UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

Nordiques @ Cardigan

ODDS:	Nordiques By 1
OVER/UNDER:	11 Goals

The Nords have taken two of three games this season against Cardigan, but the only loss was a 1-0 forfeit by the Nordiques because they couldn't find a goaltender for the contest. Both games have been very close with the Nordiques winning their first meeting 5-4 in a shootout. The second match saw a 5-0 first period Nordiques lead disintegrate with Cardigan scoring 4 unanswered goals and then the two teams essentially trading goals before the Nordiques completed the 8-6 win. That one got a bit chippy, so let's hope this one is a bit more friendly.

Cardigan's Owen Carpino has been dominant, scoring 40 goals in 14 games, only to be outdone by their captain Ryan "The Kitchen Sink" Sinclair racking up 4.17 points per game in only six games this season. They have racked up an impressive 99 goals in 16 games but have allowed 89 in that same span for a 10 Goal Differential. The Nordiques have a 9 GD, but in a much different way. They've had a tougher time scoring but play a much more defensive system and rely heavily on their goaltender Johnny "Temper Tantrum" Turner. They've scored 72 and only allowed 63.

If the Nordiques can shut down Carpino, who has scored just over 40% of his teams goals, they stand a chance. If they cannot contain Carpino, the Nordiques are in for a long night.

Cardigan has 7 skaters in the top 30 for scoring to the Nordiques 5. The biggest factor in this game is whether or not the injured Ryan Sinclair will suit up after re-injuring his knee last week. Sinclair has been brilliant and a set-up machine for Carpino while also making everyone on the Cardigan team better.

The Nordiques wild card is Jordy McGee who has racked up 19 goals this season but has put up zero points in the last two games. If McGee shows up, he can be dominant and a difference maker.

Cardigan obviously has the advantage up front, but the Nordiques have an advantage in net / on the blueline. Turner has posted a respectable 4.00 GAA while Cardigan's Albertazzi sits on a 5.8 GAA for the season. It's your classic run & gun offense(CDG) vs a defense first system(NDQ).

History says the Nordiques will win it 6-5...I'm sure Cardigan has something different to say about that.

Cardigan Doubles Up Nordiques 8-4

Cardigan won their third straight game tonight with an 8-4 thrashing of the Nordiques. Conversely, the Nords lost their third in a row despite starting out strong in this one. It seems as though Cardigan is either bored with the league and trying to make things interesting by putting themselves in a hole early, or their pre-game naps are having a negative effect in the first period of the game. Tonight they went down 3-1, only to wake up in the second period and dominate. This has become a trend with the Cardiganians as the last time these two teams played, Cardigan went down 5-0, only to fire back and eventually lose 8-6. They've also fought back on huge deficits against the Whalers and Gamblers earlier in the season.

Cardigan was fueled by another 4 goal outburst from Owen Carpino and another 4 point night from their captain Ryan "The Kitchen" Sinclair. Carpino's quartet of goals gives him 44 on the season and his fourth rubbed the Nordiques the wrong way(more to come on that). Tad Skelley also put up 3 assists in the game and drew the ire of Shawn "McCheapshot" McDermott late in the game that put Cardigan on the powerplay. Rounding out the offensive stars for Cardigan were Dave McCusker and Chris Heaney who both assisted on each other's goals. Heaney's second period strike was a beautiful wrister through traffic past the Nordique's Johnny "Temper Tantrum" Turner. McCusker had a ridiculously perfect tip upper corner in the final minute of play off of a Heaney slapshot / pass from the point.

In net for Cardigan was Matty "The Wall" Albertazzi who had a rough first period but settled down and made some huge saves to maintain the win. His counterpart, Johnny "Temper Tantrum" Turner had a rough night, allowing 7 on 37 shots plus he got to see an empty netter from the bench.

Sinclair opened the scoring on his second shift of the game as he picked the pocket of a defenseman and broke in all alone. He made a couple of decent moves on Turner before tucking the puck past him from behind the goal line. "That was a nasty goal" recalled the Nordique's Kelly "Defensive Liablity" Park.

The Nordiques rallied back with three straight goals. Hersey tucked one under the arm of Albertazzi from Greg "The Butcher" Marsh, followed by a breakaway goal from Jordan "McBreakaway" McGee and a "Fierce" Pierce Mayhew backdoor goal all within 3 minutes.

The first period ended 3-1 Nordiques, but the smelling salts came out on Cardigan's bench in between frames and from that point on it was all the C-Men. Heaney's point shot at 11:07 got them within one followed by Carpino's first where he came out of the far corner into the high slot and let a snapper loose where Turner was hiding the cookie jar....tie game. Carpino took the lead for good 5 minutes later from the same spot on a nice pass from Tad Skelley and Sinclair buried a Graham Gauthier pass for the 5-3 lead and 5:45 to play in the second.

A blooper of a goal by Marsh made it 5-4 when Eric "The Kremlin" Krivitzky jammed a puck out front from behind the net that went in the skates of a Cardigan defenseman. As the defenseman was trying to find it, Marsh poke checked the puck past Albertazzi to get the Nords back within one.

Carpino sniped his hat trick with 10 minutes to play from Sinclair and the game sat that way for the next 9 minutes when the Nordiques pulled their goalie, down by two goals and desperate to get back into it. This is when things got a bit crazy. "Carpino got the puck in the far corner, looked up and had two team mates in the slot all alone. He decided to not pass the puck and do a 720 spin around 2 defenders to get to the side of the net and let a 90 mile per hour chest high snapper go under the crossbar, totally unnecessary since there wasn't a goalie in the net. I guess there's a reason why the guy has 44 goals and only 7 assists." recalled Mayhew after the game. Immediately following the goal, McDermott crossed checked Tad Skelley to the ice igniting the ire of Sinclair & Carpino who slashed and cross checked McDermott. McDermott retaliated followed by the big man, Greg Marsh, returning the favor to Carpino. Marsh & Carpino were both ejected, Sinclair thrown in the box for 2 and McDermott thrown in the box for 4 minutes and putting the Nordiques on the penalty kill where McCusker put his team up 8-4 with a beautiful tip over the glove of Turner.

In the end, the Nordiques were outgunned by Cardigan.

 

Team:	Time:	Type:	Player:	Details:
1st PERIOD
CDG	11:45	Goal	Sinclair, Ryan(9)	Assist(s): none
NDQ	08:07	Goal	Hersey, Reid(5)	Assist(s): Marsh, Greg(7)
NDQ	06:36	Goal	McGee, Jordan(20)	Assist(s): Park, Kelly(19) Hersey, Reid(5)
NDQ	05:07	Goal	Mayhew, Pierce(12)	Assist(s): McGee, Jordan(10) Hersey, Reid(6)
CDG	04:44	Penalty	Heaney, Chris(5)	2 minutes for Roughing
2nd PERIOD
CDG	11:22	Goal	Heaney, Chris(2)	Assist(s): McCusker, David (3)
CDG	10:50	Goal	Carpino, Owen(41)	Assist(s): Skelley, Tad(10)
CDG	10:30	Penalty	Gauthier, Graham(5)	2 minutes for Cross Checking
CDG	06:16	Goal	Carpino, Owen(42)	Assist(s): Skelley, Tad(11) Sinclair, Ryan(18)
CDG	05:45	Goal	Sinclair, Ryan(10)	Assist(s): Gauthier, Graham(9)
NDQ	01:05	Goal	Marsh, Greg(4)	Assist(s): Krivitzky, Eric(8)
3rd PERIOD
CDG	13:58	Penalty	Sinclair, Ryan(1)	2 minutes for Body Checking
CDG	10:00	Goal	Carpino, Owen(43)	Assist(s): Sinclair, Ryan(19)
CDG	00:57	Goal	Carpino, Owen(44)	Assist(s): Skelley, Tad(12)
CDG	00:57	Penalty	Carpino, Owen(6)	2 minutes for Slashing
NDQ	00:57	Penalty	Marsh, Greg(2)	2 minutes for Slashing
CDG	00:57	Penalty	Sinclair, Ryan(2)	2 minutes for Slashing
NDQ	00:57	Penalty	McDermott, Shawn(4)	2 minutes for Cross Checking
NDQ	00:57	Penalty	McDermott, Shawn(4)	2 minutes for Roughing
CDG	00:16	Goal	(PP)McCusker, David (2)	Assist(s): Heaney, Chris(6)

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