Six Feet Under bury the competition!
Congratulations to the Six Feet Under team, as they went wire-to-wire, in winning the Winter 2009 season championship, defeating Moving Forward by the score of 3 – 2.
What stood out for this reporter during these playoffs were not the dominating scoring threats and offenses generated by the Iannello-Shannon-Nickerson line or the relentless fore checking and speed of Six Feet Under’s second line. Rather, it was the play of this team’s defense and how they completely shut down the other team’s offense and scoring threats, and limited the number of shots taken. When teams did manage to put shots on net, they were either from long distance or from the side angles.
From the second week of the season on, Six Feet Under maintained their firm hold of first place overall, while never letting up the pressure in dominating the other teams. Meanwhile, Moving Forward was heading into the finals riding a nine game winning streak. Needless to say, something had to give during this game, as there could only be one champion. It is not very common to see the top two teams face off against each other in the finals; however, both teams made sure that scenario would not play out this season.
One factor that stood out heading into this game was the fact that Moving Forward held a 2 – 1 edge in head-to-head competition when it played Six Feet Under. If any team matched up evenly or better against Six Feet Under, it was Moving Forward. The finals would come down to how each of the goalies played, the ability of the defense to contain each team’s offense and limit the number of shots on net, and the speed of Moving Forward versus the ball control of Six Feet Under. For most of this game, Six Feet Under maintained a superior edge in all three categories. It was the hustle and determined fore checking of Six Feet Under’s Tony Bono, Pat Pirone and Matt Iannello that generated scoring opportunities, constantly disrupted the breakout of Moving Forward, and caused multiple problems for their opponent’s defense. Tony Bono in particular played his best game of the season, and was the most effective all around player on the rink during this game. Tony’s play would be rewarded in the second period when he scored a key and perhaps backbreaking goal for his team.
The game started out quite cautiously for both teams, almost as if they were feeling each other out for weaknesses. That quickly changed for both teams as the play picked up, with both teams opening up their running games. However, most of the play during the first period took place between the two white clearing lines, as neither team generated much of an offense. The play was simply back and forth as both teams’ defenses made sure that the ball did not stay in their end for any length of time. Strategy was obviously being employed from the start, as line matching immediately took place.
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, Six Feet Under was outshooting Moving Forward by a 6 – 3 margin.
As they had done so many times during the course of the regular season, Six Feet Under grabbed hold of the edge and turned up the pressure on their opponent by scoring the game’s first goal. Surprisingly, it was Ray Nickerson who got things going with some pressure fore checking on the defense of Moving Forward that caused a turnover. Ray’s heads up play found Matt Iannello behind the net, who spotted Joe Shannon open in a seam in the high slot. Joe ripped off a one-timer that beat the goalie to give his team that crucial first goal and a 1 – 0 lead, two minutes into the second period. Before Moving Forward could regroup and press for the equalizer, Six Feet Under scored one minute later on the game’s key goal. Tony Bono took a feed from Carlos Machado near the net and momentarily lost possession of the ball before he could get off a shot. The delay threw off goalie Bill Gardynski Sr, who had committed by going down in expectation of Tony’s shot. Scrambling to get back up, rather than move back towards the net, Bill tried to square up and appear bigger to Tony, only to watch in surprise as Tony “pulled the string” and lofted his second shot slowly over Bill’s shoulder to give his team a crucial 2 – 0 lead. Was it planned by Tony that way, or more of a misfire? You have to ask Tony. One thing for sure though, it swung all the momentum over to Six Feet Under in a big way. Three minutes later, Joe Shannon pulled up just inside his own zone near the center offside’s line and unloaded a booming slap shot that cleanly beat the goalie to the low glove side, as his team jumped out to a commanding 3 – 0 lead in only four minutes. This was a perfectly placed shot by Joe, and one of his typical goals that he somehow manages to score in the big game. Threatening to open this game into a rout, Six Feet Under generated two consecutive breakaways by Matt Iannello and Joe Shannon, which were both stopped by Bill Gardynski Sr. Those saves right there were a defining moment for Bill as he kept his team within striking distance. At the end of the second period, Six Feet Under was winning 3 – 0, while out shooting Moving Forward by a commanding 15 – 7 shot total.
At this point of the finals, Moving Forward looked stunned and confused by this explosive outburst from Six Feet Under. They had taken what many would call a knockout punch from their opponent, but, were still hanging around and surprisingly in this game still. Early in the third period, goalie Bill Gardynski Sr. once again stood tall as he made an acrobatic save off Pat Pirone on a clean breakaway. Captain Scott Young’s line shifting of moving Alby Luise up front during the last part of the second period was starting to pay off rewards for Moving Forward, by generating some strong fore checking and scoring attempts. Finally, with two and a half minutes to play, that pressure paid off, as Neil Arbuthnot scored off a rebound out front after a shot by Mike Luise to cut the lead to 3 – 1. Thirty seconds later, Nick Romano scored off a great pass from Marty Makarewicz off a shot from Ed Dullea from the point to close the gap to 3 – 2. With two minutes to play, we now had a ball game. With just over a minute to play captain Matt Iannello made a move that trumped his counterpart captain’s move. Matt changed his defense and brought Mike Hollingsworth off the bench, back onto the floor. The move worked to perfection as Mike’s long reach and his ability to put his stick in the right place at the right time, constantly disrupted the attack of Moving Forward. Together with defensive partner Mike Caso, this tandem settled everything down and prevented Moving Forward from getting off any quality scoring chances. The game ended with a frantic and frenzied jamming of the ball at the crease, as time ran out with goalie Jeff Deharo standing his ground and shutting the door. The final shot totals favored Six Feet Under as they outshot Moving Forward for the game by a 22 – 16 margin.
A few historical facts to point out with this victory were: Pat Pirone won his fifth straight championship, and sixth out of the last seven championships won, while moving into a tie for second place overall with Ed Dullea for most jackets won with 8 each (trailing only Ed Nigro with 9 total championships won). For the trio of Matt Iannello-Joe Shannon-Ray Nickerson, this marked their third consecutive championship. Already the phrase is being spoken around the league “time to break up this dominating trio of talent.” Joe Shannon won his second Playoff MVP in the last three finals played.
Once again, congratulations go out to the Six Feet Under team consisting of captain Matt Iannello, captain Joe Shannon, Ray Nickerson, Pat Pirone, Tony Bono, Carlos Machado, Brien Sullivan, Tom Bardascino, Mike Caso, Mike Hollingsworth and goalie Jeff Deharo.
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