UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

Tuck Looks To Bounce Back Against Nords

ODDS:	Tuck By 6
OVER/UNDER:	8 Goals

Tuck was shocked last week by the Whaldiques...a frankenstein-esque mix of Whalers and Nordique players due to the rough weather. It was an outstanding game, anchored by rookie goaltending alternat Zach "The Levy" Lary who also filled in for an injured Kenny "Bumps & Bruises" Lallier who was minorly injured in a skiing accident over the weekend.

Tuck's loss is going to be a bit of a bitch for the Nordiques, who are surely going to be the brunt of some extra effort by the Tuckies.

The Nordiques had a season low 7-0 shutout at the hands of the Gamblers last week. They were terrible inside and out, front to back, up and down the ice. Zero heart, zero desire resulted in a big fat zero on the scoreboard and 7 pucks behind their goaltender.

I'd love to think that the Nordiques have it in them to bounce back, but I'm afraid those old dogs have no new tricks.

Although...history tells us that the Nordiques have started to figure out Tuck, losing 9-0 in November, followed by an 8-2 loss in January and then 5-4 just a month ago. Can the Nordiques deliver back to back losses for Tuck? Can they keep Tuck to under 8 goals?

It's not looking good for the Nordiques. Vegas says that Tuck dominates and wins this one 7-1...but at least they won't be shutout...or will they?

Tuck Improves to 11-2-0 with win over Nordiques

For the fourth time this season, the Tuckies have sent the Nordiques home losers, this time with a score of 7-3. Tuck has outscored the Nordiques 28-9 in the season series.

The Nordiques were missing their stalwart goaltender Johnny "Temper Tantrum" Turner who was out with the flu and was replaced by Dead River's own, Matty "Tazzy" Albertazzi. Tuck was also missing one of their important cogs in Brandon "The Harry One" Harrington who was out doing something else.

Despite giving up 7 goals, the Nordiques should be proud for keeping the Tuckies under their season average of 7.333 goals per game...really really proud...kind of.

Filling the offensive hole for Harrington was Peter "Cougar" Mellencamp. The Cougar netted a pair of goals and an assist in the win. John "Richard" Dawson added a trio of helpers in the win and league scoring leader Jed "Old" McDonald was kept off the scoresheet, but that seems a bit suspect in a 7 goal performance. The referees tend to incorrectly report the scoring plays and usually don't have the mental capacity to remember who scored the 2nd assist. No offense referees!

This was actually a pretty close game early on with the Nordiques going down early 3-0, battling back 3-2 and then falling apart in the 2nd half of the game.

Tuck opened the game up with a fluke goal when a point shot from Mike Nowak popped up in the air, landed on to of the Nordique goaltender's head, rolled down his back and in. Mellen's first of the night was no fluke and all skill, as the speedy Turducken slipped past the Nordique's defense, broke in on Albertazzi all alone and beat the goalie with a backhand to forehand move. Dawson made the 3rd goal happen on sheer will, as he fought off 2 Nordiques in the far corner, curled high in the zone faked a slapshot and let a hard pass go to Peter "The Fever" Lefeber in the slot. Lefeber tipped the beaut of a pass.

Greg "The Butcher of Hanover" Marsh broke the ice by jamming home a rebound from Jordy "McBreakaway" McGee with 3:33 to play. Despite going down big early, the Nordiques did outshoot Tuck 12-8 in the period and felt some confidence heading into the 2nd frame.

The Nords opened up the scoring early in the 3rd when Dr. Roger "The Drill" Phillips entered Dangle-nation heading down the near side and into Tuck's zone. Dangle-nation threw about 72.5 moves on a Tuck defenseman, headed behind the net, but back and fed a pass through the slot to defenseman Ryan "The Governator" McGovern who let a slapper go from the tops of the circles. That slapper found the iron behind Mike "The Divine One" Divine through a screen and through his gaping 5-hole. Nowak added his second goal of the night late in the second from Lefeber before Josh Gartner put Tuck up 5-2 just 30 seconds later from Dawson.

It looked like it was lights out for the Nordiques, but on the next shift a cycle from Eric "Special K" Krivitzky to Phillips to Park in the corner, back to Phillips in the slot ended in a goal just inside the far post along the ice. It was a glimmer of hope for the Nordiques and they battled for the rest of the period to keep it scoreless. The Nords only managed 5 shots on net in that second period to Tuck's 7.

The 3rd period started to loosen up a little with the Nordiques generating 12 shots on goal to Tuck's 10, but Devine was fantastic and stopped all 12. Albertazzi was also good, but Tuck managed to get 2 behind him ofrom Mellen and Spencer "Wild Thing" Vaughn.

Overall it was a pretty solid game from both teams. Tuck was clearly the better team but the game was a little bit tighter than the 7-3 score would tell.

 

Team:	Time:	Type:	Player:	Details:
1st PERIOD
TCK	10:47	Goal	Nowak, Mike(8)	Assist(s): none
TCK	07:54	Goal	Mellen, Peter(7)	Assist(s): Rautiola, Eric(10)
TCK	05:44	Goal	Lefeber, Peter(7)	Assist(s): Dawson, John(10)
NDQ	03:33	Goal	Marsh, Greg(3)	Assist(s): McGee, Jordan(10)
2nd PERIOD
NDQ	13:58	Goal	McGovern, Ryan(1)	Assist(s): Phillips, Roger(4)
TCK	11:55	Penalty	Curran, John(5)	2 minutes for Slashing
NDQ	09:55	Penalty	Racicot, Brian(4)	2 minutes for Holding
TCK	06:05	Goal	Nowak, Mike(9)	Assist(s): Lefeber, Peter(4)
TCK	05:35	Goal	Gartner, Josh(3)	Assist(s): Dawson, John(11)
NDQ	05:08	Goal	Phillips, Roger(7)	Assist(s): Park, Kelly(8) Krivitzky, Eric(4)
3rd PERIOD
TCK	14:06	Penalty	Devine, Mike(1)	2 minutes for Tripping
TCK	09:07	Goal	Mellen, Peter(8)	Assist(s): Rautiola, Eric(11) Dawson, John(12)
TCK	05:30	Goal	Vaughn, Spencer(3)	Assist(s): Mellen, Peter(8)

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Game Comments:
JTStally Hanover, NH Registered: Posts: 159	The Nords Suck! Feb 25th, 2014 12:59 PM I hadn't posted in a while, so I figured I'd stir up the pot. The title of my post fully shares my opinion ... I look forward to Parky or Marshy attempting to provide some sort of coherent response :)
stu1848 Etna, NH Registered: Posts: 7	Blow me! Feb 25th, 2014 01:24 PM Fun Meister
The Dark Canuck Fairlee, VT Registered: Dec 2004 Posts: 340	Alright Stally Feb 25th, 2014 01:50 PM I'll bite. we suck. Yes, we do. But it doesn't take a college-educated, now likely working at Circle K dipshit to figure that out. Where were you at the last Nords/Whale battle? Oh, right...working.
JTStally Hanover, NH Registered: Posts: 159	Well-Played Marshy Feb 26th, 2014 08:56 AM That was more coherent than I had expected. I'd honestly just figured that the Whale could beat you guys without my offensive contribution, but I was wrong. I've circled March 18 as a game I must make. Perhaps I'll even register an assist!