UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

ODDS:	Whale by 2 goals
OVER/UNDER:	10 goals

The battle of the basement holds a very interesting matchup, as the surging Whalers host the drowning Dead River Rats. The Whale just shocked the world by bringing down the 15-0-2 Gamblers in regulation for their first loss, while the DR team has lost their last 6 games.

Dead River has been plagued by inconsistencies in all 3 positions, but most importantly with their horrific player attendance. They consistently have a short bench, and the late games are the worst. Match their short bench with a tenacious Whalers team, and this one will pile up with goals against Dead River deep in the 3rd.

Whalers 6, Dead River 4

What can you say about an 11-7 men's league hockey game? It was ugly, with some beautiful goals, and some really lazy horseshit play. Dead River, as usual, had an attendance issue, fielding only 6 skaters to 11 for the Whalers.

In net for DR was Matty Barrett, who wasn't great, but wasn't bad either. He made some huge saves, and let in some weak goals stopping 41 of 52 shots. Mimicking Barrett's performance was Kenny Lallier who managed to stop 35 of 42.

Offensively, there were 3 players who stood out, The Whaler's Jay "The Chin" Zanleoni, Cody Vose & Dead River's Ricky Golden "Showers". Zanleoni knotted 4 goals & 1 assist, 2 of his goals were glove side waterbottle poppers. Vose broke the game open in the 3rd period with 3 goals, including the 11th goal with 1:15 left to play that was as nasty as you could possible see as stormed down the ice with Scotty Shaw & Stevie Bernier. The trio made 2 passes coming through center ice leaving Vose with the puck. Vose made a nice drop pass to Bernier just inside the line, Bernier dropped it for shaw cutting across the tops of the circles, then Shaw found Vose on the back door. Golden tore apart the Whaler's defense, as he dangled through the Whaler's zone for 4 goals. In most cases, he never even looked to pass, but his individual plays kept this a close game up until the 10 minute mark of the 3rd period.

Every player on the ice for the Whalers contributed a point, including their goalie, except for Liam "The Nat" Oliver. Although Oliver did get on the scoresheet for goaltender interference when he failed to slow down, running into the Dead River goalie midway through the 2nd period. Dead River took 4 of the 5 penalties in this one, but broke even with 2 powerplay goals and 2 shorties. Zanleoni had both power play goals, while "Mean" Dean Cashman took a funny bounce off the end boards from a full ice clearing by Dead River and chipped it past a bewildered Lallier. Ricky Golden had the other shorty with 2 seconds remaining on a Stuey Close Interference call in the 3rd.

The Whaler's got some nice contributions from Scotty Shaw (1g, 3a), Stevie Bernier (1g, 2a), Joey Hayes (1g, 2a), Scotty Leger (3a) & Jonathan Stallsmith (2a). Stallsmith played some solid defense while managing to perfect the dump & chase power play technique as he bailed out on carrying the puck over the blue line on 3 chances when he had an open lane. The other goal scorer for the Whale was Zach Aher who finished off a beautiful Vose drop pass that let him walk in all alone at the midpoint of the game.

Dead River got a nice night from Ricky "Anger Management" Hughes with a goal & 2 assists & Cashman's goal & assist. Greg "Herpes" Hadley chipped in a goal, as he stood on the back door and finished off a perfect pass from Stuey Close. A vegetable could have knocked in that goal, but Hadley WAS in the right position for once.

The Whalers should have dominated this game from start to finish, but they kept letting Dead River back in. They were sloppy in their own end and through the neutral zone, and seemed to be overly focused on offense instead of just pounding Dead River into submission with their standard hard-nosed Whaler's defensive hockey. They left their goaltender out to dry at many points in the game, and even let a 7-3 lead turn into a 7-6 game in the 3rd period.

Dead River collapsed in the last 10 minutes, exhausted and completely out of energy to forecheck, backcheck & even clear the puck to regain their composure, allowing the Whalers to add 4 goals in the last 10 minutes of play for the 11-7 win.

 

Team:	Time:	Type:	Player:	Details:
1st PERIOD
LAB	05:52	Penalty	Hughes, Rick(6)	2 minutes for Hooking
WHL	04:54	Goal	Zanleoni, Jay(13)	Assist(s): Hayes, Joe(5) Leger, Scott(6)
WHL	04:23	Goal	Hayes, Joe(4)	Assist(s): Vose, Cody(3)
LAB	00:00	Penalty	Golden, Richard(6)	2 minutes for Holding
2nd PERIOD
LAB	13:12	Goal	Cashman, Dean(5)	Assist(s): Hughes, Rick(3)
WHL	11:23	Goal	Zanleoni, Jay(14)	Assist(s): Leger, Scott(7) Gaede, Chuck(11)
WHL	10:13	Penalty	Oliver, Liam(8)	2 minutes for Goaltender Interference
LAB	08:58	Goal	Golden, Richard(5)	Assist(s): Hughes, Rick(4)
WHL	08:48	Goal	Bernier, Steve(7)	Assist(s): Zanleoni, Jay(14) Shaw, Scott(9)
WHL	07:18	Goal	Aher, Zach(5)	Assist(s): Vose, Cody(4) Lallier, Ken(1)
WHL	05:11	Goal	Zanleoni, Jay(15)	Assist(s): Hayes, Joe(6) Laperle, Gary(5)
LAB	04:51	Goal	Golden, Richard(6)	Assist(s): none
3rd PERIOD
WHL	13:19	Goal	Shaw, Scott(12)	Assist(s): Stallsmith, Jonathan(4) Bernier, Steve(8)
LAB	12:29	Goal	Golden, Richard(7)	Assist(s): none
LAB	12:05	Goal	Hadley, Gregory(2)	Assist(s): Close, Stu(2) Golden, Richard(3)
LAB	11:13	Goal	Hughes, Rick(1)	Assist(s): none
WHL	10:03	Goal	Vose, Cody(3)	Assist(s): Shaw, Scott(10)
WHL	09:45	Goal	Vose, Cody(4)	Assist(s): Leger, Scott(8) Stallsmith, Jonathan(5)
LAB	08:58	Penalty	Close, Stu(3)	2 minutes for Interference
LAB	07:00	Goal	Golden, Richard(8)	Assist(s): Cashman, Dean(6)
LAB	04:48	Penalty	Golden, Richard(7)	2 minutes for High Sticking
WHL	03:12	Goal	Zanleoni, Jay(16)	Assist(s): none
WHL	01:15	Goal	Vose, Cody(5)	Assist(s): Shaw, Scott(11) Bernier, Steve(9)

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Game Comments:
JTStally Hanover, NH Registered: Posts: 159	DR, Bring Your Team! Feb 22nd, 2010 06:56 PM Jay has put in some minutes for Dead River this year, but he plays for us, so he can't help them this game. I was talking to Marty at the bar the other day, and told him that when they have a full team they are probably one of the more intimidating teams in the league, but nobody's intimidated by an empty bench, not in the quick A-league. If DR can at least sport two full lines, this game should be a good battle. If not, then the Whalers (barring last Tuesday's snowstorm) have been turning out strong numbers and have been playing well as a unit, so this one could get lopsided by the end (like last week's Nords-DR game).
PaleWhale Lebanon, NH Registered: Posts: 13	100% pick the whale? Feb 23rd, 2010 01:26 PM IN RESPONSE TO: BY: JTStally Jay has put in some minutes for Dead River this year, but he plays for us, so he can't help them this game. I was talking to Marty at the bar the other day, and told him that when they have a full team they are probably one of the more intimidating teams in the league, but nobody's intimidated by an empty bench, not in the quick A-league. If DR can at least sport two full lines, this game should be a good battle. If not, then the Whalers (barring last Tuesday's snowstorm) have been turning out strong numbers and have been playing well as a unit, so this one could get lopsided by the end (like last week's Nords-DR game). The apocalypse is upon us!
JTStally Hanover, NH Registered: Posts: 159	Scoring the game Feb 25th, 2010 03:52 PM Parky, the other two games had the results posted yesterday, but I've noticed that you haven't managed to find the three-four hours needed to score this one...lol. Take your time.
kpark Quechee, VT Registered: Dec 2003 Posts: 724	my bad Feb 28th, 2010 09:35 AM I left the scoresheet at work, and then had a week from hell at work. I'm working on the write-ups right now. Sorry for the delay fellas! KP
rgrunds Stowe, VT Registered: Posts: 376	skated well Feb 28th, 2010 10:01 AM you looked comfortable. I think...your style is to play close to the offensive zone into congestion. I think...