THE

UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

Gamblers
Whalers
1st
1
4
2rd
2
1
3rd
3
3
FINAL
6
8
Shots
40
39
February 16th, 2010 - 7:55PM
Union Arena - Woodstock, VT
Pre-Game
Recap
Box Score
Discussion
Game ID: 635

Gamblers finally lose in regulation: 8-6 to the Whalers!

Do you believe in miracles? You should.....or maybe you should just start to finally believe in the "lowly" Whalers who have turned their franchise from a dud to a stud....oh that was GAY! Tonight we saw the 15-0-2 Gamblers take their first regulation loss to the 4-11-2 Whalers. The Whalers who started the season with a dismal 1-9-1 record have been on fire, going 4-2-1 in their last 7 games, including another shootout win over the Gamlbers, 3-2 win over Dead River, 4-3 win over the "New Lowly" Nordiques and a 5-4 shootout loss to Tuck. Leading up to tonights loss, the Gamblers had tore off 4 consecutive wins including a 9-1 thrashing of the Brewers, 8-4 thumbing of Dead River and a solid 5-2 win over a tough Tuck team.

Rumor has it that the Whaler's were hopped up on some new energy drink made from Whale Sperm, Fish Oils & Chrystal Meth. The drink was actually developed by one of their defensemen, Jon "The Trojan" Stallsmith who took 1 semester of chemistry at USC and is actually called "Chrystal Whale Spooge". You can pick up your own case of Chrystal Whale Spooge(C.W.S.) at any Walmart or Mobil Jiffy Mart this summer. The C.W.S. put a pop & swagger in the feet of the Whalers as they jumped out to a commanding 4-1 lead in the first. Jay "The Chin" Zanleoni netted two of his 3 goals in the first period, the first coming off of a nice pass from behind the net after Zanleoni used his giant Leno-Like chin to bump off a defender, took the pass and went top cheese on Feiden for the goal. The second came on a nice play from Clausen who drove hard to the post and chipped a pass in front for Zanleoni to chip in, again after using his giant chin to bump off a defender and give himself some room. Also contributing in the period was Steve "The Beav" Bernier with an early unassisted goal to set the tone for the game, and Gary "The Pearl" Laperle who had a magnificent individual play after taking a pass from Scotty "Goal Light" Leger behind his own goal. Laperle darted out past his goaltender and did an ice-dancing move reminiscent of a Triple Lutz, quickly followed by a triple clutz across his own blueline. He flipped the puck straight up in the air and over another 2 Gambler's in the neutral zone, catching it as it came down behind them at center ice, but before catching the puck, he looked over at McDermott's daughter in the scorebox, winked and gave her the double revolver before returning the puck to his stick. He then did a spin-o-rama at the blue line to fend off another 3 Gambler's before pulling another new move called the "Fake like you're tripping over yourself, fall down and get back up with nobody around you". This move surprised everyone, but Laperle kept going. He headed behind the net and cut back to avoid another 2 Gambler's players, cut to the slot, flipped the puck up in the air and batted the puck out of mid air, tearing a hole right through the glove of the Gambler's Greg Feiden for the goal. Feiden was uncharacteristically off tonight as he let in 7 goals on 39 shots, and ballooning his GAA from a league leading 2.13 to 4th with a 2.67. Rumor has it that he was slumming in the "B" league last week and gave up 12 goals, shattering his confidence and sending him into a "John Turner-like" tunnel of self doubt and darkness. Feiden actually wasn't that bad tonight, but the Whalers really were THAT GOOD, as most of their goals were scored on turnovers, rebounds & back door passes. The Gamblers only score in the period came from Dan "The Man" Ammel who finished off a pass from the two loves of his life, girlfriend / hockey goddess Allison "Captain Hook" Malcolm & Matty "The Milkman" Marrazzo. Don't worry, we'll cover the coming of age of "The Milkman" later in this recap, as his play tonight was inspired.

END OF THE FIRST: Whalers 4, Gamblers 1

Sean "Santa" Clausen wrapped up a gift from Scotty "Uber-Competitve" Shaw & Chucky "Cheese" Gaede just 35 seconds into the second to give the Whalers a dominating 5-1 lead. The lead seemed too big to overcome, but some fans quietly whispered that the Gamblers were too dangerous to take lightly, and that the Whalers had no chance to hang on as the G-Men started to get their rhythm and carry the play early in the 2nd period. Two quick scores from Tyson "Chicken" Seely & "The Milkman" made it 5-3, but the most important thing here was that Marrazzo had finally surpassed linemate Willy "The Miserable" Meyer for the league lead in scoring and would continue to build on that lead with 3 goals & 2 assists on the night taking over the lead in all 3 categories with 55 points, 28 goals AND 27 assists. Marrazzo was nasty late in this game, and for someone built like an Ethiopian long distance runner, he is deceptively strong, and isn't afraid to take the puck hard to the net.

END OF THE SECOND: Whalers 5, Gamblers 3

You have to give the Whaler's some credit, they didn't go into panic mode and continued to play their game, taking chances and forechecking like rabid animals. They showed a complete lack of respect for the Gambler's, and weren't about to succumb to the powerhouse line of Marrazzo-Meyer-Ammel (MMA). They added another goal in the first minute of the 3rd period on a GREAT play from the big d-man Chuckey Gaede, who took a turnover in his own end all the way down the boards into Gambler's territory before dropping a perfect pass to Shaw at the hashmarks for the goal. Gaede was stellar in this one, adding 3 assists to his tough defensive play. Meyer finally struck for his first point on the night which ended up being a lucky bounce from behind the net as initial shot deflected to the end boards and his pass out front hit a defenders stick, bounced up in the air, off of the back of Kenny "Le Pipes" Lallier and into the net. The Whalers continued to pressure, causing a blatant foul by Mikey Harrington who had had enough of Zanleoni skating around everyone in his own end. The hold / tackle / chop / jab probably could have been counted as 2 or 3 different penalties within a 10 second span, but the referee only gave Harrington the holding call. It didn't take long for the Whale to strike on a BEAUTIFUL tic-tac-toe play that saw Bernier find Shaw through the crease on the back door. Feiden read the play and made an unbelievably quick move across his crease only to see Shaw make a better move by passing it to Zanleoni all alone in front for the hatty and the 7-4 lead with 10:42 to play.

Marrazzo was a man on a mission scoring 2 goals on the same shift at 9:05 & 7:52 to play. The first coming from Jason Young "Blood" and the second from pointman Marc "The Narc" Gattie & "The Danimal". You could start to smell the panic coming off the Whaler's bench, but the veterans quickly calmed the team down, and the Whaler's tightened up their own end with over 7 minutes to play and a 1 goal lead. Clausen closed out the scoring with a 180 foot empty netter from his own goal line after Zanleoni won the faceoff cleanly back to him. It was a hell of a shot, had some loft and ended up dead center of the net with 27 seconds to play.

END OF REGULATION: Whalers 8, Gamblers 6

We've all known that the Gamblers are for real since week 1, but it seems as though the only team that can beat them is the Whalers who now own a 2-1-1 record against them this season. They effectively shut down Meyer, which may have been the plan, opening up the rink for the rest of the Gamblers, but turnovers & penalties hurt the G-Men in this one. It was a hell of a game, even though Meyer, who I grabbed for a quick interview post game, wouldn't admit. Meyer was as miserable as ever, and couldn't even throw some credit the way of the Whalers as he sulked and slithered out of the rink as if someone had just stabbed him in the heart.

The Whalers were elated, and deserve to be. They have effectively turned their season around, but the Gamblers have a chance at redemption in the last game of the season.
LEAGUE PICK 'EM
 83%
Gamblers
17% 
Whalers
6 PICKS
THREE STARS

Matt Marrazzo

GOALS: 3
POINTS: 5

Jay Zanleoni

GOALS: 3
POINTS: 4

Scott Shaw

GOALS: 1
POINTS: 4

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