THE

UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

Brewers
Gamblers
1st
1
3
2rd
0
3
3rd
0
3
FINAL
1
9
Shots
26
44
February 2nd, 2010 - 6:30PM
Union Arena - Woodstock, VT
Pre-Game
Recap
Box Score
Discussion
Game ID: 628

Gamblers Walk all over Brewers: 8-2


The Red Hot Gamblers showed up tonight on a roll....a season long roll where they hadn't lost in regulation in 15 games. Previously spanking a dismal Dead River squad 8-4, they looked to tighten up their defense against an inconsistent Brewers team. The Brewers can be the best team in the league one night, and look like horse-shit the next. Unfortunately for them, the team wide mandate stated "Please show up and look like horse-shit tonight." From their netminder, Pete "The Meat" Bartline, letting in a softie in the first 30 seconds, to the inability for their centermen to win a faceoff to the insane number of turnovers they gave up in all 3 zones....they were doomed from the initial puck drop. On the other hand, let's not disrespect the team effort from the Gamblers. The Brewers were not good, but their effort was compounded by a NASTY 'Blers team running on all cylinders. 2 solid lines, 4 solid defensemen and a hell of a goalie to round out the team.

The game started out on a sour note as the Gamblers took possession off the initial faceoff and quickly moved the puck up ice creating a 2 on 1. Matty "The Milkman" Marrazzo brought the puck down the far side and seemed to be caught between whether to pass it to a streaking winger or fire it on net, what ended up happening was a kind of weak dump in on net, but the Brewer's Bartline started cheating over for the pass and the 8 MPH dump on net went in dead center as Bartline stumbled over himself trying to bend over to pick it up. Ugly goal, and it set the tone for the rest of the game, as Marrazzo seemed to think everything that he threw at the net would go in....and it almost did. Marrazzo walked away with a high 4 goals and added an assist for his second straight 5 point night and 14 points in his last 3 games. The Gamblers went up 2-1 on a Reuben "On Rye" Lyons goal at 12:01. Lyons was at his best tonight patrolling the blue line for the Gamblers adding a goal & 3 assists. Despite the offensive punch from "Reuby", his most valuable asset tonight was initiating a smooth breakout with usually started with sucking a Brewers defender deep into the corner before effortlessly moving the puck up to his forwards for an odd man rush. As the game wore on, the odd man rushes for the 'Blers became more frequent and the ice started to slant DEEPLY into the Brewers end. At one point I had to keep looking in the stands to see if there was a large group of children or video cameras because it seemed as though the Gamblers were putting on some sort of Puck Control Clinic. It was almost embarrassing to watch the Brewers chase the Gamblers around like chickens with their heads cut off, and it seemed as if the Brewers were able to gain possession, they would turn it right back over. One of these clinics ended up in a gorgeous tic-tac-toe goal with 18 seconds to play in the first. The goal came with 5 quick passes deep in the Brewers zone that saw the puck go from the point down to Marrazzo at the faceoff dot, down to Ammel at the near goal line, across the crease to Meyer at the far post, back to Ammel at the near post and then finally to Marrazzo at the hash marks for the goal. All 5 passes happened within 10 seconds and gave the Gamblers a 3-1 lead.

The second period wasn't any better for the Brew Crew as they let up another 3 goals. Tyson "Chicken" Seely added a pair of partial breakaway goals and Marrazzo added his 2nd of the night. Seely's second goal came off of a faceoff in the far corner of the 'Blers zone, which was won cleanly by Allison "The Hook" Malcolm back to Reuby Lyons who saw Seely breaking up the far boards. Lyons lofted a puck to Seely who picked it up in the neutral zone and beat Bartline with a quick move and shot. The second period seemed to be the worst for the Brewers as they had major issues winning faceoffs putting them in a hole from every faceoff as the Gamblers the moved the puck around at will. Bartline made some big saves in the 2nd, but not enough to keep his team in it.

The Gamblers put it in cruise control in the 3rd, up 6-1 but still managed to put up 3 more goals. Meyer & Marrazzo each scored their 25th goals of the season, which leads the entire UVHL. Both also added an assist to give Meyer 50pts & Marrazzo 49 (again, league leaders). Ammel added his 3rd assist of the night, setting up Marrazzo at 8:19. The third goal of the period came from "The Hook" Malcolm at 2:22 after Seely stripped the Brewer's Danny "Super Chunk" Charette at his own blue line and broke in again on another breakaway only to be hooked by Garren "PIMS" Poirier as he shot and earning a delayed penalty call on PIMS. Seely lost control of the puck, sending it to the backboards where he made a move to the corner, sucking Poirier to him and finding "The Hook" in front all alone as the rest of the Brewers coasted in defeat back to their zone. "The Hook" beat Bartline with a quick wrister up over his pad, sparking Poirier to question the refs decision to call a hooking penalty on a breakaway in an 8-1 game. The referee quickly responded...."Just because you guys are getting blown out, doesn't give you free reign to break the rules." Poirier went back to the bench in shame.....that would have been his 3rd penalty of the day, and they only penalties called in the entire game.


Game Notes: Marrazzo is the only player to put up points in all 16 games this season. Poirier moved 4 PIMs closer to the all time record holder for Penalty Minutes in one season (Artie Stout 64 minutes in 2006-2007). Poirier is still 33 PIMs away from Stouts Career 184 Penalty Minutes Record as well.....but Garren is sure to top that next season.
LEAGUE PICK 'EM
 25%
Brewers
75% 
Gamblers
8 PICKS
THREE STARS

Matt Marrazzo

GOALS: 4
POINTS: 5

Reuben Lyons

GOALS: 1
POINTS: 4

Greg Feiden

GA: 1
SAVES: 25
SAVE%: 0.962

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