Alternate Universe

The rain (and fire) delays in the SDFHL Fall League 2025 season pushed the original finish line for the playoffs back a full month. Captain John Boddy knew coming into the season that he was moving to Oregon in mid to late December, but he didn’t know that his team would make an inspired run to the Final, and that the Final would now be held on January 18th. As insane as booking a flight back to town for a recreational hockey league game sounds, Boddy was prepared to do it, and his team rallied to support what would surely be an inspirational sports movie moment, with a Boddy-led Blue finishing what they started, and sending their captain back up the coast with a cocktail in one hand, and the Cup in the other. Alas, the hockey/weather/flight/life gods all conspired against this fantasy scenario, leaving Blue without their leader against a poised and powerful Orange side. Captain Mark Nagy’s crew knew that they would need to win two to Blue’s one, but with Boddy in beaver country, the sentiment was that a win in the opening game would certainly position them as favorites to capture the Cup. That first game opened with a scoreless first, with both teams pressing, but not managing much in the way of shots on net (four per side). The shot count faded to the Orange side of the ledger (4-1) in the second, with Blue clearly missing their heart/soul/leader as Orange began to control more and more of the play. Kalen Hunter finally found a hole in Chris Tran’s gear at 1:35 in the second (Weston Nawrocki), giving Orange a slim, but seemingly ‘commanding’ lead going into the third. The 7-2 shot count in Orange’s favor in that final period lent more evidence to the balance of play, but Tran (13/14) held firm to keep his team in it to the bitter end. That bitter end came with an Eric Willard empty-netter with 0:48 to play (Jenna Chercoe & Captain Nagy), and with a hardly-tested Nick Meglich (7/7) at the other end, Orange would go on to secure that all important first win, 2-0.

So…both teams now found themselves on ‘even footing’, but with the feet of Boddy elsewhere, all of the momentum and mojo seemed to be with Captain Nagy & Company. Action resumed with game two after a brief rest of both sides, and all of that Orange momentum and mojo was frozen within the opening ten seconds. Eli Schonbrun burst forward off the opening draw, maneuvered through the Orange defense, and drove a shot into/mostly through Meglich’s pads. Ramsey Ksar was there to tuck home the loose ball behind Orange’s netminder, and just like that…ten seconds in…Blue’s first lead of the night! A response from Kalen Hunter came at 3:26 in the first (Eric Willard & Will Heinl), and the shot count over the first frame (12-5, in Orange’s favor) was once again painting a grim picture for Blue. That count jumped to 15-4 for Orange in the second, and even an absolutely heroic performance from Chris Tran could not prevent that second punch from landing…Captain Mark Nagy unassisted at 2:04. The shot discrepancy dialed down in the third (Orange 6-2), but Blue was clearly out of gas and out of matches to spark a comeback at that point. Hunter’s empty netter at 0:29 was the final nail in the coffin, as Orange would move on to sweep the Final slate and capture the Cup, 3-1. As one of the referees in this game, I was awed by Blue’s grit and effort in these two games…clearly putting everything drop of energy and emotion into every play, just hoping they could win one for their captain. I was particularly wowed by Tran’s performance (30/32)…absolutely sublime. Orange were no slouches, of course, with Nick Meglich (10/11) capping an incredible season that had him BY FAR the busiest of all goalies. It was a great Final…and while we all would have liked to see Boddy weaving and working and willing his team on for just one more night…sometimes things are not in the stars…