Captain Chad Goins became the first casualty of the young season, suffering a broken left foot in the opening period of the first SDFHL action in over a year…but not before getting his team off on the right foot (*rim shot*) with a goal in the first minute of play. His counterpart, Captain Mara Bernd, evened the ledger later in the period, and her teammate, (newcomer) Rick Nelson, impressed with his first and second career goals to give his team the lead, and some leeway in Blue’s 3-1 win over Yellow. Cory Brin snatched the win with a sleepy, but solid 8/9 outing, while Chuck Bender suffered the loss, stopping 16/19.

It was as if COVID never happened (and I didn’t even have to change the musty old ‘POTW’ feature), as Jordan Pynn was in tip-top ‘Pynn for the win’ form…big shocker. Pynn dished up 2 and 2, pacing the Black attack, and helping rookies Devin Austin and Michael Blake savor their first taste of SDFHL goal glory. Mark DeGraffenreid provided the only answer with a late powerplay goal, spoiling Don Tran’s shutout bid (17/18) in the process. Black’s 4-1 Purple bashing was particularly impressive, with both Jon Salt (herpes flare up) and Glenn Pinto (tennis pinkie) out of the lineup. Captain Steph Palomo invited all other captains to the ‘shade parade’ after the win, adding ‘you thought COVID was bad, bitches…we ’bout to unleash a motherfuckin’ Pynndemic!’. Stay…classy?

The nightcap was something of a snooze fest through two, as the number of hammy stains and ankle twists outnumbered genuine scoring chances. Dale Stuzka finally found twine early in the third, and Bill Casey added an empty netter on a crazy rink-long backhand flip to seal it for White, 2-0 over Red. Rookie netminder, Jared Spencer, sparkled in his debut, stopping 14/14, including a few clean breakaways and a 4 (yes, FOUR) on 1! Melissa Busby (23/24) took the hard luck loss, but she is used to losing…loser. Speaking of losers, here’s hoping more of you losers check your email next time I send out an invite, so we can scrape together more than six teams. I would have thought people were desperate to play, but…guess I am just a fool.

The rains that washed out Week Two stayed away in Week Three, but Connor Miller rained on Purple’s parade, all the same.  The sassy sniper converted on a power play late in the first, and doubled the lead for Orange late in the second.  Joe Malki struck back for Purple early in the third, but Ty Pereira restored the two goal lead later in the frame.  Chad Goins kept things interesting with a wicked wrister on the power play with 0:28 to play, but Orange would hold on to win, 3-2.  Matt Henderson stopped 13/15 in the win, while Zach Siemer absorbed the loss in lieu of Cory Brin with a 15/18 line.  The loss has Purple sharing a basement bed with Green at 0-2-0, while Orange improve to 1-0-1 to keep pace toward the top of the early season pack. 

Andrew Jacobsen opened the scoring for Pink early in the first, and closed the game with an empty-netter in the final minute, as Pink pushed past Green, 4-2.  Jacobsen had an assist, as well, providing the lone helper on Michael Bottomley’s self-proclaimed ‘only goal of the season’ (he later added his ‘only assist of the season’ on AJ’s empty netter).  AJ is AJ…always great, but Eric Willard provide the real wow factor, and the game-winner for Captain Karns crew, dancing through several Green defenders, and snapping home the decisive strike midway through the third.  Alex Theis recorded the second assist on Willard’s wizardry, and stopped 14/16 on the ol’ day job, handing Zach Siemer (15/18) his second surrogate loss of the afternoon.

In the immortal words of Jasper from the Simpsons…”that’s a paddlin’”.  Kris Tosczak dropped a hat trick and a helper, and four other scorers got in on the act (Michael Froman, Philip Nguyen, John Gamm, and Alyce Perry), as Grey took a paddle sledgehammer to Gold, 7-2.  Captain Mark Ennsmann chalked up three assists (as did Gamm), and four other Grey players added assists to their stat totals in the beat down.  Nick Adkins was not all-too-taxed in a fill-in role for the injured Chris Tran, stopping 11/13 (with the second non-save coming with just seven seconds remaining).  Christian LeClair was saddled with the loss, and must be a bit saddle sore after a 15/22 outing. 

One good beat down deserves another, apparently, as the SDFHL’s trademark parity went out the window for a second straight game.  A Jones-less Mint was completely White washed, as Captain Jordan Pynn (2 and 2) led his team to a 6-0 win in their first game of the season.  Carl Vankoughnett chipped in 2 and 1, Bill Casey 1 and 1, and Kevin Dinino 1 and 1, while Don Tran stretched and yawned his way to a 7/7 shutout.  The shot totals were as lopsided as the score, as Chuck Bender suffered the White slings and arrows to the tune of 18/24.  The loss evens Mint’s record at 1-1-0, while White certainly look ready to rumble right out of the box with a crazy convincing inaugural performance. 

Jon Salt tallied twice, and his second proved to be the game winner in Red’s 4-2 win over Black.  Armando Antunez had Red on the board early in the first, and Dale Stuzka netted a short-handed strike to make it 2-0.  Salt’s pair followed to make it 4-0, and third period responses from Gideon Schon and Captain Mark Nagy narrowed, but could not negate the gap.  Sean Kelly had an uncharacteristically tough night, stopping just 8/12, while Tiffany Fox was feeling it for Red at the other end, securing the win in her season debut with a 20/22 line.  Red find themselves in a tie with Grey atop the standings at 2-0-0, while Black drop to the middle of the pack with a 1-1-0 start.