UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

ODDS:	Tuck by 2
OVER/UNDER:	6

In the first semifinal game we have the 2nd seed Tuck hosting the 3rd seed Gamblers. Tuck comes into this week off a bye and the Gamblers are coming in hot off a 5-3 win over the Whalers. Tuck has taken three out of the four regular season games but the Gamblers won the most recent match up in February. Look for this game to be hard fought game between the two teams but Tuck's offense and goaltending will lead them to a 4-2 win to earn them a trip to the Whalen Cup final next week.

In the first semifinal game we had the #2 seed Tuck hosting the # 3 seed Gamblers. Tuck comes into this week off a bye as being one of the top two teams in the league and the Gamblers are coming in hot off a 5-3 win over the Whalers. Tuck has taken three out of the four regular season games but the Gamblers won the most recent match up in February. Tonight"s game wouldn"t be a letdown as both want to move on to play for the Whalen cup. The Game started out with both teams coming out hard with back and forth action. The game remained scoreless until about six minutes into the game when Tuck"s John Dawson scored while there was a delayed penalty call coming on the Gamblers. Dawson got himself all alone in the slot of the Gamblers zone as Tuck had six skates to the Gamblers five; Dawson collected the pass from teammates Jed McDonald and Conrad Trimbath at 9:16. Although Tuck got on the scoreboard first it was the Gamblers who had double the chances on Tuck"s Dan Rosen, however Rosen stood tall and played lights out in the first period turning away all 16 shots the Gamblers put on him. It should also be mentioned that the Gamblers had two chances on the power play to tie the game in the first period as well. The period ended with Tuck leading 1-0 heading into the second period.

In the second period Tuck came out very hard and aggressive as they wanted the games next goal, they would succeed in getting it about 3 minutes into the period when Tuck"s Will Collins put one past Gamblers Ryan Van Schoick to put Tuck up 2-0. On the next play following the goal the Gamblers took a penalty just 30 seconds after giving up one and it looked like Tuck would be taking full control of the game but the Gamblers were able to kill off the penalty as they managed to control the puck more than Tuck did on the PP. A few minutes after the penalty was killed off by the Gamblers, the Gamblers Ryan Van Schoick left the game with hand injury that he suffered while skiing on Sunday. Hats off to Van Schoick for attempting to play the game but thankfully for the Gambler"s Tuck allowed for the Lumberjacks goalie Zach Lary play the rest of the game for him. Lary was tested right away by Tuck but he was able to shut the door coming in in the middle of the game and keep the score the same. It was Tuck"s Rosen who was tested once again but the Gamblers were able to score their only power play they had in the second. The goal was scored with just 2:31 remaining in the period by Ian Stelzner. Stelzner was set up by center man Brandon Guidotti who won the faceoff back to Stelzner who was set up on top of the circle, he as soon as he received the puck he let it go with a quick snap shot that beat Rosen high blocker side to make the score 2-1. The period would end with Tuck up 2-1 as Rosen would finish the period with 14 saves and a two period total of 30.

With the score being 2-1 Tuck at the start of the third period the Gamblers continued to push for the tying goal but it was Tucks John Dawson who would score the games next goal with 12:02 left in the period. The Gamblers Lary came out to play the puck up to his teammates but Dawson was able to intercept his pass. As Dawson intercepted the pass from Lary he made sure to attack Lary quickly as he was out of the net. With the quick pressure Dawson was able to put a deke on Lary as he raced back to the net and put Tuck up 3-1. The Gamblers didn"t give up being down by two as they continued to test Rosen but he was stopping everything tonight. With about four minutes left in the game Tuck was able to score the games next goal, this goal was scored by Will Collins (his second of the night) as he was set up by line mates Dawson and McDonald. The Gamblers didn"t rollover though as they were able to score with 2:42 left in the game as Topo LaCroix was set up by Ryan LaCroix and Ryan Bergeron. With the score 4-2 the Gamblers were doing everything they could and pulled their goalie with 2:10 remaining the game to see if they could get within one goal. Tuck was able to fight off the pressure in their own end from the Gamblers as they fired the puck out of there zone high off the glass, the puck landed in the neutral zone and Tucks Will Collins was able to beat the Gamblers defensemen to the puck and skate in all alone to put the puck in the empty net (Collins 3rd goal of the night) and end this game. Tuck would win this game 5-2 and earn a trip to face the Jacks in the Whalen Cup finals next week.

 

Team:	Time:	Type:	Player:	Details:
1st PERIOD
TCK	11:43	Penalty	Dawson, John(4)	2 minutes for Hooking
TCK	09:16	Goal	Dawson, John(7)	Assist(s): McDonald, Jed(23) Trimbath, Conrad(8)
GMB	08:32	Penalty	Young, Jason(11)	2 minutes for Boarding
TCK	01:40	Penalty	Rautiola, Mark(5)	2 minutes for Cross Checking
TCK	01:02	Penalty	Trimbath, Conrad(3)	2 minutes for Roughing
GMB	01:02	Penalty	Guidotti, Brandon (2)	2 minutes for Roughing
2nd PERIOD
TCK	12:52	Goal	Collins, Will(15)	Assist(s): Dawson, John(13) McDonald, Jed(24)
GMB	12:17	Penalty	Bergeron, Ryan(5)	2 minutes for Slashing
TCK	04:16	Penalty	Dawson, John(5)	2 minutes for Tripping
GMB	02:31	Goal	(PP)Stelzner, Ian(1)	Assist(s): Guidotti, Brandon (3)
3rd PERIOD
TCK	12:02	Goal	Dawson, John(8)	Assist(s): none
TCK	11:08	Penalty	Rautiola, Mark(6)	2 minutes for Tripping
TCK	04:01	Goal	Collins, Will(16)	Assist(s): Dawson, John(14) McDonald, Jed(25)
GMB	02:42	Goal	LaCroix, Topo(23)	Assist(s): LaCroix, Ryan(25) Bergeron, Ryan(9)
TCK	01:48	Goal	Collins, Will(17)	Assist(s): McDonald, Jed(26)

LOG IN:
Username:		You must be logged into your Forum account to leave game comments. Please log in to the right to add your Brilliant Diatribes & Thunderous Verbal Attacks about this game.
Password:
	forget username / password? create account

Game Comments: