UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

ODDS:	EVEN
OVER/UNDER:	9

Tonight we have a special event between Vermont's two A leagues! The UVHL is hosting the Chiefs from the Catamount Senior Elite Hockey League in a scrimmage against the Dead River Oilers in the first match-up after the Christmas break. Tuck has defaulted and will only have 1 player in town and will resume their regular schedule in January, but McGovern will be patrolling the Dead River blueline since he will still be in town as a treasured Alumni. The Chiefs came and scrimmaged with us a couple of months ago and are a good bunch of guys...as far as we could tell with 5 of them making the trip! We all had a great night and there was a copious amount of beer and wings consumed, and we all got home safe as the Chiefs' captain Chris Thompson has a portable breathalyzer he keeps in his pocket (if that doesn't spell alcoholic, I don't know what does!). The breathalyzer came in handy the table beside us at Murphy's with Bayley, Crapser, and Bartline striking out with the ladies used it to see which chick was the most drunk and therefore they had the best chance to score with (it still didn't help...).

Okay, what to expect from this one? Well, if the Oilers show up with their D there and they clear the front of the net well, then Hadley will stop most of the first shots. The Oilers can create chances when they move the puck up the ice well, but they are prone to defensive mistakes by the forwards and penalties. The Chiefs, from what I have seen and heard, have a solid squad with very good goaltending, and they play as a cohesive unit. As we all know, team play is the key to men's league hockey. I'm gonna call the odds even, but I'd give the edge to the Chiefs if I were betting in Vegas.

Our Friendly Neighbors Up North Beat Up Dead River.

Inclement weather delayed the game by at least 30 minutes and a car load of Chiefs had to turn back up I-89, but Captain Chris Thompson led a smaller squad to Union Arena to take on the Dead River Oilers in an exhibition scrimmage between Vermont's two A-leagues. Making the trip were: Mike Weber #10, Chris Thompson #14, James Wildish #5, Fenn Rider #25, Eddie Montgomery #8, Jodi Rasco #22, Travis Bezio #24, Chris Sterns #12 and goaltender

The Oilers had a long warm-up, and started fast scoring on their second trip into the Chiefs end with Evan Duggan scoring from linemates Ricky Golden and Rob Pattison at running time 51:35. Golden set up Pattison for another DR goal at 48:28 to start fast 2-0 against the Chiefs who were just getting their bearings. The speedy and skilled Montgomery answered a minute later at 47:39 from Thompson and Bezio. Then Bezio scored from Weber at 44:20 to tie it at 2 apiece. The Chiefs were getting warmed-up, and the Oilers were having good chemistry evidenced by their ability to advance the puck up ice and spread the passes east-west. The line of Golden-Duggan-Pattison generated many scoring chances throughout the scrimmage, and as this line plays together more they will only get better and better. The Chiefs moved the puck well D to D and broke out of their end passing to the left shooting Montgomery streaking out of the zone on the right side near the blueline more often than not. Montgomery's speed and tenacity is reminiscent of the Gamblers' Will Meyer, but the advantage on puckhandling and finishing skill would have to go to Montgomery. I'd love to see those two go head-to-head in a future interleague game!

In net for the Oilers tonight was back-up Matt Barrett and captain, and usual goaltender, Greg Hadley was patrolling the right wing. There were 3 penalties doled out, and a little rivalry between the Oilers tenacious defenseman Tom Scull and scrappy winger Chris Sterns emerged. at 49:35 Close went for a trip, at 45:42 Sterns went for holding, and at 14:52 Scull went for interference. Other than that, it was a very fast and gentlemanly game with a little bit of body contact and mild hooking let go evenly by the refs.

Montgomery scored again at 39:42 from Bezio, but the Oilers answered to make it 3-3 on Golden's goal from Stu Close and Pattison at 34:02. Montgomery caught fire and scored 4 of the next 5 goals over the next 20 minutes of play with assists going to Weber, Rider, and Bezio. Hadley actually should get an assist on the second of these as he passed the puck back blindly across the offensive zone right to Montgomery who went down on a breakaway and schooled Barrett. The Oilers' Pattison scored one to prevent a Natural Hat Trick at 28:18 from Close, and then late in the contest Weber found the back of the net against Barrett with 2:15 left to go. The score ended 8-4 in favor of the Chiefs.

 

Team:	Time:	Type:	Player:	Details:
1st PERIOD
LAB	14:59	Goal	Hadley, Gregory(1)	Assist(s): none

LOG IN:
Username:		You must be logged into your Forum account to leave game comments. Please log in to the right to add your Brilliant Diatribes & Thunderous Verbal Attacks about this game.
Password:
	forget username / password? create account

Game Comments:
hkydoc WRJ, VT Registered: Jan 2004 Posts: 517	Yeah! Dec 28th, 2009 09:17 PM Have fun out there, Boys! We're excited to have an interleague scrimmage tomorrow night! Send us some trash talk, eh! McD P.S. The UVHL is way better than the CSEHL! Nah na na na na na!
hkydoc WRJ, VT Registered: Jan 2004 Posts: 517	Great exhibition game! Dec 31st, 2009 12:59 PM Fun game to ref, great game to watch, and nice job by the Chiefs for making the trip in wind and freezing rain. I hope we can do it again soon, eh! McD