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OVER 30 LEAGUE UPDATES
Old-Timers,
This fall, the Old-Time Hockey Over-30 Hockey league will be celebrating its 17th year of operations. As always, your active participation in this league makes it the continued success that it is. At this time, I would like to provide you with some league updates. All information provided below will also be updated and posted onto the league website at... over 30 hockey league
During the month of June, the Over-30 league will be conducting its annual process of confirming all returning players to the league, in preparation of the upcoming draft. I am asking all league players to confirm back their playing status, shirt numbers and any changes to their contact information directly to the league email address of email over 30 hockey during the month of June. This will speed up the confirmation and drafting process and make it easier for everyone involved. Follow-up phone calls will be made by league representatives, as necessary, for those players who have not responded to the league email address. If you have a new player who is looking to join the Over-30 league, please provide further details such as name, age, contact phone number, speed, position, ability, etc.
The league will continue to operate at Hockeytown in Saugus on the indoor dekhockey rink, on Saturday's, from 5 - 7 p.m. The league will once again be drafting 5 teams. From a schedule perspective, please note the following two changes to mark on your calendars:
1) Due to Labor Day occurring on Monday, September 7, the Over-30 league will be starting earlier than usual, with the first scheduled games to be played on Saturday, August 29, as no games will be scheduled on September 5.
2) There will also be no games scheduled for Saturday, November 14 due to the upcoming wedding for Kellie and myself. To compensate those 4 teams for this missed week of games, there will be a doubleheader scheduled for those first two teams taking place in October and another doubleheader taking place for those second two teams in November. The scheduled game times for these doubleheaders will be at 5 and 7 p.m. (please be sure to make the necessary adjustments on your own personal calendars).
I am looking forward to all of you returning and playing in the Over-30 league. Please continue to monitor the league website at over 30 hockey league for any new league announcements.
Sincerely,
Bill Abcunas
Director of League Operations
2009 SPRING SEASON AWARDS
Season M.V.P. - Sandro Grutti
Leading Scorer - Matt Iannello
Leading Goalie - Sandro Grutti
Bill Mayne Memorial Award - Ed Nigro
Over-30 Acheivement Award Dave Miner
Playoff M.V.P. - Pat Pirone
Congratulations to all the award winners.
SPRING 2009 SEASON LEAGUE CHAMPIONS
Back-to-Back, the sequel
Lords of the Rink does it again
Congratulations to the Lords of the Rink team, as they become only the third team in Over-30 league history to win back-to-back championships, winning the rematch of the Winter season finals with Spaghetti & Meatballs, by the score of 5 - 1. If you were told prior to the start of this game that each team would start their second lines, that one team's second line was more dominant than both lines of the other team's, that Matt Iannello posted a stat line of 0-0-0 in the playoffs and his team would win easily, that a grizzled old defenseman playing on one good leg would be a dominating shut-down force during this game, that a scrappy digger and mucker would win the playoff MVP, and that star players like Matt Iannello, Joe Shannon, Franco Grutti and Dave Curcio and goalie Sandro Grutti were not a factor in this game, would you have believed us? Well, that is exactly what happened.
Spaghetti & Meatballs came into this game with a younger overall team built with speed on both lines, a potent two-line scoring attack, the game's premier goalie and reigning Season MVP Sandro Grutti, and a stingy defense anchored by one of the league's best defensive quarterback's in Greg Nevano. Holding a 2-1 edge in the season series played between these two teams gave them motivation; however, the bigger motivation for Spaghetti & Meatballs was avenging their loss as the favorites by the surprisingly upstart Lords of the Rink team, in last season's finals.
Spaghetti & Meatballs was the more consistent team throughout the regular season, finishing tied for first place, while the Lords of the Rink struggled to finish with a .500 record, losing two out of their last three games and limping into the playoffs, by giving up an average of 5 goals against in each of those games. Goaltending, age, and a lack of focus were the big questions marks that followed Lords of the Rink into the playoffs.
Coming into this final game, everyone expected that the run-and-gun prolific offense of Spaghetti and Meatballs first-line of Franco Grutti-Dave Curcio-Tom Bardascino would be offset by the ball control explosive offense of Matt Iannello-Joe Shannon-Ray Nickerson. This indeed proved to be the case, as neither line had an advantage, and basically cancelled out each other. This final was no different from the previous final when forecasting and assessing the factors that would determine a champion. The finals would come down to the same three factors: the play of the second lines, the ability of the defense to carry the ball more and contain each team's offense, and the play of the goalies. This time, the Lords of the Rink maintained a superior advantage in all three factors. The biggest factor was the overall play of the Lords of the Rinks second line of Nick Romano-Pat Pirone-Tony Mastrocola, as they clearly outplayed Spaghetti & Meatballs first and second lines. Their work ethic and hustle generated scoring opportunities, constantly disrupted the breakout process, and caused multiple fore checking problems for the defense. Pat Pirone played his best game all season, and was the most effective all around player on the rink during this game. Just as dominant a factor was the overall defensive play of the Lords of the Rink's Bill Mack and his ability the entire game to completely shut-down the other team's offense, stabilize and quarterback the play of his defensive teammates with a superior ball control style. This was the very best overall game played by Bill Mack that this reporter has seen him play in his years in the Over-30 league.
The game started out quite unusually as both teams started their second lines, which marked the first time in Over-30 playoff finals history that both teams started their second lines. Strategy was obviously being employed from the start, as line matching immediately took place. The first period was played at a very cautious and lackluster pace, as neither team played aggressively. It was as if each team was waiting for the other team to make a mistake, and then capitalize on that mistake. The exception to this cautious lackluster play was the effort of the Nick Romano-Pat Pirone-Tony Mastrocola line. Their play sent a message to Spaghetti & Meatballs that there would be two dominant lines to contend with in this game. Their efforts paid off as Pat Pirone scored the game's first goal halfway through the first period, assisted by Nick Romano, along with some pressure forechecking by Tony Mastrocola. Prior to this, goalie Sandro Grutti made a great pad save on a point blank shot by Pat. You could tell from how this game was being played out, that the game's first goal would be critical to each team's game strategy. At the end of the first period, the Lords of the Rink were outshooting Spaghetti & Meatballs by a 9 - 3 margin.
Lords of the Rink turned up the attack pressure in the second period, outworking and out-chancing their counterparts with numerous scoring opportunities. They were starting to consistently get the ball in deep then kicking it back out to their defense (Bill Mack in particular) for some open shots. Goalie Sandro Grutti made an even better acrobatic save as a shot from the point, going wide of the net, was deflected off his own defense, and changed directions, forcing Sandro to make a tremendous save. As their offense was not generating any pressure, mainly due to the continued efforts of Bill Mack and the Lords of the Rink's team defense to disrupt any breakouts, Spaghetti & Meatballs needed a break. They got a rare one halfway through the second period. Catching the offense of Lords of the Rink caught too deep in the zone, the defense made a great outlet pass to Franco Grutti open on the left wing. Using his skill to shield the ball from the on rushing defenseman, Franco broke past the defense with his quick speed to set up a 2-on-1 with Dave Curcio. Holding the ball to the last second to freeze goalie Bill Gardynski, Franco passed over to Dave Curcio who buried the tying goal from the slot area. Any chance of the momentum swinging over to Spaghetti & Meatballs favor, disappeared 30 seconds later, as Bill Mack made a great heads-up play deep in his corner and passed the ball over to Ray Nickerson on the right wing, who found Joe Shannon streaking down the left wing. Joe's wrist shot deflected off a defenseman's stick into the top corner, past a stunned Sandro Grutti, giving Lords of the Rink a 2 - 1 lead. Even though they were only trailing by a goal, you could see that Joe Shannon's goal took a lot out of them. At the end of the second period, Lords of the Rink were winning 2 - 1, while out shooting Spaghetti & Meatballs by a commanding 19 - 7 shot total.
At this point of the finals, five observations were clearly evident. 1) Spaghetti & Meatballs defense was sitting too far back. When a forward fore checked and the ball was deep in the Lords of the Rink's zone, the defense of Spaghetti & Meatballs was not in the offensive zone pinching in on the boards. Thus, there were too many easy breakouts for Lords of the Rink. 2) The team back checking commitment by Lords of the Rink was relentless as they constantly had a forward back to help out the defense. Surprisingly, Matt Iannello made this commitment priority number one for himself and sacrificed all offense for defensive zone coverage. 3) Spaghetti & Meatballs was playing flat and was not running as a team; Lords of the Rink were. 4) The younger defense of Spaghetti & Meatballs looked tired, tentative and was getting seriously outplayed by their older, banged up counterparts on Lords of the Rink. 5) Goalie Sandro Grutti, the key factor for his team winning this game, appeared to injure himself late in the second period.
In the third period, there was a sense of déjà vu from the winter season finals, as Pat Pirone again scored a minute and a half in to give his team a commanding 3 - 1 lead. Pat did the same thing right around the same time in the winter finals. Pressure forechecking in the left corner led to a giveaway by the Spaghetti & Meatballs defense, resulting in Pat's goal. 30 seconds later, Ray Nickerson was set up all alone in front by Joe Shannon, to make the score 4 - 1. It was clear that the defense of Spaghetti & Meatballs was tired. Spaghetti & Meatballs was generating more offense and scoring chances by reconfiguring their lines, however, when they did get a prime scoring chance, goalie Bill Gardynski was there to shut them down. Finally, Tony Mastrocola on a great feed from Nick Romano, scored with four minutes left to make it 5 - 1 and seal this victory for Lords of the Rink. The only thing that remained was for the clock to run out and Lords of the Rink to count down the seconds of a surprisingly dominant playoff performance, as they showcased different playing styles for each playoff game and outscored their opponents, 9 - 4. The final shot totals favored Lords of the Rink as they outshot Spaghetti & Meatballs each period, as well as for the game by a 29 - 14 margin.
A few historical facts to point out with this victory were: Ed Nigro moving into first place alone overall on the all-time list with 9 championships won, while Ed Dullea moved into a tie for second place with 8 championships of his own. Lords of the Rink, as previously mentioned became only the third team to win back-to-back championships. For Dusty Caufield, this was his third championship won in only four seasons played. This marked the first playoffs that a Matt Iannello team has won the championship while individually he posted scoring stats amazingly of 0-0-0. Tony Mastrocola sent a clear message to brother John that Tony still is the better Mastrocola brother playing in the Over-30 league, and for the right price, Tony may let John actually wear one of his championship jackets to feel what it is like to be a champion. Finally, Carlos Machado, goalie Bill Gardynski wants to know how do you like him now?
Once again, congratulations go out to the Lords of the Rink back-to-back championship winning team players Tri-Captain's Matt Iannello, Bill Mack, and Joe Shannon, Playoff MVP Pat Pirone, Dusty Caufield, Nick Romano, Ray Nickerson, Tony Mastrocola, Ed Nigro, Ed Dullea and goalie Bill Gardynski.
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