UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

Dead River Looks For Second Win Against Tuck

ODDS:	Tuck by 6 Goals
OVER/UNDER:	12 Goals

Dead River shocked the Upper Valley two weeks ago with a stifling defensive effort in a 2-1 win over the Whalers. That was their first win this season and unfortunately for them, they are trying to get their second against the powerhouse Turduckens.

The Tuck Flying Swans have been on a tear since returning from their holiday break. They have gone 5-0-0 since the new year and have out scored their oponents 36-13. The most impressive win in that series was a 7-0 thumping of the 9-1-0 Gamblers

This one is a clear mis-match, but the Dead Riverians are feisty, hungry and naive enough to actually pull off another upset...buuuuuuut, that ain't gonna happen. Tuck wins with 9 goals, Dead River may score up to 3.

Dead River Starts Strong,

This was the classic David vs Goliath battle as the 10-1-0 Tuckies took on the 1-10-0 Dead Riverians. Vegas had the Dead River running red with their own blood and correctly predicted this being a 9-3 win for Tuck. What Vegas never saw coming was Dead River jumping out to a 2-1 lead and scoring three goals on the usually stingy Mike Devine. What is more surprising is that 6 goals were scored in the first 4:07 on the first 9 shots of the game.

Dead River opened the scoring in the first period on a point shot from Geoff Noble through a screen. The rebound landed on the stick of Jamie "Han" Solon in the high slot and a quick snapper beat Devine low blocker side. That goal came on the first shift and was a complete shocker to all 3 people in the stands.

Tuck tied the game less than a minute later when Jed "Old" McDonald found Eric "The Rat" Rautiola crashing the net hard on the backdoor. Ratty chips it past Tazzy and and goes crashing to end boards.

Han Solon put his team back up 43 seconds later as he walks out of corner, cuts to the slot and beats Devine glove side.

Tucks Mike Nowak responded with his 8th of the season just 29 seconds after Solon's goal on a play that I missed, but I'm pretty sure it involved the triple-deke from Mighty Ducks 1 or the knuckle puck from Mighty Ducks 2.

Josh Gartner put his team up 3-2 on the next shift after John Dawson gets the puck to the left of Tazzy and gets pushed below the goal line but feeds the puck out front to Gartner who jams it home with 11:04 to play in the first...that's just 3:56 into the game.

Guess what fucking happened on the next shift...nope, on the next faceoff? Yup, another fracking goal. This time Dead River's Justin Lawrence toe drags a Tuck defender at the offensive blue line and heads in on Devine alone, pulls forehand, puts it back hand and quickly past Devine about a foot off the ice blocker side...sick goal.

Tuck managed to get another goal in the first period to send the two teams to the first intermission with a 4-3 score. That goal was the first of three for Brandon "The Harry One" Harrington as he got the puck on the far boards, steals the puck from a Dead Riverian, cuts to the goal line and fakes behind the net, jumps in front and puts a quick backhander 5-hole on Tazzy.

Dead River battled hard and their goaltender Tazzy Albertazzi was excellent, keeping the dynamic Tuckie offense off the board until an insane power play goal from John "Cookie Jar" Curan opened things up with 2:43 to play in the second. Curran walked down the near boards and cut to the net along the goal line. He dropped his shoulder sending the Dead River goalie to the ice and roofed a backhander under the crossbar from no angle. Sick, sick, sick goal. He will NEVER be able to repeat that goal...I think.

Dawson scored a late goal from Jeffrey "The Wasp" Wannop late in the first period and Dead River started to unravel.

Three more goals in the third period, two by Harrington and one by McDonald, put this game way out of reach for Dead River. It was a great effort for almost 2 periods by Dead River who is slowly becoming a threat in the UVHL.

 

Team:	Time:	Type:	Player:	Details:
1st PERIOD
LAB	14:26	Goal	Solon, James(6)	Assist(s): noble, geoff(2)
TCK	13:33	Goal	Rautiola, Eric(9)	Assist(s): McDonald, Jed(21) Wannop, Jeff(9)
LAB	12:50	Goal	Solon, James(7)	Assist(s): Lawrence, Justin(3)
TCK	12:21	Goal	Nowak, Mike(7)	Assist(s): none
TCK	11:04	Goal	Gartner, Josh(2)	Assist(s): Dawson, John(8)
LAB	10:53	Goal	Lawrence, Justin(4)	Assist(s): Solon, James(3) Lunt, Loren(5)
TCK	06:02	Goal	Harrington, Brandon (21)	Assist(s): none
2nd PERIOD
TCK	12:05	Penalty	Curran, John(4)	2 minutes for Hooking
TCK	11:12	Penalty	Rautiola, Eric(8)	2 minutes for Tripping
LAB	04:39	Penalty	Albertazzi, Matt(1)	2 minutes for Hooking
TCK	02:43	Goal	(PP)Curran, John(3)	Assist(s): none
LAB	01:45	Penalty	Albertazzi, Matt(2)	2 minutes for Interference
TCK	01:07	Goal	Dawson, John(9)	Assist(s): Wannop, Jeff(10) Curran, John(5)
3rd PERIOD
LAB	13:48	Penalty	Solon, James(2)	2 minutes for Hooking
TCK	11:46	Goal	Harrington, Brandon (22)	Assist(s): Devooght, Mark(4) Rautiola, Eric(9)
TCK	10:26	Goal	McDonald, Jed(17)	Assist(s): none
TCK	08:01	Goal	Harrington, Brandon (23)	Assist(s): McDonald, Jed(22)

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