UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

ODDS:	Gamblers by 2 goals
OVER/UNDER:	8 goals

With the recent downturn in team strategy & skill from the Nordiques, there is no way in hell that the Nords can win this one. Coming off of back-to-back-to-back losses, the Nordiques seem to have thrown in the towel. On the other end of the rink will be the highly offensive Gamblers...yes that was offensive as in "they offend me". Mostly it is due to the wretched stink of winning coming off of them, but it is combined with a slight tang of arrogance mixed with the nauseating smell of discontent.

The Gamblers boast the top 3 point scorers in the league with Willy "Miser" Meyer, Matty "The Milkman" Marrazzo & Dan "The Animal" Ammel. The trio have averaged 24 goals apiece on route to a 14-0-2 record but have been bolstered by outstanding goaltending & defense this year. The addition of Marc "The Narc" Gatte & Reuben "The Tiger" Lyons on defense has added depth and puck movement to their breakout, and filling in for an injured Jered "J-Rock" Condon in net has been rookie sensation Greg Feiden who has posted an outstanding 6-0-1 record and 2.14 GAA. The Nordiques will be without Johnny "Temper Tantrum" Turner this week as he is heading out to California to find a specialist to fill all the holes left in his game by Tuck a couple of weeks ago.

The Nordiques will also be without assistant captain Ian "The Smile" Coates & Poli "The Nightmare" Nightengale.

This one should go fairly routinely, the Nordiques will do everything in their power to shut down the Gambler's top line, only to succumb 5-3 late in the game with a possible empty netter.

Gamblers remain unbeaten in regulation with 3-2 shootout win over Nords.

The 'BLERS & 'DIQUES have played 3 tight games already this season and this one continued the trend with another Gambler win, but all for games have been nail biters. The first game saw the Gamblers score two goals in the last 2:30 seconds for a 4-3 win including the game winner with 30 seconds to play. Game two ended in a 5-5 shootout win for the Gamblers. Game 3 was a 3-1 nail biter and tonight we saw a 2-2 shootout win again for the 'BLERS. It was a fun game to watch & participate in as the play was smooth, the goaltenders were HUGE and there was only 1 penalty in the entire game.

The 'BLERS were without superstar Willy "The Miserable" Meyer who was off terrorizing children at a conflicting scheduled event. Without Meyer in the line-up the Gamblers were slightly less dynamic, but the combination of Matty "The Milkman" Marrazzo & Dan "The Cannible" Ammel still put fear in the eyes of the Nordiques defense.

The 'DIQUES on the other hand were without Ian "The Grin" Coates & Roger "The Dirty Dentist Drill" Phillips whose veteran leadership & puck control was greatly missed in this one. Not to mention missing their stud netminder Johnny "Temper Tantrum" Turner who was chasing money down on the west coast. Filling in for the Nordiques was Pete "The Meat" Bartline playing in back to back games. Bartline was EXCELLENT, turning away 29 of 31 shots while his nemesis at the other end, Greg Feiden was equally as good turning away 28 of 30 shots & all 4 shootout attempts.

The first period started out with a nice goal from "Super" Jordy McGee as he took a pass from fellow MICK Shawn "McDeepFriedEverything" McDermott. McGee cut through the crease and beat the Gambler's goaltender by tucking the puck past his outstretched leg. The Gambler's bounced back late in the first period behind a HORRIFIC turnover from Nordique's captain "Turnover" Tao Smith. Smith made a nice play on the near boards to look off a defender during the breakout, but took too long to move the puck up and turned it over to the Gambler's point man Marc "The Narc" Gattie who fired a shot down low that was tipped by Allison "The HOOK" Malcom up off of a Nordique defensemen's glove and onto the stick of Tyson "The Nordique Killer" Seely for the goal.

Jordy McGee scored the only goal of the second period on a similar play to the first as he took a pass from James "Nancy" Kerrigan, and beat Feiden with a very quick move across the crease to the far post. It seemed as though that was the only way to get one past Feiden, and the Nordiques took that scouting report to the shootout to no avail as Feiden was prepared and the best 1 on 1 player on the ice.

"The Milkman" delivered once again, this time early in the 3rd period on one of the best plays of the year. He received a beautiful cross ice bomb of a pass from Mikey Harrington and had a 2 on 2 heading into the Nordiques zone. Marrazzo put the jets on to the outside but Nordique's defenseman Tommy "Cro-Mag" Dakai gave him a hard shove on his hip, forcing him even further outside at the faceoff dot and inevitably behind the net, but Marrazzo decided to defy logic & even physics with one of the quickest and hardest cut backs I've ever seen. In the mean time he pulled the puck from his backhand to his forehand and laced a quick wrister inside the far post to tie the game at 2 apiece. IT WAS NASTY and had the whole Nordiques bench going "Did you see that? WOW!"

Marrazzo's goal came just 34 seconds into the period, and closed out the scoring in regulation. Both teams were excellent in all 3 zones, and both goaltenders repeatedly made big saves to keep the game tied.

SHOOTOUT:

Gamblers are the home team....they chose to shoot 2nd.

NORDS: Mikey O'Neil - quick move from his back hand to forehand, but Feiden FLEW across the crease and stuffed him. NO GOAL
'BLERS: Matty Marrazzo - Bartline just stood there and made a save without even moving NO GOAL
NORDS: Kevin Dwyer - quick move to his back hand but AGAIN Feiden came across too quickly and stuffed him. NO GOAL
'BLERS: Reuben Lyons - forehand to backhand but Bartline read it the whole way. NO GOAL
NORDS: Jordy McGee - Quick snapper from dead center hashmarks. BLocker save by Feiden NO GOAL
'BLERS: Danimal - came in a bit wide, cut across the crease on his backhand but lost the handle NO GOAL
NORDS: Jim Kerrigan - made a move to his forehand but Feiden was there NO GOAL
'BLERS: Tyson Seely - came in fast on backhand cut across crease on his forehand and tucked it in for GOAL!!!!!

Seely was a hero.

 

Team:	Time:	Type:	Player:	Details:
1st PERIOD
NDQ	11:37	Goal	McGee, Jordan(16)	Assist(s): McDermott, Shawn(7)
NDQ	11:21	Penalty	Marsh, Greg(3)	2 minutes for Interference
GMB	02:24	Goal	Seely, Tyson(7)	Assist(s): Malcolm, Allison(11) Gattie, Marc(9)
2nd PERIOD
NDQ	05:32	Goal	McGee, Jordan(17)	Assist(s): Kerrigan, James(1)
3rd PERIOD
GMB	14:26	Goal	Marrazzo, Matt(25)	Assist(s): Harrington, Mike(10)
SHOOTOUT
NDQ	1	O'Neil, Michael		SAVE BY Greg Feiden
GMB	2	Marrazzo, Matt		SAVE BY Peter Bartline
NDQ	3	Dwyer, Kevin		SAVE BY Greg Feiden
GMB	4	Lyons, Reuben		SAVE BY Peter Bartline
NDQ	5	McGee, Jordan		SAVE BY Greg Feiden
GMB	6	Ammel, Robert		SAVE BY Peter Bartline
NDQ	7	Kerrigan, James		SAVE BY Greg Feiden
GMB	8	Seely, Tyson		GOAL Scored on Peter Bartline

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Game Comments:
kpark Quechee, VT Registered: Dec 2003 Posts: 723	BLEEEEEERS Feb 8th, 2010 09:13 PM I think it is time that someone knocked the BLERS off of their pedestal. Unfortunately I don't think it will be the lowly Nordiques, so I may or may not have planted an explosive device in 4 or more of the BLERS cars.....if you want to risk coming to the game, it's your CALL!!! KABLOOEY!!!!!
JTStally Hanover, NH Registered: Posts: 159	Where's McDefense? Feb 9th, 2010 04:44 PM No comment yet from McD! I thought the discussion board was the highlight of his week (aside from the postgame showers, of course).