Sandy Blows Doug

On monday night Hurricane Sandy made her presence felt in the Capitol City. Just when you think you cared about the NHL lockout, you realize that there are a lot more important things that affect people's lives. In week five of CCHL, the unthinkable became a reality. The CCHL commissioner Jeff "HurriCain" Cain had to pull the plug on monday's match up that was to feature undefeated Alan's versus The Windmill. "We lost power at The Doug, but players were willing to wear headlamps in order to play this game", Cain said. After careful consideration Cain opted to cancel the game because he feared the soft ice could be severely damaged and that could affect Thursday's big match between rivals Blue and Green of the NAHL. Cain, who has vested interest in both leagues, said,"I have to do what's best for the city of Concord and what's best for hockey in North America". No rematch has yet to be announced. On tuesday the CCHL resumed it's season when Cheers took on winless Cimos. Could Sandy blow Cimos into the win column? That was what their leading scorer Tom Carroll (no relation to "TC") was hoping for. Carroll did his part by lighting the lamp twice, but it wasn't enough to overcome a powerful Cheers squad. Corey "The Cockroach" Laroche continued his goal scoring tear, registering a hat trick that moved him into first place in the CCHL goal scoring race ahead of Clint "The Edge" Edinger who was idle this week due to Sandy's lap dance. Chris Roberge also had three goals as Cheers routed Cimos 11 to 6. Even after getting blown by Sandy "The Doug" held it's ground and hockey was saved in the Capitol City. However, not everything was spared; the skate house at White's Park was carried away by the hurricane winds of Sandy (see photo). Concord Mayor Jim Boulay and Park's supervisor Dave Gill met in an emergency meeting with Chris "Brownie" Brown who serves as the head of the Black Ice Pond Hockey Committee. Brown pledged that Black Ice Pond Hockey would build a new skate house at White's Park to replace the old one which landed on Donald Fehr of the NHLPA who resided in Oz. Mr Curtis was was found inside the skate house along with Dorothy and Toto. Mr. Curtis is now the fourth member of The Lollipop Guild. Black Ice will present architectural drawings of the proposed skate house at their next board meeting in November. Moe Rudz (pictured) and everyone here at The Pucking Files would like to wish you a very Happy Halloween.

The Perfect Storm Capsizes Blue

Weather forecasters have been telling us that the conditions may be right for the "perfect storm" and New England should brace itself. The Weather Channel was telling us that they predict Hurricane "Sandy" will hit the northeast on monday or tuesday. Last night started off just like every other Thursday night at "The Doug", the usual; Tilly shuffling the deck, TC and Heathy showing up after the first shift, ect. Phil "the Whistle" Lacasse was back in zebra stripes after undergoing cataract surgery that kept him in the dark all month. When Phil dropped the puck at center ice all seemed "normal". Philby won the puck and Blue went on the attack. Green weathered the storm and headed up ice and just like that; Hurricane Sandy barreled into Team Blue and their lights went out. In just over a minute Green had four on the board. On a night that marked the return of the straight bladed wooden stick, it became quite obvious that was not going to keep the wind and rain out of the Blue net. It's the age of kevlar and banana hooks. Green scored early and often in one of the most pathetic routes in the seventy year history of the NAHL. The guys in Emerald routed Blue 14-4. It was the worst loss in Blue franchise history dating back to World War II. "I wish I was never born", lamented Dunc "Coach" Walsh. "What the ef was that?, exclaimed Jim "Heathy" Heath. While coach John "Stuffy" Stevenson was on the phone with FEMA, the Green wind pounded the Blue goal. Blue decided that they should board up their goal, so they brought in Kenny "Don't Ya Love Em Madly" Bradly to try to turn back the tide. Bradley replaced beleaguered backstop Andy "Gump" Doherty who had turned aside forty four of Green's fifty one shots in the first period. Bradley came in relief with the game still close at seven to nothing. Green blew one by "Madly" and Blue realized that it may be getting to desperation time. "When you're only down by seven your goalie has to come up with a critical save to keep you in the game", explained Mike "Hipshake" Farrelly. "Being down by eight was a bit much to overcome", he added.

Green's line of "Tilly", "BTO" and "Cummy" scored regularly and Tom "Shemp" Champagne who led the second line on the score sheet. Shemp scored five goals and assisted on two more and was awarded the first star of the game. "Shemp" has now taken over the scoring lead in the NAHL over linemate Phil "Commish" Stuart who provided the lightening on the right side while Dan "Too Late" Early brought the thunder on the left. Jim "The Big Cum" Commerford received second star honors for his five goals and the third star went to Andy "BTO" Bachmann who scored three goals and added three helpers. Honorable mention went to Dave "Tilly" Tillotson who had nine assists. Blue did some soul searching and came up with a number guys to blame the loss on. Some say that it was the curse of the straight stick while others claimed that the excitement of the upcoming Halloween celebration was a distraction. GOP improbable Richard Murdock of the Tea Party had a different take on it. "It was God's will" that created the "Perfect Storm"at "The Doug". It's like rape on ice".

CCHL: Alan Likes It On Top

It is safe to say that Alan's likes being king of the heap in the CCHL. They took on second place Cheers and pulled out a hard earned 8 to 5 victory. Clint "The Edge" Edinger and Eddie Caron each had hat tricks for Alans while Chris "Green" Acres tallied twice for Cheers. Jimmy "The Saint" Santos was stellar in goal for Alan's. Cheer's captain Tim "The Timinator" Walsh was still feeling the effects of his SWD injury and was kept off the score sheet and held to a mere nineteen shots on goal. With Cheers down 7-5 with under three minutes to go, Cheer's coach Barack O'Connell pulled the goalie, but the gamble did not pay dividends and Alan's added an empty netter to finish the game. Alan's remained perfect at 4 and 0 while Cheer's settles for mediocrity at 2 and 2. In the second game of the evening, The Windmill spun while Cimo's sputtered. The Windmill was looking to get back on track after two straight losses and they had the right match up to do so. Cimo's, still yet to find a "W", was hoping this night would bring them the taste of victory. Tom Carroll(no relation to "TC") scored twice for Cimo's and Matt "Nads" Nadeau scored another spectacular goal, but it wasn't enough to overcome "The Mill" who had too much firepower on this night. Bill "Hawkeye" MacDougall collected the garbage three times, Travis "The Big Bang" Banga found the back of the net twice and Joel "The Arsenal" Arsenault remained hot scoring two goals in thier 9 to 6 victory. Windmill and Cheers are tied for second at two and too. We know that Barack and Mitt have been battling in the corners, but did you know that it's the Vips who are most prepared on game day? That's right! Paul Ryan and Joe Biden are a couple of studs. Ryan boasts about his P90X workout and Joe brags about his XBox workout. Moe Rudz the billionaire publishing magnate says that he chokes the flamingo each day. "It's just my way of making America stronger". Moe has also hinted at a run for the White House in 2016.

Alan's Rolls On in CCHL

After week three of the CCHL Alan's remains undefeated. They continued their winning ways against Cimo's who have yet to earn a win or the respect from their fans (photo) who are feeling the pain. League leading scorer Clint "The Edge" Edinger started off the scoring for Alan's, but Cimo's kept it fairly close for the first 45 minutes. Matt Nadeau scored a beauty for Cimos that pulled them to within one of Alans. The last 15 minutes however, was all Alan's as Shayne LeBreton and Kevin Kareles netted goals and Alans went on to a 10-4 victory. In game two of the evening it was all cheers for Cheers and no breeze for The Windmill. Four goals by Chris "Green" Acres and three by Corey "Cockroach" Laroche was plenty for Cheers who moved into sole possession of second place while The Windmill dropped to third. Gavin "You Betcha" Faretra scored two in the loss. The final was also 10-4. CCHL goal leaders are;1. Clint Edinger, 2. Joe Arsenault, 3. Corey Laroche, 4. Kevin Kareles, 5. Nine players tied for 5th. *All goals have been unassisted! Wow!

Three In Row For Blue

Blue dodged a Green comeback last night at The Doug and the win moved them into a tie with their rival Green for second place in the Eastern Conference. It's three in a row for Blue over Green which has left many fans feeling blue and coach "Toe" Blake scratching his head. "We got off to a terrible start and tried to play "ketchup" all night", said a frustrated coach Blake. Our first line played well, but they had no support from the second and third lines". Blue took a 3-0 lead into the locker room after the first period. Mike "The Little Cum" Commerford finally got Green on the board in the second, but Blue came right back when Dave "Tilly" Tillotson scored. Blue had a 5-2 lead going into the third and they had taken the Green crowd out of it. "It was so quiet in there that you would have thought the place was empty", said Dave "JP" Palisi. Green ramped it up in the third as the line of Commerford, Rudz and "BTO" Bachmann lit the lamp several times to close the gap and Blue began to feel the pressure. A pivotal moment came when referee Billy "Hawkeye" McDougal awarded Green a penalty shot. Green coach Gary "Toe" Blake looked down to the end of the bench and called out Russian badboy Alexander Rudulov who has seen little ice time since joining the NAHL. Rudulov came through with a "Savardian spin-o-rama that brought the crowd to it's feet and brought Kenny "Don't Ya Love Em Madly" Bradley to his seat. "I thought he was headed off the ice to vomit or something", said Bradley, "but then he just turned around and stuffed it in". "Are you allowed to do that?, he added.

The goal pulled Green within one and on the very next shift Andy "BTO" Bachmann scored to tie the contest with two minutes remaining in regulation. The Green crowd was delirious as the clock was running down, but, Dave "Motor' Carlson (pictured) rained on their parade when he ripped a boomer past Andy "Gump' Doherty which deflated the crowd. Clint "Eastwood" Casavaugh drove the final nail in the Green coffin with a top shelf wrist shot and the jubilant Blue squad headed to the locker room victorious. Mike "The Little Cum" Commerford was named third star of the game for registering five points in the loss. Dave "Motor" Carlson was named second star for scoring the winning goal in the Blue victory, but it was Tom "TC" Carroll who was sidelined with a groin injury he suffered at Zumba class in Bidderford, Maine who was named first star of the game for bringing six pizzas into the locker room after the game. "He is going to make people forget "The Kaiser" with moves like that", said Tom "Philby" Philbrick. "He's a team player", added league leading scorer Phil "Commish' Stuart. "One thing that "Badger Bob" taught us at Wisconsin is that if you can't contribute on the ice then contribute off the ice", said a humble Carroll after learning he was named star of the game.

Blue brought up rookie John Reagan to replace Kurt "Kaiser" Gillies on the blue line after Gillies announced his retirement in order to pursue his dream of competing in the Kentucky Derby. Reagan (pictured just before the hazing) was relieved that Blue was able to skate away with the victory and the traditional rookie hazing wasn't as bad as he expected. "The guys heated up a skate blade with a torch and burned the letters NAHL on my buttocks and then made me run through the gauntlet while slashing me with their hockey sticks. It really wasn't that bad he told reporters as he was wheeled out on a gurney to the waiting ambulance. It's great to be part of the team!"

The Taste of Victory

It was fifty cent beer night at "The Doug" last night. The suds were enjoyed by the rowdy sold-out crowd as they watched Blue taste victory for the second week in a row. Both coaches shortened their benches in order to give their superstars more ice time. "It was obvious that the dead weight was missing and the speed of the game was terrific", said Green's legendary coach Gary "Toe" Blake. We had a number of guys who were sleeping walking through the first few games and I decided to sit some of them in order to send a message. Blue coach John "Stuffy" Stevenson not only sat some players, but, he made them work the concession stand selling beer to the Concord fans. "If you're not going to work on the ice then you might as well work the crowd", he snapped sarcastically. The fans were treated to a contest played at a dizzying pace. Green jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period, but Blue had no quit in them and they roared back to tie the score just before the period ended. Both teams traded chances and goals all night long. By the end of the second period the combined shot total was sixty six. Andy "Gump" Doherty and Kenny "Don't Ya Love Em Madly" Bradley were solid at both ends of the rink. Blue had a two goal lead when "Toe" decided to pull "Gump" and put on an extra attacker. Tom "Shemp" Champagne had other ideas and stole the puck, skated up the left side and fed a pass to Jim "The Big Cum" Commerford who banked it into the goal that was guarded by defenseman Greg "Moose" Moffet. With Blue now holding a two goal lead, the Green cage remained empty and this time Green's Mike "The Little Cum" Commerford scored his third goal of the night to pull Green within one with under a minute remaining. Tom "TC" Carroll won the draw at center ice for Blue and sealed the game. The first star of the game went to Joe "Joe" Farrelly who proved his dedication by playing through a concussion although he was obviously hurting. "You see a guy like "Joe" giving it his all after what he went through and it gives you confidence that anything is possible", said teammate Dave "Motor" Carlson. "You could tell that "Joe" wasn't feeling 100% when he came in the locker room, said Brian "Tilly" Tillotson, "but, once he stepped on the ice it was all business. You gotta admire that". The second star went to Tom "Shemp" Champagne who assisted on seven of Blue's eight goals as well a scoring a couple himself. The third star was awarded to Phil "Commish" Stuart who had spent the last few weeks playing down in the Bermuda Triangle League for the Aruba Scuba. "It's good to be back in the NAHL!" he exclaimed. "Commish" found his game and scored the hat trick in a losing effort for Green. The victory for Blue now jumps them up in the standings tied with Mauve for third place. Green fell into second place behind Yellow who beat Teal last night led by James Van Riemsdyk who had the hat trick in only his second game since joining the NAHL. Stevenson had some of his "benched" players stay and work out in the weight room after the arena emptied out. Tom "Philby" Philbrick (pictured) told reporters, " I get the message and you can bet I will be ready to play next week".

CCHL: Back in Business

There is hope for the NHL lockout if they can follow in the footsteps of the CCHL and come to their senses. The players and management of the CCHL found common ground at center ice and ended the lockout that lasted two weeks. "We're back in business!", said Jeff "Kano" Cain. "The players agreed to donate a percent of their earnings to the charity "Hockey Fights Obesity" and the owners will match it. "We are thrilled that the CCHL has joined with the NAHL to support our cause", said Donnie "Doughnut Hole" Duncan, the chairman for Hockey Fights Obesity. Week two of the young CCHL season featured the battle of the unbeatens. It pitted Alan's versus The Windmill. The Windmill took a 3-2 lead thanks to two quick strikes by league leading scorer Joel Arsenault, but they couldn't hold the lead for long. Alan's rally sparked by goals by Shane LeBreton and Ed Caron proved to be too much for The Windmill. Alans is now the lone undefeated team in the league. Week two also found two teams looking to get into the win column. Cheers was eager for the return of their captain Tim Walsh who missed game 1 with a SWD injury that had many believing his career was over. The injury has plagued the league for several years and researchers have found that Sneezing While Driving (SWD) injuries are on the rise and air conditioning may be one of the factors involved. Walsh was treated by Dr. Lucy Flem who is considered the leading authority on SWD. Captain Tim was back in the lineup for game two against Cimmos and it paid dividends immediately. Walsh scored two goals, but it was Cory "Cockroach" Laroche who led all scorers with four lamp lighters. Nate Raimo had the hat trick for Cimmo's in a losing effort. Even John "King Tutt" Tuttle's thirty five saves couldn't save Cimmo's who now sit alone in the cellar. Zach Guercia made twenty eight saves for Cheers. It was a sound defensive effort by both teams as Cheers came out on top 10-8.

Blue Tooth Snarl

Team Blue finally tasted the pie last night with a convincing 10-4 win at The Doug. After a rough start to the new season which many felt was their championship hangover, Blue put together a complete effort for three periods, two commas and one exclamation point. Anchored by stellar netminding from Kenny "Rebel Without a Rebound" Dean and solid defense from veteran Joe "Joe" Farrelly and his young partner Dunc "Coach" Walsh, the Blue forwards were given the Green light to take some chances and they capitalized on them ten times. "It is finally nice to get a win under my belt", said an elated Dunc Walsh. "Aint that the truth!", added Dan "Too Late" Early. The two room together on road trips. "It was a very important win for us, especially being on the road", said Blue coach John "Stuffy" Stevenson. Blue got a huge boost from three rookies called up for the game. The trio formed the third line, now known as "The Bump & Grind Line".All three are in the running for the "Dick Pinch Award".

The only negative of the evening was that goalie Kenny Dean pulled his groin while skating out onto the ice after being named first star of the game. He is out indefinitely. It is expected that Andy "Gump" Doherty will get the start for Blue's next game. Jeff "Kano" Cain did make his debut last night, but he was unremarkable.He refused to talk to reporters who were anxious to get any information about the lockout in the CCHL. "He's been under a lot of pressure", said Clint "Eastwood" Casavaugh. "I give him credit for just being out here tonight", added Brian "Tilly" Tillotson a.k.a "The Big Till". Still no "Kaiser" sighting yet this season. He is reported to be playing in Germany or attending Octoberfest.

In other news around the league. Red beat Yellow 6-2. Right after the game Yellow signed NHL lockout James Van Riemsdyk (seen here in photo with his brother Snoop Van Riemsdog). "JVR" had signed a deal with the Maple Leafs this summer, but the lock out has forced him to find other options. "I always enjoyed my time in New Hampshire", said JVR who is a former UNH Wildcat. "I used to roll wid my homies over from Durham to Cap Ciddy just to watch NAHL games", said the ex Wildcat. "To get this opportunity to skate in the NAHL is a dream come true", he added. Van Riemsdyk is now the second NHL player to sign with a NAHL team this season. The first to join the league this season is Pittsburgh Penquin d-man Matt Niskanen who registered his first point last night after he assisted on the winning goal as Mauve beat Teal 3-2. On the west coast Rust corroded Chrome 5-1.