With babies popping out here, there, and everywhere around the SDFHL realm, it’s fitting that the opening game of the Summer League 2026 season was another ‘gender reveal’ installment. Captain Lena Amelang, the only female captain in this draft, led Pink into battle against Captain Eli Schonbrun (the manliest man in the league) and Blue, with both sides hoping to conceive and grow a lead, and give birth to a happy and healthy first win of the season. It was the first season back in SDFHL action for Blue’s Adam Schindler since the ill-fated and VERY short-lived Spring 2020 cusp-of-the-pandemic season, and to say that the return was at least as ill-fated for Schindler as that two game dead end six years ago would be an understatement. Just a minute or so into the opening period, Schindler and Brennen Abel collided, causing the former to tumble straight back and smack his skull on the surface. While Adam sprung up rather quickly and seemed no worse for wear, the blood seeping from the back of his head on the bench told a different story. Captain Amelang’s daughter whisked Adam off to the ER, and I am happy to report that he is OK…negative CT, one staple…just a flesh wound. Still…a scary start to the season…be careful out there, everyone! Play resumed, and another long lost returning player, Scott Wieland, was first to hit the scoresheet on the season, slotting home a point shot to give Pink a lead at 1:52 (Steve Goncalo & Abel). Kyle Snyder touched off his POTW performance with the equalizer at 3:17 in the second (Shelby Shattuck), and after Abel restored Pink’s one goal edge at 2:47 (Andy Strathman), Snyder draw Blue level again with an unassisted effort at 1:40, then blasted a stunning long range post-and-in snipe at 0:02 to complete his hat trick and push Blue in front going into the second break. Andy Strathman made it 3-3 with his first of the season at 8:04 in the third (Abel & Eric Willard), and the stalemate remained in place for four minutes before Captain Schonbrun decided it was his time to shine. Eli’s first of the season came at 4:01 (Brendan Jew & Shawna Hamon), and his second followed at 2:32 (Shattuck & Snyder). Snyder would cash his second assist (completing a five point night) on Josh Tran’s empty-netter at 0:25, but Willard sneaked in a late response at 0:09 (Abel) to make the final score a bit less lopsided looking 6-4, Blue over Pink. There really wasn’t anything ‘lopsided’ about this game, actually…great action, clean hockey, strong goaltending from Blue’s super sub, Don Tran (17/21), and Pink’s Chuck Bender (24/29)…just a great game in every sense…except that early Schindler head crack, of course.

Key absences can lead to key losses, and key losses can ultimately lock a team on the wrong side of the playoff door…with no key. I mean, it is just Week One, and with eight playoff spots available for nine teams, it will take a lot of ‘missing keys’ to really matter at all. Both Captain William Teglia’s Purple and Captain Bryan Ossa’s Brown were missing some ‘keys’, leaving the remainder of the roster on both sides shifting and shuffling to find safe passage into the win column. The prevailing wisdom was that the absence of Owen Perks, Trevor Vick, and Tim Vick for Purple might outweigh the absence of Jon Zygelman and Mark Nagy for Brown, but with plenty of ‘keys’ left on both rings, it was just a matter of finding the right key at the right time. Chris Koziol was first to act, tucking home a rebound to give Brown the first lead of the game at 6:24 in the first (Josh Wirt & Greg Wirth). The goal was tinged with controversy, as it seemed to coincide with a whistle indicating that the ball was covered by goalie Will Heinl, but…the goal would stand, and Brown would carry a 1-0 lead into the first break. Brown would later have a goal sliced off with the other edge of that stoppage whistle sword, with the shrugged shouldered consensus being that ‘two half goals equal one goal’. It’s sweet to see two step brothers getting along well, but it was super sweet (for Purple, at least) to see one assisting on the other’s goal — Grant Goins’ first of the season and second career SDFHL goal came at 7:11 in the second, with the lone assist going to Captain William Teglia. Teglia wasted little time snatching the spotlight back from his ‘beloved’ bro, notching his first of the season with a nifty breakaway/finish to give Purple their first lead at 6:29 (Sadie Hellstrom). Captain Ossa showed that he too can lead by example, drawing his team level with a seeing-eye wrister from the point at 1:25 in the second (Mark DeGraffenreid & Kerri Sevenbergen), and that 2-2 tie would ALMOST hold through the remaining 11:25 of play. Purple’s Heinl (26/29) and Brown’s Mason Holcomb (19/21) were both very sharp in this one, but the former would suffer the loss after a desperate final rush from DeGraffenreid produced the 3-2 game winner with 0:31 to play (Wirth). Three of the five goals in this game were weird, bouncy, trickly numbers…sometimes you just have to get a ‘key’ bounce or two to prevail in a close game.

Captain Jeremy Copp sat at the draft table on the eve of the Wing League 2026 Final, still filled with hope that Captain Nick Meglich’s Sand would rise up and snatch the Cup from rival Black with a back to back smack. With that grand Sand plan having turned to dust like, say, half the population after a Thanos snap (to pick a completely random analogy), Captain Copp looked to forge his own fate under the summer sun with Orange. Meglich would now guard the net opposite Copp & Company, with Captain Rob Gaudio hoping that his fortunes with Red would (greatly) improve after missing the playoffs as part of Captain Brennen Abel’s White the season prior. A scoreless first saw Orange hold a slim 6-5 edge in shots, and the second period was very nearly a carbon copy in all ways. Orange outshot Red 7-5 in the middle frame, but Captain Gaudio finally made a shot count for Red at 0:47 (Darin Cerasuolo & Mostafa Azab). It is safe to say that Orange ‘flipped a switch’ in the third, and even safer to say that one player in particular switched into ‘beast mode’…Christopher Fiore. Fiore led a third period Orange charge that saw them outshoot their opponent THIRTEEN to ONE, with Fiore accounting for the unassisted equalizer at 8:51, and the game-winner at 7:18 (Justin Hepler). It was more opening night goal controversy on Fiore’s second, with some confusion as to if/when/how the ball found a home behind Meglich, but the officials deliberated and confirmed a good goal. If your reading comprehension is even adequate, you know that this would stand as the game-winner in Orange’s 2-1 win over Red. Meglich (24/26), fresh of a deflating OT loss in the Wing League Final, would be saddled with another tough L, while Matt Henderson (10/11) and Orange rode a late wave of fury and Fiore to a Week One win.

The Week One nightcap saw Captain Bao Nguyen’s Green taking on Captain Zach Siemer’s Grey. Whether by design or coincidence, Siemer managed to secure four players from Captain Kalen Hunter’s Cup champion Black…Kalen Hunter himself, Papa Kevin Hunter, John Kushneryk, and Sean ‘Not A Goalie This Season’ Kelly. Kushneryk was out of the lineup with an injury, but Kalen kept his BCE (big Cup energy) flowing, and Sean proved a perfect linemate, with the former notching his first of the season at 6:32 in the first (Kelly & Captain Siemer), and his second at 2:46 (Kelly & Steve Linke). There would be no scoring in the second, but Green’s push to close the cap had the shot total in their favor by a 12-7 margin through twenty minutes of play. Green pushed even harder in the third, holding a 9-3 edge in shots, but it was once again Kalen with a ‘shot that counts’, completing his hat trick at 8:47 (Kelly & Elyse Shattuck) to build Grey’s lead to three. Chris Tran finally solved a red hot Jon Cima (20/21), cutting the lead to two at 2:36, with the primary assist credited to newcomer, Alex Rockoff. CONGRATULATIONS on your first career SDFHL point, Alex! Jackson Tomaszewski provided the second helper on the Tran goal, and while breaking the season scoring seal does provide a unique boost, an empty-net icer from Kevin Hunter at 1:18 removed any hope of a late Green rally. Gabe Davenport (6/9) ‘got Kalened’ in the 4-1 loss, but Green can hope for/expect less heroics from the opposing goalie (great game, Jon!) and improved production with the return of Jenna Chercoe and Jordan Pynn to the lineup as they turn to host the debut of Captain Carl Vankoughnett’s Neon in Week Two.

The Wing League 2026 season featured plenty of streaks, swings, and stunners, but after top-seeded Sand dispatched a Cup coup attempt from bottom-seeded Red in the Losers’ Bracket Final, it was a ‘cream of the crop’ 1 v 2 last stop for all the glory in the Final. Captain Kalen Hunter’s Black was waiting with crossed arms for their rivals, eager to prove that, as the only unbeaten team in the league, they were still ‘the team to beat’. Captain Nick Meglich & Company salvaged a regular season tie with Black on a late goal back in Week Four, but fell 3-1 in the first playoff meeting, delaying their arrival at the final fight, but perhaps injecting a little extra motivation in their ranks. As warmups wrapped, incredulous whispers buzzed through the benches…there was no sign of Alex ‘Thanos’ Giummo! ‘Alex is in Ireland’…the words were spoken, but registered initially only as some kind of ruse…surely the deadliest scoring threat in league history was not missing the Final. Surely he was going to stroll up right as the ball dropped…perhaps emerging from a smoky tunnel wearing a golden cape and a wry smirk. Unlike much of what you see and hear these days, this unbelievable fact was, unbelievably, fact. Captain Hunter’s Crew struggled to process this huge news…trying their best to remain focused on the task at hand and control the natural amplification of optimism that this twist brought. Shockingly, Captain Meglich had known about this untimely absence for some time, and had kept it a secret…even from his own mates! So, Sand struggled with their own mental and emotional adjustments as the teams lined up to play out this final fight for the Cup. A scoreless first was as much a positive for Sand as it was a negative for Black, with the latter expecting to build at least a small early lead, given the BIG absence weighing on their opponent. Mark DeGraffenreid finally broke the scoring seal at 6:49 in the second, tipping home a brilliant back door feed from John Kushneryk on the powerplay to put Black in front first (Captain Hunter with the second assist). Black outshot their rivals 17-9 through the first two periods, but one of those nine found twine for Sand with Trevor Vick capitalizing on a turnover in Black’s end at 1:41 to knot the score at ones (Tim Vick & Andy Strathman). The longer the third period remained scoreless, the more pressure mounted for Black…surely they would find a way to overcome without this game pushing to overtime…they would not. Captain Meglich and Sean Kelly were just too sharp, and neither team could find a way to finish things through three periods of play, so it was on to sudden death. This is where the real twist of the entire season took place…2:57 to play…Black pressing and passing around Sand’s zone…desperate to end this affair in one game and go home happy…shot on goal…Meglich save…rebound off to his right…on to the stick of Kerri Sevenbergen…flicked on net…GOAL! GAME, SET, MATCH, CUP! Sevenbergen…with perhaps the lowest betting odds of any player on Black to end it…ends it with her FIRST goal of the season…one HUGE goal to win it all! Josh Tran and Kalen Hunter collected assists on the Cup-winner, and Kerri was immediately mobbed by her overjoyed teammates (one teammate in particular…I forget who it was). A VERY thrilling end to a great season for Black, and a dagger of a finish to a great Cup run for Sand. Sean Kelly (11/12) capped another stellar season with another sparkler, while Captain Meglich (23/25) was nothing short of a (tragic) hero in keeping Sand locked in all season long (and particularly in this final showdown). Huge kudos to Captain Meglich for his exceptional efforts, to Sand as a whole for a great season, and (of course) to my teammates on Black for an absolutely amazing and unforgettable season, with maybe the most amazing and unforgettable finish ever…

If you read the front page each week (if/whenever I actually get around to updating it), you know that I have repeatedly professed that Captain Josh Wirt’s Red has been a sneaky Cup contender in average team clothing all along. The first four weeks of Red’s season…3-0 loss to Gold…3-1 loss to Black…6-3 loss to Sand…5-3 loss to Green…an 0-4-0 run that had them edging into ‘must win’ mode at the midway point in the season. A 7-4 win over Pink in Week Five was the turning point, and Red bounced all the way back with a 3-0-1 run that rendered a 4-3 loss to Blue in their finale a non-issue. That bounce back was only enough to earn them the lowest seed, which meant a playoff opener against the dreaded Sand…a 5-4 loss that could easily have swung the other way, had their replacement for Joe Malki been in the lineup. Elimination wins over Purple and Teal advanced Wirt & Company to Week Four, where they hoped to repeat their Week Five regular season defeat of Pink and earn a second shot to push past the top seeds on their Cinderella path to the Final. Captain Darin Cerasuolo’s Pink were the model of hit or miss in the regular season, finishing at 4-4-1, and never having strung together more than two wins or two losses. After dispatching Purple 5-2 in their playoff opener, the four seeds became another notch in Sand’s battle belt in Week Two, then edged past Gold 1-0 to earn a rematch with Red. So, Pink the higher seed, and technically ‘favorites’ in the second meeting, but Red feeling like a ‘trap’ team based on their late season surge, their regular season romp over Pink, their impressive playoff showing against Sand, and the betting buzz around a really good looking team with something to prove. On cue, Captain Wirt would open the scoring unassisted at 9:15 in the first, and Jason Remple (on to replace Riley Mann, who was on to replace Joe Malki) made it 2-0 Red just 0:26 later (Emily Bennington). Chris Tran would answer for Pink at 1:54 in the first (Captain Cerasuolo), and a 9-5 first period shot edge for Pink made that late period goal feel all the more like a ‘stay the course…we got this’ moment for the higher seeds. The shot ledger flipped in the second, though, with Red holding a 14-5 edge, including two shots that found netting…Eli Schonbrun at 6:11 (Shawna Hamon & Chris Malki) and Remple at 0:42 (Hamon). A 4-1 edge with one period to play is by no means insurmountable, but Remple’s third of the game (unassisted at 9:39) to make it 5-1 really made the Pink pit feel bottomless (giggity). Jason Olver finally provided a Pink response at 8:11 (Captain Cerasuolo & Eric Willard), but Captain Wirt’s second of the game restored Red’s four goal edge at 5:36 (Schonbrun & Hamon). A very much too little, too late tally from Captain Cerasuolo with 0:12 to play was extremely cold comfort for Pink, who were left shaking their heads, shaking hands, and tipping their collective caps to another strong Red showing in a convincing 6-3 win. Chuck Bender (25/31) shouldered the elimination loss, while Don Tran (25/28) continued his run of strong play in the big win. Remple earned first star of the game honors for his hat trick heroics, but he and Red knew that their night had only just begun. Sand was lurking, and they would have just minutes to rest before grappling with that beast…

We’ve all heard the adage that history repeats itself, and while Sand did storm past Red 6-3 in Week Three of the regular season, and while Sand did repeat the feat 5-4 in Week Two of the playoffs, Red was really beginning to feel like a ‘team of destiny’…a bottom-seeded sleeping giant ready to rise, avenge themselves, and stomp through to the Final. Sand was a very-much-awake-and-routinely-snapping-necks giant all season, though, and no player is more feared in this league than Alex ‘Thanos’ Giummo. So, strange as our world is, this win-and-in throw down between two teams at the opposite ends of the playoff seeding spectrum actually seemed like it might play out as a tooth and nail fight to the death…and it did. First period…no score, no penalties…Sand holds just a 5-4 edge in shots. Second period…no score, one minor penalty…Sand holds an 8-5 edge in shots. Ten minutes to play…that first goal now looming large over both benches. Giummo…of course…looming large himself at 9:08 in the third (Jeremy Copp) to break the scoreless stalemate and send a shiver through the Red ranks. Captain Wirt would respond at 5:37 (Eli Schonbrun & Chris Malki), swinging the game back to level ground…only to have Thanos tip things back in Sand’s favor with his second of the game less than a minute later (4:40, from Trevor Vick). Perhaps all of the ‘Cinderella’ talk, all of the front page lauding and applauding, all of the Rudy-esque aura surrounding this Red team was all about to be washed away. Then…a hero…a moment…the fist-pumping, eye-watering twist at the end of an underdog sports movie…Shawna Hamon to tie it for Red with TWENTY seconds remaining in regulation (Wirt & Schonbrun)! Yes…Red was not dead, and this fairytale story was still on course for the happy ending that we all…NOPE. Thanos straight up said (with his skills) ‘nah’. SIX seconds into overtime…Giummo off the draw…in…hat-trick-capping-game-winning-Red-eliminating-Final-ticket-punching goal. Wow. The same spirits that were soaring just seconds prior, that crescendo of hope and elation that had just peaked in the hearts and minds of every player in Red’s ranks…dashed in six ticks on and off the slick stick of Giummo…3-2 Sand advance to the Final. Captain Nick Meglich (16/18) and his top-seeded side could exhale, knowing that the business of bouncing back from their lone playoff loss was done. Don Tran (19/22) and Red…no doubt shocked silent…having screamed with adrenaline-fueled joy through the loops and corkscrews of a rollercoaster of a game only to be thrown from the ride on the last drop. One final KUDOS from me to Red on a great run…really impressive heart and spirit! The win earns Sand a third turn to do what no team has done this season…beat Captain Kalen Hunter’s Black. Should they manage that first, they’ll need to muster a second in order to cast off their one ghost and capture the Wing League 2026 Cup.