Do You Believe in Miracles?: YES! CIMO'S Wins CCHL Title

 Forget "The Miracle on Ice" of 1980. Even forget the "Amazing Mets" of 1964. To be a true believer, you only need to turn to the 2014 CCHL Championship; " Divine Intervention at The Doug".  When they write the storied history of hockey at "The Doug", right at the top it will read; CIMO'S. A rag-tag bunch of lovable losers faced insurmountable odds to go down in hockey history as "The Most Unlikely Team to Win the CCHL Championship". It's David vs. Goliath.  It's Rocky Balboa vs. Apollo Creed.  It's the 1973 Bishop Brady Green Giants vs. The Berlin Mountianeers. It's like as if Magenta were to win the NAHL. It's against all odds that Cimos is now the reigning champions of the CCHL.
It started in the semi finals when Cimo's took on the No. 1 seed BWW. Cimos was down 2-1 late in the third when Mike Russell banged in a rebound to tie the game. The Cimo's trap had kept it a low scoring affair which was not what BWW wanted. Then in OT, it was Captain Mick Mounsey who rifled a shot past Mike "X" Spillane to send the hometown BWW fans back across the street to cry in their beer.
In the other semi-final match up; it too took OT to decide a winner. This time it was Cheers who advanced to the CCHL finals. It was a back-and-forth battle, each team trading leads. Cam "Bam" Heath scored the hat trick for Cheers. It was "The Cockroach", Corey Laroche who scored the game winner in OT to set up the unlikely finals match up.

2014 CCHL Champs

On sunday night, the most famous arena in hockey was packed to the rafters to see if Cimo's had one more miracle in them. Cheers jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on goals from Tim "The Timinator" Walsh and Matt "Boots" Boudrias. It was "The Rain Man", Nate Raimo who scored at the 25 minute mark to pull Cimo's to within one.  The Doug was now abuzz with anticipation. Then, Matt "Nads" Nadeau, the emotional leader of Cimos, tied the game at two. Chris "The Hobbit" Robert gave Cimo's their first lead of the game with eight minutes left in regulation. The Cimo's Trap went into high gear and goalie Ryan "Homer" Simpson stood tall in net as Cimo's hung on to become the CCHL Champions of 2014. Congratulations to Cimos and all their adoring fans. "Free hot chocolate at next year's Black Ice Pond Hockey Championship" courtesy of Johnny "Cimo" Cimmokoski.

Green Crowned NAHL Champions

Shemp & Commish

It was a season for Green's rookie  coach Tom "Thumb" Flanders that most coaches can only dream of.
To reach the top of the mountain while still in the shadow of Gary "Toe" Blake, who many would say is undoubtedly  the greatest coach in NAHL history, is an accomplishment that puts "The Thumb" up the bum of the doubters. "The critics counted us out when they heard that "The Toe" was gone", said Green's Tom "Shemp" Champagne. " They are giving us the Thumbs Up now", he added.
In what looked like another nail-biter through two periods, the epic battle of Blue vs. Green is now another chapter in the storied history of "The Doug" and the NAHL Thursday night series.
Blue scored first as Andy "BTO" scored his first of two, but, Green answered. The score was knotted at eight apiece after two periods. In the third period, Kenny "Don't Ya Love Em Madly" Bradley shut the door to the Green net and Phil "Commish" Stuart put the Green machine ahead to stay. That is the point where Green's superior conditioning became obvious as the ran away with a 13-8 victory. Blue had nothing left in the reserve tank for the third period.                                    The First Star of the game

Don't Ya Love Em Madly? We do.

honor went to "The Commish" who scored  a pair for Green including the game winner. "Twice in the series I scored what looked to be the game winning goal, only to see it slip away. I was happy to finally get the game winner in the most important game of my entire life", said a jubilant Stuart. After getting off to a slow start, "The Commish" got hot when it was most important; the playoffs. Stuart finished the season with a career high 58 goals which was good enough to win "The Swoop" as league leader in goals. It' just one more trophy to try to find room for in a house crowded with hardware.  The number two star went to Kenny "Don't Ya Love Em Madly" Bradley who came up huge in the third period and turned the tide in Green's favor. Bradley made forty one saves on the night. The third star went to Tom "Harry" Harrison who was inserted into the line up in game six. "Harry didn't register a goal, but the energy he brought to our line up was huge.", said Mike "Hipshake" Farrelly.  For Blue, "BTO", Clint "Eastwood" Cassavaugh and Jim "Heathy" Heath each scored a pair of goals. "We can only learn and grow as a team from this, but right now", it's a little hard to swallow", said a dejected Blue coach Tom "Painch" Painchaud. He took over the helm of Blue when they were in last place in eastern conference. He turned the club around and got them to within one game of winning it all. I'm sure GM Mike "Garbo" Garafalo will be bringing him back next season. It was another unbelievable year in the NAHL and the fans surely got their money's worth. Next thursday night there will be a huge void that will have to wait another six months to fill. I can't wait! I just can't.

Headed to a Game Seven

"The one thing that turns me on most?" "A game seven."

It was a battle of Kennys last night as Blue forces a game seven with a 6-5 victory over long time foe Green. Both Kennys were sharp in nets last night. At the end of period one it was scoreless. The pace of the game was "extreme". Blue's coach Tom "Painch" Painchaud believed he needed a faster line up, so he scratched Andy "BTO" Bachman and Tom "Philby" Philbrick and replaced them with speed merchants Mike "Hipshake" Farrelly and Tom "Harry" Harrison. The move left many scratching their heads, but Painchaud looked like a genius after Blue's win forced a game seven back at "The Doug" next thursday. Tickets went on sale at 8 a.m. this morning and they were sold out by 8:20 a.m. Last night the game was all knotted at three apiece with just under eight minutes left in regulation when Green's  Phil "Commish" Stuart whipped a wrist shot along the ice to put the men in Green in the lead. "With the way Kenny B was seeing the puck, I figured that I had the game winner", lamented Stuart. But, Clint "Eastwood" Cassavaugh jumped on a loose puck and slipped it past Kenny "Don't Ya Love Em Madly" Bradley to even the score. With just under four minutes in regulation play, Tom "Shemp" Champagne hooked up with Tom "Berg" Bergault to give Blue the lead. Green pulled Bradley in favor of an extra attacker, but Blue scored in the vacated goal and had a 6-4 lead with just thirty ticks left on the clock. Green's rookie Jim "Jim" Farrelly scored just as the clock expired to make it a 6-5 game. The first star of the game went to Kenny "Rebel Without a Rebound" Dean who made forty one saves. Kenny "Don't Ya Love Em Madly" Bradley was given the second star of the game. He made seventy two saves and kept Green in the game. The third star of the game went to Tom "Harry" Harrison who kept Green back on their heels all night. Fans lucky enough to get a ticket to next thursday's game at "The Doug" should be treated to yet another  thrilling game seven between arguably "the most storied rivalry in sports".

In week 20 of the CCHL; Both games were previews of opening round match ups for the playoffs. Game one featured BWW versus Cimos with BWW coming out on top 7-4. Mike "Tricky Dick" Richard led the spicy Wings with a hat trick while "Flyin" Ryan Williamson added a couple of his own. Ryan "Bart" Simpson was solid in net for Cimos in spite of letting in seven goals.
In game two; Cheers crushed Windmill 13-8.  Corey "The Cockroach" Laroche had a six pack of goals for Cheers. Tim "The Timinator" Walsh scored four and Jack "The Iron" Curtain had a pair. Bill "Hawkeye" MacDougal scored twice for the Windmill. "We expect a much tighter checking game next week when all the marbles are on the line", said Hawkeye MacDougal.
CCHL Goal Scoring Leaders
1. M. Richard            45
2. R. Williamson       41
3. C. Laroche            39
4. G. Faretra             35
5. T. Walsh              34
6. T. Banga              23
6. C. Heath              23
8. Phil                      20
9. B. MacDougal     19
10. T. Carroll           18
10. Pat                     18