THE

UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

March 30th, 2010 - 7:10PM
Campion Rink - West Lebanon, NH
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Game ID: 658

Whale FAIL! The Fish blow a 4-1 lead in the 3rd. Brewers advance 5-4.

It's official, the Whalers are the Bad News Bears....maybe just the bad news Whalers. They dominated this game early, then gave it away in the 3rd period. "We made the classic mistake of sitting back on a nice lead and waiting for the game to be over." recalled aging winger Scotty Shaw. Their 3rd period inadequacies have been an issue plaguing the Fish since early in the season, but it looked like that they had resolved the issue with some solid complete games to close out the season.

The UVHL welcomed back two impartial & unbiased referees tonight so ensure a Fox News Quality Game...."Fair & Balanced." The Brewers didn't seem to realize that they had been getting away with a good amount of calls this season from the green horn batch of player refs, and paid dearly, taking 7 penalties in the meantime. Despite being on the penalty kill for 14 minutes tonight, the Brew Crew scored 2 shorthanded goals and added another on their only power play of the game. Their special teams were excellent tonight and made the Whalers look like a bunch of untalented rookies when they were up a man.

The Whalers jumped out to a 4-1 lead through 2 periods behind 2 goals from Steve "The Flying Frenchman" Bernier and one a piece from Scotty Shaw & Joey "The Mute" Hayes. Shaw's goal broke a 1-1 tie with 2:39 to play when Hayes broke into the zone, took the Brewer's Jason Yehle wide and threw a one handed pass through the crease to Shaw coming off the far boards. Pete "Big Bird" Bartline slide hard across the net trying to make some sort of save on the play, but being the craft veteran he is, Shaw just took the puck across the top of the crease and threw it in the empty net as Barty hung out on the far post.

Bernier opened up the scoring with a snapshot from the high slot only to see Brock "Boyband" Barton score a shorthanded goal and bust out some sick dance moves after burying a Nick "The Stick" Bayley pass with 5 minutes to play. Bayley burst into the zone and chased down a loose puck heading for an icing, took it behind the net and hit Barton with a perfect pass as he crashed the back door....Bayley loves it when Barton crashes his backdoor.

Bernier added his second of the night with 4:00 to play in the second frame off of a tip from a Chuck "E Cheese" Gaede point shot before Hayes quietly made it 4-1 with a wristshot from the slot.

The Whalers looked content through the first 30 minutes of hockey. They limited the Brewers to 6 dismal shots in the frame and kept them off the board. "We changed our gameplan, playing to protect the win.....it didn't work." Said Lallier of his team's dismal play. The Brewers, on the other hand, started to play with desperation, pressing and taking more chances. Their physical play landed them in the penalty box 4 times in the period and saw them killing off all 4 attempts. The Brewers opened up scoring in the 3rd period behind a Aaron "The Machete" Mancuso goal at 11:11 from Billy "The Kid" Fletcher & Bayley. Barton made it 4-3 by burying a breakaway on their only powerplay of the game. Brian Smith caught Lallier napping, tying the game with a floppy backhander from the boards that went off the post and in with 6:25 to play.

Tied at 4 apiece the Brewers thought it would interesting if they closed out the game shorthanded. Yehle took a questionable tripping call at 5:12, followed by Garren "Penalty Box" Poirier getting 2 minutes for body checking Cody "The Boy" Vose. Poirier, being the exceptional team leader he is "fired the puck" back in the referees direction after receiving the call, stating "I didn't hear a whistle, I was just trying to dump the puck out...." said with a shit eating grin.

The Whalers were dismal on an abreviated 5 on 3 and then even more useless on the ensuing 5 on 4. Give the Brewers some credit as they shut down the neutral zone and forced the Whalers to continually turn the puck over trying to enter their zone. With just over a minute to play, and an impending overtime on the way, Fletcher forced a turnover and fired the puck down the ice, Chris "Turtle" Johnson went full speed hoping for a turnover or at least to pin the Whalers in their zone for a couple of extra seconds. There seemed to be confusion between Kenny "Le Pew" Lallier and his defenseman, Gaede, as Lallier went behind the net to stop the dump in. Gaede stopped in the corner and as Lallier looked up to see his options, the puck skipped of his stick and to the front of the net with Johnson barreling in full steam. Johnson grabbed the puck and threw it into them empty net as Lallier scrambled to get back in front....sealing the fate of the Whalers and putting a league wide mandate putting Lallier on Suicide Watch. Each of the Whalers are required to do a 12 hour shift watching Kenny until the UVHL shrinks have cleared him and deemed that he is no longer a danger to himself.

What a shame, the Whalers had this one in the bag, and let it go. Mad props to the Brewers for fighting back. The Whalers line of Shaw, Bernier & Vose were on fire early but died off late in the game. Barton & Bayley had some magic together. Bartline was not good in the first, but was a big shiny star in the 2nd half of the game.
LEAGUE PICK 'EM
 50%
Brewers
50% 
Whalers
8 PICKS
THREE STARS

Nick Bayley

GOALS: 0
POINTS: 3

Steve Bernier

GOALS: 2
POINTS: 2

Chris Johnson

GOALS: 1
POINTS: 2

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