UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

ODDS:	Tuck by 2 goals
OVER/UNDER:	8.5

A surging Tuck Team (11-5-1) sit comfortably in 2nd place after going on a 5-1-0 tear. Their only blemish is a tough 5-2 loss to the Gamblers, but it was a tight hockey game and a couple of lucky bounces for the Gamblers seemed to be the difference. Tuck has also averaged over 6 goals a game in their past 3 games while keeping their opponents to an average of 3 goals per game.

The Brew Crew have been the epitome of inconsistency, as they seem to lose 1, and then win one, lose 2 and win 2 all season long. Their lineup is a crapshoot every night, and their league leading 141 penalty minutes in 17 games has most likely worked them out of an extra 3 or 4 wins. When they show up, and have the right players, they are one of the best in the league. Their netminder is excellent, that is if he hasn't spent 14 straight hours of pre-game surfing porn. Their defense is tough & quick......ha, that was a joke on Danny "Chubby Hubby" Charette, who's 325 lb frame dwarfs McDermott. And their offense can turn a game around in one shift.

Tuck's goaltending duo is insane, with Yacey & Kenning manning the net, and the best defensive corp in the UVie this year, they are poised to do some damage heading towards the playoffs.

Tuck should walk away with this one, probably 5-3. But that is all dependent upon the lineups from both teams, as the WICKED SMAAHT kids from Tuck Business School don't like to stay out too late, and the Brewers are.....well....the Brewers.

Tuck hangs on for a 3-1 win. Yacey & Bartline stand tall.

The third game of the night was intense as the 2nd & 3rd place teams faced off in a battle for the ages. This one was physical & fast, saw 8 penalties(4 for each team), some huge saves & some nice goals. The Brewers have been the epitome of inconsistency this year, as they seem to play some perfect games followed by some ugly ones. Last week, they dominated Dead River 5-2, after getting total dismantled by the Gamblers 9-1, only to precede that with 2 solid wins over the Whalers(4-1) & Nordiques(5-3). Their lineup has been suspect all season, and their ability to take penalties in all 3 zones has plagued them from week one as they are racking up PIMs like they the Charlestown Chiefs.

Tuck has been surging, going 5-1-0 in their last six, with their only loss being to the undefeated Gamblers, who finally lost tonight to the Whalers 8-6. That loss puts a glimmer of hope in the minds of Tuck that with 5 games remaining, they can somehow catch the Gamblers (15-1-2, 32pts) for first place, but I doubt it. The Tuckie Turduckens were led by defensive standout Andrew "Hellboy" Helming who made the Brewer's night a living hell. Helming opened up the scoring in the first period with an end to end rush, resulting in a hard & high shot from the far faceoff dot. Pete "The Meat" Bartline went down on all 4s, like he usually does at home for Bayley, after leaving a juicy rebound about 6 feet to the right of his net on the goal line that Helming chipped up and over Bartline for the 1-0 lead. There were only 2 penalties in the first, as Garren "The PIM KING" Poirier added to his record books with a 2 minute roughing call and Halsey "Turn your head and" Coughlin went to the sin bin for tripping at 3:16. Neither power play led to a goal, but both netminders were called upon to make some huge saves. In net for the Brewers was "The Meat", who's rotund and doughy body absorbs pucks like McDermott's couch absorbs him every night. Danny "In Your Facey" Yacey was making his 12th start of the season after winning an epic Rock-Paper-Scissors battle over fellow netminder Stevie Kenning for the start tonight.

The best player on the ice in the first period was Coughlin who seemed to be all over the ice at once, causing turnovers & maintaining puck control throughout the period and scoring a controversial goal that was called back by Referee-In-Chief, Shawn "McWhistle" McDermott. The goal came about halfway through the period on a nice backdoor pass that Coughlin snuck past Bartline on a no angle shot. McDermott called the goal back seeing that the post was off it's mooring, but some people feel that Bartline had knocked the mooring off after the puck had entered the net. Without instant replay, this was an impossible argument, even for the WICKED SMAAHT KIDS from Tuck, but gives a case for the UVHL to request goal cams for the 2010-2011 season.

END OF THE FIRST: Tuck 1, Brewers 0

The Brew Crew tied the game up with a shorthanded goal at 9:48. The goal came with Jason Yehle in the box for Body Checking, when Danny "Super Chunk" Charette stole a Tuck pass and fed Nick "Dr. McSelfish" Bayley for a breakaway. Bayley walked in, gave a shimmy shake to Yacey before turning him inside out for the game tying goal. Tuck bounced right back just 1:32 later as Helming broke into the zone, went behind the net and made a cross back through the crease to Coughlin, but it was a bit off, missing his stick by 2.5 feet and hitting Coughlin right in the JUNK, before landing on Jimmy "Steve Bates" Hay's stick for the goal. "Hay-Bates" tallied his second goal of the game and the eventual game winner on the same shift as he walked in all alone on Bartline and beat him low stick side, just over the pad and 22 seconds after his first goal. Tempers started to flare in this one with both teams taking some liberties, but the referees tried letting the boys play until they had to call matching roughing penalties on Bayley & Jordy Barnett with a minute to play in the period.

END OF THE SECOND: Tuck 3, Brew Crew 1

The third period saw some good hockey as both netminders were called upon time after time for a big save. Yacey was called upon first after Coughlin & John "The Big Red Dog" Clifford both went to the box on the same play for a hook & body checking...respecitvely. On the ensuing 5 on 3, the Brewers couldn't keep the puck in the zone until the last 30 seconds when Yacey had to make 4 saves in less than 5 seconds as he made the initial save from the point and then stuck his left leg out to stop 3 rebounds that Tuck just couldn't seem to gather in. Bartline also made some nice saves down in his end, but owes his right post dinner & a movie, maybe even a reach around after the post made a HUGE save on Stevie "James Hay" Bates around the 9 minute mark. Bates had Bartline clean to rights with a nasty snapshot over the glove, but close only counts in horseshoes, foreplay & hand grenades. The Brewers continued to press all the way to the end, and scored a highlight real goal with 45 seconds to play as Bayley did a dipsy-do followed by a looky-over-there on 2 Tuckies, putting the puck between one of their legs and firing a pass from the near boards all the way across to an unnamed player at the other faceoff dot. This player one timed the perfect pass right along the ice and past Yacey who did everything he could to get back across the crease. That was all that the Brewers could muster, and the game ended in a 3-2 win for the Tuckies, who keep a healthy hold on 2nd place, meanwhile the Brewers were leap frogged by the Nordiques for 3rd place.

 

Team:	Time:	Type:	Player:	Details:
1st PERIOD
TCK	12:49	Goal	Helming, Andrew(7)	Assist(s): none
BRE	06:56	Penalty	Poirier, Garren(25)	2 minutes for Roughing
TCK	03:16	Penalty	Coughlin, Halsey(5)	2 minutes for Tripping
2nd PERIOD
BRE	11:45	Penalty	Yehle, Jason(6)	2 minutes for Body Checking
BRE	09:48	Goal	Bayley, Nick(17)	Assist(s): Charette, Dan(8)
TCK	08:16	Goal	Hay, James(15)	Assist(s): Helming, Andrew(12) Coughlin, Halsey(11)
TCK	07:54	Goal	Hay, James(16)	Assist(s): Helming, Andrew(13)
BRE	05:26	Penalty	Bartline, Peter(2)	2 minutes for Interference
BRE	01:00	Penalty	Bayley, Nick(7)	2 minutes for Roughing
TCK	01:00	Penalty	Barnett, Jordan(3)	2 minutes for Roughing
3rd PERIOD
TCK	10:42	Penalty	Coughlin, Halsey(6)	2 minutes for Hooking
TCK	10:42	Penalty	Clifford, John(3)	2 minutes for Body Checking
BRE	00:45	Goal	Johnson, Chris(6)	Assist(s): Bayley, Nick(14) Charette, Dan(9)

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Game Comments:
stevekenning Hanover, NH Registered: Posts: 15	Lights out Feb 15th, 2010 11:33 PM PJs and warm milk at 9 sharp in the Kenning household. I'm out, Yacey's in. Brew: Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Put in a good effort.
kpark Quechee, VT Registered: Dec 2003 Posts: 723	HA! Feb 16th, 2010 09:32 AM IN RESPONSE TO: BY: stevekenning PJs and warm milk at 9 sharp in the Kenning household. I'm out, Yacey's in. Brew: Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Put in a good effort. Damn Steve, I'm jealous. I never get warm milk at home.
JTStally Hanover, NH Registered: Posts: 159	The Real Reason Feb 16th, 2010 05:54 PM Are you sure that's it Steve? Are you sure it's not because you're still snowbound from the blizzard that Scotty brought down on you last week? :)