UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

Ding Ding Ding: Tuck & Gamblers, Round 4

ODDS:	Tuck By 3 Goals
OVER/UNDER:	11 Goals

The two titans of the UVHL faceoff tonight in their fourth meeting of the season. The first game was a tight 5-4 win for the Gamblers, since then it has been all Tuck. Tuck blew them out 9-3 in late November and then 7-0 on January 28th.

The Gamblers are clearly a better team than they have recently put forth against Tuck. Both teams have attained an 11-2-0 record, but the difference shows itself in the goal differential as Tuck is a 62 while the Gamblers are at 35.

The 95 goals scored in 13 games by Tuck is pretty insane, but the 33 goals allowed is even more impressive, especially in a Men's league where defense seems to be an afterthought.

Both teams have dynamic offenses and tonight should showcase some of the best of the UVie with 8 of the top scorers in the league facing off. Tuck has the top two scorers in Jed "Old" McDonald(40 pts) & Brandon "The Harry One" Harrington(36 pts) leading the way. The Gamblers have 4 of the next 5 point scorers with Topo LaCroix(29 pts), Marc "The Narc" Gattie(24 pts), Dan "The Danimal" Ammel(22 pts) & Matty "The Milkman" Marrazzo(21 pts).

Tuck's youth, energy and goaltending seem to be the differentiating factors here. Tuck takes this one 7-4.

Gamblers Get Revenge in

The Gamblers finally turned things around against their nemesis Tuckies. After dropping their last two games to Tuck 7-0 and 9-3, they played a full 45 minutes and kept the high powered Tuckies to just a pair of goals. A big part of the defensive effort goes to the Nordique's goaltender, Johnny "Temper Tantrum" Turner who was filling in for an injured Ryan Van Schoik. Turner "was huge" throughout this game, especially in the first.

Turner's counterpart, Mike "Wine & Dine" Devine was also very good as he stopped 25 of 27 shots, but wasn't able to stop Topo "Thing 1" LaCroix in the shootout.

Turner was at his best in the first, stopping all 18 shots he faced while Devine only saw 8 shots.

LaCroix got things going in the first on the penalty kill when he blocked a point shot from a Tuckie defenseman. The defenseman pinched and LaCroix was able to move the puck to Josh Robinson who broke in all alone on Devine and lit him up with a snapper top cheese, glove side.

That was the only goal of the first, but the play had a really nice flow to it.

END OF THE FIRST: Gamblers 1, Tuck 0. SAVES: Turner(GMB) 18, Devine(TCK) 7

The second period was more of the first, but the flow was reversed with the Tuckies being outshot 11-4, and Tuck scoring the only goal. There was a trio of penalties in the period and the last penalty to Matty "The Milkman" Marrazzo for hooking at 1:11 produced a power play goal for Tuck. It was a series of nice passes that found Jed "Old" McDonald on the back door for a goal that hit Turner and barely crossed the goal line with just 30 seconds left in the 2nd. Tie game.

END OF THE SECOND: Gamblers 1, Tuck 1. SAVES: Turner(GMB) 21, Devine(TCK) 18

The third period opened up a little bit with both teams scoring a goal. Tuck took the lead with 8:48 on a sweet give and go with Peter "Cougar" Mellencamp to Brandon "The Harry One" Harrington who then Beat Turner with a twisted wrister high glove side.

Devine made a Hasek-like diving save with 7:07 to play on LaCroix who was camped out on the backdoor but the next shift saw Dougie "Lightweight" Heavisides chip a puck up the boards to Marrazzo with speed. Marrazzo turned the defenseman and cut in on Devine, beating him 5-holio along the ice to tie the game.

Tuck controlled play the next 5 minutes and Turner was huge.

END OF REGULATION: Gamblers 2, Tuck 2. SAVES: Turner(GMB) 35, Devine(TCK) 25

Shootout time. The Gamblers defer and Tuck shoots first.

TUCK - Jed "Richard" Dawson hits the post - NO GOAL
GMB - Marrazzo fires a snapper from 15 feet - BLOCKER SAVE
TUCK - Harrington goes 5-hole - SAVE
GMB - LaCroix - snapper - high glove side - GOAL
TUCK - McDonald - Made a deke to backhand missed empty netter - NO GOAL

GAMBLERS WIN!

 

Team:	Time:	Type:	Player:	Details:
1st PERIOD
GMB	13:08	Penalty	Harrington, Mike(9)	2 minutes for Slashing
GMB	11:12	Goal	(SH)Bergeron, Ryan(3)	Assist(s): LaCroix, Topo(11)
2nd PERIOD
TCK	13:52	Penalty	Dawson, John(6)	2 minutes for Slashing
TCK	03:57	Penalty	Gartner, Josh(1)	2 minutes for Tripping
GMB	01:11	Penalty	Marrazzo, Matt(5)	2 minutes for Hooking
TCK	00:30	Goal	(PP)McDonald, Jed(19)	Assist(s): Wannop, Jeff(13) Harrington, Brandon (13)
3rd PERIOD
TCK	08:48	Goal	Harrington, Brandon (25)	Assist(s): Mellen, Peter(9) Wannop, Jeff(14)
GMB	05:26	Goal	Marrazzo, Matt(11)	Assist(s): Heavisides, Douglas(9)
GMB	03:29	Penalty	Marrazzo, Matt(6)	2 minutes for Roughing
TCK	03:29	Penalty	Rautiola, Eric(9)	2 minutes for Roughing
SHOOTOUT
TCK	1	Dawson, John		SAVE BY John Turner
GMB	2	Marrazzo, Matt		SAVE BY Mike Devine
TCK	3	Harrington, Brandon		SAVE BY John Turner
GMB	4	LaCroix, Topo		GOAL Scored on Mike Devine
TCK	5	McDonald, Jed		SAVE BY John Turner

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