Over 30 Hockey League

2019 Opening Remarks

Attention Campers.., welcome to the Over-30 (2019) Winter Season. This season we want to welcome 2-new players into the league. We would like to extend a warm welcome to; Elder Lopez and Mike Roberto.., and also welcome back from his long hiatus (of 13-years) Shawn Mulcahy who is returning to action along with “Shoelace-less” Joe Carlton.

Why the name?

A new pre-season tradition is taking shape as in previous seasons we try to determine the Captain(s) logical thinking behind his team name.

Most Captains are creative, some lazy.., and as part of the new protocol, some names are rejected and the League’s Front Office has to step in and heavily influence a proper name.

With that disclaimer; here’s your 2019-2010 “Why the name?” segment of our inaugural forum

Snow White (White)

Brilliant choice by John Kelleher, as being the white team and having the only girl in the league.., we couldn’t have agreed more with the name.

(and) as an added bonus.., we will be identifying her “7-Dwarfs” and definitely adding a few new ones as this season progresses.

Olive Pits (Olive)

Jim Barber historically tries to work his team color and his roster into the name. Being “Olive” color it was suggested “Genco Pure Olive Oil” (courtesy of the Godfather).., but the name was too long.., and “Genco POO” was also a league violation.., so it was decided that the worst part of the Olive that everyone hates and spits out was “The Pit”.

Question is; will they be another championship caliber team for the self-proclaimed “Winningest, Jinx Busting Captain”.., or is the rest of the league going to chew them up and spit them out?

Jake-O’-Lanterns (Orange)

Matty Iannello was one of the first to the table with “Jake-O’-Lanterns”.., although the league was very disappointed that Matty wouldn’t go with the League Board suggestion of; “The Great Pumpkin” (for obvious reasons).., Matty countered with “Smashing Pumpkins Jizz” and League Officials politely said it was too long.., then he countered with just “Pumpkin Jizz”.., and they we had to tell him no “Jizz”.

Shockwave (Cyan)

Dominic DeFrancisco is in the “lack of creativity” category that we spoke of.., and he doesn’t check his email regularly to learn that his roster was given to him days prior.

So it’s no surprise that “Shockwave” although not very creative.., it actually works by the Leagues standards.

Drama Queens (Charcoal Gray)

The team that couldn’t name themselves.., as the League’s Board vetoed both of (new) Captain Jamie Kehoe’s submissions.

“50-Shades of Ray” was vetoed quickly because it’s too long (and too gay).., and their follow up of “Jeff DeHero’s” was also unanimously vetoed by the board, even though Jeff became the “All-time Wins Leader” with 201-wins (congrats!) in 401-Games Played which mathematically means you have a 50.12% chance of beating Jeff on any given Saturday.

The “New Regime” was lobbying for their suggestion of “Jamie’s Cryin’”.., because that’s what the first year Captain is going to be doing a lot this season (he just doesn’t know it yet)

Over-30 League Officials had to pull rank and because of the amount of time (and drama) it took just to name his team (the last one out of 5).., they were dubbed the “Drama Queens” and if you don’t think that’s a fitting name.., then just sit back and watch the drama unfold on this season on HBO’s new series “Over-30 Drama Queens”

Off Season Champions

We want to take a moment to publicly congratulate the 2019 Winter Season Hockeytown Champions;

D1 Champions: Congrats Misfits players Dave Costa and Ray Nickerson.., although Costa was out on IR with broken ribs (courtesy of the aforementioned Ray).., and Ray didn’t play due to an undisclosed ailment.

D2 Champions: Congrats to Bricklayers; Nick Romano, John Kelleher, Jim Barber and Scotty Rosato for their back-to-back 2018 & 2019 Winter Season Championships

D3 Champions: Congrats Nick Romano.., when you approach 60-years of age.., you go down in divisions to find comparable competition. 

2019 MISI Champions: Lastly congratulations to Dave Costa and Just the Tip on their 2019 MISI League Championship a few weeks ago.

Dave is 2019 the GM of the Year as he has successfully drafted back-to-back Championship teams. Sure everyone laughed at Dave when he was left with and forced to take Ed Nigro and Mike Naczas on the draft board.., but the 117-years of experience paid off in the end as the Naz’ “Shut Down Defense Tour” continued into the MISI Summer league as they lead the league with fewest goals against.

Thankfully the league’s unanimous voting of Scotty Rosato for League MVP was standing behind them to help Dave win his 2nd straight championship.

Congrats to; Elder Lopes, Rick Cassano, Dave Costa, Shawn Wyatt, Tony Medeiros, Mike Naczas, Ed Nigro, George Medeiros, and Season MVP Scotty Rosato

No More “Fun” League

With the MISI sophomore season in the books.., it’s time to retrain your brain to Hockeytown and Over-30 League Rules:

No more grabbing the ball

No more “Play it” off the netting

No more lobbing

All of the above will result in a 1-minute penalty.

(and)... most of all.., No Refereeing with a beer in your hand.

My Summer Vacation

Some call it “Social Media”.., some call it “Stocking or Trolling”.., we call it “Player Research”.., and there is no better way to learn about your fellow players than through FaceBook.

This summer we learned;

Milestones

We would like to take this opportunity to recognize a few players that have achieved a noteworthy milestone in the Over-30 Playing Career.., and pledge to stay on top of them as they happen throughout the season(s).

With that said… Congratulation to the following players and their milestone achievement

Milestones Watch List

Next Man Up!

No it’s not Bill Belichick’s “Next Man Up” Patriot Philosophy.., it’s “Next Man Up” to take the “Smilin Pete Lodi Pink Stick Bag Challenge”.., which somehow turned into the Pink Warmup Shirt Challenge that current flunky John “Cooch” Coluciello is sporting pre-game (until he passes it on) to the next man to failure.

This season’s Challenger is a previous Leading Points Scorer, a previous Season MVP and Playoff MVP.., and 2-Time Championship Captain.., this season’s nominee is Dominic DeFrancisco.

We compiled Dom’s stats from his Over-30 career and after doing some arithmetic and long division we calculated Dom’s challenge at 10-goals.

Get 9-goals and you take over Chooch’s pink warmup shirt.., score 10-goals and we all get to laugh and watch (Cooch) cry for another season.

Start placing your bets Encore has Dom going off Week #1 at 3:1 odds.

Rookie Camp

With 3-returning players “Rookie Players” in Dan Hill, Dave Parquette and Nick Doherty (all three) with only a half of season under their belt.., this season is officially recognized as your “Rookie Seasons” along with Elder Lopez and Mike Roberto joining the Over-30 League this batch of “Rookie Recruits” will make for a fun “Rookie of the Year” race.

Just remember one thing “Rookies”.., you may all be younger and faster than your Veteran peers.., but this is a team sport and those who suffer from “Hungo-ism” which is the term for those players who try to do it all themselves will quickly be called out by the League Veterans and those of us in the media. Your success and longevity in the league depends on your ability to adapt and play a “team-play” type of game.

Just remember these simple keys to success in this league (this applies to Veterns as well)

See Billy Stickhandle

See Billy Shoot

See Billy Not Pass

See Billy Piss off his team

Don’t be like Billy

Hockey is a team sport