Week Eight opened with a clash of two teams currently wallowing in the muck and mire of cut line uncertainty. Both Captain Mark Nagy’s Red and Captain Joel Gattey’s Gold struggled significantly out of the gate, with the former opening at 1-3-0, and the latter at 0-4-0, but both had started their climb to playoff cruising altitude in the ensuing two weeks of play. Red tied Green 1-1 in Week Five, then bested Grey 3-2 in Week Six to improve to 2-3-1 coming in, while Gold rolled over Brown 4-0, then tied the tie-prone Heather Blue 2-2 to move to 1-4-1. The prevailing speculation is that it will take eight points to secure a playoff spot this season, and earning two points while taking two points away from an opponent who needs them as badly as you do raises the level of urgency and intensity in these late season meetings. The Vick Boys™ put the needier of the two teams in front at 7:26 in the first, with Papa Tim™ finishing a feed from Sonny Boy Trevor™ to give Gold the early edge. Alex Theis, who seemed inspired by his son Patrick’s successful Week Seven sub stint in his stead, was back in true Theis form, stopping all eighteen shots he faced through the first two periods of play, including the ever-rare penalty shot! Yes, the box score wizard does not allow me to record penalty shots, but Red’s Jordan Pynn (a defenseman, mind you) was awarded one after his clean (SHORT-HANDED) breakaway was deemed to have have been broken up by not-so-clean means. Theis turned Pynn aside, pumping the Gold bench all the more, and preserving his team’s tenuous lead heading into the third. That’s when The Deputy™ (Kevin Dinino) stepped up, completing a series from Will Heinl and the aforementioned Pynn to deliver the tying tally for Red with 5:53 to play. Neither Theis (25/26), nor super sub, Chris Tran (11/12), would yield from there out, leaving both teams heaving a half-hearted hoorah after a 1-1 draw. The single point keeps Red JUST above the cut line with six points, and leaves Gold still stewing in dead last with four. Red has The Blues™ left on their slate, with Atomic this Sunday, and Heather in their finale. Gold will likely need back-to-back wins over Orange, then cut line cohabitants, White, if they have any hope of saving their season.
Another pair of teams fighting to find their way back to the pack was next up on the Week Eight slate, as Captain Janet Goins’ 2-3-1 Orange squared off with Captain Geoff Downes’ 2-3-1 White. Two points in the standings, relative (if only temporary) playoff safety, a potentially valuable tie breaker, and increased playoff jeopardy for the vanquished foe…big stakes on the line, with neither team prepared to budge in their efforts to keep from going bust. A scoreless first period saw comparable shot totals and chances for both sides, but an all-accounted-for Orange took advantage of a short White bench (Sean Bathgate and Tyler Winstead out of action) to throttle the shot count heavily in their favor (13-2) in the second. One of those thirteen shots came off the hot blade of young William Teglia, who found twine behind Sean-Kelly-stand-in, Silas Perks, to give Orange the first leg up at 3:59 in the second (Steve Linke). Captain Downes snapped White back to even with a solo job at 8:11 in the third, but Chad Goins’ first of the season (on a gorgeous feed from the sweet sixteenager, Teglia) put Orange back in front with 5:56 to play. A late Orange penalty (their second of the game for too many players) led to game-tying power play paydirt for Carl Vankoughnett (Tony Thinh) at 1:51, and neither team would manage to break the 2-2 tie from there out. Chuck Bender (15/17) collected another vital point for his team, while Perks (24/26) served admirably in Kelly’s stead, helping White stay off the bare basement floor of the standings, now one point ahead of Gold. Both teams still have Gold on their schedule, with Orange facing Gattey’s gang this Sunday, and White taking them on in the October 27th finale. Both teams face a tough challenge in their other remaining game, with White going up against Lime this weekend, and Orange grappling with Grey in their finale. So…lots of possibility for shifting, scaling, and sinking in the final two weeks of play…
The remaining recaps are coming soon…
