UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

Tuck Looks To Continue Dominance After Long Break

ODDS:	Tuck By 6
OVER/UNDER:	10 Goals

Tuck's last game was 5 weeks ago and was a DOMINANT 9-3 victory over the powerhouse Gamblers. Tonight they face-off against the powerless Dead Riverians. While Tuck sits at 5-1-0 on the season Dead River has yet to win a game(0-8-0). They have only managed 14 goals in eight contests while allowing 50 in that timespan.

The comparison to Tuck is staggering as Tuck has scored 46 times in only six games this season and their goaltending corp has only allowed 12 goals.

To put things into perspective, Tuck's Mike "Divination" Devine has only been called to make 160 saves in six games this season while Dead River's Matty "Tazzy" Albertazzi has almost doubled Devine's saves in just 8 games with 309. Tazzy has been huge early in those games, keeping his teams close enough, but as the night wears on and the shots mount, things start to fall apart for him and his team.

It will essentially take a miracle for Dead River to win this game, especially since Tuck has the leading goal scorer, Jed "McNasty" McDonald(11 goals), and Brandon "The Harry One" Harrington who is tied for second with 10 goals.

Dead River's TJ "Maxx" Moran is tied for 15th in the league with 8 points, but leading the way as the only Dead River player in a top-5 category is Trevor "The Bully" Billings who sits tied for 3rd with 10 PIMs on the season.

I'm expecting this one to go about the same, but I also foresee that Tuck will be a little bit out of sync, perhaps a couple pounds heavier from the holidays and a little bit lethargic after the long break.

Albertazzi will show up in the first two periods, but Tuck will get into a rhythm in the third, 8-2...Tuck Turduckens Win.

Tuck Runs Dead River Red, 8-2

The Tuck Flying Turduckens came back from their 5 week break and ran up the score on Dead River. I'd say that they didn't seem to miss a step, but they were a bit sloppy in this win.

Dead River's problem's continued with some sloppy plays of their own and a couple of mental lapses that put this one out of reach. Two of those lapses happened in the final 2 seconds of both the first and second where they gave a goal in each.

A high point for Dead River was the addition of another skilled forward in James "Solo" Solon who paid immediate dividends with a late goal in the first period. Solon brought some speed and puck control to the team and should help solidify that offense going forward.

The real spectacle on the night was Tuck's Eric "The Rat" Rautiola who more than doubled his yearly goal total with 4 on the night. Ratty's 4 goals all came early and all were the result of hustle & grit.

Dead River actually did a really nice job in this one, actually outshooting the Tuckies 10-7 through the first 8 minutes. They also managed to keep Brandon "The Harry One" Harrington, Jeff "The Wasp" Wannop & Jed "Old" McDonald to a single goal apiece. Harrington & Wannop didn't manage to get onto the scoresheet until halfway through the third on a beautiful backdoor pass that they replicated and reciprocated with just a minute left in the game.

All in all, it was a pretty good game despite the fact that there was a 6 goal spread. Dead River's Matty "Tazzy" Albertazzi stopped 31 of 38 shots and Mike "Wine & Dine" Devine stopped 33 of 35. If you take away the late period brain farts for Dead River and the two late 2 on 1s by Harrington & Wannop, this game is much closer than the scoresheet reflects......buuuuuuuuut, the good teams don't have those lapses.

GAME NOTES:

 

Team:	Time:	Type:	Player:	Details:
1st PERIOD
TCK	12:03	Goal	Rautiola, Eric(4)	Assist(s): Mellen, Peter(6)
LAB	01:53	Goal	Solon, James(1)	Assist(s): Lazarczyk, Keith(2)
TCK	00:47	Goal	Rautiola, Eric(5)	Assist(s): Devooght, Mark(1)
TCK	00:03	Goal	Rautiola, Eric(6)	Assist(s): none
2nd PERIOD
TCK	14:08	Goal	McDonald, Jed(12)	Assist(s): none
LAB	11:15	Penalty	Billings, Trevor(6)	2 minutes for Tripping
TCK	11:03	Goal	(PP)Rautiola, Eric(7)	Assist(s): Curran, John(2)
LAB	04:40	Penalty	Sprague, Ray(4)	2 minutes for Holding
LAB	01:31	Goal	Weglarz, Mark(1)	Assist(s): none
TCK	00:01	Goal	Mellen, Peter(4)	Assist(s): none
3rd PERIOD
TCK	07:46	Goal	Harrington, Brandon (11)	Assist(s): Wannop, Jeff(5)
TCK	01:13	Goal	Wannop, Jeff(3)	Assist(s): Harrington, Brandon (7)

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