Cimo's Extends Cheers Skid, BWW Escapes The 'Mill

BWW 1st Star Jack "Cracker Jack" Mullen

Two close, exciting games this week in the CCHL as Monday's tilt went down to the final buzzer. Cimo's scored a controversial goal as time expired to cap off their come from behind 8-7 victory over Cheers. A miscommunication between Hall of Fame goaltender Mark Crowley and defenseman Jake Curtin proved costly as Ryan Williamson one-timed a feed from Cam Heath as time expired. Cheers protested the call made on the ice by referee Nick "Slick" Lacasse, but the call was confirmed by the league offices across the street at Buffalo Wild Wings. Cimo's was led by Ryan "Flyin" Williamson's 4 pack of goals as he continues to bounce back from a sluggish start and Jeff "Cano" Cain scored his first hat trick since his famous 1996-97 performance where he had a career high 24 goals. For Cheers it was another heart breaking loss dropping them to 1-6 on the season and their sixth straight loss following an opening night victory. Cheers was again led by their captain Tim "Timinator" Walsh who tallied a hat trick.

Tuesday's tilt did not disappoint as well, this time it was BWW in the comeback effort over Windmill 8-7. Jack Mullen scored his game high fourth goal of the night with five minutes remaining to give BWW a lead they would not relinquish to improve to 6-1 this season. BWW only received one goal from their first line as Captain Travis Banga was once again suspended for violating the league's hair gel policy (second suspension this season) and 2nd round pick Shayne LeBreton was absent for the fourth straight game following an undisclosed locker room incident. Stepping up in their absence was Kyle "Super Sub" Marceau who scored the lone goal for the first unit. Windmill jumped out to an early lead and looked to be in full control of the contest prior to the BWW comeback. Windmill received hat tricks from both CCHL Leading Scorer Mike "Tricky Dick" Richard and Captain Gavin "You Betcha" Faretra, but it would not be enough to avoid falling to 3-4 on the season.

Standings
                                                 W             L              T             Pts             GF        GA            GD

     1.       BWW                                   6              1              0              12            46           35           +11

     2.       Cimo’s                                  4              3              0              8              43           45           -2

     3.       Windmill                                3              4              0              6              50           48           +2

     4.       Cheers                                  1              6              0              2              34           45           -11

             

      Scoring Leaders

Mike Richard	20	Windmill
Tim Walsh	17	Cheers
Corey Laroche	15	BWW
Ryan Williamson	15	Cimo's
Gavin Faretra	11	Windmill
Corey Cotnoir	8	BWW
Joel Arsenault	8	Windmill
Cam Heath	7	Cimo's
Tom Carroll	7	Cimo's
Jack Mullen	7	BWW

NAHL HAT Night at the Doug

Green wins!

The NAHL rewarded their loyal fans with the first annual NAHL Hat Night in Week 6 Thursday night action. Those in attendance witnessed a clean hard fought game between Blue and Green. Green picked up its second win of the season by defeating Blue 6-4. Green Coach Tom "Painch" Painchaud shuffled his lines and reunited  Dave "The Younger Tilly" Tillotson,  Clint "Eastwood" Cassavaugh and Tom "Duster" Dustin and the move paid off as Tillotson and Cassavaugh score 4 of Green’s 6 goals. In a last minute move Green acquired Dave "JP" Palisi off waivers from Blue and Palisi proved the Green GM right as he scored a timely goal late in the second period to give Green a comfortable lead going into the third.  Jim "Big Cum" Commerford and Mike "Little Cum" Commerford tried to work their magic and mount a comeback in the third, but Green’s stingy defense and goalie Ken "Rebel without a Rebound" Dean kept the speedy wingers off the board to secure the win.

In other NAHL action Copper defeated Mauve 3-1 and Clear edged out Magenta 4-3. Copper remains in first place with Blue close behind in second.

Standings as of 11/21/14

Copper 5-1-0

Blue 4-2-0

Magenta 3-3-0

Mauve 2-4-0

Green 2-4-0

Clear 2-4-0

Wings Fly, 'Mill in the Sky Keeps on Turnin

"The Other Corey" (left) & "Tricky Dick" (right) in the minors

With week six completed in the CCHL each team has now played every team twice as the standings begin to take shape. BWW started off the week against Cimo's as both teams have been decimated by injuries, suspensions and call ups. At puck drop Cimo's fielded a squad of 7, resembling a Black Ice team while BWW countered with 9. When the final horn blew it as BWW escaping with a 6-3 victory to improve to 6-1 while dropping Cimo's to an even 3-3. BWW forward Shayne LeBreton was absent for the third straight game following an undisclosed locker room incident. It may be in veteran hall of famer's best interest to return as soon as possible as young forward "The Other Corey" Cotnoir has taken full advantage of his opportunity with the first line. "The Other Corey" who was initially thought to be a second line mucker lit the lamp three times for his second hat trick in the past three games while skating with the first unit. Fellow linemate Corey "Corey" Laroche is also feeling the chemistry with the youngster as he matched "The Other Corey's" hat trick with one his own. Time will tell what will happen with the BWW lineup when/if LeBreton returns. For Cimo's captain defenseman Mick Mounsey led all skaters in TOI with 60:00 played while also chipping in a goal. BWW goaltender Tyler "Beans" Ingerson was impressive in net making 29 saves and forcing 17 crossbar and outs.

Game number two featured Windmill and Cheers with the 'Mill rolling to a commanding 9-4 victory. CCHL Leading Scorer Mike "Tricky Dick" Richard continued his torrid scoring pace with a four goal night to pace the 'Mill. Captain Gavin "You Betcha" Faretra showed no sign of bus legs following his cross country trek to Colorado chronicled on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Snapchat, Tinder, LinkedIn, MySpace, Pintrest, Foursquare, WUPHF.com and MSN Messanger as he tallied a #HatTrick. For Cheers it was Captain Tim "Timinator" Walsh leading the way with his second hat trick of the season and Jake "Iron" Curtin adding his third of the year. The struggles continue for Cheers as they fall to 1-5 in fourth place as injuries and lack of scoring depth seem to be the key factors. The Pucking Files has just learned from it's CCHL Insider Rob McKenzye that Cheers Dr. Kent Smith has ruled out defenseman Chad Broduer for the remainder of the season with a torn ACL. Cheers will be forced to lean on rookie Kyle "Vanilla" Tracey top play top four minutes the rest of the season.

     Standings

1. BWW       5-1   
2. Windmill    3-3
3. Cimo's      3-3
4. Cheers      1-5

   Scoring Leaders

Mike Richard 17 Windmill

Corey Laroche 15 BWW

Tim Walsh 14 Cheers

Ryan Williamson 11 Cimo's

Corey Cotnoir 8 BWW

Joel Arsenault 8 Windmill

Gavin Faretra 8 Windmill

Cam Heath 7 Cimo's

Tom Carroll 6 Cimo's

Winter Storm Bozeman Hits “The Doug”

Winter Storm Bozeman

It was a dark and stormy night as winter storm Bozeman gave Concord everything it had Thursday.  As nasty as the weather was outside “The Doug” the real storm was inside as Blue unleashed its fury on Green in week 5 NAHL action. Blue was led by goaltender Ken "Rebel without a Rebound" Dean with a spectacular performance as Blue soundly defeated Green 7-1. Green opened the scoring in the first period and Green responded by scoring  7 unanswered goals. With NAHL leading scorer Jim " Big Cum" Commerford homebound in the hills of Warner due to Bozeman,  Blue turned to Mike "Little Cum" Commerford to guide the offense to victory. Tom "Bergs" Bourgault was the go to guy as he popped two tape-to-tape passes past Ken "Don't Ya Love Em Madly" Bradley. Dan "Too Late" Earley rang both posts on a nifty shot for his first goal of the season.  Green was missing many of its veteran players due to the storm.  After the game Green coach Tom "Painch" Painchaud sat in the locker room shaking his head and mumbling incoherently. A special NAHL “shoutout” is due to referee Phil " The Whistle" LaCasse who provided much needed refreshments after the game.

In other NAHL action Magenta hands Copper its first loss of the season with a 6-4 win and Mauve slips by Clear 4-3. Copper and Blue are now tied for first place.

Standings as of 11/14/14

Copper 4-1-0

Blue 4-1-0

Magenta 3-2-0

Mauve 2-3-0

Green 1-4-0

Clear 1-4-0

Cimo's Haults Windmill's Win Streak, BWW Bounces Cheers

Singer/Songwriter Ryan "Flyin" Williamson

It's beginning to feel like winter in the Capital City, but the action inside the Doug remains red hot. Game one of week 5 saw Cimo's pull away from Windmill for a 10-6 victory Monday night. The loss was Windmill's first in 3 games after winning two straight following captain Gavin "You Betcha" Faretra's famous week 3 guarantee. The whispers of a sophomore slump have seemed to rejuvenate Cimo's forward and singer/songwriter Ryan "Flyin" Williamson as he led all scorers this week with his second straight four goal game. Word out of the Cimo's locker room is after the game, inspiration hit Willamson and he quickly penned an acoustic ballad dedicated to his performance (Release date: TBD). Also enjoying multi-goal games for Cimo's were backup singers Cam "Bam" Heath and Tom "Badger" Carroll, who is well known for his work with The Steve Miller Band back in Wisconsin.  The 'Mill takes a step backward after two straight wins and two straight unlikely hat tricks from Joel "Mendoza" Arsenault who was only able to muster one measly goal this week. Enjoying multi-goal nights for the 'Mill were CCHL Leading Scorer Mike "Tricky Dick" Richard and Nick "Twin 1" Lacasse.

Game two of the week featured BWW and Cheers facing off in a tight game with BWW eventually pulling out a 5-3 win. In the games first shift, current BWW forward and former Cheers forward Corey "Cockroach" Laroche silenced some old Cheers demons after being held scoreless in the team's first meeting, by scoring two goals to spot BWW a 2-0 lead in the games first two minutes. Cheers pulled within one on a Tim "Timinator" Walsh tally off a neutral zone turnover. The teams traded goals again making it a 3-2 game, but Kyle "Super Sub" Marceau scored what proved to be the game winner late in the game and Laroche put an exclamation point on his night finishing his hat trick in the games last shift. Walsh finished with two goals to lead Cheers in the loss and Carl "Good to See You" Langlais added one. The story of the evening however was the second straight healthy scratch of BWW forward Shayne LeBreton following an undisclosed locker room incident following a game against Cimo's. No word yet on whether or not this will cost LeBreton his coveted first line position to youngster Corey "The Other Corey" Cotnoir who has filled in admirably in LeBreton's absence. When asked to comment on the situation BWW captain Travis "Gang Bang" Banga stated "this was a team issue that would be handled internally," and had no further comment.

Standings
BWW                                  4              1              
Cimo’s                                 3              2             
Windmill                               2              3             
 Cheers                                 1              4             

Scoring Leaders

Mike Richard     13  Windmill

Corey Laroche     12  BWW

Tim Walsh     11  Cheers

Ryan Williamson   10 Cimo's

Cam Heath       7 Cimo's

Joel Arsenault       7 Windmill

Tom Carroll       6 Cimo's

Gavin Faretra       5 Windmill

Corey Cotnoir       5 BWW

Big Cum Wins it Late for Blue

"Big Cum" (far right) celebrating the victory

The weather outside “The Doug” was dreary, but the play inside was intense as week 4 of the NAHL turned out to be a Blue/Green barn burner. Blue squeaked out a win when Jim " Big Cum" Commerford put in his second goal of the night by stealing the puck at the blue line and scoring on a breakaway with one minute left to play to make the score Blue 5 Green 4. Commerford had tied the score earlier in the third. " Big Cum" leads the NAHL in scoring and the crafty veteran proves every game how valuable he is to the league.  Andy "BTO" Bachman also added two goals for Blue. Tom "Shemp" Champagne score for Blue on a nifty breakaway. Ken "Rebel without a Rebound" Dean played solid in goal for Green, but the Blue breakaways were just too much for him to handle. Ken "Don't Ya Love Em Madly" Bradley was huge in the Blue net snagging many “sure goals” out of the air with his quick catching glove. Tom " Duster" Dustin was able to beat Bradley on a rare penalty shot after being “manhandled” by Joe " Joe" Farrelly. Dave " The Younger Tilly" Tillotson beat Bradley in the second period with a blistering shot that rang off the post and bounced into the net. Phil "Commish" Stuart scored his first goal of the season to start the scoring in the first period.

In other NAHL action Copper remains undefeated by beating Clear 5-3 and Mauve gets its first win of the season by defeating Magenta 7-6.

NAHL Standings as of 11/07/14

Copper 4-0-0

Blue 3-1-0

Magenta 2-2-0

Green 1-3-0

Clear 1-3-0

Muave 1-3-0

The 'Mill Deals BWW 1st Loss, Cimo's Rolls Cheers

Joel "Mendoza" Arsenault at the 2013 Bartender Games

Some lopsided action in the CCHL this week as both games were decided by 5 goals or more. Monday night's tilt saw Cimo's pull away from a banged up Cheers squad for a 10-5 victory. Ryan "Flyin" Williamson answered the whispers of his potential sophomore slump with a dominating four goal performance to lead Cimo's. Fellow linemates Cam "Bam" Heath and Pat Lacasse each chipped in a pair for the defending champs. Tim "Timinator" Walsh and faceoff specialist Matt "Nads" Nadeau each scored two in the losing effort for Cheers which dropped them to 1-3 on the season. The injury bug has seemed to have bitten the highly touted Cheers defensive corps as Taylor Smith and Chad Broduer are both expected to be out for multiple weeks and there have been several other unconfirmed reports of other day to day injuries plaguing Cheers.

In game number two Windmill handed BWW's their first loss of the season in a 11-5 laugher with Windmill storming back from a 4-2 deficit. Former amateur bartender Joel "Mendoza" Arsenault put on a scoring display for the second straight week scoring a hat trick. Following a disappointing season last year there were reports around the league that "Mendoza" would be returning to his former career as a semi successful mixologist. Those reports seem to have been quieted for the time being, although he was seen after the game mixing a sailor jerry's and diet coke for many of his 'Mill team members. Also enjoying multi-goal nights for the 'Mill were Captain Gavin "You Betcha" Faretra and Mike "Tricky Dick" Richard. Corey "The Other Corey" Cotnoir led the way for BWW's scoring a hat trick as BWW's seemed to struggle to keep their composure late in the game without Captain Travis "Gang Bang" Banga who was serving a one game suspension for violating the league's hair gel policy.

Standings
BWW          3-1 6pts
Windmill      2-2 4pts
Cimo's         2-2 4pts
Cheers         1-3 2pts

Scoring Leaders
Mike Richard  11
Corey Laroche  9
Tim Walsh  7
Ryan Williamson 6
Joel Arsenault  6
Cam Heath  5
Gavin Faretra  5
3 Tied at 4