UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

Whalers Look to Harpoon Tuckies

ODDS:	Tuck By 5 Goals
OVER/UNDER:	11 Goals

The Tuck Turduckens haven't had many problems this season as they've marched to a 11-1-0 record. Their only loss came to the very talented Gamblers in a 5-4 battle back in November. Since then, they've thumped the Gamblers twice and routed the rest of the league as well. Scoring a league high 91 goals which is a staggering 7.6 goals per game. What's even more impressive is that they have only let up 28 goals in that period backed by a stingy defense and stellar goaltending from Mike "Divination" Devine.

The Whalers have been the epitome of inconsistency as they've had some great games and some rough ones. Tuck owns the top 2 scorers this season in Jed "Old" McDonald(39 points) & Brandon "The Harry One" Harrington(35 points). The Whaler's Woody Redpath leads the Whalers with 17 points in 9 games.

Tuck should dominate this one from start to finish but the Whalers are feisty and have highly skilled forwards that could make this game interesting.

Vegas says Tuck wins 8-3.

HOLY SHIT! WHALERS BEAT TUCK 5-4

Ok, this one was a bit of a shocker. The 11-1-0 Tuckies took on the 3-9-0 Whalers...and lost. Yup, you read that right. Ok, ok, ok...let me point out that there is an asterisk next to this win seeing as the Whalers only had 6 of their rostered players, brought in a ringer goaltender and brought in 3 Nordiques to help fill their roster out to 9. Also keep in mind that those 3 Nordiques just played a game where they got whooped 7-0 by the Gamblers...so there's that.

The Whaler's Kenny "Lame Ribs" Lallier had about 40 square inches of bruising on his right side due to a ski accident over the weekend and called in the rookie alternate goaltending stud Zachary "Light Em Up" Lary. Lary was excellent, and was it not for a late surge by Tuck, scoring 2 goals in the last 3 minutes, he would have been the first star.

The first star was the Nordique's Jordan "McBreakaway" McGee who had a pair of goals and an assist, including the game winner. McGee seemed to be playing with a little something extra that wasn't seen with the Nordiques. Maybe it was that he was playing with some speedier linemates, maybe it just takes him a full game to get ready, maybe it was the fact that he didn't feel obligated to a defensive hockey system with the Whale. Whatever it was, he was dynamic in this one.

The Whalers jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first period behind goals from Woody "Redrum" Redpath, Jay "The Zamboni" Zanleoni & McGee. They outshot the Tuckies 14-9 and seemed to shell-shock them early on. McGee set up Redpath at 4:38 in the slot for a goal, 5-holio, on Mike "The Divine One" Devine. Zanleoni struck with 4:52 to play as he broke in all alone and sniped a snapper high glove for a 2-0. McGee then had his own breakaway on the next shift as he dangled right into the crease and roofed the puck over Devine's glove just 36 seconds after Zanleoni's goal.

END OF THE FIRST: Tuck ZERO, Whalediques 3. SHOTS: Tuck 9, Whalers 14

The second period opened with the feeling that the Tuckies would open things up and get back into this game, they pressed early, but Lary was there to keep his team up. Lary's counterpart, Devine was outstanding as well as he shut down both McGee & Zanleoni AGAIN on breakaways early in the second.

Tuck did finally break through just over 3 minutes in as John Dawson threw a nice pass to the neutral zone for Jed "Old" McDonald. McDonald beat the defender to the puck down the far side, cut across the crease all alone and threw a backhander over Lary's pad. Beautiful goal, great pass by Dawson as he threw it to an area and let the speedy McDonald chase it down. Tow minutes later Eric "The Rat" Rautiola tipped in a John "The Cure" Curran blast from the point and this was all of a sudden a hockey game. The remainder of the period had a nice flow to it with both teams trading scoring chances and and registering 16 shots on goal in the period. Brandon "The Harry One" Harrington was held off the scoresheet, but was generating chances including ringing the post with 8:39 to go.

END OF THE SECOND: Tuck 2, Whalediques 3. SHOTS: Tuck 25, Whalers 30

The Whalers notched the next goal with just under 5 minutes played in the third when Redpath hit Dillon "Fierce" Pierce coming down from the point to the slot. Pierce fired a snapper 5-holio on Devine for the 4-2 lead. Brian "The Beard" Racicot set up the Whaler's 5th goal as he made a nice drop pass to Jordy McGee at the tops of the circles. McGee carried the puck in and beat Devine with a twisted wrister high glove with 6:55 to play. That looked like it was it, Tuck was done, kaput, finished, toast, out of it, dead, fried...but they didn't get the memo. Tuck started triple shifting their big guns and the tables started to turn. Tuck outshot the Whalers 10-3 in the last 5 minutes and put another goal in with 2:59 to play. That goal came from a Jeffrey "The Wasp" Wannop point shot that was kick-saved by Lary off a shin pad and onto the stick of Rautiola who jammed it home. Uh oh.

Another pointshot from Wannop put Tuck within a goal as Harrington took the rebound behind the net and wrapped it in with 1:50 to play. Tuck took a timeout after that goal to rest their big dogs and it was ALL TUCK the last 1:50 as they pulled their goalie shortly after winning the faceoff. The super offensive line of Harrington, McDonald, Dawson & Rautiola pressed but the Whales defended the onslaught and took home the HUGE win.

Well played game by both teams. That's what hockey is all about. Only 4 penalties in this fast-paced, clean hockey game.

 

Team:	Time:	Type:	Player:	Details:
1st PERIOD
TCK	13:56	Penalty	McDonald, Jed(1)	2 minutes for Tripping
WHL	13:34	Penalty	Pierce, Dillan (6)	2 minutes for Holding
WHL	10:22	Goal	Redpath, Woody(6)	Assist(s): McGee, Jordan(9)
WHL	04:52	Goal	Zanleoni, Jay(8)	Assist(s): Johnson, Kirt(3)
WHL	04:16	Goal	McGee, Jordan(16)	Assist(s): none
2nd PERIOD
TCK	11:56	Goal	McDonald, Jed(18)	Assist(s): Dawson, John(9)
TCK	09:41	Goal	Rautiola, Eric(10)	Assist(s): Curran, John(6)
TCK	02:26	Penalty	Mellen, Peter(3)	2 minutes for Hooking
3rd PERIOD
WHL	10:11	Goal	Pierce, Dillan (4)	Assist(s): Redpath, Woody(13) Kerrigan, James(5)
TCK	10:08	Penalty	McDonald, Jed(2)	2 minutes for Tripping
WHL	06:55	Goal	McGee, Jordan(17)	Assist(s): Racicot, Brian(6)
TCK	02:59	Goal	Rautiola, Eric(11)	Assist(s): Wannop, Jeff(11)
TCK	01:50	Goal	Harrington, Brandon (24)	Assist(s): Wannop, Jeff(12)

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