Getaway

Playoffs Week 3:

It’s all happening again! Twenty-five years after the most sensational double murder in our nation’s history led to this bizarre LA freeway chase, Captain Joel Gattey and ‘GO, OJ, GO’ have fled to the SDFHL Sprummer League 2022 Final. I’m not saying they will win it all, but IF they did it, you’ll definitely find blood on the hands of the two most notorious scoring sensations in recent (if not all time) league history in Eric ‘Orenthal’ Herrmann and his accomplish/crime chauffeur, David ‘Al’ Schlatter. Pink, Atomic Blue, and Grey will all take a stab at joining Orange in court on the court, as the pursuit (for the Cup) continues with Week Four playoff action this Sunday…

…and then there were six. The first two weeks of playoff fat cutting left us with six lean, mean, hockey machines, including our Week Three opening pairing of Atomic Blue and Green. The two teams were equally ‘meh’ in the regular season, with Green entering as the four seed at 3-3-2, and Atomic Blue struggling mightily, then rebounding to a modest 2-3-3 record. It is no surprise that the two tied 2-2 back in Week Five, and handicappers were a bit handicapped in attempting to handicap the rematch, as a result. Well, the rematch did not disappoint in the close-as-can-be department, as one period, then a second ticked by with neither team managing a marker. It looked like the scoring drought would last through regulation, but Jon Zygelman finally broke through with just 1:53 left on the clock (from Mostafa Azab and Carl Vankoughnett) to give Atomic Blue a late 1-0 lead. Zach Salt found the empty net just 0:35 later, bringing the score to a final 2-0 resting place…Atomic Blue over Green. Don Tran (16/16), and super sub, Cory Brin (16/16) even faced the same number of shots in the narrow nail-biter which knocked Green out of the playoff picture, and sent Captain Chad Goins’ team on to the fourth and penultimate playoff phase. They will need to down second-seeded Pink, then immediately rally to get past top-seeded Grey if they hope to stay alive to face three-seeded Orange in the Final. That’s a one-two-three gauntlet that no one expects them to survive, but Stranger Things is not just a popular show on Netflix…

Poking a bear is proverbially (and literally) a very bad idea. Pink established themselves as one of the most dominant teams through the regular season, finishing with a 5-1-2 record, the third highest goals for (21), and the lowest goals against (12). The major reason for the former number is Captain Jon Salt, who racked up nearly half of those goals (9), and factored in more than half of them (11). The latter number is thanks in large part to Sean Kelly, who led all goalies in the regular season with a Kelly-esque .924/1.50. So, losing 3-2 to backdoor playoff bumrushers, Atomic Blue, in Week One of the playoffs, and having to watch little bro, Zach, celebrate that shocking win is your ‘bear poke’ here. The ‘bear’ took it out on the innocent (Lime) in Week Three, after watching that same Atomic Blue team advance to Week Four play in the first game of the night. Salt tore off a hat trick in the first period, added a fourth in the second, and assisted on Joe Nguyen’s tally late in the third to rage lead Pink to an easy 5-0 ousting of an outmanned/massively outgunned Gold. First year player/first time captain, Will Heinl, proved he has drafting/leadership mettle, but his team ultimately fell victim to the aforementioned ‘bear’, and a bare bench (no Omar, Sheptycki, or Cohen). Nick Meglich (17/22) could not keep up with the quantity and quality of Pink’s shots, while Sean Kelly (19/19) was Sean ‘Freaking’ Kelly, keeping a ‘clean sheet’ (as the fútbol folks say) for the billionth time in his career. So…the big rematch…Atomic Blue v Pink…brother v brother…it’s all on the line. Nope…rumor has it that ‘the bear’ will be not be there! This not only takes the wind out of the drama sails in the Week Four tilt, but may also means that Pink may well find themselves dead and gone in Week Four.

It is (very) well documented that Orange features a pair of ‘bears’, and that (poked or not) they will rip your head off and chuck it into the nearest lake. Mercifully for most of Orange’s opponents this season, the ‘bears’ have rarely made a joint appearance. Such was the case as Orange set themselves for a battle to the death with top-seeded Grey, with a ticket to the Final on the line. No David Schlatter meant that Jordan Pynn, Parsa Mostafavi, and the rest of Grey’s resistance would have half the headache, and twice the likelihood to prevail and push on to the big show. Enter ‘The Shadow Bear’, Josh Tran…a very good, very capable player, but one who had managed just one point (a lonely assist) in seven regular season games, and who had nothing to show for two previous playoff outings. Tran was actually the story at both ends of the court for Orange in this one, as Josh scored the game-winner in the first, then dropped two more in the third to complete the hat trick, while Chris shut down Grey with a 21/22 effort. I should note that Eric Herrmann was still very much a factor in this game, accounting for a goal and three assists, but a big part of what makes him scary is that he also makes his teammates scary. He assisted on two of JT’s tallies, and Wendy Enright’s first of the playoffs to help power Orange to a boat race 5-1 bouncing of one seed rivals, Grey. Brandon Olsen scored the lone goal for Captain Jeremy Copp’s side, (very) temporarily cutting the lead back to one in the first, but the law offices of Tran, Tran & Herrmann just had too strong a case in this one. Orange now have a week to rest and relish their big win, while Grey lie in wait for the winner of Atomic Blue v Pink, with a chance at redemption for this lopsided loss on the line in the Final.

Slice As Nice

Week 2 Playoffs:

Captain Joel Gattey’s ‘GO, OJ, GO!’, have done their infamous namesake well so far, slicing through two playoff victims, and making a run for the ages. In (fitting) summary, one could say that they’ve acquitted themselves quite well. The ‘real killer’ in Week Two was David Schlatter, who proved at least as adept as Eric Herrmann at slashing opponents…hopes. Orange have now reached the fork in the road that is the Winner’s Bracket Final, and yet…they definitely cut like a knife…

With the usual field of eight now set, Week Two opened with half that field sitting on one loss, and half looking to remain unbeaten. Captain Joe Malki’s ‘Tranaconda’, and Captain Steph Palomo Schmidt’s ‘Pearl Chen’s Summer Tour’ found themselves in the former camp, hoping to survive their first scrap in the Losers’ Bracket trenches. It was Papa (Chris) Malki who led the way throughout, and led off the scoring for Green, accounting for the lone goal in a furious (yet, near-futile) first period that saw his side rack up FIFTEEN shots. The tide turned swiftly in favor of the underdogs in the second, as Harsh Wanigaratne and Steve Goncalo scored at 9:28 and 8:18 to move White out to a one goal edge. It was Malki again (Chris), then more Malki (Joe, on the power play) to wrest the lead back for Green later in the frame, and at this point, all signs pointed to round six of the Week One parity parade. Nope. Nick Vacchio went off script and put Green up by two early in the third, but Josh Wirt cut the lead back to the customary thinnest of margins a little over three minutes later, and the race to the finish line was on. Well, as ‘natural hat tricks’ go, this one was pretty lame (no disrespect). Vacchio’s empty netter pumped Green’s lead back to two, and his second empty netter put White down and out for good, 6-3. It certainly wasn’t the blowout that the final score made it out to be, but it did take an ultra-valiant fill-in effort from Zach Siemer (31/35) to keep it close. Don Tran (25/28) was no slouch at his end either, but the real story you can trust is that White never really managed to pose a threat to anyone but ‘Karnsma Police’ (RIP) this season. White become the second team on the playoff scrap plie, while Green live on to face the next lowest remaining seed in #7 Atomic Blue this Sunday.

The second game on the slate featured the other duo in the ‘do or die’ camp, as a (still) stunned and (now) steeled Pink faced off against the people’s champion, Lime. Knuckles whitened on both benches, as neither side could seem to solve the stellar shot-stoppers in the personages of Sean Kelly and Don Tran (subbing for legend in his own right, Alex Theis). Two scoreless periods elapsed, when Captain Mark Nagy finally broke the scoring seal on the powerplay to put Lime on top 1-0. It was Dan Jurgens who was in the box for Pink when that strike was struck, but Jurgens redeemed himself by assisting on the counterstrike from Joe Nguyen less than two minutes later to bring things level with half a period to play. All good things must come to and end…even the playoff run of my stone cold lock Cup favorite….actually, especially that…must definitely come to an end. The end took the form of…who else, Captain Jon Salt himself. The Pink captain converted a Matt Gottfried feed to build their first lead — a lead that Sean Kelly (15/16) and company would never relinquish…2-1, Pink over Lime. Don Tran (19/21) absorbed the last loss of the season for his surrogate team, who were one-two punched out of the playoffs in (very) tight losses to two of the toughest teams. ‘SubLime’ can certainly hold their heads high for their consistent level of compete from season start to finish. Local fatso and Lime super defender, Steve Linke, wistfully remarked that “this team almost made me forget about my crippling obesity, and the fact that I will be 80 next week”. Reporters quickly reminded their (super) elder that he is, indeed, very fat, and that he turned 80 a month prior…but who’s counting? Where was I…oh…Pink push forward as the highest-powered bottom in the Loses’ Bracket, and will look to sweep the leg on a Sheptycki-less Gold this week.

Captain Joel Gattey’s Orange is, well, named after a man who got away with murder. In that spirit (and, in hindsight), it can safely be said that Gattey himself ‘got away with murder’ at the draft table. Eric Herrmann is a clear first overall pick, but David Schlatter was a relative unknown…a dice roll…an x factor back on draft day. Well, if he is still a ‘relative unknown’ to you, then you haven’t played against him. The fact that this beast is on the same team, let alone the same line as Herrmann…historically sick duo from hell. Mercifully for opponents, that duo has only appeared together in five of eleven games for Orange thus far. Unfortunately for Atomic Blue, half of amazingly awesome is still either amazing or awesome, and Schlatter was one or the other for sure in a powerhouse playoff performance that pushed Orange on to the Winner’s Bracket Final. Wendy Enright had the lone assist on Schlatter’s game-winner midway through the first, Chuck Russell doubled the lead with help from Ian Crooks in the second, then it was Schlatter unassisted, and Schlatter from Enright again to cap the scoring in a 4-0 Orange roll over Atomic Blue. In the glare of all of the offensive star power, it’s easy to lose sight of the steady defense, and the netminding heroics that have brought Orange to this point. Chris Tran stopped 26/26 to stamp out any threat of a close contest, and a Hermann-less Orange moved on with relative ease to face their top-seeded rivals, Grey. Atomic Blue still have second life in the Losers’ Bracket, where they will face a team they tied 2-2 in Week Five, Green.

Captain Will Heinl’s maiden voyage at the helm of an SDFHL ship has been mostly smooth sailing. However, as any sailor can tell you, the seas can be rough and unpredictable, and you just have to hope that your crew stay onboard and healthy. After losing Jerry Gonzales to a knee injury at the end of the regular season, Gold was able to enlist the services of Dale Stuzka, and his presence helped the five seed overcome in a Week One thriller. Stuzka provides smarts and stability, but the man hoisting the main sail and manning the cannons is clearly Brian Sheptycki. Without him, Gold may find themselves sinking…and that was the case against the dread pirate, Grey(beard). Jordan Pynn wasted no time putting the favorites in favorable position, striking six seconds in to set a grim tone for Gold. Elliot Hicks tempered that tone later in the period, but Rob Gaudio turned it back up to make it 2-1 in favor of the one seed through one. Gaudio then assisted on Brandon Olsen’s game-winner in the second, before adding a powerplay goal early in the third, and an empty netter to complete the hat trick in the waning minutes to seal the 5-2 winning deal for Grey over Gold. Stuzka recorded his first point in a Gold shirt, providing the lone helper on Vinny Santora’s third period marker, but it was not nearly enough to get Gold near enough on the scoreboard to make this one interesting. Grey’s formidable firepower made it a long night in nets for Nick Meglich (15/19), while Parsa Mostafavi (11/13) continued to put shine on his Calder campaign with yet another win, helping his team cruise through to a Winner’s Bracket showdown for the ages with Orange. Gold will once again be without the services of their super sailor, Sheptycki, and hope not to find themselves Shep-wrecked in a life or death scrap with Pink.

Not OK

Week 1 Playoffs:

Captain Ryan Karns and ‘Karnsma Police’ started the season with two wins. Little did they know at the time, but those would be their only two wins of the season…a season that ended in an overtime loss to White in the league’s first ever ‘play-in’ game. What goes up must come down…what goes around comes around…clichés are like a box of chocolates, and Blue became the first casualty in the most preposterous parade of playoff parity in twenty-five years of SDFHL playoff history…

The four and five seeds squared off in 3:30 showdown to kick off the Week One slate. With five games scheduled for the first time in SDFHL history, this early start time would all but guarantee that all games would wrap before lights out, even if (scoff) every game went into OT and/or shootout. The first period saw furious back and forth action, with Brian Sheptycki putting Gold up one just 0:11 in, Nick Vacchio responded just 0:26 later, then added a second at the 8:10 mark. Ezra Cohen evened matters at 2-2 minutes later, but Chris Malki snatched back the lead for Green to close out a wild first frame. A scoreless second saw Nick Meglich (36/39) add eleven saves to his impressive nightly total, and both goalies kept things clean all the way through the third, as well…well…almost clean, and almost all the way through. With just 0:05 left on the clock, Vinny Santora converted a sparkling feed from Brian Sheptycki, sending his bench into a frenzy, and sending the first game of the night into overtime. The five minutes of bonus hockey produced no winner, so it was on to the shootout. Recent Jerry Gonzales replacement, Dale Stuzka, and Chris Malki came up empty in the first round, Ezra Cohen and Nick Vacchio were sent off scoreless in the second round, then Brian Sheptycki and Captain Joe Malki matched markers in the third round. It was the regulation hero reprising his role in the fourth round, as Vinny Santora cashed in to give Gold a 2-1 edge. Tom Darlington failed to match Santora on his turn, and a blank-blank round from Sadie Hellstrom and Jeanine Stuzka meant that Gold would finally, incredibly, prevail 4-3 in a marathon thriller over Green. So much for the early start…one game in, and the 4:30 game would now be starting at about 5:05…tick tock…

The second game was much of the same…very close…too close for regulation to decide. Pat Gladstone picked the right time for her first goal of the season, and that time was 0:05 remaining in the first. ‘The Matts’ (DeBerry and Gottfried) collected assists on that goal, and ‘The Gottfrieds’ (Kaity and Matt) assisted on Captain Jon Salt’s early second period goal to make it 2-0, Pink. Carl Vankoughnett cut the lead in half minutes later, and Mostafa Azab brought Atomic Blue even early in the third. Sean Kelly (20/23), and Nick ‘The New Wayne Wong’ Vacchio (15/17) kept things level the rest of the way, and we were on to OT for the second time in as many games. Mercifully, this one didn’t stretch deep into OT and beyond, as Luke Wolmer netted the game-winner on the power play just fourteen seconds into extra time (assists to Zach Salt and Kyra Forsyth). The 3-2 overtime Atomic Blue win over Pink was certainly a stunner, and will no doubt also haunt Captain Salt’s Thanksgiving table for years to come. The two seeds now find themselves on the Loser’s Bracket side of the fence, after losing their first game since their May 1st opener. Atomic Blue stride on to the Winner’s side of the picture, and will look to topple three-seeded, Orange to continue their sneak attack on the throne this Sunday.

On to game three…now running over an hour behind…tick…tock. Enter Blue and White, the first ever participants in a ‘play-in’ game in league history. Blue won their first two games of the season, then slid into a deep funk to finish in the eight spot at 2-5-1. White…the only team with a worse record at 1-6-1, but also having collected their only regular season win at Blue’s expense. Alan Razoky was in his old first round form in this one, accounting for all three Blue goals (with Mark DeGraffenreid providing all three primary assists), but White had an answer for every Razoky question. Josh Wirt, Harsh Wanigaratne, and Jeff Chen each provided one of those answers to bring regulation to a close with YET ANOTHER tie. Cory Brin (17/20) was almost twice as busy as Chuck Bender (8/12), but the important number is overtime goals against. Brin won that battle, as Wirt got loose and delivered the last nail in Blue’s Sprummer coffin with 0:18 remaining, playing White into the playoffs with a 4-3 OT win. It was clearly never really meant to be for Captain Ryan Karns and ‘Karnsma Police’, while White’s ability to beat them was the key to the ‘real’ second season…starting right away against top-seeded Grey…

Shockingly (sarcasm), it was another tight, nail-biting tilt between a rested Grey, and a worn, but warm White. If you’re scoring at home, this game started closer to 8:00 than 7:30…it was originally scheduled for 7:00…tick…tock. A scoreless first bled into a scoreless second, and White had to be waiting for another wow moment to complete a staggering opening night coup. That moment never came, as Parsa Mostafavi (11/11) held the fort, and held off a hard-charging Wirt to lead Grey to a 1-0 win. It was Rob Gaudio (from Jim LaGrossa and Brandon Olsen) doing the only damage to Cory Brin’s stat line (14/15), but the lone goal would be the game-winner, as regulation finally, mercifully, produced a winner. White remain alive in the playoff picture, but face a tough challenge in Green in Week Two. Grey march on to face #5 Gold, whom they bested 3-0 in Week Seven.

TIck tock…definitely up against the clock now, as Orange and Lime wrapped warm-ups at around 8:45. Vance Morra was absolutely on a mission out of the gate for the underdogs, accounting for the only goal in the first, and snapping a second past Chris Tran to give ‘SubLime’ a 2-0 lead through two. Well…almost through two. Chuck Russell sneaked a retaliation in with 0:14 to go in the middle stanza, then brought Orange even early in the third (from Gary Peters and David Schlatter). This is going to shock you, but…that’s how regulation would end, with a 2-2 tie, and the clock hands spinning swiftly towards ‘lights out’. At approximately 9:43, Gary Peters struck to turn the lights out on Lime 3-2, with Chuck Russell on the primary assist to earn the primary star of the night with 2 and 1 totals. The loss was not without an impressive silver lining for Lime. They (somehow) managed to hold Eric ‘The Sherriff’ Herrmann to ZERO points, and David Schlatter to one measly second assist. Steve Linke earns an honorary star for having a heavy hand in that feat, and Lime will need him at his best, and a stellar sub showing from Don Tran again to survive Captain Jon Salt and a hungry-for-vengeance Pink. Chris Tran (9/11) and Orange move on to face upstart Atomic Blue in Week Two, with the their regular season 6-1 Schlatter-less smash job serving as copious confidence fuel.

A Bigger Boat

Week 9:

For the first time in league history, nine teams set sail on playoff waters. Spoiler alert, something will likely go horribly wrong for eight of those teams. One team will find space on a life boat, float past the frozen bodies of their foes, and be rescued by the RMS Cup Winner. It’s sink or swim, starting this Sunday…

The Sprummer 2022 season kicked off with four not-so-close games, with scores of 5-1, 6-2, 4-1, and 4-2. The Week Nine slate was packed with parity (it really satisfies), with three ties, and one two goal decision. Atomic Blue and Lime brought different records, but the same number of points to the plate. Lime was already safe from slipping into the single elimination snare, but Atomic Blue needed a point to safeguard themselves. Greg Wirth put Atomic on the board first on the power play in the first, but Captain Mark Nagy responded less than a minute later to make it 1-1 through one. It was Captain Nagy again in the second to give my odds-on Cup favorite their first lead, and time quickly became the enemy of Captain Chad Goins’ point-hungry side. Enter, soon-to-be fifty year old, Carl Vankoughnett. The old man proved he can still produce, finding twine with the game on the line at 1:38 to produce the 2-2 sister kiss with Lime. In fact, Vakoughnett has produced plenty this season, racking up 8 and 8…good enough for a tie for fifth in the scoring race. What will the next half century have in store for everyone’s second favorite SDFHL Ottawan, and what will the second season have in store for Lime, who locked in the sixth seed with the bitter pill point, or Atomic Blue, who plunged into the playoffs in style with late game point piracy?

The cops…always breaking up the party…so lame. In this case, it was ‘The Sherriff’, shutting down the Week Nine parity with another episode of undue force. Herrmann, Dinino (from Herrmann), Herrmann, Herrmann…the man has (once again) driven my recap style to Cliff’s notes format. Josh Wirt continued to wage his impressive (but futile) personal push to improve his team’s tragic trajectory, scoring twice in the final frame (the second in the waning seconds) to make the final score less lopsided, but no less loss-y, 4-2. Wirt finished the regular season with 8 and 5, good for fourth in the scoring race, while White managed just one win in a woeful campaign that landed them in dead last. Mercifully for Captain Stephanie Ann Palomo Schmidt & Company, White remains alive and kicking, ready to take on their only regular season victim, Blue, in a won or done Week One play-in game. Orange is rumored to be without secret weapon super star, David Schlatter, for all of the second season, but ‘The Sherriff’, ‘The Deputy’ and the rest of the three seed posse ride tall into a citrus clash rematch with Lime.

The tide turned back to ties in the third game of the evening, as Don Tran (16/17) and Sean Kelly (18/19) did the dazzling, and limited the damage in a 1-1 winless war. Both goalies held strong through two full, but Captain Jon Salt finally fought free and tucked one past Tran to put Pink in the pink early in the third. Flurries at both ends produced no further fruit, and the clock wound down toward a PInk win…a win which would push them into the playoff catbird seat. Well, the catbird was away, and Captain Joe Malki came out to play…spoiler, tallying the tie-maker with just three ticks left on the timer. The late let down left Pink latent in the two spot, while the point fortified Green’s claim to the four seed. It will be Salt v Salt, as Pink face Atomic Blue in a Week Seven rematch (that was bereft of the younger Salt), while Green look to reprise their Week Four triumph over Gold.

The nightcap produced another pair of parallel performances, as Captain Ryan Karns’ and a skeleton crew Blue battled Captain Heinl’s skeleton crew Gold to a 2-2 draw. Blue needed two points to avoid joining White in the play-in playoff waiting room, and the 22-9 shot count in their favor was proof of their urgency. Alan Razoky broke away, and broke through for Blue late in the second, but an own goal in early in the second (credit to Sadie Hellstrom) put Gold back on even footing. Mark DeGraffenreid worked a wrister past Nick Meglich (20/22) to give Blue back the lead midway through the third, but a bizarre, bouncing, rolling shot from Brian Sheptycki sneaked through a sea of legs and sticks, and into the back of the net to knot the score, and Blue’s stomachs, in turn. So, after a 2-0-0 season start, Blue flop to a fetid 0-5-1 finish. They will play White, with their playoff lives, and a chance to (immediately) face top seed, Grey on the line. Gold move on as the five seed, with hopes of avenging their regular season loss to Green. Dale Stuzka will make his debut in that duel, stepping in to replace injured star, Jerry Gonzales.

Nine Lives

Week 8:

For the first time in SDFHL history, we have a season in which ‘every team makes the playoffs’. Still, the bottom two teams need to ‘play in’ to the second season, so there is plenty of hand wringing going on in the lower decks. Captain Palomo Schmidt and ‘Pearl Chen’s Summer Tour’ are already locked into that do-or-die date, with the victim of their only conquest (Blue) clinging to hope that they can avoid being the other party in the one-and-done dismissal dance on July 17. The seeding from top to bottom of the litter will all be scratched out this Sunday…

Orange squeezed Lime 3-1 in the SDFHL Citrus Bowl, all while ‘The Herrmannator’ enjoyed a much needed break after dealing a five goal death punch to Green in Week Seven. David ‘The New Deputy’ Schlatter led the way in the absence of ‘The Sherriff’ (he’s so good he has two nicknames), equalizing Eric Willard’s opening strike in the first, then potting the game-winner in the second (with primary assist to ‘The Old Deputy’). Chuck Russell added insurance in the third, but you can carry a pretty lean insurance policy when you have Sean Kelly in nets. Kelly stopped 16/17 in a fill-in roll for the ailing Chris Tran, and Alex Theis (21/24) was no slouch, but found no solace in the loss. Orange have run their win streak to three, having outscored their opponents 15-4 in that span. Their 4-2-1 record assures them no worse than a four seed, but no better than a two seed in the looming playoffs. Lime remain in the lower standings pack at 3-4-0, but should be safe from the play-in game eight and nine spots, barring some crazy math/tie breaker scenario.

Captain Jon Salt’s ‘Fembots’ had not lost a game since their week one stumble out of the blocks against pole-sitters, Grey. They will enter the final week of play with the very same bragging rights, and a chance to move past their first week foil, who can only wait and watch from the bye week couch. Arnold Gonzales put Pink in prime position just 0:26 in, but Alijay Omar scored his first career SDFHL goal (CONGRATULATIONS!) less than two minutes later to bring Gold even. Dan Jurgens netted the game-winner just a minute or so after serving a slashing penalty (assists to Kaity & Matt Gottfried), and Captain Salt himself (from the lesser Gottfried) capped the scoring for Pink in the 3-1 win. Oh yeah, Sean Kelly (13/14) was in this game, too. His efforts ran his record to 5-1-1 with a .957/1.57…ho hum…totally human stuff here. Nick Meglich (21/24) is having another great season, albeit with not-as-great (team) results as his starring turn with last season’s ‘Sweet Child O’ Malki’. So, Pink is poised to snatch the top spot, while Gold will hope to hand Blue their sixth straight loss, and shore up their playoff positioning, in the process.

Captain Stephanie Ann Xavier Jesus Palomo Schmidt, Esq and her White side have really found a home on the corner of Skills Galore Street and Tough Luck Terrace. Their find-the-banana-peel season seemed to have FINALLY taken a turn for the better after a rousing first period that saw them take a 3-0 lead on fellow struggle bus riders, Atomic Blue. To no one’s surprise, it was Josh Wirt leading the charge, scoring the first and third goals of the period, and assisting on the second (Captain Palomo Schmidt’s second of the season) in between. The second period saw a bounce back for Atomic Blue, with Captain Chad Goins cutting the lead to two, and Zach Salt making it 3-2 half a minute later. White went to Wirt again to restore the momentum, and restore the two goal edge, making the two period total 4-2 in favor of a win-starved White. Spoiler alert…the White hunger would extend yet another week. Luke Wolmer converted a Carl Vankoughnett pass to make it 4-3, Wolmer assisted on Captain Goins’ second of the game to knot the scores at fours, then Vankoughnett broke the tie, and (once again) broke already-hurting hearts with the 5-4 game-winner, Atomic Blue over White. This is the perfect season for a ‘caged tiger’ to come roaring back to free and ferocious form, and no team is more caged, nor more tiger than White. There 1-5-1 mark assures that they will be one participant in the play-in party, but they may well be a force to reckon with if they survive. The good news is that they will likely face Blue in that showdown…the one team they have managed to manage to this point. The other good news is that they have Josh Wirt, who earned rare POTW-in-a-loss with the 3 and 1 outing. Meanwhile, the win propels Atomic Blue closer to a legitimate playoff seed, but a Week Nine loss to Lime, and a Blue win over Gold will sink them back into a play-in plight.

Grey continued their climb, and Blue continued their (precipitous) fall, as another one goal loss meant FIVE straight down the drain for Captain Ryan Karns’ and ‘Karnsma Police’. If you believe in karma, please let those of us on Blue know what we have done to deserve this fate. Brandon Olsen cashed in on the power play to break the scoreless tie at 3:30 in the second, then assisted on Jim LaGrossa’s game-winner 1:10 later. LaGrossa enters his bye week leading the scoring field with 19 points (6 and 13), with the only threat to his crown coming in the form of…who else…’The Sherriff’. Weston Nawrocki spoiled Wayne Wong’s fill-in shutout bid (16/17) with just 0:48 to play, but that would be the only goal allowed by Wong in his final SDFHL performance before heading out of town to pursue higher education. So, another week, another win for Grey, another loss for Blue…this time by a 2-1 final. Chuck Bender (18/20) has taken his lumps along with his team, who have (almost) nowhere to go but up now at 2-5-0. White may still be a rung below them on the standings ladder, but no team is colder (it doesn’t get much colder then and 0-5-0 run). Blue still have a chance at redemption if they can pull up the nose against Gold this Sunday. Grey will watch and wait to see whether or not Pink will overtake them for the top spot.