UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

Dead River Looks for First Win Over Gamblers

ODDS:	Gamblers By 4 Goals
OVER/UNDER:	8 Goals

The proverbial David VS Goliath matchup. The top dog Gamblers(7-1-0) take on the winless Dead Riverians(0-9-0) and have already contributed two losses to their rough start. The first was a 12-3 thumping on November 5th, followed by a 4-2 shocker on December 10th. We're not quite sure what happened in that game, but it seemed as though it was a combination of the Gamblers taking the game too lightly and Dead River playing out of their minds. Dead River's goaltender, Matty "Tazzy" Albertazzi had a significant impact on that game as he made 59 of 63 saves, stifling the Gamblers throughout the game.

Dead River looked a bit rusty last week in a 6-5 win over the Whalers, but should be back in the swing of things after the long holiday break followed by a BYE week.

Dead River has been bolstered by the addition of James "Han" Solon. Solon's flowing locks have provided some offensive flare to their anemic offense.

If Albertazzi pops some viagra, stands on his head and his team shows up to play some defensive hockey, this could be a close game, otherwise it will be another blowout.

The Gamblers were without one of their offensive juggernauts in Matty "The Milkman" Marrazzo in the last game, but if he is in the lineup, this will be at least a 6 goal performance for the G-Men.

Vegas says, Gamblers win 6-2.

Gamblers 5 Power Play Goals Fuel Win Over Dead River

The Dead Riverians haven't won a game yet this season, and tonight was one of their best games...until the 3rd period. They kept this game close, being down by only 1 goal in the 3rd period before taking 4 penalties and giving up 4 freaking power play goals.

One thing you cannot do is give the Gamblers a man advantage. Dead River gave them 7 tonight and allowed 5 power play goals which essentially put them in the ground.

Having big nights for the Gamblers were Matty "The Milkman" Marrazzo who ALWAYS delivers. He contributed with a hat trick and an assist. Two of his goals came on the man-advantage. Topo "Thing 1" LaCroix had 3 goals tonight, but his twin Goose "Thing 2" LaCroix was playing and the referees may have just merged all of their goals under one jersey # to keep things as easy as possible. Defenseman Ryan "The Boogeyman" Bergeron was outstanding in both ends of the ice as his defense was stellar and he contributed with a goal and three assists. Douglas "Lightweight" Heavisides also had his biggest night of the season with a goal and two assists.

Dead River did manage to score a season high 4 goals which is a step in the right direction. Offensively it was 3 players who contributed, Justin "Lawman" Lawrence had a pair of goals, TJ "Hooker" Moran had a goal and two helpers and new guy Jamie "Han" Solon had a goal and a helper...nobody else on the team had a point.

Matt "Tazzy" Albertazzi was good in net for Dead River, turning away 29 of 38 shots against the high-powered Gamblers. Ryan "VanStopper" VanSchoik also had a good night, stopping 25 of 29.

Here's a little play by play for ya:

DR 1-0: One on one, Solon muscled the shot, got a rebound and flicked it over low gloveside on VanSchoik
DR 2-0: Justin "Lawman" Lawrence basically went end to end. With full speed entering the Gambler's zone, he took the defender wide, cut through the crease and put it in glove side. By the way...that was an end to end shorthanded goal.
GMB 2-1 - Marrazzo, from the top left slot, beat Tazzy 5-HOLIO
GMB 2-2 - "Thing 1" LaCroix beat Tazzy high glove from the slot
GMB 3-2 - The Milkman does it again, this time, high glove from the high slot
GMB 4-2 - Again Thing 1, this time he banged away at a rebound with traffic in front, found the back of the net
GMB 4-3 - TJ "Hooker" Moran beat Van Schoik with a LONG snapper, high glove side through a screen.
GMB 5-3 - "Thing 1" LaCroix again for the hat trick, sniped the SHIT out of the puck, high glove, off the crossbar and in. PING!
DR 5-4 - Beautiful tic-tac-toe play to Lawrence on the back door.

I don't have play by play for the Gambler's 4 powerplay goals that won it, but let's just put it this way. They were all pretty goals that probably went something like this.

GMB 6-4 - Matty "The Mailman" Marrazzo goes for overnight delivery by roofing a Mike Harrington point shot rebound.
GMB 7-4 - Ryan "The Boogeyman" Bergeron tries dumping the puck into the corner on the powerplay but misses the corner by 30 feet and the puck goes in the net.
GMB 8-4 - Marc "The Narc" Gattie...because he's also a ref...get it? Narc! Anyways, Gattie takes a cross-ice one-timer from Cody Dodds and sticks it under the crossbar from 20 feet out.
GMB 9-4 - Dougie Heavisides, all heart, goes into the corner with 3 Dead Riverians and is the only one standing when he leaves with the puck. Heavy takes the puck to the front of the net and blasts a snapper right through Tazzy's belly, sending him to the hospital.

It's a shame that Dead River had to take so many penalites. This game would have been a great measuring stick to see if they could hang with the Gamblers for 45 solid minutes. Although, the fact that they took 4 penalties late in the game kind of shows that they could only keep up with the Gamblers for 30 minutes, started getting tired and making mistakes.

Nice job by both teams.

 

Team:	Time:	Type:	Player:	Details:
	00:00	Penalty	(207)	0 minutes for
	00:00	Penalty	(207)	0 minutes for
1st PERIOD
LAB	08:08	Goal	Solon, James(4)	Assist(s): Moran, Terence(6)
LAB	07:00	Goal	(SH)Lawrence, Justin(1)	Assist(s): none
GMB	02:00	Penalty	Heavisides, Douglas(2)	2 minutes for Hooking
GMB	01:09	Goal	(PP)Marrazzo, Matt(6)	Assist(s): Bergeron, Ryan(8) Ammel, Robert(6)
2nd PERIOD
GMB	11:30	Goal	LaCroix, Topo(11)	Assist(s): Young, Jason(4) Gattie, Marc(10)
GMB	09:30	Goal	Marrazzo, Matt(7)	Assist(s): Ammel, Robert(7) Heavisides, Douglas(6)
LAB	08:49	Penalty	Moran, Terence(3)	2 minutes for Body Checking
GMB	08:23	Goal	(PP)LaCroix, Topo(12)	Assist(s): none
LAB	04:27	Goal	Moran, Terence(4)	Assist(s): none
GMB	00:05	Goal	LaCroix, Topo(13)	Assist(s): none
3rd PERIOD
LAB	14:08	Goal	Lawrence, Justin(2)	Assist(s): Solon, James(1) Moran, Terence(7)
LAB	12:11	Penalty	Solon, James(1)	2 minutes for Tripping
GMB	11:07	Goal	(PP)Marrazzo, Matt(8)	Assist(s): Harrington, Mike(3) Bergeron, Ryan(9)
LAB	10:03	Penalty	Hadley, Gregory(1)	2 minutes for Interference
GMB	09:01	Goal	(PP)Bergeron, Ryan(1)	Assist(s): Heavisides, Douglas(7)
LAB	05:25	Penalty	Billings, Trevor(7)	2 minutes for Interference
GMB	05:14	Goal	(PP)Gattie, Marc(6)	Assist(s): Dodds, Cody(4)
LAB	04:50	Penalty	Hadley, Gregory(2)	2 minutes for Interference
GMB	03:55	Goal	Heavisides, Douglas(6)	Assist(s): Marrazzo, Matt(9) Bergeron, Ryan(10)

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