| Nordiques chilled by Norsemen in 7-4 finale |
June 30, Stamford, CT: The Nordiques ended their season with a hard-fought game against the Norsemen. The Nordiques were down 2-0 after 40 seconds into the game, came back to tie it 4-4 (led by Jim Cook who had two goals), but ultimately fell 7-4.
Captain Paul Modugno spoke for all when, he stated, "I'm proud of the boys; we had a great season. Looking forward to the Fall."
The prestigious Torche Trophy was awarded to MVP goaltender Anthony Gencarelli. Responding to calls for "Speech! Speech!", Anthony said, "J'étais fier d'être votre guardien de but cette saison. Nous sommes une grande équipe et j'attends avec intérêt le championnat en automne." Bring it on!
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| Norsemen raid Nordiques 3-1 in finals opener |
June 29, Stamford, CT: The Nordiques fought valiantly against the Norsemen in the finals opener, but the were unable to prevail against the 13-1 team.
The second game of the finals playoff takes place tomorrow night at Twin Rinks. Looking forward to the game, David Brion stated, "À bon chat, bon rat."
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| Nordiques zip past Lightspeed 5-1 to enter finals |
June 27, Stamford, CT: After coming in 2nd place during the regular season, the Nordiques were given a bye during the first round of playoffs. Then, tonight, they cruised past Lightspeed 5-1 to enter the finals.
As Jim Cook fittingly observed, "À bon vin, point d’enseigne."
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| Nordiques nettled by Sting in 4-4 overtime loss in regular season closer |
June 15, Stamford, CT: The Nordiques and Sting once again skated to a 4-4 tie -- for the third time this season -- against Sting, only to lose in the shootout. The game, the regular season finale, has to be put down as a lost opportunity, as the Nordiques energetically dominated the game, consistently beating Sting to the puck and keeping the puck in their zone. However, the breaks went against them, and it didn't help that the Sting goalie played a stellar game.
Captain Paul Modugno, looking forward to the post season, noted, "À quelque chose malheur est bon."
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| Nordiques snare Renegades 6-2 |
June 12, Stamford, CT: In a somewhat lackluster game, the Nordiques easily defeated the Renegades 6-2. The defensive zone was terra incognita to the Nordiques, who spent virtually the entire game swarming the Renegade goalie. The Renegade goalkeeper played a stellar game, but could not singlehandedly hold up to the onslaught.
A highlight of the game was a breakaway goal scored by Matt Buecker at the end of the first period at the zero second mark. Matt commented after the game, "Au bout du fossé, la culbute."
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| Nordiques pained by Sting in 4-4 overtime loss |
June 6, Stamford, CT: The Nordiques battled the Sting to a 4-4 tie, but were skunked in the tie-breaker shootout for an overtime loss, their first of the season. Jim Cook was the star of the game, scoring two unassisted goals, one on a breakaway. Modest as always, Jim's only comment was, "À beau mentir qui vient de loin."
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| Nordiques put down Mad Dogs 4-0 |
May 30, Stamford, CT: The Nordiques readily defeated the Mad Dogs 4-0 on Friday night. Paul Modugno reported, "Anthony had to see Sex and the City with his girlfriend, so we had Jason from the Norsemen fill in for us since he had a game right before ours. This team is playing the best hockey I have seen in T6. Abondance de biens ne nuit pas!"
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| Nordiques grab Renegades 5-1 |
May 20, Stamford, CT: With a packed bench of 10 forwards and 6 defense, the Nordiques skated to a 5-1 win over the Renegades Tuesday night at Twin Rinks. The Renegades goalie made awesome saves to keep the score from being higher, as the Nordiques were camped out on his doorstep most of the night.
Doug Eng, who had a penalty shot opportunity, commented laconically, "Aussitôt dit, aussitôt fait."
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| Nordiques dump Trashers 4-3 |
May 18, Stamford, CT: A very fast Trashers squad beat the Nordiques to the puck throughout most of the game, but the Nordiques grimly hung in and fought back. After falling behind 25 seconds into the first period, the Nordiques tied it up 1-1; but then went on to fall behind again 3-1. After tying the game 3-3 midway through the third period, it looked like things were heading for a shootout, when Jim Cook grabbed the puck after a faceoff in the Nordiques zone, skated up the ice, outmaneuvered the Trasher defense, and put the puck into the net with 10 seconds left in the game to give the Nordiques the win.
Modest as always, when asked about the goal Jim replied only, "Aide-toi, le ciel t-aidera."
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| Nordiques freeze Norsemen 5-2 |
May 11, Stamford, CT: The Nordiques handed the previously undefeated Norsemen their first loss of the season -- and on an iced-over silver platter, at that. In one of the best Nordiques games in this writer's memory, each Nord was in top form, controlling and passing the puck by the book, and beating the Norsemen to the puck every time. The Nordiques went ahead early in the first period and never fell behind -- they made it look almost easy. It certainly helped that netminder Anthony Gencarelli played another spectacular game.
Bill Farrell notched his second hat trick in two games -- if he does it next game, it will be a hat trick of hat tricks. Modest as always, when interviewed after the game Bill would say only, "Aux grands maux, les grands remèdes."
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| Lightspeed outpace Nordiques 8-7 |
May 8, Stamford, CT: The Nordiques, hampered by the lack of any of their regular goaltenders, fell behind 2 goals within minutes of the game, and couldn't climb back out. They never had the lead, and were downed 8-7 by Lightspeed.
As Paul Modugno glumly remarked, "Avec des 'si''on mettrait Stamford en bouteille".
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| Nordiques hold up Puck Bandits 3-0 |
April 30, Stamford, CT: With friend and goalie extraordinaire Seaweed filling in between the pipes, the Nordiques played a stellar game against arch-rivals Puck Bandits. Steve Dryer scored 8 seconds into the game, and the Nords never looked back; killing off 5 penalties (including a 5-3 for 45 seconds), forechecking hard, keeping cool against an increasingly frustrated and physical Puck Bandits squad.
With a surplus of forwards, and Matt Buecker out with an injury, Jim Cook dropped back to play defense and stopped the Bandits cold. Complimenting Seaweed for a superlative game, he exulted, "À tout seigneur, tout honneur."
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| Nordiques salve Sting in overtime win |
April 25, Stamford, CT: It was a near thing -- the Nordiques led by 4-2 with 1 minute to play in the game, and the Sting returned to score two goals to even it up. Fortunately the Nordiques prevailed in the shootout to take the OT victory.
Shaking his head at the near loss, Rich Gioia remarked, "À chaque jour suffit sa peine."
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| Nordiques turn Renegades 5-3 |
April 14, Stamford, CT: The Nordiques skated past the Renegades on Monday night, despite an unusual situation with the goalie, who had to leave the game with 3 minutes left in the 2nd period due to a physical issue. Fortunately, the Nords were able to get the goalie for the Sting to play the 3rd period, as he was due to play the next game, and the Nordiques ultimately prevailed in the matchup 5-3.
Captain Paul Modugno commented on the contretemps, "Araignée du matin, chagrin, araignée du soir, espoir."
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| Nordiques refuse Trashers 4-3 |
April 9, Stamford, CT: An extremely full bench -- four full forward lines -- struggled for 2 periods against a vastly improved Trashers team, but pulled it together and prevailed 4-3 to take a win in the third game of the Spring 2008 season.
David Brion scored the game-winning goal, calmly skating past the blue line and around two defenders to put it past Billy Tenca, in goal for the Trashers. Unflappable as always, David remarked, "Avant de balayer devant la porte du voisin, il faut commencer par balayer devant sa propre porte."
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| Norsemen spear Nordiques 7-0 |
April 2, Stamford, CT: Thor's hammer came down hard on the Nordiques, as they were shut out by the Norsemen 7-0 in a disappointing game at Stamford Twin Rinks. The Norsemen skated hard and passed well, leaving the Nordiques behind 6-0 after two periods; the Nordiques took back the initiative in the third period and had many chances, but were unable to get past the Norse goalie, who was like a stone wall.
Newly elected alternate captain Rick Gioia took the loss philosophically, observing: "À brebis tondue Dieu mesure le vent."
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| Nordiques capture Renegades 4-1 in Spring opener |
March 27, Stamford, CT: In the Spring 2008 opener, the Nordiques dominated the Renegades 4-1, in a scrappy game punctuated by a number of shoving matches and roughing penalties. Steve Dryer notched two goals and an assist to set the energetic tone for the game, observing: "Autant en emporte le vent."
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