couple of goals lead for Yellow Submarine.  The only miscue came with nine seconds to play in the period off a defensive turnover as Brian Kehoe gave his team the lead, set up by Matty Iannello and Ray Nickerson.

Something clicked for Shark Attack in the second period, sparked by the all-around play of John Colucciello, as Shark Attack erupted and scored four unanswered goals.  The scoring deluge started when Cooch delivered a bomb of a slap shot less than three minutes in set up by the passing of Mike Luise and Niko Vramis.  Less than a minute later saw Bill Abcunas score a bomb from the point directly off a right side faceoff win by Mark Stickney.  Late in the period in a span of only twenty-three seconds saw Mike Luise sent in on a breakaway by Cooch and deked the goalie for an easy tap in goal.  This was followed by Cooch (there’s that name again) putting an exclamation on the scoring, as he scored out front set up by brother Mauro.

FREE Lessons

Recently we’ve been highlighting free goalie lessons in the PUTA Forum, but there are many lessons to be learned while playing in the Over-30 League and here’s a few for everyone.

Lesson #1 - There has been and will always be antagonists in the league.  Players that will get in your head and under your skin... and they do it very well.  

Players like Tony Medeiros, Ray Nickerson, Pat Pirone, and the infamous "Mouth of the South" Carlos Machado.  These players specialize in taking you off your game, and (again) they do it quite well.  Even a new up and comer like Jay Carrien shows signs of potential to carry on the “Yapping” tradition.

Last week we saw Tony Medeiros' "borderline dive" (or at least he fell over with little resistance) from contact with Shawn Miville that earned Shawn a delayed penalty...   Instead of Shawn going to the box for one minute, he took the bait and decided to give Tony's stick a "Flying Wallenda" and sent Tony' stick flying 15-feet in the air, thus earning Shawn (and his team) an extra minute for unsportsmanlike conduct.

What's the lesson to be learned.., don’t take the bait and don't retaliate.

This brings us to the next lesson.

Lesson #2 – “Retaliation and Blatant” is almost always called.  For example;

If you're standing next to a player and his stick is flying 15-feet in the air and yours is not... chances are you did it and it will be called.  

If you fire the ball and another player in a fit of anger (and in front of a referee) you're going to be called (or ejected).

If there's a large bang like someone hit a hockey stick against the boards and you're the only one standing next to the boards you're going to be called.

If you don't like the initial penalty call... and you berate the referees while expressing your displeasure... you're going to get another call on top of the initial call.

This brings us to our last lesson of the day.

Lesson #3 - We have a team called 11-Guys, 1-Ball (which was really 10-Guys, but that's a different lesson for another day)... However the league has 2-Refs and 24-players to watch simultaneously during each game and they can't see everything at once. 

Just remember one thing about these refs… without them we have a parking lot game and these guys are our friends (and/or acquaintances) as well as former players and unless you want to run 60-minutes in their shoes… show a little respect for their job and their state mandated minimum wage that I’m sure the League pays them.

Icing

You’ve seen it done in football… calling a time out before a field goal attempt to “ice the kicker”.  Well that may have just worked for Shark Attack as last week Yellow Submarine Goalie Tim “Skinny Legs” Hickey was asked to fill in for the 1^st game for Jake “I need Waze to get to hockey on time” Deehan.

Only problem for Tim was that Jake ended up being on time and poor little Timmy had to stand around for an hour (in shorts) battling hypothermia before giving up 7-goals to the last place team.

Has Hell Frozen?

In a week when both Jim Barber and Ron Aquino score goals (two for Ron) either Hell has frozen over or Shark Attack is actually fighting for their playoff lives.

It should also be noted that rookie Ron now has more goals than his veteran captain.

Smooth line change

In case you missed is... last week we watched Shark Attack make a full line change than turned out to be not so graceful for Mike Luise.  

Since we don't have actual video... We found a very close reenactment of 5 “players” hoping over the boards. 

Can you guess which one was playing the role of Mike?

Man Down

Poor Ed Nigro... Was it clumsy back pedaling or Jim Barber's relentless fore-checking that had Ed falling flat on his back and leaving him steering at the lights above?

Jim may not be lighting the goal lamp (again) this season, but he’s 2-for-2 in putting veteran defenseman on their asses… Right Naz?

Voodoo that Hedoo

Jeff Deharo's week off was productive in his race for another League Leading Goalie Award.   

Jeff spent Saturday night sticking pins into his Tim Hickey voodoo doll... and the "Voodoo that Hedoo" worked as Tim and the rest of Yellow Submarine gave up 7-unanswered goals to almost half the Shark Attack team.

Now that we think about it… we’re left to wonder if Jeff put his Tim Hickey voodoo doll in the freezer at 5:00 last week before taking him out at 6:00 to begin jabbing it.

New meaning for "The Great One"

The "Great One" can now be used to describe the "One" goal that the first place team has scored in the past two weeks.

Could this week be the week Matty Iannello and company fall to second place? 

A win by 11-guys, 1-Ball this week will catapult them into first place... Or will Shark Attack beat the 1st and 2nd place teams in back-to-back weeks??

Studying Film

Looks like Alby Luise spent his week rereading the PUTA forum and studying all three goalie videos learning how to cut down the angles from the dog goalies and how to stop tennis balls.

Since the videos clearly helped Alby performance last week as he held the 1st place team to only one goal... We figured we would give Alby another free goalie lesson curtesy of the Glista’s.

The video also clearly shows Jason Glista "Spygating" all of Sandra’s weak spots.., and if you recall the last time the two played each other Jay scored a very weak goal on Mrs Glista.

On Paper

Last week Shark Attack's total effort and performance is what Bill Abcunas expect when he drafted that team on paper.

The TOTAL team effort and convincing win is just what the Doctored ordered to cure their loosing blues.

2017-2018 Game times

The league is considering extending  the 2017-2018 allotted game times from 5:00 to 7:30.   

The pending change is due to John Coluciello's "Award Winning" return to center last week and probable return to forward for the 2017-2018 seasons along with his prolonged faceoff antics.

Drafting Cooch as a top line defenseman is the equivalent of calling Umberto "Papa Smurf" Biancardi a top line forward.  Sure "Papa" is going to score goals and earn points playing on a line with the two “All-Time” Scoring Leaders... Just as Cooch will break up offensive threats as a defenseman, but in the end, is Cooch really a defenseman, or a centerman that could play defensively while back checking?   

However that Mike Luise guy... That guy can play center and defense.  He has to because there is a vested interest for Mike to play well on defense.  

Mike he needs to protect the “Luise” family name and his “twin brother” Alby in net (which still blows this reporters mind)… Alby and Mike are “twin” brothers or at least that’s what the paperwork says.