Over 30 Hockey League

Week of February 10 (Game 1) – Down by two goals and their offense contained, Blues Brothers broke out in the third period to comeback and earn a 3 – 2 win over Fool’s Gold.  For Fool’s Gold, this was the best game they played all season but they got caught looking around on offense in their defensive zone in the third period to let this game slip from their grasp.  Time will tell if this game turns their season around or not.

After a scoreless first period with both goalies shutting the door, Fool’s Gold opened the scoring.  Three minutes into the period saw Mauro Colucciello return from IR to score in close by the passing of John Kelleher and Sergio Costa.  Three minutes later, John scored off the wing as he was set up by Mauro.  Fool’s Gold was playing a solid all-around game, keeping Blues Brothers off balance while containing the Portuguese Connection.  Their defense was limiting scoring chances and when they did give them up it was a one and done scenario.  Late in the period with two minutes to play, Blues Brothers caught a break out front as a scramble near the net and relentless hustle paid off as Mike Luise converted a rebound of a Tim Hickey and Bob Snyder shots to make this a one goal game.

Heading into the third period with some momentum, it was all Blues Brothers as the forwards of Fool’s Gold got caught watching the play instead of reacting that resulted in Blues Brothers taking over this game.  Two minutes into the period and pressing the attack saw Tony Medeiros score high slot to the lower far corner on a sniper shot resulting from the hustle of Dominic Defrancisco down low gathering the rebound of a Jim Clarke shot from the point.  Less than two minutes later, Dominic sealed the win out front as he was set up by John Leite.

Unfortunately for Fool’s Gold, not having George Medeiros available for this game, according to this reporter, was the difference of Fool’s Gold winning this game.

Week of February 10 (Game 2) – Heading into this game, Maybe One was on a roll as the hottest team in the league, sitting in first place overall and enjoying a three game winning streak.  Someone forgot to tell that to Team Cherry as they broke open a close game in the third period, scoring three unanswered goals to win 4 – 1.  For the second time this season, Team Cherry handed Maybe One their only losses of the season.

In a back and forth first period with both teams getting scoring chances, Maybe One broke out early, less than two minutes into the period, scoring the game’s first goal as John Mastrocola was set up on the wing by Matty Iannello and buried his chance.  However, less than a minute later, Team Cherry’s Gary Goodwin scored his first goal of the season set up out front by Brian Kehoe.

After a scoreless second period, Team Cherry brought out offensively with three unanswered goals. Less than three minutes into the period, on a power play, Mark Stickney gave his team the lead as he was set up by the passing of Paul Correia and Dan Broderick.  On the ensuing faceoff only fifteen seconds later, a defensive turnover by Maybe One resulted in some pretty passing by Gary and Brian that led to a goal by rookie Matt Farrell.  Three minutes after that saw Gary cap off the scoring as he was set up by Brian and Paul out front, as Gary played his best game of the season.  All that remained was for goalie Jake Deehan to once again have a solid game in net and preserve the win.

With their win, Team Cherry has quietly moved up the standings the last two weeks, earning 3 out of 4 points, and slide back into contention.  For captain Matty Iannello, missing his binky Ray Nickerson on the wing, forced him to move Joe Shannon up front instead of staying on defense to quarterback the defense.  The questionable move did not pay any dividends as instead of getting the Joe Shannon from the past with his shot and ball control skills, Matty got a broken down old, slow forward who could barely run. 

The More You Know

Shame on you Sandra Glista.., arguing with the referees on your blatant hand pass.  

You of all people should know every goalie rule there is to know for a goalie.., and yet you still argued with conviction.., there was no tuck rule and that definitely was “a forward pass” (which is not allowed by a goaltender)

Welcome Back Dom

Hey Dominic DeFrancisco; glad to see your back and holding your stick.., but shame on you for receiving a one game suspension for throwing your stick (not once) but twice. 

You of all people (a captain) should be setting the example for the team and the young spectators (Before Billy and Kellie toss them out).

Let that be a lesson don't let the officials or your emotions get the best of you.   Do what you do best.., and lead. 

Candlepin Royalty 

Only a few people knew who the old guy was talking to Ray Dow before last week’s game.  

For those of you who don't.., you were unknowingly in the presence of Candlepin Royalty as Mike Morgan came up to watch fellow Candlepin Bowler Ray play some dek hockey.

Mike; who was also a street hockey player back in the day.., had some interesting facts about our League Director Bill Abcunas.   

Mike reiterated what many of us already knew about Billy.   Mike called him “one of the best and toughest defenseman ever to play the game”.  

He shared old hockey stories about Billy and his brother Kevin.., along with how dirty and tough the leagues were back in the day.., he also praised Billy as one of the greatest antagonists the game has ever seen.

Windmill Damages

Thanks to Mike Nazcas we now have an Over-30 Prop bet for this season.

Which number will be larger when the regular season is over; the total points Team Cherry finishes with (currently 5).., or the number of stitches Jay received last week, which was (8)?

Betting lines:

+8 Points 3/1

8 Stitches 1/3

Nail-less Coffin

The Portuguese "CodFather" John Leite likes his coffins "nail-less" 

The often quiet and emotionless ruler of the Portuguese "La Familia Syndicate" had the chance to "whack" Fools Gold and put the final nail in their coffin.., but John forgot one thing.., to put the final nail in the coffin.., you need to put the final goal in the net.

Don't worry.., no one saw you completely miss that open net.., and we don't mean you miss it because Sean Roach was out of position.., you missed an open net while Sean was on the bench getting undressed and not a “Fool” around you.., and you looked so confident before miss-firing and shanking your empty netter wide of the net

We couldn't help but hear a few players from Blue Brothers bench yell.., "Você é um merda"

2.5 Men

Without Ray Nickerson they are not the BIG Three.., so with Ray out of the lineup.., there's a new Over-30 Line based off the popular sitcom "Two and a half Men" that debuted last week starring; Matty Iannello, Joe Shannon and "Lil John" Mastrocola.

New Nicknames

Gary "Stonehands" Goodwin.., is making a play to become Gary "Goldenhands" as the former "worst jinx" in league history netted 2-goals and an assist to knock the first place team off their high horses and get the fourth place team their second win of the season.

Joe "The Canteen Guy" Shannon.., is officially being recognized by this reporter as "Too Slow Joe" because Father Time, a bad hip and 50+ year old knees have slowed the All-Time Leading Goal Scorer to the same pace as Umberto "Papa Smurf" Biancardi.

"The New Regime" of Mike Naczas and Jim Barber will now be noted as the "Table Top Talent".

#Gross

There's a petition being circulated around the league that will ban "Snot Rockets" from the dek.

Last week we watched Gary Goodwin fire more snot rockets than a North Korea Missile Silo.   

Not only is it gross to witness.., but the end result of having Gary's boogers all over the dek is not only a bio hazard but also a potential slipping hazard.   

Gary if you need a tissue.., try asking any of the following notorious players that are always crying about something; Pat Pirone, Mike Luise, Jeff Deharo, Carlos Machado, John & Mauro Coluciello, and cousin Nikko Vramis.

This goes for everyone else too.., it's #Gross

Embellisher

OMG.., is it me or is Matty Iannello becoming the league's official new embellisher.

Poor Steve Medeiros lost a minute of play because he “bumped” into Matty.., who paused and then looked like the infamous flopping Dominic Hašek.

Here's a simulation of Steve's penalty and Matty's delayed reaction to the bump...

Quote of the week

Dave Costa had the quote of the week after watching Team Cherry beat up Maybe One.

As "The Great One" Matty Iannello was exiting the rink and entering the Over-30 Scoreboard Pub... Dave looked right at Matty and proclaimed..,

"There's no "I" in "back-check""

First Positives

Jimmy Clarke and Dan Broderick became the first two players to have they names offically entered into the "Annual Spring Scoring Challenge/GAA Challenge" raffle as both players beat the 2017 winter season stats.   

Much like the "Awardless" shutouts that Jeff Deharo have shamelessly protested in the past when other players win over his performance.., Jeff emailed the scoring committee to let them know that he and Jake Deehan should be in blue because they are below their quota.

For the record; goalies are not measured on pass or fail until after the final game of their season.., as we've seen many a goalie blowup and ruin their GAA in a week or two. 

Out Early

Joe Carlton who was unharmed in his fake news story about crashing the Coke truck.., wanted to let everyone know he was ok and paid his old team a visit.

Joe got a text from Gary Goodwin telling Joe to show up last week because Gary was going to have a big game against Maybe One.

Joe not wanting to miss Gary's shining moment quickly and randomly stacked all the Coke cases.., it wasn't until he was ready to leave that he realized what he accidentally created for the store.

Nice work Joe...