Breakfast Of Champions

Week 2:

Captain Ian Crooks and his ‘Black Bacon, Trancakes & Mabel Syrup’ are the only team with two wins on their plate through two weeks of play. They don’t fill up on goals and assists (too many carbs), but a thick slice or two of Carl Vankoughnett, a generous side of Chris Tran, and a drizzle of Brennan Abel…that’s a recipe for a heavy meal that’s not easy to put down…

Captain Luke Wolmer and super stud, David Schlatter, were not in the lineup for Neon’s 1-0 season-opening loss to our cover team, Black, so the pair were eager to show Grey what they could do in Week Two. What they could do was power Neon to their first win. Wolmer opened the scoring for his team (for the game, and the season), with the powerplay game-winner midway through the first (from Rob LaVigne and Will Heinl). It was Wolmer again to double the lead in the second, this time on a feed from Schlatter, then Heinl from Schlatter and LaVigne to make it 3-0 in the third. Schlatter added an empty-netter to round out the scoring in the 4-0 walk in the park win, leaving both Neon and Grey at 1-1-0 to start the season. Sean Kelly was…Sean Kelly, stopping 16/16 to collect the SO, even his record, and dip his GAA to 0.50. Nick Meglich absorbed the loss, in spite of a valiant 18/21 effort, while still maintaining a stake in the upper half of the goalie stat pile.

Getting old sucks, but Carl Vankoughnett is taking it in stride…and then some. The half century old Canadian relic led his team in scoring last season, and has carried his new team, Black, to a 2-0-0 start, having scored all of their goals to this point. Granted, Black has only scored three goals, but…scoreboard…standings…only team with two wins through two weeks. Carl put Black on the board first at 6:06 in the first, with first year Young Canuck™, Brennan Abel, collecting his first career point, and Black’s first non-Vankoughnett point with the lone assist. Jon Salt answered just over a minute later (from Gary Peters and new comer, Justin Ker), and the 1-1 tie limped along through the second, and deep into the third. You already know how this ends…Vankoughnett (from Abel, again) at 1:55 to bounce Black to a 2-1 win over Green. Young Canuck™, Silas Perks, suffered his first career loss with a 15/17 line, while Chris Tran (21/22) suffered his first goal against in six full periods of play, jumping out to a nutso .966/0.50/1 SO start to what looks to be an incredible season.

Our creamy middle game was completely devoid of any semblance of our league’s trademark parity. Both sides were short-benched, but White made it a long night for Gold…whom they made short work of…words are weird. Don Tran (18/18) and Alex Theis (5/5) combined on a shutout in a sub role for the still-sidelined Matt Henderson, but the real stories in this one were Zach Salt and Steve Linke. The scoring went Salt (from Andrew Wong and Linke), Linke (from Salt), Salt, Salt, Linke (from Captain Tomáš Jankovic), Salt (from Jankovic), and Linke (from Sally Jackson and Jankovic). If you’re scoring at home (which would be weird, but…you do you), that is seven goals for two dudes, one of whom is ancient and obese. The 7-0 shellacking came at the expense of Captain Parsa Mostafavi, his pride, and his season stats, and Gold now find themselves at the bottom of the pile as the only team with no points in the early going. White remain lossless at 1-0-1, with a big game against 2-0-0 Black up next. Gold will hope for a full bench, and a resilient captain in nets when they take on Navy this Sunday.

The parity that briefly departed in the previous game returned in all its glory in game four, as two titans of the twine battened down the hatches in a heated battle between Red and Navy. A scoreless first saw plenty of action, but few recorded shots (six…total), and not much of note beyond Janine Ulloa’s first career penalty. The shots ramped up in the second (six for each side), and the scoring came with it, as Dan Jurgens converted for Red at 9:21 (from Bao Nguyen) and Mark Nagy responded for Navy at 2:06 (from Jim LaGrossa). That would be the only scoring the Don Tran (13/14) and Alex Theis (17/18) would allow, however, leaving both teams with a bittersweet one point in the 1-1 draw. The result preserves the ‘no loss’ record for both teams, although Red remains one of four teams without a win at 0-0-2. They have their chops pre-licked for their run at fellow winless wonders, Blue, this Sunday, while Navy hope to prolong the misery of 0-2-0 Gold to cap the first third of their season in style.

The nightcap was a blowout-to-be turned barn burner that was worth the wait for eight (PM). After an embarrassing/demoralizing 7-3 loss to Navy in their opener, Captain Chuck Bender and Blue were hopeful that the debut of their first round pick, and first season star, John Boddy, would change their early season course. The first period saw no such shift, as Young Canuck™, Kalen Hunter, set out on his seek and destroy mission with a pair of goals in the first. A third Hunter tally late in the second had Purple up 3-0, and Blue wondering just how bad and how long a season could be. Mark DeGraffenreid deposited an end board Alan Razoky rebound past sniper-turned-stopper, Chris Malki, to cut the lead to 3-1 late in the second, then set up John Boddy for his first career goal early in the third to make it 3-2. Razoky fired another long shot at Malki midway through the third, and this one found home to knot the score at threes. It was Boddy from DeGraffenreid again at 1:55 to give Blue their first lead of the season, and set up an improbable come from behind victory story to tell the grandkids one day. One problem…the very same problem for Blue from earlier in the story…Kalen Hunter. Hunter’s fourth of the night came at 0:55…somehow finding a path through legs and feet to stun the stunners, and leave both teams wondering what just happened in a 4-4 tie. Chris Malki (17/21) was sharp and solid in his nets debut, and Captain Chuck Bender (21/25) was back on his A game, making several crucial stops to preserve the point.

Cold Open

Week 1:




The SDFHL Fall League 2022 season kicked off with a full slate of five games, stereotype-laden names, and only one team really going down in flames (the non-Calgary variety). It’s way too early to label any team as the one to beat, much less count any team(s) out, but first impressions can make for good seconds and thirds, and the return of regular season eliminations means that every game counts in large amounts…

What better way to kick off a Canada-themed season than with a team honoring the nation’s greatest treasure/gift to the world, Nickelback. Captain Brandon Olsen and ‘Nickelbackcheck’ opened the season slate against the as-yet-unnamed and short-benched Purple, and the former rocked and rolled their way to a Week One win. A scoreless first frame saw Grey outshoot Purple 7-1, with Chuck Bender (24/27) filling in very capably in lieu of a much-anticipated Chris Malki netminding debut. Alexis DaCosta finally broke through early in the second (assists to Pat Gladstone and Eric Herrmann), and Captain Olsen himself provided insurance later in the period. DaCosta struck again in the third to give Grey a 3-0 lead that would hold through the final horn. Nick Meglich (8/8) was steady as ever in the shutout win, and Grey will look to double their delight with the return of ‘The Deputy’ in Week Two.

Two blue hues faced off in game two, with the darker denomination exerting total domination. Captain Chuck Bender’s Blue crew didn’t exactly have the highest hopes coming in, but the absence of their top pick, John Boddy, certainly didn’t bode well for a winning Week One. Jim LaGrossa picked up where he left off in his torrid Summer season, scoring just sixteen seconds in to give Navy a 1-0 edge. Nick Vacchio’s big night started late in the period with an unassisted strike, and LaGrossa capped the first with his second to balloon the bias to 3-0. Vacchio led off the scoring in the second, then assisted on Josh Wirt’s first of the season to make it 5-0, before Blue finally found a response in the form of an Alan Razoky powerplay marker. Mark DeGraffenreid pushed home a second Blue goal on a wild play minutes later, making it 5-2 Navy over Blue through two. Josh Wirt built the lead to 6-2 early in the third, Vance Morra answered for Blue late in the third, and Vacchio completed his hat trick with less than a minute to play to round out the scoring, and leave Blue done and dusted, 7-2. So, Vacchio 3 and 2, Wirt 2 and 2, and LaGrossa 2 and 0…not bad, for an evening’s work. Chris Tran (13/16) snatched the win in spite of a lukewarm (by his standards) performance, while Chuck Bender (16/23) was ice cold at the other end. Bender will need his A game, and a big career debut from ‘Dr. Dangles’ this Sunday to right the Blue ship…

You wouldn’t think people, let alone hockey players would be good for much of anything once they hit the big 5-0, but Carl Vankoughnett continues to defy his considerable age, and do his team (Black, this season) and elderly everywhere proud. Sean ‘Da Kid’ Kelly is far from fifty, but definitely no longer an actual ‘Kid’, but he was the one shining beacon for ‘Celine Neon’ in a disappointing debut. Those are your two stories in this one…let’s combine them into a spinetingling tapestry, shall we? Carl scored unassisted in the second…it was the only goal allowed by Sean (26/27) in a hard luck loss…the end. The subplots here were that Chris Tran collected a ho hum shutout (7/7) with Neon’s Captain Luke Wolmer and David Schlatter proving that ‘working from home’ does not make you a productive SDFHL employee. Still, Captain Crooks (nice ring to it) and Black will take the 1-0 win and run.

The Week One parity really hit full stride in the penultimate game, with the colors of the Canadian flag clashing in a fun, frenetic, but (mutually) futile match. Zach Salt proved he’s still the better Salt Boy™, opening the scoring for White unassisted in the first, adding a second (from Captain Tomáš Jankovich) in the second, and assisting on Old (Fat) Man Steve Linke’s game-tying tally in the (literal) last second of the second. The return of Joe Gaudio threw the ‘who’s the better Gaudio Boy™’ debate into a tailspin, as Joe potted two goals to Captain Rob’s 1 and 1. Eric Caligiuri made his triumphant (part time) return to league play to record the assist on Rob’s goal, and Joel Gattey cached a second assist on Joe’s second strike. When the dust settled, it would be a 3-3 tie between Red and White, with neither super sub Silas Perks (16/19), nor veteran Don Tran (14/17) collecting a W, nor suffering an L.

Captain Parsa Mostafavi brought his Gold group to the court in Week One, with high hopes that he and his new crew could rekindle some of the magic that found him backstopping a team in the Final just two weeks prior. Captain Champine and Green had other plans…and they carried out those plans to…plan, in a 3-1 win. Perennial second rounder, Mark Ennsmann, had Gold on the board bright and early (seventeen seconds in), but it would be all Green from there. Zach Siemer evened the score in the latter half of the second, with assists to newcomer, Justin Ker, and Captain Champine, himself, then Jon ‘Lesser Of The Salt Boys™’ Salt took over in the third. Salt’s first came at 9:15 in the third (on Mr. Ker’s second helper of the night), and he added a dash of insurance (see what I did there) less than a minute later. Silas Perks, of Young Canucks™ fame, earned the win in his (real) SDFHL debut with a 10/11 line, while the aforementioned Captain Mostafavi suffered the loss in his captaining coming out party.

Point Eh

Break out your poutine recipes, dust off the superfluous letter U’s, and get ready to moose knuckle down, as we honour our neighbours to the nourth in the SDFHL Fall League 2022 seasoun. The rousters are pousted, and the fun and games begin this Sunday, eh?

Champagne & OJ

Finals:

The bubbly was on ice, just waiting to be poured (generously) over OJ, as Captain Joel Gattey and (most of) ‘GO, OJ, GO!’ looked to stick the dismount, defeat Grey, and capture the Cup in the Sprummer League 2022 Final. They just did manage to squeeze past their opponent in a thriller of a championship that ended with a pop.

Orange rolled into the Final as the favorite ‘home team’, in spite of their lower seed, by virtue of having dispatched challenger, Grey, 5-1 just two weeks prior. The absence of Chuck Russell, David Schlatter, and Kevin Dinino had to put the pole sitters a bit on edge, and many argued that it might be the edge Grey needed to pull off a double dip upset special. A late first period strike from Jim LaGrossa (assists to Jordan Pynn and Elyse Shattuck) made that possibility seem all the more possible, and a scoreless second kept the tempo and tension simmering. It wasn’t until 3:47 remaining in regulation that Eric Herrmann broke loose, and broke the scoreless drought for his side, leveling the ledger at 1-1. Both goalies were solid to spectacular throughout, with Chris Tran (20/21) refusing to relent after allowing the LaGrossa goal, and Parsa Mostafavi (25/26) shaking off a nasty pileup/collision in the crease in the late going to preserve the tie, and push the game to overtime.

Overtime bore no winning fruit, so it was off to the shootout, with either an encore clash for all the marbles, or a Cup-raising moment waiting in the wings. LaGrossa and Herrmann were both stymied in the first round, then Rob Gaudio and Gary Peters both converted in the second. Jordan Pynn, Josh Tran, Justin Stege, Ian Crooks, Elyse Shattuck, and Wendy Enright all tried, but failed to solve Tran and Mostafavi, and it was on to sudden death shootout! LaGrossa and Herrmann, the regular season co-scoring champs with 19 points apiece…do or die…all on the line. LaGrossa…no…not enough to best Tran. Herrmann…the much ballyhooed badass, and empirically the greatest player in SDFHL history…GOAL…game over…Orange over Grey in sudden death shootout, 2-1. It was an incredible season, and an incredible game from both sides. Congratulations to Orange, and kudos to Grey on pushing to a phenomenal (albeit, futile) finish to a great playoff run.
SDFHL Sprummer League 2022 Champions: ‘GO, OJ, GO!’ Front Row L=>R: Josh Tran, Chris Tran, Gary Peters–Back Row L=>R: Eric Herrmann, Joel Gattey (C), Wendy Enright, Sally Jackson, Ian Crooks — Not Pictured: Chuck Russell, David Schlatter, Kevin Dinino

FACE/OFF

Playoffs Week 4:

Our 25th anniversary season has been an homage to all things 1997, and the definitive pinnacle of art and culture that year was the timeless work of cinematic excellence that was/is the movie film ‘Face/Off’. Orange and Grey can only hope to deliver the same powerhouse performances that Travolta and Cage blessed us with in the year of our league’s birth, 0 AD (After Dale). The scene is set, the cameras are ready to roll, and the action is set to unfold in a thrilling one (or two) hour epic/preposterous thrill ride this Sunday…

The family drama was shaken out of the Salt v Salt playoff battle to the death by virtue of Captain Jon’s absence, but there was still plenty of drama stirring in this, the third and final installment of Atomic Blue v Pink. A scoreless first led to a (mostly) scoreless second, with Carl Vankoughnett finally breaking the drought with a solo effort at the 2:57 mark. Sean Kelly (25/26) and Nick Vacchio (24/25) were the story for their respective sides, as Vankoughnett’s strike stood as the lone blemish for either netminder with time ticking past the halfway point in the third. Matt Gottfried put Pink on the board at 3:56 (from Joe Nguyen), bringing an already very even game to an officially even keel at 1-1. Regulation was not enough to declare a winner, and overtime fared no better at deciding things, so it was off to the shootout. Dan Jurgens converted where Zach Salt failed in the first round, but Carl Vankoughnett converted, and Matt Gottfried could not answer in the second round. Mostafa Azab and Joe Nguyen traded blanks, before Matt Rogers put the underdogs on top in the fourth round (capitalizing on Zach Siemer’s miss). With Steph Palomo Schmidt’s no goal in round five, the only saving grace for Pink would be a Kaity Gottfried conversion…she did not convert, and Nick Vacchio and Atomic Blue hung on to complete the 2-1 upset shootout win over Pink.

There is no rest for the weary in the fourth and final weeks of SDFHL playoff hockey. Atomic Blue was the weary, but no less hopeful Cinderella, and Captain Jeremy Copp’s ‘Steel Crazy After All These Years’ the midnight chiming clock tower. A furious first frame saw Brandon Olsen put Grey on top (from Rob Gaudio and Andrew Wong), Zach Salt level things less than a minute later (from Matt Rogers), Rob Gaudio put Grey back in front less than thirty seconds later (from Olsen and Jordan Pynn), and super sub, Steph Palomo Schmidt, tie a 2-2 knot with 2:01 to play. The scorers settled down, while Nick Meglich (19/21) and Nick Vacchio (14/16) settled in, keeping both nets empty through the next period, and the next period after that. Overtime…*crickets*….it would be another game, another shootout, with a punched ticket to the Final on the line this time. Jordan Pynn and Zach Salt could not find a way in round one, and Jim LaGrossa and Carl Vankoughnett were stymied just the same in the second. Rob Gaudio finally found twine in round three, and a Mostafa Azab miss put the pressure squarely on the remaining two Atomic Blue shooters…Matt Rogers, and Steph Palomo Schmidt. Neither shooter, nor their Grey counterparts (Justin Stege and Hima Joshi) could solve their respective opposing goalie, and so, Gaudio tucking one ball past Vacchio tucked Grey into the SDFHL Sprummer League 2022 Final with a crazy close 3-2 decision, and tucked Atomic Blue into the ‘close, but no cigar’ file.

Grey advance to the Final as the top seed, but come in as the ‘away’ team in a rematch with Orange. Captain Joel Gattey’s ‘GO, OJ, GO!’ embarrassed Grey in Week Three of the playoffs, after bowing to Grey in the regular season 5-3 (albeit, with the two ‘big guns’ out of the lineup). Get your popcorn, and your pompoms ready, because, one game or two, this is sure to be a spectacular finale!