Twas The Weeks Before Christmas – 2010 Flames

December, 2024 – Twas The Weeks Before Christmas – 2010 Flames.

Twas the weeks before Christmas and all around the ice scorekeepers were tracking those naughty and nice.

 

 

 

 

‘Twas the weeks before Christmas, and all around the ice
Scorekeepers were tracking, those naughty and nice;

The jerseys were hung by the door with care,
In hopes that coach would soon would be there;

The players were all huddled at the bench listening real close;
They were pumped, “Play our game and see how it goes”.

Shannon in her long coat, and I in my ball cap,
Were in the booth, her on the clock and me on the app,

When out on the ice there arose such a crash,
Over came the ref, that wasn’t hooking, it was a slash.

Away to the pad I wrote like a flash,
Looked up and wondered, “Does that kid have a mustache?”

The lights reflected off of the logo at center ice,
and gave a luster of all things perfect and nice,

When what to my wondering eyes on the ice did come,
But a line of Beal, Petrie, and Drumm,

With a pair on defense so lively and quick,
Booth and Santitto sent in by Coach Nick.

More rapid than Bruins on a rush they came,
Rosenbeck whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:

“Now, Powers! And Pinkos! take the shooter and the pass!
Come on, Warren! and Mooney!, Kaveney we miss your a–!

To the top of the crease! The top of the circle too!
Now inside! Keep them away! I believe in you!”

As the 2010 Flames meet before the wild onslaught flies,
Nick, Tim, Dave, and Adam preach and the effort does rise;

So up and over the boards those Flames they flew
With hearts full of joy, an extra word from Coach Nick too—

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the rink a ding
The glancing of a puck off the post, and in.

As I smiled widely, and was turning around,
Down the bench came Ingalls, a roar from the bleachers did surround.

He was dressed all in his gear, from his helmet to his skates,
His home whites all reflecting the celebration of his mates;

A bundle of joy, he had forgotten to take the crease,
When Rosenbeck appeared, “Finish this masterpiece!”

His eyes—how they twinkled! His mind racing, was everywhere!
Coach, “Travvy get in there!”, Take Giampa and St. Pierre!

His mask was lifted and crooked like he just didn’t know,
And the pads on his legs were as white as the snow;

The ref looked this way and that, gritting his teeth,
He dropped the puck and the players resumed battle like beasts;

The Flames passed the puck, Ouellette to Soucy;
For a shot and score from Destani, a rebound so juicy.

Single file they skated to the bench, fist bumps, all the joys
I laughed, and cheered, excited, just like one of the boys;

A wink of Coaches eye and a twist of his head
The boys all knew, this game was done, nothing to dread;

They spoke not a word, but right back to work they went,
Filled with encouragement; their effort did not relent,

And the sound of the final horn arose,
Rosenbeck and Ingalls they led, and met those they opposed;

Booth, Beal, Powers, Soucy and Warren followed in line;
Petrie, Drumm, Mooney, Pinkos and St. Pierre shook hands taking their time.

From the glass I heard Ian shout, “Chase, Joey, Ouellette, Coaches, and Deen —
“Merry Christmas to you!, and don’t forget what all of this means!”

 

 

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Game 30 of the season.

Twas The Weeks Before Christmas:

December 01, 2024.

Gallant Arena, Volpe Athletic Complex, N. Andover, MA.

Scoring:

• 2010 Flames: 00 – 01 – 00  = 01
• IHC East Lafond: 02 – 01 – 02 = 05

Shots:

• 2010 Flames: 04 – 09 – 09  = 22
• IHC East Lafond: 15 – 17 – 13 = 45

Penalties:

• Soucy – Roughing.
• St. Pierre – Hooking.
• Drumm – Cross-Checking.
• Petrie – Tripping.
• Drumm – Roughing.
• Soucy – Slashing. (PPGA).

 

The Flames traveled to North Andover to play a very good Islanders team. To make matters worse, the 2010 Flames didn’t exactly start this game on fire. They were outshot 15-4 in the first period and trailed 2-0.

In the second period, Rosenbeck left the game after making 19 saves on 21 shots with the Flames trailing, 2-0. Ingalls was welcomed to the game by a turnover right in front of the net that led to a save, rebound, and score.

The Flames did cut the deficit to 3-1 when St. Pierre put home a rebound off of Drumm’s shot after a great save by the Isles goalie. Even – St. Pierre from Drumm. Down, 3-1.

The Isles added two more goals in the final period, and won the game, 5-1. Ingalls made 21 saves on the 24 shots he faced. The 2010 Flames were outshot, 45-22.

 

 

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Game 31 of the season.

Twas The Weeks Before Christmas:

December 01, 2024.

West Side Arena, Manchester, NH.

Scoring:

• 2010 Flames: 03 – 02 – 01  = 06
• NH East: 00 – 00 – 00 = 00

Shots:

• 2010 Flames: 24 – 17 – 12 = 53
• NH East: 03 – 08 – 03 = 14

Penalties:

1. Warren – Hooking.

 

The 2010 Flames refueled after the morning debacle, and jumped out to a 3-0 after one period. They were all over NH East. They had 24 shots on goal to 3 against.

Soucy got the scoring started. It happened like this. Warren had the puck at the right point and fired a shot wide left. The puck hit the corner and Booth scooted in to grab the puck. He cut to the net and tried to stuff the puck in the net. But it was kicked out. That’s where Soucy took the rebound and flipped the puck into the net. Even – Soucy from Booth and Warren. GWG. 1-0.

NH East misplayed the puck at the right point while in the offensive zone and it was free for the taking. Destani skated on to the puck and flew up the ice on a breakaway. With wondrous speed he approached the net, threw down a deke, and deposited the puck into the net. Even – Destani unassisted. 2-0.

The 2010 Flames scored on their next shift too. NH East made an attempt to wrap the puck out of the zone but Booth stood in the way. He blocked the clear and took a shot from the point. The puck hit off of a defenders stick and caromed perfectly past the goaltender for the goal. Even – Booth unassisted. 3-0.

The 2010 Flames took a 4-0 lead when Santitto, Pinkos, Soucy, Mooney, and St. Pierre all touched the puck in succession. It was quite a team play. Santitto kept the puck in at the point but the puck was bouncing and almost got away. Pinkos skated along the blue line to tap the puck further into the zone.

Soucy was “Soucy-ing” as only Soucy does. He grabbed the puck and circled directly to the wide open slot. He fired point blank but the shot hit the goalie. Mooney tapped the puck but that was turned out. Now, the puck slid to the other post where St. Pierre graciously ended the play by smacking the puck into the net. Even – St. Pierre from Mooney and Soucy. 4-0.

Rosenbeck left the pipes with a 4-0 lead, making 5 saves on 5 shots. Ingalls would finish the game, and make 9 saves on 9 shots the rest of the way. It was the team’s 4th shutout of the season.

The 2010 Flames added a goal when Pinkos took a clearing attempt and lifted a shot toward the net from the left point. The puck was in flight and likely headed over the net when Destani reached up with his stick and deflected the puck downward, into the net. The refs talked and allowed the goal. Even – Destani from Pinkos. 5-0.

The lead grew to 6-0 after Mooney and Giampa played a little ‘hot potato’ with the puck back at the defensive blue line. Giampa eventually tapped the puck to center ice where Ouellette grabbed it and took off. Ouellette powered his way through two defenders and took a shot from the low slot for the goal. Even – Ouellette from Giampa and Mooney. 6-0.

 

 

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Game 32 of the season.

Twas The Weeks Before Christmas:

December 07, 2024.

JFK Memorial Coliseum, Manchester, NH.

Scoring:

• 2010 Flames: 00 – 00 – 01  = 01
• NH Selects: 01 – 00 – 01 = 02

Shots:

• 2010 Flames: 11 – 14 – 12 – 37
• NH Selects: 08 – 02 – 10 – 20

Penalties:

1. Soucy – Interference.
2. Giampa – Tripping.
3. Soucy – Roughing. (PPGA).
4. Pinkos – Tripping.
5. Drumm – Tripping.

 

This game reminded me of watching raw venison being fed into the old hand crank meat grinder, except it lacked the satisfaction of seeing the nice strings of burger emerging from the chute. Anyways, enough about the start to a great Shepherd’s Pie.

I did note that the 2010 Flames blocked a significant number of shots in the first period. I took that as a good sign. Then, I also noted that the Selects were blocking more shots and their bench was cheering each blocked shot. Now that’s just cool. That is a sign of full team engagement, and that is a good thing.

After one period, the Flames trailed, 1-0 after allowing a power play goal against. The Flames still managed to get 11 shots on net, while the Selects had 8 shots on Rosenbeck.

The second period was more or less dominated by the 2010 Flames. They had 14 shots on goal, and only allowed 2 shots. But the score remained, 1-0. Rosenbeck left his shift in net, making 8 saves on 9 shots. The Flames trailed, 1-0 after two periods.

In the final period, the Flames could not take advantage of four power play opportunities. And, they fell behind, 2-0. Ingalls had taken over in net and he made 10 saves on 11 shots before being pulled with 31 seconds left in the game for an extra attacker.

As the extra player skated onto the ice, Booth had leveled a kid, taken the puck behind the net, and wrapped a backhand shot toward the front of the net. The puck slid across the crease where Giampa was able to push the puck past the goaltender. Good goal with 28.9 seconds left. Extra – Giampa from Booth. Down, 2-1.

The 2010 Flames were not able to get another goal, and they dropped a 2-1 decision.

 

 

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Game 33 of the season.

Twas The Weeks Before Christmas:

December 07, 2024.

Rink 6, New England Sports Center, Marlborough, MA.

Scoring:

• 2010 Flames: 00 – 00 – 02  = 02
• MM Flames: 02 – 01 – 00 = 03

Shots:

• Were not tracked, or not seen.

Penalties:

1. Booth – Slashing.
2. Warren – Tripping.
3. Pinkos – Boarding.
4. Giampa – Roughing.
5. Ouellette – Hooking.

 

The 2010 Flames fell behind early in this game. They trailed, 3-0 entering the final period. Then Warren totally blew up a play along the half wall and moved the puck to Destani. Destani settled the puck but couldn’t get to it. Giampa walked right into the loose puck and ripped a slapshot on goal.

Here the quickness of getting the shot on goal was the key. The shot was low and save-able. Since Giampa didn’t dust off the puck, play with it, and take an extra second of time to fire, the shot was en route before the goalie was set. Just like that, the puck squeezed through the pads and into the net. That’s how you do it kids. Even – Giampa from Destani and Warren. Down, 3-1.

With 3:01 left in the game the 2010 Flames made things interesting. Ouellette skated/dumped the puck into the corner in the O zone. The D got their first but Ouellette’s presence made him hurry. The clearing pass was bothered by Destani who was in on the forecheck as well.

In a matter of seconds, Destani had gained possession of the puck and slipped around the D. At the bottom of the circle he fired a shot that beat the goaltender to the far side. Nice play. Even – Destani unassisted. Down, 3-2.

With roughly a minute left, the 2010 Flames pulled Ingalls for an extra attacker. They ended up playing defense in their own end for most of the time afterward. They did get some chances after Destani’s goal but nothing too serious. The MM Flames held on for the 3-2 win.

One note I made while watching the game on LiveBarn was this. The 2010 Flames still don’t head-man the puck nearly as often as they should. In one stretch they had four chances to do so and didn’t even look at making the pass. Then the MM Flames made a 2-line beautiful pass to the head-man the puck and they had the visitors scrambling to get back in a hurry.

Those passes don’t always need to work to be effective because just the threat of it forces the opponent to play defense in all three zones, and it keeps them honest. It also opens the option of a player over the line with the puck and support flying up the ice not worrying about being offside.

 

 

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Game 34 of the season.

Twas The Weeks Before Christmas:

December 08, 2024.

Cranston Veterans Memorial Ice, Cranston, RI.

Scoring:

• 2010 Flames: 00 – 02 – 00  = 02
• Providence South: 00 – 00 – 00 = 00

Shots:

• 2010 Flames: 03 – 05 – 08 = 16
• Providence South: 11 – 09 – 13 = 33

Penalties:

1. Soucy – Cross-Checking.
2. Warren – Hooking.
3. Mooney – Cross-Checking.

 

The 2010 Flames were outshot 33-16 according to the website for the league. Regardless, they scored twice and didn’t allow a goal in their 2-0 win. Rosenbeck and Ingalls recorded 33 saves to earn the shutout. The Flames scored twice in the 2nd period. Then they made those two goals stand up and skated to victory.

The first goal came on a play that Soucy started by using his patented one hand stick swinging move. He smacked the puck as a Providence player was trying to play it. This caused the puck to slide out of the zone and all the way through center ice.

Destani won the race to the puck. He skated in close with Soucy on his right. Destani was hooked en route to the net and the ref’s arm went up. But Destani stayed with the puck and made the play, flipping the puck past the goaltender for the goal. Even – Destani from Soucy. GWG. 1-0.

A few minutes later Soucy had numerous battles along the boards. He ended winning the puck and skated down the left wing toward the circle. Before it was too late he ripped a shot that skipped through the five hole for the goal. Even -Soucy unassisted. 2-0.

 

 

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Game 35 of the season.

Twas The Weeks Before Christmas:

December 14, 2024.

West Side Arena, Manchester, NH.

Scoring:

• 2010 Flames: 00 – 02 – 01  = 03
• IHC West Proulx: 01 – 00 – 00 = 01

Shots:

• 2010 Flames: 08 – 10 – 09 = 27
• IHC West Proulx: 08 – 06 – 10 = 24

Penalties:

1. Mooney – Roughing.
2. Warren – Interference.
3. Pinkos – Roughing.
4. Booth – Unsportsmanlike.
5. Drumm – Major Slashing.
6. Drumm – Game Misconduct.
7. Giampa – Slashing.

 

This was a pretty good hockey game. The teams were pretty evenly matched. Goaltenders on both sides played well. Rosenbeck started the game in net, and made 11 saves on 12 shots that he faced. Ingalls played the second half of the game and made saves on all 12 shots he faced. Again, the 2010 Flames tandem was excellent.

The Islanders took a 1-0 lead in the opening period and that held up until half way through the second period. The Flames scored an even strength goal to tie it, 1-1.

Destani pushed the puck forward on a face-off just outside the blue line and Soucy tied up his man as he pushed the puck forward. Destani took possession of the puck in the high slot with a sliver of space to work in. He shoveled a backhander toward the net as his path was cut off. Ouellette was at the nearside post and he maneuvered the puck with his backhand, past the goaltender. Nice play for a goal. Even – Ouellette from Destani and Soucy. 1-1.

In the final two minutes of the 2nd period, the 2010 Flames were on the power play, but not much had happened in the offensive zone. Then a puck was cleared and Booth went back to retrieve it. He got the puck and sent a little pass to Ouellette at center ice.

Ouellette carried the puck into the zone and through traffic. He split the D and got a nice backhand shot away. The shot was saved but Destani was trailing the play and planted the puck into the net for the power play goal. PPG – Destani from Ouellette and Booth. GWG. Up, 2-1.

The Islanders kept battling and piled up 10 shots on goal in the final period. This was aided by the Flames serving a major penalty during the middle of the period. The 2010 Flames held a 2-1 lead entering the final two minutes of the game. The Islanders pulled their goaltender for an extra attacker with 1:40 to play.

After some good team defense the Flames cleared a puck toward the empty net. It was easily retrieved by the Isles D. Destani was lurking nearby like a shark on an opportunistic hunting expedition. The D made a pass to move up the ice, but the Shar-, I mean, Destani picked off the pass and shot from the circle. The puck was true and hit the back of the net. Empty – Destani unassisted. 3-1 with 51 seconds left.

 

 

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Game 36 of the season.

Twas The Weeks Before Christmas:

December 15, 2024.

Canton Ice House, Canton, MA.

Scoring:

• 2010 Flames: 00 – 00 – 00  = 00
• Boston Jr. Huskies – McCarthy: 01 – 00 – 01 = 02

Shots:

• Shots were not tracked, counted, or even paid attention too.

Penalties:

1. Warren – Tripping.
2. Soucy – Slashing.

 

The 2010 Flames were not able to score in this game and lost, 2-0. Ingalls and Rosenbeck each allowed one goal, and on most days that would hold up for a win, but the Flames could not buy a goal in this one.

 

 

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Game 37 of the season.

Twas The Weeks Before Christmas:

December 21, 2024.

West Side Arena, Manchester, NH.

Scoring:

• 2010 Flames: 03 – 00 – 02  = 05
• Berlin: 03 – 00 – 00 = 03

Shots:

• 2010 Flames: 18 – 18 – 13 = 49
• Berlin: 07 – 02 – 02 = 11

Penalties:

1. Ouellette – Interference.
2. St. Pierre – Cross-Checking.
3. Ouellette – Roughing.
4. Soucy – Roughing.
5. St. Pierre – Hooking.

 

Berlin scored goals on their first two shots to take a 2-0 lead. They ended up scoring on 3 of their first 4 shots, but somehow only had a 3-2 lead. The 2010 Flames answered again in the first period and tied the game, 3-3 before the intermission. Rosenbeck would end up with 5 saves on 8 shots. Ingalls faced only 3 shots and made saves on all of them.

It was an odd game because the Flames matched the scoring in the first period and had piled up 36 shots on goal by the end of the second period, while allowing only 9 shots, but the game was still tied, 3-3 going to the final period.

The 2010 Flames scored twice in the final period, and skated out of West Side Arena with a 5-3 win, while collecting 49 shots on goal.

On the face-off at center ice after Berlin’s 2nd goal, Petrie won the draw to the boards by the benches. Soucy raced over and grabbed the puck under pressure. He fed a pass to Mooney in the middle of the ice. Mooney tried to get the puck to his forehand for a shot but the plan expired with a defensive poke check. Soucy skated onto the loose puck behind the net and wrapped around the far post and put the puck in the net. Something out of nothing. Even – Soucy from Mooney and Petrie. Down, 2-1.

Minutes later, Soucy and Petrie secured a puck at center ice, with Soucy taking off into the zone. He stickhandled into the corner before throwing a puck toward the front of the net. Petrie tied up the defense and puck came right to Mooney in the crease and he deftly slipped a backhander into the net. Even – Mooney from Soucy and Petrie. 2-2.

Berlin scored again to go up, 3-2. Then Destani laid a hit that separated the puck from the player and Warren tapped the puck over to Pinkos with an open lane up the right side. Pinkos bolted up the ice. Changed gears, like a stop and go, liked he’d been doing this for years. Then he ripped a shot short-side for the tying goal. Even – Pinkos from Warren. 3-3.

An entire period was played (The 2nd) with 8 penalties and 20 shots, but no goals. So, the final period began with the score knotted at 3-3. I had to leave after the 2nd to accommodate a high school hockey commitment. Fortunately, for the 2010 Flames and fans, the home team cashed in a couple of times in the final period.

In the final period, Ingalls made a nice save on a breakaway bid, and St. Pierre fired the puck up the wall to get rid of the threat. Ouellette took the puck and circled to head up ice. He barreled up ice, one on four. Somehow he got a shot off and collected his own rebound below the goal line. He centered the puck and Petrie was right there to bury a shot into the net. Great save to great goal. Even – Petrie from Ouellette and St. Pierre. GWG. 4-3.

The 2010 Flames added to their lead a few minutes later.

Soucy broke up a break out play, turned with the puck and tripped over the blue line. It happens. Soucy and Petrie skated shoulder to shoulder (good spacing) with the puck from the half wall toward the net. Giampa was trailing them like he was waiting for a lateral on a trick play in an NCAA Bowl game. Anyway, Petrie shot and scored while Soucy was taken out by a check. Interesting play. PPG – Petrie from Soucy and Soucy and Petrie and Soucy and so on. 5-3.

10 skaters and 2 goalies earned a 5-3 win on 49 shots, 5 penalties, and 8 saves.

 

 

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Game 38 of the season.

Twas The Weeks Before Christmas:

December 22, 2024.

F. MacMorran Field House, Tilton School, Tilton, NH.

Scoring:

• 2010 Flames: 00 – 00 – 01  = 01
• NH Selects: 00 – 00 – 03 = 03

Shots:

• 2010 Flames: 16 – 13 – 18 = 47
• NH Selects: 04 – 07 – 12 = 23

Penalties:

1. Giampa – Roughing.
2. Warren – Roughing.
3. Booth – Interference.
4. Warren – Elbowing.
5. Soucy – Throwing stick or object.
6. Soucy – Interference. (PPGA).

 

Finally, the Flames penalties caught up with them in this game. That, and the fact that the Selects were building confidence one save at a time as their goaltender ended up making 46 of them in the game.

Even though Destani scored on a near perfect shot in the top corner to give the Flames a 1-0 lead in the final period, the Selects were playing better every shift. Even – Destani from Soucy and Ouellette. 1-0.

Then the Selects tied the game on the power play with 1:38 left. With 1:03 left the Selects scored again with traffic in front a save, a rebound and redirection.

As the cookie crumbled, the Selects found the net with a 150 foot empty net goal to seal the deal with 11 seconds left in the game. I know the Selects goalie is excellent but even a one-goal lead with less than 100 seconds left should probably still be win. But it ended up as a 3-1 loss.

 

There were some good pictures from this game but Ashton Stevens saved them to his highlight reel.

 

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Game 39 of the season.

Twas The Weeks Before Christmas:

December 22, 2024.

West Side Arena, Manchester, NH.

Scoring:

• 2010 Flames: 02 – 02 – 01  = 05
• NS Shamrocks Higgins: 00 – 01 – 00 = 01

Shots:

• 2010 Flames: 13 – 10 – 09 = 32
• NS Shamrocks Higgins: 08 – 17 – 12 = 37

Penalties:

1. Warren – Slashing.
2. Soucy – Roughing.
3. Mooney – Hooking.
4. Booth – Cross-Checking.

 

Net presence. The 2010 Flames scored twice in the first period. Both goals came from the low slot directly in front of the net. Simple stuff. Get to the net. Collect rebounds, grab the occasional autograph (maybe even get a phone number), wince but don’t break from the chops across your ankles or mid-steps, and pile up an awful lot of goals.

The 2010 Flames jumped out to a 4-0 lead in this game. They won it, 5-1. They played well. Well enough to win 5-1, and still allowed 37 shots on goal. I don’t know. I have been doing this stuff for a long time and certainly I have learned that the numbers just don’t always add up.

If I had to write an equation for this game it might go something like this. Shots are rendered nearly irrelevant so divide them by 9 (that’s 3 periods times 3 (2 defenders and a goalie). So, shots divided/(distance from which shot was taken multiplied by the fractions of a second from when the puck arrived in the shooting area).

Take that number and multiply it by the number of player’s involved in the play, reduced by factor’s of the last notification they received on their phone divided by who is in the stands cheering for them multiplied by who isn’t in the stands to cheer them on.

Take that mess and multiply it by a factor representing attitude and effort, times the encouragement or resentment of the other players on the ice and how many will praise or complain to a coach anytime in the next four days.

Like I said the numbers don’t always add up. But here’s how the 2010 Flames goals went down.

The visiting Shamrocks were wearing colors that represent the Irish flag, or the Indian Flag, or the Niger flag, or perhaps the flag of Ivory Coast. Since Shamrocks are rooted in Irish history, I am pretty sure the Shamrocks colors were meant to be Irish. This had no effect on the game.

The Shamrocks dumped the puck deep. Santitto played it up to St. Pierre. Then Soucy. Soucy passed to Mooney for a shot over the blue line. The shot hit a peanut vendor reloading his tray over by the Zamboni door but nobody saw it. Soucy retrieved the puck and centered to the slot. Mooney tapped it into the net with Booth chatting up a defender to distract them nearby. Even – Mooney from Soucy and St. Pierre. 1-0.

Remember that time the Shamrocks cleared the puck up the wall, but Pinkos was there? Me too. He slammed a shot on net with Mooney trying to tip it. Save was made. But Mooney just grabbed the rebound and poked it into the net. Even – Mooney from Pinkos. GWG. 2-0.

If there was ever a series of plays that would add up to one player defending, scoring, and grabbing a pair of assists on the play, it was this one.

• Booth, “We’re shorthanded. I’ll take the face-off.” Won it.
• Teammates dump the puck deep, or tried to. Booth, “I’m a blow this up.”
• Booth decks the kid, clean, takes the puck, filthy.
• Booth dekes to the inside, just stupid.
• Booth, “Watch this cuz I don’t know what’s going down next!”
• Top corner, short side, shorthanded goal, Booth unassisted. 3-0. Only Bugs Bunny relates to the sequence of events.
• Shamrocks huddle and contemplate quitting. They don’t. Officially.
• Post-Game an energy drink company wanted to release a “Booth Boost” drink. Then, Walter (an English major) working in a field not tied to his schooling suggested, “Why don’t we call it, ‘Boothst’!” Walter was fired on the spot and the idea melted away like rink snow in the parking lot.

The 2010 Flames were on the power play and had an offensive zone face-off. Destani didn’t exactly win the draw but the clearing attempt by the opposing center lacked the lift of a Lamar javelin toss from Revenge of the Nerds. This was capitalized on immediately by Pinkos who slapped a shot at some 120 km/hr into the top corner of the net for the goal. PPG – Pinkos unassisted. 4-0.

In the final minute of the game, the home crowd of several thousand “Moon-atics” were chanting and cheering for Mooney to record a hat trick. Then this happened.

The Shamrocks, trailing 4-1, dumped the puck into the offensive zone. Warren grabbed the puck and cranked it up the boards to Mooney at center ice. Mooney had a wide open Boothst, I mean, Booth on his left. Let’s be honest, Mooney wasn’t passing the puck on this play.

Mooney held the puck during the 2-on-1. He skated to the middle and cut to the right, on his forehand and ripped a shot into the net. Hat Trick! The “Moon-atics” went wild! I won’t describe how they celebrated. Anyways. Even – Mooney from Warren. Booth along for the ride. 5-1.

Ingalls made 36 saves on 37 shots, earning the win in net.

 

 

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Mooney’s Moonshots

So this is why I call these Mooney’s Moonshots. Well, the name Mooney, that already gets us headed in the right direction. Then there is this. Moonshot. While ‘moonshot’ originally meant “long shot”, it’s increasingly being used to describe a monumental effort and a lofty goal—in other words, a “giant leap”. Moonshot is also used to describe a towering home run. And home run is a large gain, or popular success.

So ya, I like Mooney’s Moonshots because it stands for all of that.

Thank you for the time you spend to take the pictures and go through them, load them, and then freely share them.

 

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You can find more 2010 Flames material in these pieces, here. 2010 Manchester Flames.

 

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The thoughts and opinions expressed here are those of the individual contributors, mostly mine, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the schools, coaches, players, or characters listed in any of these blog posts. Or, maybe they do, but you would have to ask them directly.

 

Either way, “It’s a great day for hockey” ~ the late “Badger” Bob Johnson.