Over 30 Hockey League

Week of September 16 (Game 1) – Trojan Horse continues to show their doubting captain that there really is a championship-caliber team that was trapped inside that horse that has been unleashed.  The Horsemen won their second straight game by turning a late second period deficit into a come from behind win over Maybe One by the score of 6 – 3.

Late in the first period we saw a flurry of offense as three goals were scored in the last two minutes of the period.  As he had done so last week, Walter Maslak got his team jump started, as he took a feed from Shawn Miville and Nick Romano and scored the game’s first goal.  However, with thirty seconds to play in the period, Ray Nickerson took a pass from Matty Iannello and Tony Mastrocola and buried his shot top corner from the left wing circle.  On the ensuing faceoff, only ten seconds later, Matty surprised the defense and goalie of Trojan Horse, putting his team in the lead.

Early in the second period, only eighteen seconds into the period, Nick scored his first goal of the season, set up by Shawn, to take the momentum back.  Not so fast, as only ten seconds thereafter, Ray scored his second goal of the game, set up by Matty and John Mastrocola. The teams traded scoring chances and with just under two minutes to play in the period, Shawn re-tied this game on a bullet of a shot, set up by Nick and Walter.  Then, the game changing play took place with less than a minute to play, as Cappy made a heads up play on the right point, intercepting a pass, moved down and to his left and his wrist shot from the white clearing line surprised the goalie and caught him flat footed.  Trojan Horse re-took the lead and Maybe One would never recover from this change of fortunes.

In the third period, with the winds taken out of their sails, Maybe One could not generate quality offense, and when they did goalie Scott Rosato was there to shut the door on them.  With just under seven minutes to play, Shawn scored his second goal of the game, set up by big Mike Surette.  Capping off the scoring at the two minute to play mark saw Nick also score his second goal of this game, set up by Shawn and Rick Cassano.

Week of September 16 (Game 2) – The good news for team Cherry was they were making their debut in the Over-30 league winter season.  The bad news is they had to face the juggernaut Blues Brothers team.  On top of that, Team Cherry was playing short-handed, missing 5 of their players, including their entire first line for offense.  And it showed, as Blues Brothers completely dominated and outplayed Team Cherry in cruising to a 6 -3 win.

In the first period, Blues Brothers followed their captain in playing fast and scoring often, as Jason Glista made his debut by scoring the game’s first goal, three minutes in, set up by the passing of Mike Luise and Tim Hickey.  A minute later, Blues Brothers padded their lead as captain Dominic Defrancisco was set up by the hustle of Tim to jump start the offense.

The second period saw Blues Brothers pull away with a smothering offensive attack and ball control by their defense.  Early in the period, old man Dan Broderick made this a one goal game as his perfectly placed shot from the right point found the far right corner through a screen, on a pass from Joe Carlton.  However, the rest of the period saw a goal scoring blitz from Blues Brothers scoring three times in the last three minutes.  Dominic started this outburst, set up by rookie Todd Bryson.  This was followed by Mike Luise converting a rebound out front off a shot by Dominic and Dave Costa.  That was then followed by Dominic scoring again set up by Tim and Mike with nine seconds to play in the period.

In the third period, two minutes in, Mike Luise scored his second goal of the game, set up by John Leite and Jason, giving his team a commanding five goal lead.  Team Cherry tried making a game of it with a late scoring flurry as first Joe scored with five minutes to play, set up by Ron Aquino and Jason Carrien, which was followed by old man Dan scoring his second goal of the game (do you believe it?) with less than a minute to play, set up by Jason.

New Award

There's another new fresh Idea in the league… And it did not come from the "Fresh Idea Committee".

Shawn Miville is now awarding his "Trojan of the week" award to his teammate that he feels was the impact player of the game... It's like a Five Guys Award but without the Cheeseburger & Fries. 

There's no financial award... But the lucky recipient gets to where the Trojan Helmet while Shawn blows second hand vapor smoke at them and telling them how great they played.

The question is... What happens when the Trojans lose a game... Does Shawn award the player that sucked the least?

Silent protest

Apparently the league director Bill Abcunas didn't find it funny when the webmaster held his silent protest by wearing his shirt inside out.  As always, the spineless Director had others do his bidding by involving the Assist League Direct Mike Nazcas (and the referees) to convince the webmaster to end his vigil by issuing a delay of game penalty.  

Why was funny when Steve Oppedisano used to do it… But when it's a direct protest against the league's "undocumented" policy of not texting the webmaster a picture of his Jersey (and sighting "league policy” while laughing about it)… is when wearing your jersey inside out is an issue.

The webmaster then had to show his number on the outside and opted for wearing it backwards to send his meaningless message to the establishment.   

Sidenote:  Just for the record... The whole white team looks like their jerseys are on inside out with that barely legible yellow logo on white. #Worst Jersey Ever!!    

Week #3 Return?

Will Week #3 be the week that Scotty Young finally makes an appearance for his new Captain Matty Iannello?

If Scotty wants any chance in hell of getting a letter back on his jersey in the future he'd better start showing up and making an impact for his struggling 0-2 team.

BIG Congratulations 

Congratulations to BIG Mike Surette... Mike and his rabid Wolfpack beat Nick Romano's non-union Bricklayers 3-2 in Overtime to win the Hockeytown 2017 Sumer Season D2 Finals.

The BIG man not only knocked out Nick Romano... But also John Kelleher (and his twin boys), along with Jim Barber and their goaltender Scotty Rosato who were all disappointed with the OT loss.   

There is no truth to the rumor that Trojan Horse Captain Jim Barber was going to bench his BIG defenseman as retaliation for knocking out 3-current Trojan Horse teammates.

Mike Smaaaash

Whoever is in charge of the "Jacket Quest" updates better update it quickly... Otherwise "Mike Smaaaash"

Mike Surette who won a jacket in his rookie season with Midas Touch wants the list updated immediately and a written apology from the league’s front office and head statistician.

The BIG Man is not in the same boat at Anthony Lauletta  and Shawn Miville..,  Mike is a champion and deserves a little respect.

Other Uses?

So the "Worst Jerseys Ever!!!"… Continue to get horrendous reviews by the players.  

Complaints are rolling in fast and furious... Which made us wonder; instead of using the jerseys for hockey.., what else could we use them for?

In a pinch.., Oh no.., you're out of 50-grit sandpaper.  No worries, just grab your team jersey and finishing sanding that woodworking project.

Uh-oh... The sack of potatoes you just bought at the farm stand broke and now your potatoes are all over the place... relax, just gather all the potatoes and place them in your new burlap potato sack with the over-30 logo and your personal number.

Heading to the slopes this winter... Damn you left your thermal underwear home.  Don't panic; just open your hockey bag and grab your incredibly heavy over-30 jersey and use that on the slopes... You might not even need a jacket either. 

When?

When is the Over-30 League going to finally offer Sandra Glista a full time position with the company instead of temp work?

Filling in and posting wins for whatever team she's tasked to win for that week is becoming the norm for her... and like all highly trained goaltenders, she's not satisfied with her win.., but she stays after work a little OT with her goalie coach.  

I think her resume speaks for itself when it says “Women’s Team USA” under previous work experience.

Twin Peaks

Question:  When was the last time twin brothers were both on the top of the leader boards for their positions at the same time?

Answer: Never.

So.., League leading scorer Mike Luise and current Leading Goalie Alby Luise better download and save this week’s stats for their Over-30 Scrap Book..., because this is your version of a Solar Eclipse as this will never happen again in your life (or the leagues life).

The good news is you don't need solar glasses.., you just need reading glasses to see that you two are the best in the league (this week) but as you know a Solar Eclipse doesn't last long.., so enjoy it while it lasts.

Respect your elders

With so many elders in the league... Sandra Glista chose the eldest one of the league to pay respect to last week.   

Dan "Old Man" Broderick showed these younger defenseman that even someone in their 70's can score a pair of goals from the point.

So the question is... Did Sandra miss judge the speed of a Dan's shot... Or did she pay the living legend some respect by letting the Hall of Fame Inductee score a pair?   

Whatever the case it's just amazing to watch Dan operate on the offensive blue line and then still get back to break up those meddling kids with their sticking handling and speed... and all Dan has to do is his patterned "stick drop" that a younger Ray Dow is also mastering from his defensive idol. 

We heard Ed Nigro is petitioning the league to have Sandra play against him next.