UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

Tuck Begins Their Title Defense Against Dead River

ODDS:	Tuck By 6 Goals
OVER/UNDER:	10 Goals

Tuck returns to the ice on Tuesday night as the reigning Whalen Cup champions and are looking to be the first team to ever win back to back championships. They face off against the 2012-2013 whipping boy Dead River team. Dead River went 1-21-0 last season, with their only win coming by forfeit when Tuck could not field a team.

What does all that mean? Nothing really. Tuck is fielding a much different team than last year, and Dead River is one year older and has added some new blood to the roster. That being said...it still doesn't look good for Dead River.

Tuck will have their offensive leader, Brandon "The Harry One" Harrington leading the way and Daniel "The Wall" Yacey protecting the pipes....they'll be just fine.

Dead River has the heart and soul of the league on their team, Greg "Nuts" Hadley. He lead the league in both plus / minus with a a -59 last season and number of grey hairs...they're fucked.

Tuck is favored by 4 goals and should take this one 8-2.

Tuck Starts Defense of Cup with 6-0 Shutout of Dead River

Tuck's Mike "The Wall" Devine recorded his second career shutout in a 6-0 win over Dead River. Dead River, who will eventually change their jerseys and team name to The Long Trail Brewers of Bridgewater Vermont may have been shutout, but they took a step in the right direction against a very talented Tuck team.

Both rosters have seen some major changes since last season with Long Trail quadrupling their roster size from 8 players to 32. Tuck's yearly turnover of players always leaves the franchise with major questions every summer, but there is apparently a wealth of wicked smaaaaht hockey players looking to further their education by attending Business School.

Two of Tuck's new additions payed immediate dividends as both John Dawson & Jed McDonald scored in the first period to put Tuck up 2-0. Dawson scored an unassisted goal with 3:43 to play in the first on a wraparound that went off of the goalie's toe and in. Dead River' goaltender, Matty "Tazzy" Albertazzi, was superb tonight as he stopped 48 of 54 saves and kept his team in the game early and earning the 3rd star of the game. Dawson took home the second star of the game for getting the game winner and breaking the ice while Devine didn't need to make many saves, only 14, but was able to keep his focus to keep Dead River off the board.

Jed "Old" McDonald had a farm...I mean, had a really nice goal as he toe-dragged a DR defender at the top of the circles and took a snapper from just above the hashmarks where mama keeps the cookies, glove side..2-0 Tuck.

Eric "The Rat" Rautiola added a goal with just 10 seconds remaining with a shot from the point that beat Tazzy right along the ice, some would say it was a weak goal, others would say that Ratty put it exactly where he wanted it...you choose.

After the first period, Tuck was up 3-0. Tuck was only able to add a single goal late in the 2nd period due to Albertazzi's heroics, stopping 22 of 23 shots in the frame. The goal came from Jeff "The Wasp" Wannop who is a local legend in the Woodstock area.

Albertazzi saw another 18 shots in the third period, allowing 2 goals. Mike Nowak scored with 3:52 left in the game and Johnny "Come Lately" Curran netted his first of the season in the last minute.

All in all, it wasn't a total loss for Dead River as they only took 2 penalties, gave up under 60 shots played a hard game. One Tuckie, who asked to be unnamed, even said after the game that Dead River was drastically improved over last season.

Game 1 of the season is in the books, Tuck has officially started their title defense.

 

Team:	Time:	Type:	Player:	Details:
1st PERIOD
TCK	03:43	Goal	Dawson, John(1)	Assist(s): none
TCK	02:44	Goal	McDonald, Jed(1)	Assist(s): Dawson, John(1)
LAB	02:14	Penalty	Sprague, Ray(1)	2 minutes for Hooking
TCK	00:10	Goal	Rautiola, Eric(1)	Assist(s): Gartner, Josh(1)
2nd PERIOD
TCK	04:11	Goal	Wannop, Jeff(1)	Assist(s): Harrington, Brandon (1)
3rd PERIOD
TCK	03:52	Goal	Nowak, Mike(1)	Assist(s): Rautiola, Eric(1)
TCK	00:44	Goal	Curran, John(1)	Assist(s): White, Michael(1)
LAB	00:17	Penalty	Billings, Trevor(1)	2 minutes for Hooking

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Game Comments:
McG Hanover, NH Registered: Posts: 47	Who broke the news to Devine? Oct 22nd, 2013 08:39 AM Tough break -- is Yacey flying in to make his start?