THE

UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

Whalers
Lumberjacks
1st
1
3
2rd
1
1
3rd
1
1
FINAL
3
5
Shots
30
31
November 22nd, 2022 - 9:45PM
Union Arena - Woodstock, VT
Pre-Game
Recap
Box Score
Discussion
Game ID: 1418

Whalers Remain Perfect....Perfectly Awful.

This was the night.  The night the Upper Valley Whalers hockey club would finally win a game.  It was set in the stars.  The Lumberjacks were only fielding 8 skaters.  They were missing their sparkplug, Jay "The Zamboni" Zanleoni and the dynamic Jordy "McBreakaway" McGee.  There was NO WAY that the Whalers could lose this game.  But the problem is that they are the Whalers, and do what the Whalers do.....Lose.  

To be compoletely fair, the Whalers dominated stretches of play, but if it weren't for their captain and team Manager, Kelly "Minus 5" Park, they may have had a chance.  Park was awful, contributing absolutely nothing offensively while being on the ice for all 5 goals against.  Hell, Minus 5 even missed an empty netter late in the game to tie it up at four goals apiece.  

Credit is due though to the Lumberjacks who had a career night from Gary "The Pearl Necklace" Laperle.  The Pearl notched a pair of goals and had a helper in the 5-3 win.  The Jacks used 4 different goal scorers to get the job done and did a fantastic job of taking quick shifts and clogging up the middle of the ice.  First line center, Reed "White Chocolate" Hersey, had a solid night at the faceoff dots winning approximately 134% of his draws and chipped in with 3 helpers to seal the deal.  

The Whalers had a big night from Defenseman Teddy "The Gorilla" Pupilla.  The Gorilla had a pair of goals and was all over the ice as if he had a woman in the stands he was trying to impress ;)

The 'Jacks got things started early, scoring a trio of goals in the first 8 minutes.  The first came at 13:07 from defenseman Marc "The Narc" Gattie.  The Narc launched a twisted wrister from the right point that either caught the Whaler's Tucker "Big Sexy" Garrity-Hanchett-Hockey-Guy-With-A-Long-hyphenated-Name napping or sent Big Sexy to the eye doctor to increase his prescription on Wednesday.  Less than a minute later, The Pearl Laperle saucered a beautiful pass from the far corner to Miraldi at the top of the crease.  Laperle's saucer was perfectly placed 18" off the ice where it hit Miraldi and deflected past Big Sexy.  

Patrick "McRebound" McDonough was the beneficiary of a gift rebound from a Miraldi point shot.  Not only did Big Sexy direct the puck right to McDonough, he also slid right out of the goal so McD could notch his 5th of the season.  The word on the dark web is that Tucker owes money to the Irish Mafia, therefore gifting McDonough the goal out of respect and to buy himself time before getting the Nancy Kerrigan treatment.

GAME NOTE:  The Lumberjacks did look a little lost without the Sour Cream in their Baked Potato line.  McGee was sorely missed by McDonough & MaKenzie.

The Whalers were down 3-0 early and things didn't look good.  The mood on the bench was devestation until the Whaler's Chris Inserra collected a puck behind the goal line and banked the puck off the back of the Lumberjack's goalie, Ryan "The Liberator" Libbey.  A crafty veteran move that not only got the Whalers on the board, but opened the game up quite a bit.  The Whalers carried play for the remainder of play, but Libbey was solid, keeping the biscuit out of the basket...as the kids would say.

END OF THE FIRST:  Lumberjacks Lead 3-1.  SAVES: Libbey 9, Big Sexy 7

Pupilla started the scoring in the second with 4:35 off the clock after picking off a cross-ice pass in the neutral zone.  The Gorilla did a great job of delaying at the Jacks blueline to get everyone onside before splitting the defense and beating Libbey with a low hard shot from below the hashmarks.

The Jacks took over after that, outshooting the Whalers 10-3 over the next 10 minutes.  They finally broke through with 7:18 remaining in the second off of a Reed "White Chocolate" Hersey cross-crease pass to Laperle that Park got a piece of, slowing it down and putting it right on Laperle's stick.  Laperle made no mistake and buried the pass.

END OF THE SECOND:  Lumberjacks Lead 4-2.  SAVES: Libbey 15, Big Sexy 20

The Lumberjacks were gassed for the third period, letting up the first 10 shots of the period.  Pupilla made it a one goal game at 10:16 after blocking a point shot.  The puck went to Brandon Chiasson who fired the puck out to center ice after seeing Pupilla fly the zone.  Pupilla walked in on Libbey all alone and beat him low blocker side.  Shots were 10-0 at this point.  Kelly "Open Net" Park failed to tie the game up a couple minutes later after the puck squeeked through traffic to Libbey's left.  Park missed the net by a solid 8 feet.  Pretty impressive considering he was only 4 feet away from the goal.  

Laperle collected his second of the night and third on the season with 6:38 to play on a great pass from Dillan "Fierce" Pierce.  Park...of course...was left alone in front of the net defending Pierce on the near post and LaPerle on the far post.  White Chocolate fired a pass from the point to Pierce who shielded the puck from Park and fed Laperle back door to give the Lumberjacks back a two-goal lead.

The Whalers continued to press, but the Lumberjacks went into victory formation.  Solid win from a short bench.  Whalers should feel shame...they sit 0-4-0 on the season and are getting dangerously close to being eliminated from the playoffs.

FINAL:  Lumberjacks Win 5-3.  SAVES: Libbey 27, Big Sexy 26

LEAGUE PICK 'EM
 0%
Whalers
0% 
Lumberjacks
PICKS
THREE STARS

Gary Laperle

GOALS: 2
POINTS: 3

Reed Hersey

GOALS: 0
POINTS: 3

Theodore Pupilla

GOALS: 2
POINTS: 2

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