UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

ODDS:	Brewers by 3 goals
OVER/UNDER:	9 goals

Dead River & the Brewers....this should be fun. Dead River has been in a season long freefall that has resulted in 4 straight losses leading up to tonight. Consistency has been the bane of their existence as they have been able to put together a couple nights of explosive offense, but were missing goaltending, some stellar defensive & goaltending efforts, but then their offense is nowhere to be found. They currently sit at 4-11-1 and can only improve, but regardless of their latest hardships, you can never count them down and out.

The Brewers also boast one of the worst attendance records this season as they always seem to be riding a short bench. On the other hand, after a dismal start 0-3 start they have battled back to .500 with an 8-8 record including a horrendous 9-1 loss to the top ranked Gamblers last week.

Both teams are racking up penalty minutes this season at a record pace with 135 apiece in 16 games played. This is why we have placed Shawn "McDiscipline" McDermott & Marc "The Narc" Gattie in stripes to patrol the ice and keep this one from getting ugly. "Starin' " Garren Poirier will likely add 3 penalties to his resume in this one, while Tommy "I didn't do nuttin' " Scull will not get a single penalty he deserves.

Given the dismal play coming out of Dead River camp.....This should be a 5-2 loss for them, but I'm still waiting on the pre-game injury reports & final rosters.

Dead River still in the Basement with 5-2 loss to Brewers.

In what could have been a complete and utter penalty-fest, the two top Sin-Bin loving teams faced off. Both the Brewers & Dead River have amassed 135 Penalty Minutes each this year in 16 games. That's 270 PIMs in 32 games played, averaging just under 8.5 minutes per game per team is a stark contrast to Tuck's 3.75 minutes per game. With Shawn "McWhistle" McDermott & Marc "The Narc" Gattie calling the game, there was potential for hundreds of penalty minutes in this one, but both teams seemed to draw back on their aggression and focus on playing hockey. Dead River was without team captain / goaltender extraordinaire Greg "Herpes" Hadley who was out of town to get some treatment. I'm not quite sure if his absence hurt or helped his team, but filling in between the pipes was Woodstock High School Alumni Matty "Taz" Albertazzi who was stellar in this one and gave DR a chance to win. At the other end was Pete "The Meat" Bartline who turned away 30 of 32 shots to secure the 5-2 victory for the Brew Crew.

A contributing factor to the "cleanliness" of this game may have been that both teams had full rosters tonight, which is an anomaly for them this season as they have been plagued with short benches all season long. Having 2 full lines apiece surely prevented fatigue early in this game and curbed a number of lazy penalties taken out of desperation & exhaustion.

Dead River continued their offensive struggles tonight as they, again, only managed to score 2 goals. In their last 8 games, including tonight, they have only averaged 2.5 goals per game (20 goals), which just isn't going to cut it in men's league. Allowing a league high 96 total goals on the season, the lack in offense may be attributed to a focus on protecting their own zone and specifically their goaltender. There was a stretch early in the season where DR allowed 38 goals in 4 games, but tonight they were much better in their own end, letting up only 4 goals plus an empty netter.

The Brewers have shown some promise over the past month going 3-1 with a major bump of a 9-1 loss to the Gamblers. With Nick "The Stick" Bayley & Chris "Wicked Game" Isaac back in the lineup, their speed has been greatly improved. "The Stick" has put in 16 goals in 10 games this season & Isaac has added 7 goals in 6 games.

This was actually a 3-2 game with 4:43 to play before Isaac added his 7th of the season and Billy "The Stretcher" Fletcher added an empty netter to seal the coffin with 1:01 to play. The Brewers used 4 different goal scorers for the win, including a goal and assist from Brock "Lesnar" Barton in his first game back in a month. Fletcher added a modest 2 goals & assist, Matty Crowson added a goal & assist, Garren "Ogelthorp" Poirier terrorized everyone and added two assists, Bayley had two helpers. Both of Dead River's goals came from their defense as Tyler Dickinson & Evan Duggan both took passes from Robbie "Patty Cakes" Pattison in the 2nd period.

The game was tied at 1 apiece over halfway through the game when Albertozzi's little brother made a comment about the game..."Matty's playing really well, he's stopping everything right now", only to watch Fletcher streak down the near boards and lace a slapshot inside the far post from a bad angle. The goal came no more than 3 seconds after the "Little Tazzy" threw out a compliment about his big brother. Crowson made it 3-1 with 1:06 to play with a laserbeam wristshot from the high slot to close out the second period.

Dead River continued to play hard and were rewarded with a Duggan goal with 8:02 to play in the game from Pattison to bring them back within a goal, but Isaac broke through with 4:43 to break their spirits and put the game out of reach for a struggling & last place team.

GAME NOTES: Poirier is closing in on the single season record for most penalty minutes, but must have smoked something very mello before the game as he seemed more pleasant than normal and only took 1 obvious hooking call the entire game. Poirier is now only 4 minutes away from setting the high bar with 65 PIMs in one season.

 

Team:	Time:	Type:	Player:	Details:
1st PERIOD
BRE	12:09	Goal	Barton, Brock(3)	Assist(s): Bayley, Nick(12) Poirier, Garren(6)
2nd PERIOD
LAB	12:52	Goal	Dickinson, Tyler(3)	Assist(s): Pattison, Rob(8)
BRE	11:18	Penalty	Johnson, Chris(5)	2 minutes for Holding
BRE	07:07	Goal	Fletcher, Bill(16)	Assist(s): Johnson, Chris(16) Poirier, Garren(7)
BRE	01:06	Goal	Crowson, Matthew(4)	Assist(s): Barton, Brock(10) Bayley, Nick(13)
3rd PERIOD
BRE	13:43	Penalty	Poirier, Garren(24)	2 minutes for Hooking
LAB	08:02	Goal	Duggan, Evan(8)	Assist(s): Pattison, Rob(9) Dickinson, Tyler(3)
BRE	07:51	Penalty	Fletcher, Bill(5)	2 minutes for Hooking
LAB	07:51	Penalty	Duggan, Evan(12)	2 minutes for Holding
LAB	06:55	Penalty	Scull, Tom(9)	2 minutes for Interference
BRE	04:43	Goal	Isaac, Christian(7)	Assist(s): Fletcher, Bill(11)
BRE	01:01	Goal	Fletcher, Bill(17)	Assist(s): Crowson, Matthew(2)

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Game Comments:
Garrentee Killington, VT Registered: Posts: 20	Matty Jr. Feb 8th, 2010 11:32 AM I hate to say it but we are gonna light up backup goalie Matty Albertazzi in this game!!
kpark Quechee, VT Registered: Dec 2003 Posts: 724	Tazzy? Feb 8th, 2010 06:13 PM IN RESPONSE TO: BY: Garrentee I hate to say it but we are gonna light up backup goalie Matty Albertazzi in this game!! Is Tazzy in net for this one? Where is that sieve Hadley?
Garrentee Killington, VT Registered: Posts: 20	Tazzy Feb 9th, 2010 04:25 PM Yes he is...or so he says!!