THE

UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

Nordiques
Brewers
1st
2
0
2rd
0
1
3rd
0
1
FINAL
2
2
Shots
32
32
January 2nd, 2007 - 8:05PM
Pre-Game
Recap
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Discussion
Game ID: 342

Avs steal victory in OT after GTG in dying seconds of 3rd vs. Nords!

The re-match was long anticipated as these lineups split the first two games with roster holes as huge as my ex-girlfriends. The Avs prevailed when the Nords were without Will Meyer, and the Nords prevailed when the Avs were without Bayley, and Isaac (I think). This time the Avs had their full roster, and the Nords were only without two players - so no excuses were offered. Whoever won would win fair and square and the scales of the season series would tip heavily in their favor, like Fat Bastard on the UVHL's Biggest Loser scale (game on, by the way, for anyone looking to TRY and defeat me for a FREE Mud League this spring - just give me notice and I'll bring the scale an get you entered in the competition, you fat fucks!).

Nords D for the evening, Mike O'Neil, interfered with Avs F Travis Coe at 9:05 of the first in attempting to cut off the skating lane, but Coe took a holding call on the play and both players sat while their teams played 5-on-5 for 2 minutes until the subsequent whistle put them back on their respective benches. The summer's Biggest Loser, Nords LW Greg Marsh, kept the play rolling by moving to a long pass almost out of reach that he wouldn't have gotten to last year. Marsh took it into the Avs' zone and a tic-tac-toe play ensued between Marsh, Kelly Park, and Ian Coates that resulted in Marshy's goal at 5:51 to put the Nords up 1-0 against an opponent that was proving to be very tough and evenly matched with the Nords. The Nords kept the momentum with Al Sorrentino in the Avs penalty box at 4:51 for interference, and they capitalized on the PP with Will Meyer scoring at 3:53 from Marsh and Coates, both players notching their second points of the period. Everything seemed to be going in the Nords favor in the first period, but the Avs were playing tough, and bartline prevented the Nords from expanding on their lead. Eleven seconds after the Nords second goal, O'Neil took another minor, this time for hooking, at 3:42, but JT stood tall and shut down McSelfish's PP and the period ended 2-0 for the Nords.

In the second, only penalties and unconverted scoring chances abounded. The Avs picked it up and the period was very evenly played between both squads. However, three Nords penalties threw the momentum in favor of the Avs until the Nords killed them all off, thanks to JT and a strong PK. First it was Nords captain Tao Smith at 8:43 for hooking, then Kelly Park for hooking at 6:38. With only 3 D to kill off the Park infraction, Nords D Mike O'Neil caught a puck on the PK 5 seconds into the kill in mid-air and then closed his hand on it (shoulda batted it, eh) and then threw the puck out of the Nords end into the Avs zone. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but it is a standard penalty, and the shocked O'Neil was fortunate the rule was changed only the day before to grant a player 4 penalties before ejection from the game instead of 3. Referee Tony Gove was chomping at the bit to give O'Neil a 4th penalty to send him to the showers early, but it never materialized. What did materialize was a 5-on-3 PP for the Avs for 1:55, and the Nords buckled down to keep the lead, and JT stood on his frickin' head for the second game in a row, and Tom Dakai and Shawn McDermott were the tenacious-D pair until their other defensemen got out of the box. After the PK was over, Shawn "Fat Bastard" McDermott (a.k.a. The Commish, me, myself and I) smoked past the forechecking Chris "Turtle" "I played at Maine" Johnson coming out of the Nords end with the puck in the second, and left Johnson in his dust beating him to one side leaving him spouting expletives behind the play. Buh-bye now! Unfortunately the fast, fat defenseman couldn't turn the play into a legit scoring chance, and then he had to dog it the rest of the game sucking wind because he blew his wad on the rush (but he still finished an even +/- for the game, not being on the ice for any goals from either team). Late in the period Coe took his second minor at 1:45 for high sticking, but it was Bartline this time who shut down the attack. Luckily, the period ended yet again 2-0 Nords, but the Avs were picking up steam, and the Nords were losing it.

In the third, Avs captain Mike Hickey pounced on a rebound that squirted through JT's pads that the netminder thought was covered underneath him. It wasn't, and Hickey snuk in behind uncontested at 11:19 to bring his team within one off the face-off shot by Brian Walsh. The Avs were just simply better than the Nords in the third, but by just barely enough, because it was a really close, hard-fought game. The Avs picked it up, and the Nords didn't match the new found intensity of the Avs, and the Nords found themselves running around in their own end unable to get it out or get a whistle. JT was the ultimate professional, and turned away Avs chance after Avs chance. In the waning seconds of the game, the Avs pulled Bartline with 37 seconds to go for the extra attacker with nothing to lose. The Nords could taste the victory, and it tasted sweet! They could smell the desperation and fear of the Avs! BUT (I knew you could sense a but coming), the game wasn't over yet! None other than Dr. McSelfish himself, Nick Bayley, the UVHL's leading scorer was found in front of the net after a Nords' miscommunication, lack of hustle, poor positioning and shitty effort by all left on the ice to seal the deal, except for goaltender JT and D Kelly Park, who both did everything they could to limit Bayley's last second opportunity to the left of JT with Park diving and sprawling to cut Bayley off! Bayley made a sick, fucking retarded, superhuman lateral move to his right just outside the crease and outside of Park's reach to find the tiniest hole through JT's armor to tie the frickin' game at 2-2 with only 9.2 seconds left in regulation!!! UN-FUCKING-BELIEVABLE!!!

At the very end of the period, Johnson started bitching at the refs for what he deemed a missed call at the end of the game that Johnson felt should have resulted in a penalty to Marshy after the two had words heading back to the team benches for shootout preparations. Gove listened, and then assessed two penalties, matching unsportsmanlike minors at 0:00 to Johnson and Marsh that negated them from participating in the shootout. Marshy's version was that he went over to Johnson to apologise for inadvertently high-sticking the diminutive speedy forward, but Gove's ref report post-game was that they both were guilty of unsportsmanlike conduct and that "it wasn't an apology" that Marshy was delivering. Whoever you believe, the result was the same - no shootout for the Nords' best player in the game, or a legit scoring threat for the Avs. The Nords chose to shoot first as they were the home team, and it went down like this:

SHOOTOUT OT:
Nords - Kelly Park - SCORED through the 5-hole on Bartline
Avs - Travis Coe - pad save by JT
Nords - Mike O'Neil - stick save by Bartline
Avs - Chriatian Isaac - pad save by JT
Nords - Will Meyer - pad save by Bartline
Avs - Nick Bayley - SCORED a backhander into lower right corner past JT to keep the shootout alive!

SUDDEN DEATH 1-for-1 SHOOTOUT!:
Nords - Ian Coates - left skate save by Bartline
Avs - Brian Walsh - pad save by JT
Nords - Tao Smith - stick save by Bartline
Avs - Dan Charette - SCORED a sick goal between JT's legs for the GWG!!!

And that ended it in dramatic fashion! What a game!
LEAGUE PICK 'EM
 0%
Nordiques
0% 
Brewers
PICKS
THREE STARS

Nick Bayley

GOALS: 1
POINTS: 1

Peter Bartline

GA: 2
SAVES: 30
SAVE%: 0.938

John Turner

GA: 2
SAVES: 30
SAVE%: 0.938

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