UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

Undefeated Tuck & Nordiques

ODDS:	EVEN
OVER/UNDER:	89 goals

This should be a hell of a game. The Nordiques have proven that they can score goals with back to back 10 goal games against two of last years weaker teams. Tuck came out of the gate with solid wins over a vastly improved Dead River team and a perennial contender in the Gamblers.

Tuck will be without rookie Brett "The Other Nowak" Nowak who showed some promise in his debut with a goal, fight & game misconduct. The Nordiques will be without rookie Dan "The Man" McGee who was a solid addition last game with 2 assists in his debut.

The goaltending matchup is interesting as the veteran Johnny "Temper Tantrum" Turner faces off against 2nd year standout Dan "In Your Facey" Yacey. Turner has started the season with a 5.00 GAA which must be killing him inside, and Yacey let in 4 against DR last week.

This is a tough call. Can the Nordiques score against a "good" team? Does Tuck have enough firepower to keep up with the Nordique's offense? Goalie, old or young?

This one is EVEN. 9 goals scored, you pick the winner!

Tuck is the team to beat, proves it with 10-2 throttling of the Nordiques.

The top two teams, and only undefeated teams in the UVHL faced off in the early game tonight. Both the Nordiques & Tuck started the season off 2-0-0, and had something to prove...but unfortunately for the Nordiques, it just wasn't their night. The Nordiques troubles started from their net out, and went straight through the entire team. They were AWFUL, pathetic and completely out of sync. To Tuck's credit, they were the ones that kept the Nord's off kilter all night.

From the initial puck drop Tuck dominated play, forcing the Nordiques to chase Tuck around their own end like squirts trying to catch pros. Tuck turned that domination into an early goal when Halsey "Turn Your Head And..." Coughlin fired a hard snapshot up over the net on a 2 on 1. The Nordique's netminder Johnny "Temper Tantrum" Turner turned to face the glass, thinking the puck was behind the net, but the funny bounce landed at the near faceoff dot and onto the stick of "Santa" Claus Eckbo for the easy "gift" goal into the empty netter. Eckbo got the callup from the Tuck "B" team tonight, as Tuck was a little light on their bench, but Eckbo didn't have a problem fitting in as he chipped in two goals. That's pretty much how it went for the Nordiques, they chased and got scored on. Turner had some issues with rebounds, their defense had issues with letting up breakaways and turning the puck over, their forwards had trouble making simple passes and getting quality scoring chances.

Tuck went up 2-0 with 8:01 to play in the first when Jimmy "Steve Bate's Better Looking non-brother Twin" Hay finished a pass from Jordan Barnett. The Nordiques Jordan "McBreakaway" McGee gave the Nords a short lived glimmer of hope after taking a pass from his new best friend Pierce "Jordy's Best Friend" Mayhew and buring it on Dan "The Man" Yacey. Yacey was excellent tonight as he seemed to shut down any momentum the Nordiques seemed to muster, sending them back to their bench sulking like pre-pubescent boys.

Tuck put the game out of reach at the end of the FIRST period with one of the nastiest goals this season off the stick of Andrew "Hellboy" Helming. Helming picked up a loose puck at center ice by chipping it over and past the sticks of two Nordique's players. He then cut into the Nordique's zone with a defenseman right on him, again chipping the puck past the defenseman and riffling a quick snapshot from the near faceoff dot into the far side upper corner over Turner's blocker. Colin "Campbell" Carahill struck less than a minute later to make it 4-1, and Tuck hadn't even gotten into full motion.

END OF THE FIRST: Nordiques 1, Tuck 4

Tuck scored the next three goals, making it 5 consecutive on another beautiful play, this time by the craft veteran Ryan "El Gobernador" McGovern. Let's preface this goal with some pre-game smack talk by the Nordique's loudmouth defenseman Kelly "The Mouth" Park, that's me! Yes, I made a pre-game prediction that the Nordiques would win this "close" game, and that I would "turn McGovern inside out!" Wrong and wrong, but McGovern had his chance at a one one one, faked inside out at the blue line and putting the puck 5-hole on me before picking it up on the other side and roasting Turner on the short breakaway with another inside-to-outside move before tucking the backhander under Turner's armpit for the 5-1 lead just 28 seconds into the second. This play has haunted me every night in my sleep since "The McGovern Incident."

Carrihill & Eckbo both added their 2nd goal of the game to make it 7-1, as Tuck continued to dominate the period. Coughlin added his 3rd assist of the night on Carrihill's goal while Barnett & rookie Chris "The Other / Good Chris Johnson" Johnson. Tuck was also able to easily kill off a Nordique's 5 on 3 powerplay early in the period. The Nordiques did finally get another shot through Yacey with 25 seconds to play when Roger "The Rusty Old Dentist Drill" Phillips finished off a Greg "The Butcher of Norwich" Marsh pass.

END OF THE SECOND: Nordiques 2, Tuck 7

Tuck scored all 3 goals in the 3rd, as their expert puck control tired out the Nordiques. Jimmy Hays scored 2 breakaway goals and Jordan Barnett added another one late in the game to make it an even 10-2. "Temper Tantrum" Turner was whistled down with 1:47 to play in the game for blatantly firing a puck into the stands as Coughlin raced in on him looking for the breakaway. "I didn't care about taking a penalty, I just didn't want to get scored on again by another breakaway" said Turner to the ref when asked what he was thinking.

END OF REGULATION: Nordiques 2, Tuck 10

Tuck looks like the team to beat. They thoroughly manhandled an offensively talented Nordiques squad, shutting them down in all 3 zones and teaching them a few things about puck control. Tuck is one of those teams that seems to be more dangerous with a shorter bench. They played 3 defensemen, but the trio could arguably be the best trio in the UVHL, with McGovern, Johnson & Barnett logging significant time and contributing both offensively & defensively. Yacey is disgustingly good. The Nordiques.....were not...are not, who knows. They get to play Tuck 4 more times this year....uh-oh!

 

Team:	Time:	Type:	Player:	Details:
1st PERIOD
TCK	13:28	Goal	Eckbo, Claus(1)	Assist(s): Coughlin, Halsey(1)
TCK	08:01	Goal	Hay, James(2)	Assist(s): Barnett, Jordan(1)
NDQ	07:51	Goal	McGee, Jordan(6)	Assist(s): Mayhew, Pierce(5)
TCK	05:13	Goal	Helming, Andrew(2)	Assist(s): none
TCK	04:17	Goal	Carrihill, Colin(2)	Assist(s): Johnson, Chris(6) Coughlin, Halsey(2)
2nd PERIOD
TCK	14:32	Goal	McGovern, Ryan(1)	Assist(s): none
TCK	12:46	Goal	Carrihill, Colin(3)	Assist(s): Coughlin, Halsey(3)
TCK	10:30	Penalty	McGovern, Ryan(2)	2 minutes for Slashing
TCK	10:16	Penalty	Carrihill, Colin(2)	2 minutes for Hooking
TCK	02:16	Goal	Eckbo, Claus(2)	Assist(s): Barnett, Jordan(2) Johnson, Chris(7)
NDQ	00:25	Goal	Phillips, Roger(2)	Assist(s): Marsh, Greg(6)
3rd PERIOD
TCK	13:35	Goal	Hay, James(3)	Assist(s): Johnson, Chris(8)
TCK	10:58	Penalty	Eckbo, Claus(1)	2 minutes for Interference
TCK	03:32	Goal	Hay, James(4)	Assist(s): Bates, Steve(3) Barnett, Jordan(3)
TCK	03:01	Goal	Barnett, Jordan(1)	Assist(s): Hay, James(2) Bates, Steve(4)
NDQ	01:47	Penalty	Turner, John(1)	2 minutes for Delay of Game

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Game Comments:
kpark Quechee, VT Registered: Dec 2003 Posts: 724	Hmmmm Oct 26th, 2010 03:45 PM Any thoughts on this one? Looks like the league is picking the Tuckies to win this one 57% to 43%. I'm going with the Nords. I'm also going to say that I'll turn McGovern inside out! Some other predictions: - Jordy McGee will have a Hat trick on Yacey. - Marshy will make a rink wide pass that will hit the boards 3 feet in the air. - Batesy will turn me inside out at least once. - Bates & Hay will still look like long lost twins after the game - Nowak won't play...suspended...but it's still my prediction. - Puchilak will take 2 penalties This should be a great game...any which way it goes down. There will be a professional photographer & scouts in the audience, so look your best.
The Dark Canuck Fairlee, VT Registered: Dec 2004 Posts: 340	Total ass-whooping Oct 27th, 2010 03:29 PM Outskated, outplayed and overall a bad game for the Nords. Maybe the best part was the cherry-picking when it was 9-2...nice job Tuckies! The re-match outta be a different game for sure!
hkydoc WRJ, VT Registered: Jan 2004 Posts: 517	Back to earth, Nords. Oct 27th, 2010 11:06 PM Uh oh... Looks like we got a taste of our own medicine courtesy of the Tuckies, eh. McD