THE

UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

Gamblers
Whalers
1st
1
3
2rd
3
1
3rd
1
1
FINAL
6
5
Shots
35
30
October 25th, 2005 - 8:05PM
Pre-Game
Recap
Box Score
Discussion
Game ID: 211

Bad News Bruins win shootout over last place Leafs

Finally the rules of engagement have been set. Thanks to Bruins disgruntled captain Greg Hadley the UVHL's rules have been enforced at long last. Hadley delivered the "bad news" to Leafs captain Doug Heavisides after the Bruins found themselves down 3-1 after the surprising first period of play by the Leafs that the 3 subs filling in on the Leafs were not approved pre-game and "H" had to send them back to the locker room and continue the game with only the 8 original Leafs that showed up from his 15-skater roster. It was a blow to the quality of the game that had been witnessed beforehand, but the integrity of the league rules was upheld (finally) as opposing captains MUST ask the other captain if it is okay to have any subs fill in BEFORE the puck drops. That meant that Tom Scull, Greg Marsh and Shawn McDermott were denied double duty on the Leafs after Hadley made his decision during the second intermission. To the Leafs' credit, they held on, and played like a team with fire in their belly for the first time this season, and to all present this night on the Leafs the outlook was encouraging as they took a point away from the second place Bruins with only 8 skaters for the last two-thirds of the game, and the exciting shootout to boot! Perhaps Hadley looked at his own squad with only 10 skaters before delivering the bad news, and not seeing Ryan Sinclair, Aaron Isabelle, Matt Marrazzo, Alec Jessiman and Rob Pelletier on the Bruins bench compared to the 11 on the Leafs pine that started the game made him fearful of dropping in the standings from an unfair and unapproved advantage to his opponents. Whatever his own reasons were, the UVHL rules are in place for a reason (to make it fair for everyone, and NO RINGERS!), and Hadley was perfectly within his right to have his opponents play with only their rostered players against his beloved Bruins. Perhaps this will entice the other captains to actually read the UVHL rules for once. In truth, however, captain "H" just forgot and was occupied worrying about having enough players to fill the bench with 7 no-shows in his line-up. Several Leafs actually had legitimate excuses and it was just a coincidence that so many could not make it on the same night - Todd Nalette's wife just had their second baby girl (Carlie) on Friday, Kirt Johnson passed the Anniversary test his wife gave him ("Well, you can go if you really want to..." - Smart move, Johnson!), the Cardigan contingent of Kyle Manny and Ian Stevens had to contend with the bad weather, and winger Jon Burke is on the injured reserve, however we are not sure what happened to Dave Riley and Jay Campion. In any case, the Leafs line up for the second and third consisted of captain "H", Dave Fitts, Sean Casavant, Dan Leonard, Jason Loomis, Chris Gogan, Chip Davis, Dan Goduti and goaltender Ken Lallier. In fact, on this first night of snow and bad weather ALL of the UVHL's rosters were short except that of the Nordiques who were without only one player. Ref Tony Gove was displeased with the quality of the game after the subs were dispatched to the locker room, and post-game recommended that a team should be able to keep at least 2 lines on the bench no matter who shows up on the roster. In the first the Leafs started it off with a goal by their captain from Fitts and Loomis at 9:04 to give them their first lead of the young season. The Leafs extended their lead at 7:49 with 10 seconds left on the PP with the Bruins chippy Tony DeFelice in the box for cross-checking when Loomis got his second point of the period scoring on Hadley from Fitts and the subbing Tom Scull. Perhaps Scull's contribution was what made Hadley take notice (because I'm sure he wasn't scared of McDermott scoring of Marsh beating anyone with his post-baby sympathy blinding speed...) and decide to enforce the rules, but the Bruins answered only 38 seconds later when Jay Smith got his first of the night from newcomer Steve Geiger at 7:11. The period ended with the Leafs going up 3-1 on Fitts' third point of the period with only 57 seconds left with helpers to Heavisides and McDermott (however Frenchy still leads 2-0 over the co-commish as this assist was earned as a sub and doesn't count for reg. season stats, but as Kelly Park would say "It still counts towards CAREER STATS!"). With the Bruins down 3-1 at the end of the first Hadley made his way to the Leaf bench to inform the co-commish that the subs could no longer play, and Scull, Marsh and McDermott headed to the locker room disappointed merely for the fact that they could no longer play the game they love. No big deal was made about any of it, and captain "H" took the news well, learning a lesson in the process. The second and third periods could be described as a snorefest compared to the fast, hard and competitive play of the first when the teams were evenly matched, but there were good chances and some nice goals scored when it mattered, The Bruins came back to tie the game 4-4 by period's end scoring 3 of their own in the second frame to the Leafs one, and they started fast taking advantage of the Leafs' shock at losing 3 skaters by scoring only 24 seconds into the period on Seth "Home School" Warren's marker after connecting with Jay Smith and Andy Holland. However, the Leafs were not finished yet, and regained their 2 goal lead half a period later when Loomis got his second of the game at 7:06 from Chris Gogan to make it 4-2. The Bruins cut the deficit on Homey's second of the period at 3:56 from DeFelice and Smith (again). The Bruins tied it on a power play with only 5 seconds left in the period, a game killer goal, after Gogan got called for holding at 0:35. Andy Holland got the goal from fellow D Scott Fraser and forward Don Powers to make it 4-4 and anyone's game to take in the third. Captain "H" must have listened to his own inspiring speech between periods because he got a sweet shorty at 13:31 while Dan Leonard was in the box for roughing assisted by Sean Casavant, but the Bruins evened it up on the same PP only 11 seconds later when Jay Smith capitalized on his own rebound off a goal mouth feed from Seth Warren. OT was forced with 13:20 to go, and neither team could gain the advantage from mutual power plays later in the period. OT SHOOTOUT: Hadley was solid and denied the Leafs' Doug Heavisides, Dave "I only have one toe-drag top shelf breakaway but I missed the net again move" Fitts, and Jason Loomis, each of whom had scored on Hadley during regulation. Lallier gave up one to the game hero Jay Smith on their first attempt, but stopped the dangerous Andy Holland on the Bruins second attempt with a great save, and the Bruins' third shooter didn't need to go as the Leafs did not score to even the shootout on their third attempt.
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