Last week’s cover team kept the hits coming, and the heat on, moving into a tie with Red for the top slot in the standings with a wet and wild 3-2 win over Grey. The ‘wet’ came courtesy of Mother Nature, who up and decided that the area needed roughly seven minutes of rain after two periods of play. A sizable delay featuring plenty of sopping and squeegeeing brought the court back to a usable state. To that point, White had built a 2-1 lead on the back of…who else, Zach Salt. Salt scored midway through the first (from Andrew Wong), and again at almost the very same time in the second (from Justin Stege). Phil Nguyen responded for Grey late in the second (from Kevin Dinino and Pat Gladstone), then the skies opened up. Unfortunately for Grey, the rain delay swept away their leading scorer, Alexis DaCosta. Play resumed, and White reassumed their two goal lead on Justin Stege’s third in as many games. Tim Helmbrecht, who joined Grey to replace the injured Matt Gottfried, paid immediate dividends, cutting the lead back to one less than a minute later, but super sub, Chris Tran (15/17), kept White winning, and left Grey high and (mostly) dry. Nick Meglich (23/25) soaked up the loss, which leaves both his personal record and his team’s at 2-4-0…just hovering above the cut line with three games to go.
Captain Arnold Gonzales and Navy came into Week Six having lost their first game of the season to White the week prior. Black strutted in with an empty loss column, having finally discovered some scoring depth and diversity the week prior in a 6-2 punishing of Purple. The two dark sides put on quite the display in the first period of their meeting, with usual suspects, Carl Vankoughnett and Brennan Abel, putting Black up 2-0 in the opening minutes, and Navy roaring back to snatch the lead with Josh Wirt scoring first and third, and Nick Vacchio providing the creamy middle. Alex Theis (23/25) kept Black at bay the rest of the way. while Joe Nguyen and Jim LaGrossa added to the winning cause, as Navy sailed away with a big 5-2 win. Chris Tran (20/25) maintains very impressive numbers, in spite of the five spot L, and Black certainly still pass the eye test as a top competitor. Still, it is an impressive bounce back win for Navy, and something of a statement to the teams above them in the standings. Black will look for their own bounce back win against Grey this Sunday, while Navy hope to further sink Purple’s playoff hopes.
Blue v Gold….the Battle Of The Basement. Two winless teams, hoping to make their way out of a no win situation. Conventional irony would have this one end in a tie, but, alas…not the case. Gold came in having scored just THREE goals in FIVE games, but a game against Blue will cure even the most desperate scoring drought, and that meager total was doubled within one period of play. Ryan Karns and Harsh Wanigaratne scored 0:27 apart to put Gold in front 2-0, before the first of two Vance Morra top shelf laser wristers cut the lead to one. Karns closed the period with another, leaving the score 3-1 in his team’s favor through one. Wanigaratne struck again to build the lead to 4-1 early in the second, but Blue mounted an inspired late period comeback, with a breakaway conversion from Mark DeGraffenreid, and the second top shelf laser wrister from Vance Morra drawing things close at 4-3. Jordan Pynn’s first of the season (let that sink in for a bit) off an offensive zone draw built the lead back to two, and a Mark Ennsmann empty netter meant that ‘My Harsh…’ would ‘…Gold on…’ to their first win of the season, 6-3 over Blue. Combined with Purple’s loss in the night cap (spoiler alert), the lone win (along with their lone tie) is enough to move Gold above the cut line. The loss finds Blue in dead last, with just three games left to play. It is going to take A LOT for Blue to find their way out of this mess, and a Week Seven meeting with first place White is not helping that cause. Gold will hope to preserve their momentum and knock off Neon this Sunday. A second win should put them free and clear, while a loss could spell trouble, as they face standings neighbors, Purple, in Week Eight, and standings toppers, Red, in Week Nine.
Captain Jon Champine and ‘JOntario’ (Green…I know their name has nothing to do with their shirt color…directions are hard) swung into Week Six off the sturdy vine that is a game against Blue. The 8-0 Week Five romp had the offensive juices flowing throughout the ranks, and history tells us that you need your scoring punches popping if you hope to KO the netminding legend that is Sean Kelly. Enter Jon Salt…tucking two past Da Kid in the first period (both primaries to Eric Willard), and completing the hat trick in the third. Justin Ker notched his first career goal in the second (CONGRATULATIONS!), and Silas Perks recorded his second straight shutout win as Green ghosted Neon, 4-0. Kelly (20/24) was not not sharp, but still suffered the loss, and Neon still find themselves safe-ish at 2-3-1 going into the final third of the season. A win over Gold this Sunday would almost certainly punch their ticket, but even a loss would not be deadly, what with Purple and Blue still wallowing in the depths of the standings. The win propels Green into a striking distance of the top spot at 4-2-0, and (amazingly enough), they can pass their Week Seven opponent, Red, should they find a way to prevail for a third straight week.
Captain Rob Gaudio was north of the border in Week Six, but his ‘Robby Reddy Piper’ took care of business against Purple in his absence. Fellow Canadian, Brian Sheptycki, put Red on the board first in the first, but Young Canuck™, Kalen Hunter, struck back with just 0:24 to go in the period. It was Sheptycki again on the powerplay (from Joe Gaudio) to regain the lead in the second, then an early third period strike from Dan Jurgens to account for the game-winner. Kalen Hunter’s second of the game provided that ‘game-winner’ designation to Jurgens’ goal, and Jurgens added an empty netter at 0:22 to seal the deal, 4-2 Red over Purple. The loss is especially hard to swallow for Purple, as it lands them below the playoff cutline at 0-4-2, sharing that sad space with the only other winless team, Blue. Purple has Navy this Sunday (ouch), and Green in Week Nine (ouch), but Gold in Week Eight (hmmm). That game may be their only hope at playoff redemption. Red, meanwhile, have already booked playoff passage, and will use their final three games, starting this Sunday against Green, as a tune up/test to preserve their lofty seed.