Over 30 Hockey League

Week of December 19 (Game 1) – If there was any doubt that Drama Queens is the real deal this season, this game should have convinced those cynics.  Even without their star rookie goalie in net, this team doesn’t give up a lot of goals and the offense comes in waves usually in the first period.  Drama Queens followed this textbook game plan again as they defeated Jake-O-Lanterns by a score of 3 – 1 for their second straight win.

In the first period, Drama Queens came ready to play as they attacked the defense of Jake-O-Lanterns with an aggressive fore check.  The hard work paid off as they scored two goals late in the period in just over a minute.  With just over a minute in the period, Manny Nunes took a pass from Ray Dow and moved out from behind the net using his body as a shield then pivoted to his forehand to beat the goalie.  With time counting down in the period, defenseman Don Maccini made a heads up read on the right point keeping the ball in with five seconds left in the period, walked in and his shot on net deflected off the defenseman in front of the net with two seconds left in the period.

Keeping the momentum going in the second period less than a minute in, saw Ray Dow gather the ball off the passing of Manny and Bob Snyder at the top of the left circle, and turn and fire a shot over the shoulder short side for a commanding three goal lead.  Needing something positive to get back into this game, Jake-O-Lanterns got it with a goal in the dirty area from Jon Picard as he put back a rebound of Angelo Deluca’s shot in close with a minute to play in the period.

The third period saw Jake-O-Lanterns control most of the play and have the better of the scoring chances but just couldn’t finish or missed opportunities by playing too much perimeter hockey.  After a solid start in their first three games, Jake-O-Lanterns has lost two straight and eyes will be on how they play their next game to see if they can turn things around.

Week of December 19 (Game 2) – After a long hiatus away from the league, we witnessed the return of the Portuguese Power Tony Medeiros putting on a goal scoring display to single-handedly grab the spotlight and left no doubt as his Shockwave team routed Snow White 7 – 3.

The first period was all Tony who’s shooting touch was finding nothing but the back of the net.  It was the Portuguese Power show early and often!  A minute into the game, Tony was set up by Rob Valley.  With just over two minutes to play in the period, Tony scored again on a heads-up unassisted goal.  It wasn’t like Shockwave was throwing a ton of shots on net, they were just pure sniper goals.

In the second period, Shockwave took control of this game and broke it wide open extending their lead.  A minute and a half into the period who else but Tony recorded a natural hat trick as Dave Wilson’s hustle set him up.  With two and a half minutes left, Rich Pelletier made a great individual play and moved right to left and picked the far top corner.  Stunned by giving up four unanswered goals, Snow White got some momentum back when with a minute to play in the period, John Kelleher scored on a pass from Matt Farrell.  However, Shockwave countered when Tony capped off his scoring with his fourth goal, thirteen seconds later, set up by Dominic Defrancisco and Dave.

In a third period that saw Snow White climb back into this game, every time they scored, Shockwave answered right back within a minute to squash any comeback hopes.  Four minutes into the period saw John Kelleher score his second goal from the right point, set up by Chris Ducharme.  Less than a minute later, Mike Roberto countered set up by Tony.  With just over a minute to play, Shawn Mulcahy jumped into the offense to score his first goal of the season on the passing of Gary Goodwin and John Mastrocola.  With less than thirty seconds left, Dave was set up by Rich to finish off the scoring.

1st Star

Tony Medeiros

New Referee Signal

The Over-30 League Director has approved the use of a new hand signal for the Referee to signify the end of any player/referee discussions or debates.., and their readiness to drop the ball for the faceoff and keep the games moving along.

The new “Double Tap” will immediately end all conversation and the ball is going to be dropped whether you’re ready or not.

Just to be clear… we’ll let the cast from Friends demonstrate the new hand signal.

Goalie PSA

Attention Goalies.., you are the most important piece to the games starting on-time.., so please arrive 15-20 minutes early so that you can be dressed and ready for pre-game warmups.

Last week fill-in Goalie Dave Medeiros didn’t get to the rink until 5:05.., then had to get dressed (check his pads for left and right) and then didn’t take any warmups because the game had to start at 5:15.

It worked out for his teammate Bob Snyder who arrived 20-minutes late (expecting it to be the 2nd period and up 4-0) only to learn he only missed the first 5-minutes and it was still 0-0.

So remember please arrive early.., get dressed early and take warmups with your team. You don’t want the first 10-shots of the game to be your warm-ups.

Payback

With Jake Brum out of the lineup last week Dave Mederios was called in to suit up for the Drama Queens (again).

The last time Dave played for the Drama Queens was during the championship game vs Olive Pits when moments into the game he realized he had his pads on the legs. I’m no goalie but wouldn’t you notice that in warm-ups or as soon as you put them on? It has to feel like when you put your sneakers in the wrong feet.

Anyway, Dave can’t erase that loss to the defending champs.., but he can offer a little payback with a 3-1 win over the Jake-O-Lanterns to officially put them on a winning streak with their second consecutive win.

Over/Under

Odds and wages were flying pre-game last week between the Jake-O-Lanterns vs Drama Queens.., the Over/Under was anywhere for 8-goals and upwards of 10-goals depending on your bookie.

To everyone’s surprise it ended up being a really good game with the Drama Queens taking the 3-1 win.., and fill in goalie Dave Medeiros arguing post-game with the refs that Jon Picard’s goal never went in.

However no one took the 30:1 odds that Donny Maccini would have the GWG.., and no one took advantage of the 2:1 prop bet that Matty Iannello would drop back to defense.

Handy Manny

There’s no doubt that filling that empty spot on the Drama Queens with Manny Nunes was a “dramatic” uplift in the teams moral.., and the scoring shows it.

Last season amidst all the team “drama”.., the Queens only scored 30-goals in 12-games (2.5 PGA) and now their PGA (Per Game Average) has almost doubled to 4.0 with 20-goals over 5-games as they sit atop of the standings in first place.

Last week Manny had a great goal off of a creative move from behind goaltender Jake Deehan.

Manny came from behind the net, turned himself inside-out to try and stuffed one on Jake.., however it wasn’t a goal as Jake actually made the save.., but when he went to look for the ball (that was under his glove) it was a quick game of peekaboo as Jake lifted his glove and that’s when Manny finished what he started by stuffing it home.

Powerless Play

When you have Matty Iannello, Jon Picard, Nick Doherty, Brian Capodilupo and Steve Silveira as your powerplay unit you’d expect with that much experience (and experience) they’d have a lot of scoring chances and perhaps even a power play goal.

Last week that combination provided neither but the limited fans in attendance did like seeing Matty & Pic playing on a line together (more on that later in a minute)

Missed Opportunity

Just like their power play was a missed opportunity.., so was the game as the Jake-O-Lanterns couldn’t capitalize on a team without their premier goalie Jake Brumin net.

The Jake-O-Lanterns missed a prime opportunity to steal 2-points in the standings.., they face a goalie who had no warmups and failed to pepper him with shots in the open minutes and when you include Nick Doherty’s (2) missed clean breakaway’s.., we’re left wondering are they just too fast for their own good?

Orange you glad? 

Hey Matty Iannello..,

Knock, knock!!

(Matty) Whose there?

Orange?

(Matty) Orange who?

Orange you glad you’re playing defense?

That’s the joke (you on defense).

Move up front where you belong and take Jon Picard with you. It’s a longer season; try trusting your defense for a few games and see where it goes.

Put Steve Medeiros with Carlos Machado (he played good last week) and try Brian Capodilupo with Steve Silveira.., Move Pic to center because he’ll at least back check and you can use your prolific passing skills to ignite the offense.

Or.., in true Matty fashion you can tell this reported to “Go Fu€k Himself” and continue to run the team into a certain deficit.

Portuguese Power

He’s was dormant most of last season and the start of this season.., but never underestimate the power that is Tony “Portuguese Power” Medeiros.

What is “Portuguese Power” and how strong is it?

Tony must have been wired for “221” because he electrified Shockwaves scoring with not only a natural hattrick, but he also added a 4th goal and an assist on his way to becoming the Dunkin Dounuts Player of the Week

Name that Barn

When players are missing the net with their shots it’s called “not being able to hit the broadside of a barn”… Last week the broadside of a barn finally had a name and it was called; Scotty Rosato.., and anyone shooting at it that side of the barn was actually scoring.

During the last couple of weeks during Scotty’s struggle.., the leagues once “Best Goalie Award Winner” is looking more like Stephen Gostkowski who was also once money when it came to winning.., but it turns out Stephen was hurt and the reason he shanked everything in the end.

We got to thinking.., is Scotty hurt? Is he pulling a Pete Rose and betting against himself? Or is Jason Carrien Snow White’s premier #1 defenseman that much of an impact player in front of Scotty?

Hurry up and get well Jason Carrien.., we need to prove the third part of that theory.

How Dare You

Dave Wilson a lot has changed since you last played in the league.

Jim “Picardiitis” Picardi and his empty net and blowout goals is no longer with the league and even Ray Nickerson (as he gets older) has dialed back on the piling up the easy points at the end of blowout games.

But you Dave Wilson.., Greta Thunburg has something to say about your teams 7th goal on Scotty Rostato.

Tell him Greta....

“How Dare You!!.., score a goal with 23-seconds to play in a pending 6-3 loss.

As if Tony Medeiros’ 4-goals wasn’t enough.., now Scotty has to spend his Christmas with PTSD and he’s too old to sit on Santa knee and ask for a new glove and blocker.

Way to ruin Christmas Dave!

Reason #73

As if you need another reason not to trust the Over-30 League Officials and their hired henchmen (the Referee's).., we present to you Reason #73

Although betting is frowned upon at Bushwood... an occasional side bet always seems to brew up from the various and anonymous league bookie's.

Last week with the return of Shawn Wyatt there was a wager placed on the duration of Shawn's first shift.  6-people wagered $1.00 on anywhere from 25-seconds to 55-seconds with a winner take-all (without going over)

On the scoring sheet Shawn started his shift at 8:56 and ended his shift at 7:50 which somehow got translated and calculated to 54-seconds??

So I know what you're thinking... did they use the "New Math" or the "Old Math"

It appears that a couple of geniuses somehow calculated 1:00 - 0:56 = 0:54 seconds played... and when presented with an actual 1:06 reading from an actual stopwatch which was used and started at the ball dropped until the time Shawn's foot touched the bench.., it was exactly 1:06 shift

The money was awarded to the person who guessed 45-seconds... as opposed to the rightful winner of 55-seconds.  When presented with the facts the "wrongfully declared" winner refused to acknowledge the error despite the calls for a certified recount... or in this case proper math is applied.

Our first Viewer Submission comes right out of the gate swinging with an anonymous photograph submitted to the Forum Staff.

Unfortunately the anonymous photographer didn’t take the time to write a storyline.., and since a picture is worth a 1,000 words.., we’ll use our words (below) to play a game with this first viewer submission.

We’re calling this week’s viewer submission photo “What was Donny thinking?”

Was he contemplating his next move after just being told to go home and grab his shine box?

Waiting on a callback from Tim Hickey so they can go trying robbing that Macaulay Culkin kid again before Christmas

Recalling his second goal of the season and how his shot was going “wide” of the net but then hit an even “wider” Brian Capodilupo to deflect in for his 2nd Goal of the season?

Wondering why.., after he scored his 2nd goal of the season, a GWG to beat the Jake-O-Lantern’s.., why is Matty Iannello called “The Great One” and not him?

Bonus points: Guess the numbers of beers consumed to this point;

1-2 (5-Points)

3-4 (15-Points)

Call an Uber (25-Points)