UPPER VALLEY HOCKEY LEAGUE

Defense Will Determine Winner

Ladies & Gentlemen, we are finally here!  After 5 months of Men's League hockey at Woodstock, we get to honor the top team in the Upper Valley with the Pop Whalen Trophy.  

The top two offensive teams in the UVHL, Labatt Blues & Tuck, go head to head and after 3 games head to head this season, we have no idea what to expect.  The games have gotten progressively more out of control with a 20 goal abomination of all things defense and goaltending.

Nov 1st - Blues 4 - Tuck 3
Jan 10th - Tuck 10 - Blues 4
Feb 7th - Tuck 13 - Blues 7

To be fair, the Blues were missing their all-star goaltender, Jon "Showtime" Hall,  in the last game and had to use a last minute fill-in who was a bit shell-shocked by the speed of the UVHL and Tuck.

Regardless, this should be one for the ages.  Tuck has scored an absurd 6.83 goals per game with the Blues second at 5.14.  The Blues were 2nd in the UVHL this season with 4.24 goals allowed with Tuck sitting 4th, allowing 5.17 GA per game.

If everyone shows up, the defenses and goaltenders will be busy.  Vegas thinks Tuck wins their UVHL record 10th Whalen Cup by 1 goal.

Stickel Strikes in OT to give 9th Whalen Cup

Luke "The Duke" Stickel played the hero 32 seconds into overtime to deliver yet another championship to the halls of Tuck Business School.  The top seeded Labatt Blues played a fantastic game but never held a lead.  Unfortunately the Blues were missing some of their top offensive players in Kyle "King" Richards(23pts in 9gp) & "Mad" Max Major(20pts in 12gp) and defensive studs Mike Anderson(8pts in 8gp) and Jake Rick(7pts in 14gp).  But, you play with the players you got and life goes on.

Tuck took advantage of the Blue's missing depth and deposited 52 shots on their goaltender Jon "Showtime" Hall who was outstanding, keeping his team in this game at times.  Hall's counterpart, Brendan "Killer" Kelley was also outstanding, but not quite as busy, seeing 33 shots on the evening.

It was a back and forth game with the first goal coming just over 5 minutes in when "Super" Jon Carkeek found Aidan "Rocky" Balboni backdoor.  Carkeek was the best player on the ice as he pushed play, created offense and was solid defensively.

Brendan Kelley was huge over the following minutes, playing big and on his angles, taking everything away until the Blue's "Super" Stephen Hamilton jammed home a loose puck in the slot to tie the game with 5:47 to play.

END OF THE FIRST: Game tied at 1.  SHOTS: Tuck 12, Blues 14

Despite an initial flurry by the Blues to start the second period, the second frame was absolutely dominated by Tuck as they dominated possession, zone time and shots.  Hallsy was God-like, turning away 26 shots to Kelley's 7.  "I'm not sure what Hallsy did between periods, but it must have been a combination of vVagara, Speed and Twinkies because he BIG, FOCUSED AND HAPPY." Said former team captain TJ Moran.

A pair of penalties from Justin Belden didn't help matters in the middle-part of the stanza, but the penalty kill was good.  Tuck finally broke through JUST AS the second penalty expired as "Sugar" Seamus O'Neil made a sweet pass to Carkeek backdoor on a fast-rush to break the tie.

Two minutes later "Cool Hand" Colin Clark cleaned up a loose puck in front of Hall to tie the game at 2 goals apiece.  Tuck continued to dominate the rest of the frame but Hall was too big, too fast, too focused.

END OF THE SECOND: Game Tied at 2.  SHOTS: Tuck 39, Blues 22

The Blues got their legs back under them for the third period, but Tuck was yet again the first team to strike and break the tie on a gorgeous feed from James "Big Ray" Bourque to Ryan "Butch" Cassidy in the slot.  Cassidy's catch-and-release beat Hall low blocker side, just over his pad.

Things were looking dire for the Blues as the clock ticked away, but Justin Beldend redeemed his second period penalties, cruising down from the right point and chipping a rebound past Brendan Kelley with just 90 seconds to play to tie the game at 3 apiece.

END OF REGULATION: Game tied at 3.  SHOTS: Tuck 51, Blues 33

Overtime started and ended with Tuck possessing the puck, never giving it up and O'Neill feeding Stickel who threw a filthy move at Colin Clark before beating Hall low back across the grain for the championship-winning, game-ending, overtime goal of the century!!!!