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Team
Mossett Wins in a Squeaker !
By: Thomas
Baldwin
There are high
school reunions all the time.
But not like
this one.
In a fun event
Saturday night before approximately 45
spectators at Dwyer Arena, the seventh annual
Dick Nolan Classic between Team Newhouse and
Team Mossett took place, featuring former
students of Bishop Duffy and Niagara Catholic
High Schools.
To call this
game a gem would be a stretch even by the
crudest of hockey standards, but the spirit in
which it was played was exemplary.
“We looked
terrible, everybody is out of shape,” said event
organizer Vince “The Hammer” McConeghy, who was
involved in an ugly ruckus earlier in the
evening with Niagara Gazette sportswriter Pat
Murray. “In the end it was coaching, and I
credit (Mossett coach) Brian Schiavi. He was the
mastermind behind the white team’s victory.”
For the record,
Team Mossett defeated Team Newhouse, 3-2, in a
contest where the participants seemed to enjoy
it immensely. The combatants competed hard,
despite some players consuming alcoholic
beverages BEFORE the game. During warm-ups Led
Zeppelin blared from the arena speakers, no
doubt the same band many of the players listened
to growing up.
Team Newhouse
carried the majority of the play early, and
would have taken control if not for the stellar
work of goaltender Russ DeFranco (Class of
1982), who made sparkling glove and pad saves in
the first seven minutes.
After Danny
Kaifas gave Team Mossett a 1-0 lead, Team
Newhouse tied it shortly after when Chris Salada
tipped a pass past Mossett goalie Ron Thurman
(’79) to tie the game at one.
The grizzled
veteran McConeghy (‘82) gave Mossett a 2-1 lead
early in the second period when he whistled a
shot from the slot past DeFranco. Mossett then
took a 3-1 lead when Dick Nolan Jr. scooped a
loose puck past DeFranco for the eventual
game-winner.
“It was a great
experience for me, and an exhilarating for me to
be out there with such outstanding gentlemen,”
Nolan said. “We really put on a good show for
the thousands of people that came out. The
game-winner would not have been possible with
Kaifas’ outstanding pass.”
Newhouse pulled
to within one at 3-2 early in the third period
when Anthony Morreale beat Thurman from a sharp
angle.
As one can
imagine, the majority of the players – mostly in
there forties and a few in their fifties –
looked like they had run out of gas. But still,
their spirit never waned in a reunion unlike any
other.
FIRST PERIOD
MOS – Danny
Kaifas
NEW - Chris
Salada
SECOND
PERIOD
MOS – Vince
McConeghy
MOS - Dick
Nolan, Jr.
THIRD PERIOD
NEW – Anthony
Morreale
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