UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

Quarter Final Action: #6 Dead River @ #3 Nordiques

ODDS:	Nordiques By 3 Goals
OVER/UNDER:	9 Goals

The Nordiques have won all 5 games against Dead River this season. They have scored at least 7 goals in 4 of those games and have never let up more than 5. Dead River sits in last place with a 1-21-0 record while the Nords squeaked into 3rd place with a mediocre 12-10-0 record. Dead River has had the luxury of using alternates from other teams, but this week will only be able to rely on their true roster to try and upset the Nordiques.

Dead River has given up a league worst 157 goals in 22 games while only scoring 57 for a league worst -100 goal differential. The Nordiques sit with a 6 GD on 98 Goals Scored and 92 Allowed wich is 4th most scored and 3rd least allowed. This should be a cake-walk for the Nordiques, but they have not been consistent this season and have had trouble scoring goals at times. A couple of bad bounces and some amazing goaltending from Matty "The Eagle" Crowson and this could be a huge upset for Dead River.

The Nordiques will require their goaltender, Johnny "Temper Tantrum" Turner to be solid. They will need to play their style of defensive hockey and just wait for their opportunities. They have lost their best defenseman, Tommy "The Minister of Defense" Dakai to a shoulder injury...from a F'in B-LEAGUE GAME...TOMMY...DAMN YOU TOMMY, HOW COULD YOU!!!

The Nords should win this one 6-3...maybe 7-2.

#6 Dead River Shocks #3 Nordiques in OT Thriller

Dead River walked into this game tonight winless in a 22 game regular season. Yes...their record was 1-21-0, but that win came by forfeit when their opponent couldn't field a team. Their record didn't weight them down as they embraced the World Beater mentality.

Don't get me wrong, the 3rd seeded Nordiques were not outplayed but were bested by one of the more impressive goaltending performances in years as Matty "The Eagle" Crowson turned aside 50 saves en route to the win. Crowson out-dueled Johnny "Temper Tantrum" Turner wo's 23 saves on 27 shots wasn't his best performance.

Crowson is the obvious choice for player of the game and Player Of the Week, so make sure to throw him a vote, but the overtime hero was Patrick Keely who scored a beaut of a goal in the 2nd period followed by the game winner.

The Nordiques came out with the wrong attitude and didn't play with any urgency all night. You could tell they thought they would walk through Dead River to the Semi-Finals and that Dead River would fall apart at some point...it didn't happen. The Nords opened the scoring on a "Fierce" Pierce Mayhew goal from his BFF Jordy "McBreakaway" McGee and Shawn "McBuffaloChickenWings" McDermott. With just under 5 minutes left Dan "Chubby Hubby" Charette jammed home a garbage goal from behind the goal line that went off Turner's leg, off the post and in to tie the game.

End of the first period and the Nordiques had doubled Dead River up on shots 12-6, but you could see that the Nords were playing "too cute", making ill-advised passes, trying to do too much individually and getting away from the team play that makes them successful.

"Crowson was MONEY" in the second period recalled the scorekeeper. With 22 saves on 23 shots, he frustrated the Nordiques on almost every play. Keely scored with 12:16 to play after cutting up the middle and beating Alex "Zags" Zagaria wide and throwing a quick backhander under Turner's arm. "It was a sweet goal" said Kelly "The Mouth" Park after the game. Greg "The Butcher of Guelph" Marsh hammered a rebound home along the ice with 3:42 off of a Roger "The Dirty Dentist" Phillips shot.

The game was tied 2 apiece heading into the third and the Nordiques were outshooting Dead River 36-19. Dead River jumped ahead on a crazy goal where Charette fired a slapper off of the facemask of Turner. The rebound shot 25 feet in the air and into the high slot where Chris "Turtle" Johnson either batted it out of the air or timed the shot just as it landed. Turner looked stunned and the shot, which had a little flutter to it, beat turner glove side.

The Nordiques were trailing by a goal with under 5 minutes to play and Crowson was out of his mind good. Geoff Noble took a cross-checking penalty with 4:07 to play followed by a Charette boarding penalty on Park less than a minute later that put the Nordiques on a 5 on 3 for over a minute. For the record, Charette's penalty could have gone either way as Park and Charette were battling for the puck heading to the boards. Charette clearly was the stronger player as Park went down like a ragdoll.

Ryan "The Governator" McGovern tied the game with 2:49 to play with a perfect slapper through a screen. Phillips was sent to the box with just over 2 minutes to play for hooking and the Nordiques had to kill off a penalty in the waning minutes of play to send the game to OT. End of regulation and the Nordiques had 48 shots on goal to Dead River's 25.

Overtime was exciting as the Nordiques pressed but then the Nordique's Marsh was sent to the box for a questionable elbowing call with 9:45 to play. Dead River's powerplay looked more like a Nordique power play as McGee & Mayhew generated 2 or 3 scoring chances, but Crowson was there. The added offensive pressure was clearly a mistake as the forwards were caught up ice, tired when the game winning goal was scored.

The play started down low as a defenseman moved the puck up the ice and the Nord's McGovern caught an edge in the neutral zone going down to the ice. The puck hit him in the ass as he fell and slowed it down enough for Noel "The Jolly Irishman" Baxter to break in 3 on 1 against Turner & Zagaria. Turner made a great save on Baxter who was in all alone, but the puck squirted back out the slot where Keely jammed the puck under Turner as he was diving back to the front of the net. Game over...upset officially logged...Nordiques are on suicide watch.

You have to give it to Dead River, they rallied around their stud goaltender, played well enough to stay in the game and take advantage of a couple bounces. Dead River earned that win and it came at the right time. They now get to REALLY be world beaters against the powerhouse #1 ranked Gamblers.

 

Team:	Time:	Type:	Player:	Details:
1st PERIOD
NDQ	12:09	Goal	Mayhew, Pierce(18)	Assist(s): McGee, Jordan(14) McDermott, Shawn(7)
NDQ	07:00	Penalty	Park, Kelly(4)	2 minutes for Tripping
LAB	04:59	Goal	Charette, Dan(2)	Assist(s): Sutton, Craig(4) Koetsier, Kyle(4)
LAB	00:40	Penalty	Johnson, Chris(2)	2 minutes for Slashing
2nd PERIOD
LAB	12:16	Goal	Keeley, Patrick(2)	Assist(s): Billings, Trevor(6)
NDQ	03:42	Goal	Marsh, Greg(5)	Assist(s): Phillips, Roger(16) Park, Kelly(24)
LAB	03:42	Penalty	Sprague, Ray(2)	2 minutes for Head Contact
LAB	03:33	Penalty	Bayliss, Trevor(3)	2 minutes for Holding
3rd PERIOD
LAB	07:57	Goal	Johnson, Chris(2)	Assist(s): Charette, Dan(5)
LAB	04:07	Penalty	Koetsier, Kyle(2)	2 minutes for Cross Checking
LAB	03:19	Penalty	Charette, Dan(4)	2 minutes for Boarding
NDQ	02:49	Goal	(PP)McGovern, Ryan(4)	Assist(s): Mayhew, Pierce(20) Phillips, Roger(17)
NDQ	02:19	Penalty	Phillips, Roger(3)	2 minutes for Hooking
OT PERIOD
NDQ	09:45	Penalty	Marsh, Greg(4)	2 minutes for Elbowing
LAB	07:48	Goal	Keeley, Patrick(3)	Assist(s): Hadley, Gregory(2) Baxter, Noel(4)

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Game Comments:
JTStally Hanover, NH Registered: Posts: 159	Spread Mar 26th, 2013 10:27 AM Dead River has been playing better hockey lately, but the Nords have been solidly going about their business all year. I'd definitely take them against the three-goal spread.
habman Killington, VT Registered: Posts: 33	Mar 28th, 2013 04:04 PM Wow
JTStally Hanover, NH Registered: Posts: 159	Rough and Tumble Mar 28th, 2013 04:58 PM "Head Contact" "Cross Checking" "Boarding" "Elbowing" Sounds like there was no love lost between these long time rivals.
kpark Quechee, VT Registered: Dec 2003 Posts: 723	Not really Apr 1st, 2013 02:31 PM IN RESPONSE TO: BY: JTStally "Head Contact" "Cross Checking" "Boarding" "Elbowing" Sounds like there was no love lost between these long time rivals. It was actually a pretty clean game. The Elbowing call in OT was kind of weak, Charette "Boarding" me could have been a non-call and I would have been fine with it. We both were heading to the boards hard and fighting for position, He's a bit bigger than I am....so I lost that battle. I didn't see Sprague's Head Contact, but I don't think it was bad either. The game was pretty clean overall. KP
JTStally Hanover, NH Registered: Posts: 159	Good Refereeing Apr 2nd, 2013 02:10 AM IN RESPONSE TO: BY: kpark It was actually a pretty clean game. The Elbowing call in OT was kind of weak, Charette "Boarding" me could have been a non-call and I would have been fine with it. We both were heading to the boards hard and fighting for position, He's a bit bigger than I am....so I lost that battle. I didn't see Sprague's Head Contact, but I don't think it was bad either. The game was pretty clean overall. KP Well, then, props to Eddie for utilizing the various options available to him in the USA Hockey Rulebook. It was definitely more colorful than "Roughing, Interference, Interference, Roughing, Interference."