Over 30 Hockey League

Double Reminder

Don’t forget “Punxsutawney Bill’s” prediction from a few weeks ago… that we are approaching the “balance due” portion of our Spring Season.

Not this Saturday, but the following Saturday & Sunday - March 1^st & 2^nd  - it will be the “Double Header Weekend” aka “Empty your wallet weekend” because the final registration of $170 is due as we finish the 2^nd third of the season (Weeks #9 & #10)

After next weekend’s games the rosters are closed for the final rotation of the schedule… as we discussed in Article 534 (January 4^th, 2025) in the “New for 2025” headline story.

We are doing this, as to not allow any advantages (but with exceptions) during the last lap of the standings race.

11^th Inductee

For those that knew him… or won an award named after him… it was nice to see Mike Hollingsworth getting inducted in the Over-30-Hall of Fame.  Mike was the first inductee of 2025 with certainly more to follow.

Hopefully Matty Iannello gets enough votes after he retires in April to make it on the 2025 nomination ballot.

Jacket Night

With Mike Hollingsworth stealing the 5:30 spotlight… the Dominions jacket ceremony was overshadowed by a legendary defenseman of the league.

No Fanfare… No Sparkplugs… No Banner… just quietly come get your jacket, go home and drive safe in the snow.

Well, (we) will at least acknowledge you here one last time (unless you repeat)… Congratulations to the Dominions, the 2024 Winter Season Champs!

We just have two questions regarding the jackets;

We know the Dominic DeFrancisco jacket will denote him as the “Captain” of the team, along with Ray Dow and Manny Nunes embroidered with “Assistant Captain”...

The question(s) is will Shawn Mulcahy’s say “Playoff MVP”?  (and) if it does say “Playoff MVP” does it have “Shawn” or “Gino” for the name on the sleeve?

NBHL News

We want to thank the NBHL for picking up our Over-30 Documentary by making it available on their website news section.  Click the link below to see it:

https://www.thenbhl.com/news/watch-the-hockeytown-usa-documentary-on-youtube-50734

We are continuing to try and promote the league using various media outlets and we also have an extended version of the 10-minute documentary coming soon.   The extended version (15-20 minutes) will include more of the interviews and league highlights… and rumor has it that that extended version is being submitted to a festival,

No!, not the Cannes Film Festival in France, but some independent film festival… and maybe one day we’ll get an “Over-30 Star” on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (if we win!)

In a battle of “first vs worst”… it was advantage Azores Express for the second straight time.

Hammertime quickly went down 3-0 in the first… and it continued to 4-0 almost halfway through the second period before Jimmy Clarke finally stopped the bleeding with his first goal of the season from a Lee Nogler pass.

Azores Express beat Hammertime for the second straight time with Rob Sheridan in the lineup… first time they played to a (4-2 loss) it was Rob’s second game back from long-term IR… and, the second time they battled to a (5-4 loss) but now he had (6) games under his belt… and it took overtime to settle the score.

Rob is currently sitting in the #2 spot on the leaderboard… if he can overtake Gino Tammaro this week and hold off Mike Duggan, we could be looking at a possible uptick to “6” on the RPM Meter.  Tune in this week to see what Rob does without Lee on his right wing.

The Point

Sure, it was an overtime win for Azores Express, but even more importantly for Hammertime was that it was a hard-fought point for the tie.

Both teams exchanged runs of 4-unanswered goals with Azores express going first… followed by Rob Sheridan and Lee Nogler leading the charge as they clawed back to a 4-4 tie. 

(So let’s get to the point)… That is the point! 

Everyone knows by now the importance of these points when it comes to the standings race and potential playoff matchups.

1 Samuel 17

Everyone knows the Biblical story “1 Samuel 17” or better known as “David vs Goliath”.

“In the Book of Samuel. Descriptions of Goliath's immense stature vary among biblical sources, with various texts describing him as either 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) or 9 ft 9 in (2.97 m) tall.  According to the text, Goliath issued a challenge to the Israelites, daring them to send forth a champion to engage him in single combat; he was ultimately defeated by the young shepherd David, employing a sling and stone as a weapon.”

In the Over-30 adaptation of “1 Samuel 17” was revised to “21 George 33” the story of “George vs Lee (in OT)” 

In our version the wicked giant Lee Nogler just missed a wicked slapshot to win the game in OT… but our hero “lil” George Medeiros who’s half the size and weight of Lee, challenged him to a one-on-one battle in the offensive zone.

With just mere seconds on the clock to play for a tie… “lil” George entered the offensive zone, coming face-to-face with the giant (Lee)… for unknown reasons, the giant just laid down as George turned him inside-out and raced towards the net.

We’re not sure if Hammertime goaltender Dale McIssac was laughing at his giant on the ground, or scared he was next… but in either case “lil” George stuffed the GWG in the net as shocked onlookers cheered.

“Dom-oted”

Whatever works… they got to try something.  Dominion’s assistant captain Tony Medeiros “Dom-oted” his captain Dominic DeFrancisco of his “C”… well for the pre-game warmups anyway.

Tony wanted Dominic to try on his #13 jersey that has 5-goals in it, so that Dominic would feel what a goal scorers jersey felt like.  The experiment wasn’t a huge success as during the 7-2 beatdown of M*A*S*H, Dominic only had (1) goal (the last meaningless goal of the game).

But this shows you the difference between a Portuguese captain and an Italian captain.  Because if someone tried to take the jersey off of Angelo De Luca’s back… someone’s getting whacked!  You don’t disrespect the “Don” of the team.

M*U*S*H

We’re glad to hear the league officials checked in on Steve Silveira and he’s doing OK after his trip to the blue tent last week after being hit by Tony Medeiros that turned him into M*U*S*H.

Tony received a double minor for checking… Steve said it was a “good hockey play” and doesn’t hold any ill will against his fellow countryman… however, Steve still needed a ride home after seeing Bluebirds and stars swirling around his head (Special thanks to Manny Nunes) for the Portuguese “Port-ivac” to drive Steve home.

The only shining light (besides the ones in the back of Steve’s eyeballs) was that Dave Norton help Mike Naczas “get him the assist” on the ensuing powerplay… “Naz” is now within striking distance of getting his photo up on the defenseman leaderboard with Dave Costa out this week.

“Rich” Hat Trick

“Richie” Rich Pelletier struck it “rich” last weekend on the scoring sheet.  The newest edition to the team, picked Week #7 to show his teammates what he brings to the Dominions offense. 

With “Richie” Rich scoring a hat trick, it has him climbing into the #3 spot for his team scoring leaders.  Not that it means anything, but it just goes to show the importance of having a league director that understands how to balance the league and fill voids, gaps, and needs when players quit or get injured.

Rich was a great addition to Dominions before the trade deadline.

Messin' with Sasquatch

Someone used the phrase “Messin’ with Sasquatch” in reference to the biggest guy in the league Mike Surette.  With Mike out of the lineup for Barney & Friends, they won their 3^rd game of the season without their leading scoring defenseman.

Thanks to the power of the internet and GPS we are now able to track our “squatch” in the wild.  Here is Mike foraging for food;

We’re not nutritional specialists, but it’s going to take a lot more than that to feed the big guy… unless he was saving his calorie intake for the cooler of beers.

Disappointing

In 2024 Winter Season Matty Iannello was contemplating retirement and finished 3^rd in the scoring race with 29-points (8g, 21a).  Now in the 2025 Winter Season with his looming retirement confirmed, it’s becoming a disappointing farewell as “The Great One” is sitting 31^st on the leaderboard with 5-points (1g, 4a) and maybe his Doctor and Wife were right as “his heart” is just not into it anymore.

We just hope his lackluster final season doesn’t taint his legacy and hurt his chances of being a first-round ballot nominee for the Over-30 Hall of Fame.

Hell Freeze!

Mark this date in Over-30 history… February 15, 2025.  The day that Hell froze over… and what exactly caused Hell to freeze?

On this day, Jimmy Clarke, Colleen O’Connell and Mike Naczas all scored a goal.  Oh wait, “Naz” didn’t score it was an assist, sorry our bad.

But still… Jimmy and Colleen both scored their first goals of the season, their first goals in years, and Colleen’s was even the GWG, her 3^rd of her Over-30 Career.

If Jimmy, Colleen (and Naz) were ever to score in the same week… then that would be the end of humanity as we know it… the end of the world… and we’ll probably shut the league down the following week as there would be no greater accomplishment to be had.

Also; follow-up clarification on the “Stars” selections… Colleen gets the #1 Star for her first goal of the season, “Naz” gets a #2 Star for some random assists… the committee couldn’t throw Jimmy a #3 Star bone for his first goal in 2-years that was a huge momentum changer... and he had an assist as well.

More Goals Than

As always, we like to use this opportunity to motivate those who need it.

Coming off her GWG, Colleen O’Connell now has more goals scored the following:

Over-30 and Over-50

Good luck to all the talented (Over-50) players from the Over-30 League that will be representing the league in the Over-50 Tournament.

Good luck this weekend in New York to those players attending the Over-50 “Seniors” Super Series Ball Hockey Tournament in Long Island.

If you’re over 50-years old and playing in Saugus this weekend… it means you’re not talented enough to play in a “Seniors” tournament (or no one asked you).