UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

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Nords squeak out win in (almost) contest of Best of Upper Valley 4-3 in OT.

It really wasn't official, but it was as close as we've ever come to a real game between the best two teams in the Upper Valley. Depleted line-ups of the 2006 Mud League Champs in Hartford's Potter Construction and the 2005-06 UVHL's Whalen Cup Champs in the Nordiques faced-off in a contest on Dec 19th at Union Arena in Woodstock for make-believe bragging rights. The hardest thing to determine is who does Will Meyer play for? One of the top 3 forwards in the league, and definitely the best player inch for inch (I'm talking about height, you perverts) and pound for pound, Meyer is a Nordique for UVHL, is on Potter Construction for the spring Mud League after UVHL ends, and is also a part-time Storm King. So, given the fact that he scored all 3 Nords goals in regulation playing against one of his other teams, then who won? I guess we'll never know the answer to the question of who is the best team in the UV, and we'll have to separate each league and take each Championship at face value. You see, we'll NEVER have a match-up of these two teams. Potter was a part-time team in place of Tuck this season, didn't have their full roster for any of the 2 games they played, and skated to a 1-2-1 record in their 4-game UVHL stint. Last season in Muds they were the class of the league, repeated as champs, and only a fully loaded Storm Kings roster gave them any trouble. The Nordiques are a solid UVHL franchise and have won two of three Whalen Cups, and continue to be in first place as the league improves each season. However, the Nords cannot ice their full line-up in Mud League in the spring due to the fact that several players stop playing hockey after mid-March or live too far from Campion Rink. Therefore, any Nords team in Muds is not really the Nords. By the same token, any Potter Construction team in the UVHL isn't really Potter. Factor in the fact that we'd have to clone Will Meyer so he could play on both teams at the same time and we've really got a conundrum and huge cluster fuck to figure it all out! But, since Will Meyer scored all 3 of the Nords' goals in regulation, I'd have to give the imaginary edge to Potter...

Both teams were missing key players on this night. The Nords were without power winger Dave Willis (away), and speedy winger Dan Jones who was out with an ankle injury. Potter was missing Gino Riffle and Tom Crapser, but were pleased to finally have Dan Ammel join them for a game, and pulled Ed Sheehan onto their blueline from the Leafs. Potter jumped out to an early lead at 11:49 on Dan Ammel's goal from Bruce Hathorn and Dan McGee. McGee made it 2-0 for Potter at 5:50 from D-man Justin Barwood. These two teams were skating well, played hard, clean, and there were NO PENALTIES in this period, or in the entire game! The goalies were sharp, and JT was determined to come back with a stellar game after the Nords were spanked by the Storm Kings last week. Jake Obar is a Brodeur-esque solid netminder in Potter's net, and even rivals JT for best goalie in the UV even though Obar played high school hockey and JT played minor-pro. JT's sports psychologist should get a bonus because the A-game was back this week! There was great hockey at both ends because the goalies put on a show as the players were flying.

Potter had the momentum early in the game, but with 9 skaters to the Nords' 12, and without Meyer it was only a matter of time. Meyer got an unassisted goal at 11:53 of the second to make it 2-1 in favor of Potter. Then, Meyer said on the bench "I'm gonna go out there and score a goal this shift", and score he did to tie the game at 3:43 from D-man Drew Crapser, who was finally back from med school exams and out of excuses.

We entered the third period tied at 2-2, and Potter jumped on the unprepared Nords players out there to start the period and scored only 18 seconds in to re-gain the lead on Hathorn's goal from McGee and Ammel catching the Nords flat-footed. These three combined for all of Potter's points, with the exception of the Barwood assist, and earned all points from their forwards. Meyer would have none of it. Crapser connected with the superstar with a nice pass that Meyer converted again to tie the game with 9:22 left and force OT. The goalies kept their teams in it, and Obar was tested more in the second half as his team fatigued, whereas JT was tested more in the first half against a fresher Potter line-up.

OT Shootout: Kevin Guilbault went first for Potter, the home team's chioce, and JT made a pad save to send Gilly back to the bench. Mike O'Neil skated down towards Obar for the Nords and put it through the legs for the 1-0 shootout lead. Dan McGee went at JT and rifled a shot after a little deke that JT nabbed with the glove to keep his team ahead. Ian Coates hit the post beside Obar at the Potter end, forcing Potter's Dan Ammel to score to keep the shootout alive. Ammel ventured towards the Nords' net, but JT sealed the deal with a pad save and left Meyer on the bench as the third Nords shooter was unnecessary.

 

Team:	Time:	Type:	Player:	Details:
PTR	00:00	Goal	Ammel, Robert(1)	Assist(s): Hathorn, Bruce(1) Barwood, Justin(1)
PTR	00:00	Goal	McGee, Dan(1)	Assist(s): Barwood, Justin(1)
NDQ	00:00	Goal	Meyer, Will(1)	Assist(s): none
NDQ	00:00	Goal	Meyer, Will(1)	Assist(s): Crapser, Drew(1)
PTR	00:00	Goal	Hathorn, Bruce(1)	Assist(s): McGee, Dan(1) Ammel, Robert(1)
NDQ	00:00	Goal	Meyer, Will(1)	Assist(s): Crapser, Drew(1)
SHOOTOUT
PTR	1	Guilbault, Kevin		SAVE BY John Turner
NDQ	2	O'Neil, Michael		GOAL Scored on Jake Obar
PTR	3	McGee, Dan		SAVE BY John Turner
NDQ	4	Coates, Ian		SAVE BY Jake Obar
PTR	5	Ammel, Robert		SAVE BY John Turner

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