UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

Dead River Looks For 2nd Win Against Whalers

ODDS:	EVEN
OVER/UNDER:	7 Goals

The 28th of January in the year Two-Thousand and Thirteen will be a day forever in the books as the day the Whalers gave Dead River their first win. The heavily favored Whalers only managed to score 1 goal and were completely stifled by the over-achieving, hard-working motley crew of hockey players called Dead River.

Missing for the Whalers from that game was the ageless wonder Scotty "Sugar" Shaw who's veteran savviness was sorely missed and would have only had a positive affect on the Whale's offense.

Matty "Tazzy" Albertazzi took home the first star with a huge performance for Dead River with 24 saves on 25 shots and forward James "Han" Solon was fantastic as he contributed a goal and assist in the win. Zach "The Legend" Lary filled in for Kenny "The Mustache" Lallier between the pipes for the Whalers and was the 3rd star.

I'm not sure how this one will go. Will the Whalers bring their "A" game and figure out the aggressive Dead River neutral zone trap? Was the outstanding goaltending and defensive effort by Dead River a fluke? Tonight we will find out.

Vegas says it's an even tilt, but I have a feeling that the Whalers come prepared and win this one 4-3 or 5-4.

Dead River Shocks Whalers...Again

Yes, it happened again. Dead River surprised the Whalers yet again for their second win of the season. Dead River played a very smart hockey game tonight as they were doubled up in shots but still managed to pull out the win. The Whalers generated 43 shots on net, but Dead River's Matty "Tazzy" Albertazzi was spectacular, stopping 39 of them and was HUGE in the 3rd period as he stopped 18 of 20. Tazzy's team kept the Whalers to the outside as much as possible and allowed him to do the rest.

Kenny "Le Petit Gran" Lallier's night wasn't quite as positive as the old guy only had 16 saves in 23 games for a .696 Save Percentage.

It was a hell of an offensive night for a handful of players. Dead River was powered by Loren "The Leper" Lunt's hat trick, a 5 point performance from stud-rookie Jamie "Han" Solon and a pair of goals from Terence "Tea Bag" Moran. The Whaler's Woody Redpath had 4 points and defenseman Johnny "On The Spot" Stallsmith racked up his first goal of the season and a helper too boot.

Dead River got things started early with a trio of goals in the first. Loren "The Leper" Lunt started things off about 2 minutes in by jamming home a rebound after Lallier made a pair of quick saves. Albertazzi sent TJ Moran in on a breakaway with a beautiful 100 foot pass and Moran went forehand to backhand deke on Kenny before throwing the puck in blocker side.

Lallier let up a pair of juicy rebounds with seconds to spare in the first and Lunt converted his second of the game to put his team up 3-1.

The only goal for the Whalers in the first came right after Lunt's first goal and tied the game at 1 apiece. Dead River defensive captain Geoff "Nimble" Noble forced a pass up the middle that was picked off by Redpath and fired high and hard on Albertazzi.

The referees also called off another Whaler goal with 44 seconds to play as the puck was batted out of the air with a high stick by Jay "The Zamboni" Zanleoni, great hand eye coordination...no goal.

At 12:53 of the second, Han Solon picked Chucky "Good Guy" Gaede fired a shot and got his own rebound for the goal. Yet again, rebounds plague both Lallier and his defense as the goaltender left them there and his team couldn't help him clean them up and move bodies to prevent scoring chances.

The Whalers cut the lead to 2 goals at 8:03 with Dead River's Mark "Wiggles" Weglarz in the box for checking. The power play goal came off a pretty pass by Redpath and banged home in the slot by Ryan "The Boss" Foss. Solon set up the next play by carrying the puck into Whaler's territory and making a behind the back pass to Spencer "The Flyin' Hawaiin" Zaha who then made a nice pass to Lunt who finished like a pro.

Solon set up the next Dead River goal, this one a power play goal with Dillan "Fierce" Pierce in the box for tripping. Solon fed Moran down low who then turned the puck quickly on Lallier, 5-HOLIO.

END OF THE SECOND PERIOD: Dead River 6, Whalers 2

As previously mentioned, the third period was all Whalers. They pressed as hard as they could, carried play for most of the period and peppered Albertazzi with 20 shots while only allowing 3 on Lallier but weren't able to dig themselves out of their hole. Redpath and Scotty "Sugar" Shaw figured into both goals for the Whalers. Shaw found Woody in the slot and a quick shot, blocker side found the back of the net on the first shift. It took over 12 minutes for the Whalers to get one another one past Albertazzi, this time it was a power play goal that saw some pretty passing from Dillan Pierce to Redpath to Shaw in front of the net, but it took Johnny Stallsmith sneaking down from the point to jam home the rebound for his first goal in 2 seasons.

Less than 2 minutes left, down by a pair of goals and the Whalers pulled their netminder, but Solon added an empty netter with 30 seconds left to seal the deal.

 

Team:	Time:	Type:	Player:	Details:
1st PERIOD
LAB	12:53	Goal	Lunt, Loren(2)	Assist(s): none
WHL	12:05	Goal	Redpath, Woody(7)	Assist(s): Laperle, Gary(6)
WHL	08:59	Penalty	rouillard, jason(5)	2 minutes for Slashing
LAB	05:53	Goal	Moran, Terence(5)	Assist(s): Albertazzi, Matt(2)
LAB	05:00	Penalty	Hadley, Gregory(3)	2 minutes for Interference
LAB	00:07	Goal	Lunt, Loren(3)	Assist(s): Solon, James(4) Charette, Dan(1)
2nd PERIOD
LAB	12:53	Goal	Solon, James(10)	Assist(s): none
LAB	08:58	Penalty	Weglarz, Mark(1)	2 minutes for Body Checking
WHL	08:03	Goal	(PP)Foss, Ryan(3)	Assist(s): Redpath, Woody(14) Stallsmith, Jonathan(2)
LAB	05:27	Goal	Lunt, Loren(4)	Assist(s): Solon, James(5) Zaha, Spencer(2)
WHL	04:28	Penalty	Pierce, Dillan (7)	2 minutes for Tripping
WHL	03:39	Penalty	Yehle, Jason(2)	2 minutes for Holding
LAB	02:21	Goal	(PP)Moran, Terence(6)	Assist(s): Solon, James(6)
3rd PERIOD
WHL	14:14	Goal	Redpath, Woody(8)	Assist(s): Shaw, Scott(7) Pierce, Dillan (5)
LAB	02:57	Penalty	Billings, Trevor(9)	2 minutes for High Sticking
WHL	01:56	Goal	(PP)Stallsmith, Jonathan(1)	Assist(s): Shaw, Scott(8) Redpath, Woody(15)
LAB	00:30	Goal	Solon, James(11)	Assist(s): none

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