So with last Sunday's game cancelled due to extreme lack of support, it appears that we are heading into the 2019 HC Draft without a whole lot of activity in the last few weeks.
Let's pause for a moment and reflect on Haverhill Cups of years past:
Haverhill Cup Champions List
Is it true that we didn't actually establish the HC Tradition until the third year after the first one in 2010? I can't remember. Did we really have no HC from 2011-12?
And now a brief moment of silence for those two years, plus friends of times past whose whereabouts are no longer known -->
The Saugus Legends Pretty-good players
who could still probably be playing with us if they wanted to...
- Ron; winner of 4 straight HCs (whatever retirement community in FL he is at now, I'm sure he is still schooling those old retired NHLers somewhere...or at least I'd like to think that...)
- Dale; never played in a HC, but maybe that was our fault. Could you imagine the great quotes we could have gotten??
- Scott F; seems like he should still be around yet we haven't seen him in ages (it seems)...Maybe the mustache made him too cool for us now...
- Jeremy; Probably could play with us if he wanted to, but is definitely too cool for us now...
- Darrin Driscoll - some say the best goalie we ever had...but memories are fleeting and he has too many siblings to make us forget...maybe someday he'll make a comeback for the ages...
- Eric Fiore - Another candidate for the VH1 'Where are they Now?' Special. He's probably playing in the NHL and we don't even know it.
And now, here is a brief tribute to those who once were
Saugus Legends Participants
but left us for greener pastures a very long time ago:
- Mykel Pretzel (that may not be his real last name, but I have no idea how to spell it and neither does he)
- Taylor Anding; Proof that a knee injury can ruin a promising young
career hobby
- Luke Carito; remember him? No? I have a vague recollection...
- Matt Schumali; whatever happened to him? I think perhaps Bradley's eye-gouging was too tough to come back from...
- Cliff P and Reburto B; like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid...I forget which was which...
- Tony Accardi; not the best goalie ever, but solid. I hear he is married and living in a foreign country now. Good for him.
- Steve Praankewich; remember him? I do. Steve was pretty good...I think...
- Derek Cliff; remember him? I don't.
- Ryan Griffin; it's been so long I don't even remember what he looks like anymore...
- Joel Perdy; My main memory of Joel was his innate ability to just give up on a play right in the middle of it because he was upset at something or someone.
- Tim Vermont; no idea. Seriously.
- Mclaine W; I seem to remember that there was a lot of hype surrounding him...can't seem to remember what the hype actually was all about though...
- Jimmy C; (nickname was Swiss-Cheese) wherever he is now, he can always reminisce about how he will always be the worst goalie to ever win the HC.
And now a few names from the past that I doubt are real names:
- Stump
- Dan-O
- Michelangelo (hey, that's what it sounds like)
- Goggles
- Pete-the-Meat (oh, wait, he's still playing, nvm)
Ok, ok, so we have played with a lot of people over the years...by my count: 116 guys and 2 girls...3 if you count Jimmy Nelson.
So among them, how many have played with us in the past year, you ask?
Glad you asked. 29 players, five of which also played Goalie occasionally, and 4 who ONLY played goalie.
We have a pretty decent attrition rate, thanks to Brett and Jared mostly. And Griff. And me. Probably all of us.
So who have we seen lately? Here is a ranked list of players by number of games played this year, who are in the draft (excluding captains):
| rank | Player | Games |
|---|
| 1 | Billy T | 35 |
| 2 | Jared | 34 |
| 3 | Nick | 32 |
| 4 | MVW | 31 |
| 5 | John R | 29 |
| 6 | Brett | 27 |
| 7 | JB | 22 |
| 8 | Drew B | 17 |
| 9 | Jason H | 16 |
| 10 | Mike M | 16 |
| 11 | Griff | 4 |
| 12 | Billy D | 4 |
Some of these numbers are because guys had to play net (like John R and Jason), which I keep as a separate stat, so they've been there more weeks than it may appear to be on this list.
Griff, for example only played out one week this year but he played two weeks in net.
...And now for my Final Thought...
So we expect the top 6 here to be pretty high picks. Billy T, Jared, Nick, Mike W, John R, Brett. They should start bidding wars.
But what about JB? He hasn't played a ton this year. His win percentage is only near 50%, yet his team's total plus/minus is +14 which makes you wonder why he loses as much as he does if his team keeps outscoring the other teams...(I guess that means when his team wins, they win BIG, but when he loses, it's a close game?)
Factor in this, too: Here is a list of players (excluding captains) in the draft who have won the HC before: -->
Billy T, Jared, Nick, Mike W, John R, Brett, Drew, Jason, Griff.
John R and Brett being the only two to have won at multiple positions (F, G).
And here is a list of those who have not won: -->
1) Billy D. 2) JB 3) Mike M. So....Is this JB's year? Or is he snake-bitten? And what about Billy D? What can we expect from him?
As for the goalies...Here is a list of goalies that have won the HC before: -->
1) Mike Melo.
And here is a list of those who have not: -->
1) Dave 2) Fall-River Goalie 3) Jack
A little more cut-and-dried here.
Alright, that's enough fodder for the week. So here's a topic: Rhode Island is neither a Road nor an Island. Discuss.
