Week Two saw the debut of Captain Carl Vankoughnett’s Neon, the last team to see action on the season after a well-earned and restful opening week bye. Captain Bao Nguyen’s Green stood between this fresh meat and the frying pan as the slate kicked off with (technically) two winless teams looking to land in the win column for the first time. Vankoughnett’s draft creation wasn’t the only Neon-ate (see what I did there) coming into the season, with a big part of the decision for a Week One bye hinging on giving new dad, Joe Malki, some extra paternity leave before sliding into summer play. It was the proud new papa who would sire his team’s first goal of the season, and (sticking with the metaphor) it was definitely a preemie, arriving at 9:43 (Janice Darlington & Tom Darlington, fittingly enough). With Joe becoming a papa, Chris Malki became a grandpapa, and the old(er) man struck next at 3:42 (Joe Malki & Ryan Karns) in the first to build Neon’s lead to two going into the first break. Captain Vankoughnett produced the only scoreboard scion in the second at 4:36 (Chris Malki & Gary Peters), and Neon cruised through two with a 3-0 lead, in spite of being outshot 17-7 over that span. Green would mount a swift and startling comeback in the third, with Chris Tran scoring his (and his team’s) second of the season at 9:13 (Ty Pereira & Nick Vacchio), and Jordan Pynn stuffing home a second just twenty-one ticks later (Tran & Vacchio) to cut the lead to one with plenty of time remaining. Alas for Green, the early third period ‘twins’, while adorable, were upstaged by Neon’s fourth at 4:07 (Gary Peters from Vankoughnett and Joe Malki) and a short-handed, empty net fifth from…who else, New Papa Malki at 0:34. If you’re scoring at home, that’s a 2 and 2 outing for Joe…not bad for a tired dad! Don Tran (22/24) was sharp to start the season, while Gabe Davenport (3/7) had a tough outing as Green fell to 0-2-0 out of the gate with the 5-2 loss.
Both Captain Zach Siemer’s Grey and Captain Bryan Ossa’s Brown checked in with a Week One win, and both hoped to repeat the feat in a clash of (by far) the two drabbest Summer League colors. Brown had the throttle down in the first, and Mark DeGraffenreid found the first goal of the game on a rebound at 5:03 (Captain Ossa & Jon Zygelman). The reigning Cup champion captain, Kalen Hunter, was next to act, knotting the score at 3:36 in the second, with the lone assist going to fellow Cup defender, John Kushneryk. Kushneryk’s appearance in the lineup came as a surprise (at least to me), with the double duty dynamo nursing a nagging lower body injury that was slated to have him out until sometime in June. An even bigger surprise came with Grey’s next goal, also assisted by Kushneryk…Mark Chercoe’s first career SDFHL strike to push Grey in front for the first time at 0:39 in the second. CONGRATULATIONS, MARK (you have some catching up to do on your sister, though)! Chris Koziol evened the score at 5:42 in the third on an absolutely sublime feed from Leah Gonzales (Josh Wirt with the second assist), and the clock wound to five minutes remaining in a very close, very hard fought contest. Hunter’s second of the game at 4:46 would put Grey back on top (Steve Linke and Chuck Bender), and his third of the game at 2:59 would give him his second straight hat trick to open the Summer season. The lone assist on the hat-trick-capping-deal-sealer went to newcomer, Kristin Sigler…CONGRATULATIONS, KRISTIN! In case you missed it, Chuck Bender had an assist on the game-winner in this one, and also collected the win with a very strong 20/22 effort in lieu of Jon Cima. It would be the first jewel in a shimmering triple crown for Bender on the night…more on that in the coming recaps. Mason Holcomb (17/21) was no less solid at the other end, but ultimately became just another Kalen Kasualty™ in the 4-2 loss to Grey.
The remaining two recaps are coming soon…
