Three of the five final games of the Wing League 2026 season had major playoff implications, with one or both teams involved needing a tie, a win, help from other teams, or some combination thereof. The only game to feature two teams on the same precarious playoff pontoon came with the Week Nine opener between Captain Will Heinl’s 2-4-2 Purple, and Captain Ryan Karns’ 2-4-2 Green. Both teams would be in with a win, and while Purple would also advance with a tie (holding the head to head tiebreaker over Green), the only truly safe result for Green would be the two point option. A loss left either team exposed to being overtaken by Blue, and also left Green exposed to being overtaken by White, should White stage perhaps the most incredible coup in league history and defeat Sand later in the slate. You can’t win if you can’t score, and Ty Pereira did just that…that…that for Purple in the first. That wasn’t an echo, but rather three goals in the first for Pereira…at 8:36 from Sadie Hellstrom & Bao Nguyen, at 8:06 from Justin Hepler and Nguyen, and at 1:19 from Hepler and Weston Nawrocki. Green would hold Pereira and the rest of the Purple press off the board in the second, but the shot totals through two (24-4 in Purple’s favor!) told the truly tilted tale. Hepler would add a fourth goal with 1:22 to play in the third, and Captain Heinl (10/10) watched his team’s 4-0 winning effort unfold in front of him, knowing that April play was officially unlocked. Pereira’s ‘natural’ hat trick earned him (much deserved) POTW honors, and doubled his season goal total to a very defined and sexy six pack. Matt Henderson (27/31) did everything in his power to will Green to greener playoff pastures, but as a wise man once wrote, ‘you can’t win if you can’t score’. The win vaulted Purple all the way up to fourth in the standings, with some chance of sliding lower in the seeding based on results from the rest of the games. The loss was nothing short of devastating for Green, but a (highly likely) White loss to Sand, and a (toss up) Blue loss to Red would STILL have them into the second season…

Both Captain Darin Cerasuolo’s 3-4-1 Pink and Captain William Teglia’s 4-2-2 Teal had already booked playoff passage coming into the final week of play, and while Teal was 100% locked into the three seed, a win for Pink would mean a jump to the four seed, a position that would hold unless Gold prevailed over Black later in the slate. So…MUCH lower stakes for both teams, but a bump up the seeding ladder for Pink, and a little momentum heading into April play for either side is not nothing. What was ‘nothing’ was the scoring in the first period in this one, with Teal holding a 9-4 edge in shots, but neither team finding twine through ten. Chris Tran finally broke the scoring seal for Pink with a solo snipe at 2:07 in the second, but Kyle Snyder would answer for Teal less than a minute later (1:10 from Christopher Fiore) to push the ledger back to level going into the third. Captain Teglia was next to act, with his tenth (!) of the season giving Teal their first lead of the game at 8:05 (Snyder & Steph Palomo Schmidt), but first year forward, Jason Olver, would find a response for Pink at 4:08 (Captain Cerasuolo & Tran). The final shot totals from this game…28-14 in Teal’s favor. Unfortunately, as a wise man is typing right this very moment…’it’s not the shots you take, but the shots you make that count’. Jordan Pynn…the man, the legend…joining Pink’s ranks to replace injured superstar, Jon Salt…made his shot at 2:42 count…and unassisted game-winner for Pink in his first game back from his own injury journey. Chuck Bender (26/28) locked down the 3-2 win for Pink, helping to improve his team’s record to 4-4-1 and move them into (at least temporary possession of) the fourth playoff seed. As noted, outside of a slight sag in momentum, the loss did no damage at all to Teal, who hold firm at the three seed. In fact, Jon Cima (11/14) & Company were the only team in the league who knew their playoff position was set in stone coming in. The only remaining unknown for Teal…which team slot into the sixth position and stand as their opponent in the opening round of playoff play.

Captain Brennen Abel’s White came into the final week of regular season play at 1-5-2, but the five points salvaged from those first eight games of the season left them JUST BARELY alive in the playoff pursuit. White’s pin-thin path to the post season hinged on three results…a Green loss to Purple (check), an upset win over Sand, and a Blue loss to Red in the nightcap. ‘Upset’ is something of a relative term…there are definitely shades of upset. White beating Sand would top out as perhaps the biggest upset in SDFHL history. Still…Green’s loss meant that White would squeeze in with a win, as Green was White’s only regular season conquest, and if both teams were to finish at 2-5-2, a Blue loss to Red would leave all three teams with six points, with Blue eliminated on total wins, and Green eliminated on head to head. So…not the most sensible parlay available from your shady offshore gambling outfit, but…not impossible. ‘Impossible’ is a word that comes to mind when anyone suggests that you might ‘stop Alex Giummo from torpedoing your hopes and dreams’, and as the fates would have it, White scratched and clawed their way to the final week of play, only to find Thanos waiting to snuff them out. Giummo put Sand in front on the powerplay at 8:25 in the first (Trevor Vick), and while Zach Siemer would respond quickly for White at 7:52 (Jason Nothrup & Jason Lee) the rest of the period belonged to Sand’s supporting cast. Yes, Sand DOES have a supporting cast…though not a single player on the roster outside of Alex & Trevor, Inc. had a single goal on the season until this game! Matt DeBerry’s first of the season at 5:31 pushed Sand back in front (from Giummo and Trevor Vick, naturally), Wendy Enight’s first made it 3-1 at 4:15 (Trevor Vick), and Tim ‘I Know Trevor…I’m Actually His Dad…I Knew Him Before He Was Cool’ Vick’s first broke the game open at 3:25 (from Trevor Vick and Giummo, naturally). DeBerry wasn’t done, posting his second of the game at 9:20 in the second (Giummo), and a pair of Giummo solo strikes at 6:55 and 4:51 left little doubt that this game was well and truly over at 7-1 heading into the second break. White would put up a fight, with Rob Gaudio converting at 9:45 (Captain Abel), then returning the favor with the only helper on Abel’s goal to make it 7-3 at 9:09. Of course, it was just more Giummo from there, with his fourth of the game at 9:00 (Trevor Vick & Erin Plone), and a Giummo helping hand on Matt DeBerry’s THIRD OF THE GAME at 5:25! Congratulations on your first career hat trick, Matt! Super sub, Jenna Chercoe, posted one last response for White with seven ticks left, but Captain Nick Meglich (19/23) and Sand rode their trusty steed (and some actual helping hooves) to a 9-4 win, eliminating White and securing the top playoff seed in the process. Gabe Davenport (14/23) suffered the slings and arrows all season, and while his team did not find a way to April play, we are all happy to see him come away with a smile on his face, and resolve to continue his journey to become a force in nets in seasons to come.

With Sand having prevailed, Captain Kalen Hunter and Black joined Teal in the knowledge that there would be no possible change in their playoff position, regardless of how they might fare against Captain Nick Vacchio’s Gold. A win would keep them undefeated and see them finish with the same point total as their rivals, but Sand would preserve the top spot based on the wins tiebreaker. A tie would (of course) also suffice in keeping their loss column clean, but even a loss could not dislodge them from the second seed. A win for Gold would move them into the four spot, supplanting Pink, who had only just arrive in that position, while a loss would keep them locked in the sixth position. So, the every other game pattern of genuine playoff implications continued, with this second ‘even game’ on the night proving to be quite ‘low stakes’ for both sides. A scoreless first saw Gold outshot 7-4, but certainly not outplayed, with both teams looking as though they were ramping up to the proper level of playoff intensity. Captain Hunter snapped home the first goal of the game from distance at 6:03 in the second, and Josh Tran followed with insurance for Black at 3:28 (Austin Szymanski & Kerri Sevenbergen). Mark DeGraffenreid accounted for the only goal for either side in the third, finishing a nifty backdoor feed from Tran at 6:52 to bring the final score to 3-0, Black over Gold. Sean Kelly (16/16) recorded his first shutout of the season, improving his league-leading totals to .947/1.17/1 SO, and reaffirming the prevailing thought that he may be the only man who can actually stop ‘Thanos’ this season. Mason Holcomb (17/20) filled in very admirably for John Kushneryk, who was not absent, but rather playing defense for the other team. Such is the twisted, incestuous world of SDFHL hockey. As noted, Black holds on to the second seed, and will turn to face Blue in the opening round this Sunday, while Gold hold at the six spot, hoping to avenge their 4-3 Week Four loss to Teal.

The final game of the Wing League 2026 season was dripping with playoff implications. Captain Josh Wirt’s Red were already a playoff lock, but a win would improve their season record to 4-4-1, and the head to head tiebreaker with Pink would give them the four seed. A loss for Red would relegate them to the eight seed, meaning a very daunting opening matchup with Sand, while a tie would move them into the sixth spot, based on the third tiebreak criteria, goal-differential…they would JUST move ahead of Gold, who fell to a -4 after their 3-0 loss to Black. Captain Owen Perks’ Blue…a MUCH more significant ‘drip’ of implication…a loss would leave them out of April play, while a tie or better would save them. A tie would leave Blue in the eight seed, meaning a rematch with Sand…the ONLY team Blue beat all season, and Sand’s only loss on the season, while a Blue win would push them to the seven spot. Bryan Ossa put Red in front first, slapping home a power play chance at 7:55 in the first (Eric Caligiuri & Captain Wirt), but Wasif Hussain responded for Blue at 5:44 (Hima Joshi), and Dan Jurgens put the underdogs on top for the first time at 2:57 (Captain Perks). With Craig Russell off after an awkward collision with Chris Malki found him staunching a (relentlessly) bloody nose in the penalty box, Captain Perks struck short-handed to pad Blue’s lead to 3-1 at 3:57 in the second (Jurgens). It was Shawna Hamon’s time to shine in the third, with her first goal of the game at 8:27 cutting the lead to one (Eli Schonbrun & Ossa), and her second of the game at 5:43 (Schonbrun & Caligiuri) pushing Red back to even ground, and pushing Blue back to the brink of elimination. The collective exhale from the Blue bench was reportedly heard as far away as Ramona, as Captain Perks wasted no time responding to Hamon’s heroics, snatching the lead back for his team at 5:24 (Jurgens & Hussain). Blue now knew that even another Red tally could not keep them from the playoffs…they would just need to hold on and not lose. Mason Holcomb (17/20) would ensure that Blue would not only ‘not lose’, but would win this most crucial of contests, 4-3 over Red. Don Tran (15/19) was saddled with the loss, dropping Red into the unenviable position of the first team on Sand’s playoff radar. The win for Blue sealed Green’s scrap heap fate, and locked Perks & Company in at the seven spot, set to take on the only undefeated team in the league (and the team that topped them 6-1 in Week Five), Black, as playoff action kicks off this weekend.

The one team you do not want to see on your upcoming Sunday schedule is undoubtedly Captain Nick Meglich’s Sand. More accurately, you do not want to see Alex Giummo warming up at the other end. For all intents and purposes, Alex IS the team, now (at the conclusion of the game for which you are about to read a recap) having matched or outscored all but TWO other ENTIRE TEAMS in the league with TWENTY-SIX goals on the season. Of course, one of the teams he has failed to outscore this season is his own team, with Trevor Vick the ONLY other Sand player with any goals at all (TV carries a respectable seven). Captain Ryan Karns’ Green came into Week Eight at 2-3-2, still very much in danger of missing the playoffs, and needing a miracle against the relentless Sand storm to punch their pass and save themselves from a potential must win finale against Purple. The much-easier-said-than-done game plan against Sand is to ‘contain Giummo’, and Green did well executing this ‘plan’ in the first period. Giummo was held without a goal, but not without an assist, providing the only helper on Trevor Vick’s seventh of the season. The ‘plan’ faltered a bit late in the second, as Giummo notched his first of the game at 3:05 (Trevor Vick), then his second at 0:31 (Erin Plone) to expand Sand’s edge to 3-0 going into the second break. The third period saw a scoring bonanza for both sides, with four different scorers getting on the board for Green, and one four-goal scorer answering for Sand (one guess). Giummo capped his hat trick at 9:19 (Trevor Vick & Wendy Enright), Vance Morra finally responded for Green at 8:23 (Carl Vankoughnett & Jackson Tomaszewski), Giummo unassisted at 8:17, Giummo from Trevor Vick and Jeremy Copp at 7:06, Jenna Chercoe to stop the bleeding for Green at 2:42 (Weston Oakly & Mark Scelfo), then Bredan Jew to thicken the plot at 2:20 (Elyse Shattuck), Giummo’s SIXTH unassisted at 1:26, and one last response for Green from Vankoughnett at 1:05 (Tomaszewski). That’s a lot of orange plastic at (and past) both Matt Henderson (23/30) and Captain Meglich (22/26), but the ‘plan’ did not go to plan for yet another victim of Giummo’s ability to score at will. The 7-4 win, combined with Black’s tie later in the slate, pushed Sand back to the top of the pile heading into the final week of play. As fate would have it, Meglich & Company will face the team at the frigid south pole of the standings this Sunday in White, meaning they are a 99% lock to lock in the top playoff seed. Green still sit on the cusp, and could fall off the table completely, or stay in the mix for April play depending on how they fare in their finale against Purple. Karns’ & Kompany can still get into the playoffs with a loss, but they would then need Blue to lose, and White to earn anything but a win in their (massively uphill) tilt with Sand.

The second game on the Week Eight schedule featured another team embroiled in that ‘Battle At The Bottom’, with Captain Owen Perks’ Blue needing to pull a point or more from Captain William Teglia’s Teal to give themselves a real chance to push into the playoffs on the final Sunday of play. At 4-2-1, Teal were already seated at the second season table, and while they were certainly favorites in this match, it’s safe to say that desperation is often the great equalizer. Kyle Snyder struck early, with his eleventh of the season at 8:23 in the first (Christopher Fiore) giving Teal the first lead, but Chris Koziol played the role of ‘desperation incarnate’ for Blue, posting his second career goal to draw Blue level at 8:41 in the second (Captain Perks & Dorothy Kline). Captain Teglia was next to act, wresting the lead back for Teal at 6:22 in the second (Mostafa Azab), amplifying Blue’s anxiety with just one period to play. Dan Jurgens took three trips to the sin bin for Blue in this one, but the gritty veteran atoned for any forfeiture of comeback momentum by knotting the score at 2-2 with 4:11 to play. It was Koziol with the goal-ziol again less than a minute later at 3:28 (Justin Stege) to lift Blue to their first lead…ironically a power play conversion with Azab serving Teal’s only minor penalty of the game. With the clock winding down, Blue looked primed to carry the day and all but (if not definitely) punch their playoff ticket, but Captain Teglia conjured some faux desperation of his own, and struck for a second time to pull Teal back to even footing with 1:29 to go. Neither Mason Holcomb (21/24), nor Jon Cima (13/16) would concede from there, leaving Blue with one point and a mixed bag of emotions in the 3-3 tie. Koziol’s breakout, POTW game could not have come at a better time for Blue, who are in a considerably less dire position with six points (1-3-4) than they would be with five. Perks & Company have the added perk (see what I did there) of playing in the final game of the night this Sunday. They already know that a win over Red will put them in, but if there is a loser in the 4:00 Green v Purple match, they know that a tie will also seal the second season deal.

Captain Kalen Hunter’s Black entered Week Eight at the top of the standings…the only remaining undefeated team hoping to keep that loss column clean and hold serve in the final weeks of play to preserve the one seed. Captain Will Heinl’s Purple…2-4-1 coming in, knowing that every point in the standings could be vital to their hopes of escaping the scrap heap, especially given that a win would now vault them above their Week Nine opponent, Green, and offer greatly increased odds of freeing themselves from the cut line tangle in their finale. As pure irony would have it (and, as snarky teammate, John Kushneryk, loves to point out), Black had actually fared slightly better in Captain Hunter’s absence (2-0-0) than his presence (3-0-2) coming in. Purple certainly hoped that this ‘trend’ would continue, opening the door for at least a tie to draw them even with Green and set them up to stick the dismount this Sunday. Tom Darlington (of all players) opened the scoring with his third (!) of the season at 5:06 (Weston Nawrocki & Bao Nguyen), putting Purple on the front foot first, but Captain Hunter would retaliate unassisted less than a minute later at 4:29, then snatch the lead for Black at 0:53 (Kevin Hunter). While he did not make the official ‘stars of the game’ podium, Austin Szymanski was a player possessed in this game. His tireless hustle was finally rewarded at 7:56 in the second (Kerri Sevenbergen)…his first career SDFHL goal! CONGRATULATIONS, AUSTIN! Purple continued to press, and really took control of the game at that point. The first period shot totals favored Purple by a count of 9-5, but the second period gap of 15-7 finally bore fruit, in spite of all manner of breakdance heroics from Sean Kelly. Ty Pereira cut the lead to one at 2:40 in the second (Gary Peters), and Justin Hepler brought Purple back to level at 1:33 (Tom Darlington). The shot counts were close to even in the third (10-9, Purple), but neither Captain Heinl (18/21), nor Kelly (31/34) would allow for a winner to be declared. The 3-3 tie meant an important point for Purple, a fall to second place for Black, and another shameful blemish on Captain Kalen’s personal W-L-T record. Heinl & Company now know that it is ‘win and in’ against Green in Week Nine. The teams share the same record (2-4-2), and Purple has the advantage of having beaten White earlier in the season. Even if Purple should lose to Green, they would still make the playoffs with a Blue loss to Red in the nightcap. A tie would get them in with anything BUT a Blue win, and the goal differential tie breaker would seed them ahead of Green in the seventh slot.

The aforementioned snarky double agent, John Kushneryk, had backstopped Captain Nick Vacchio’s Gold to a 2-3-2 record coming into Week Eight play, and he and his mates knew that a win over Captain Darin Cerasuolo’s Pink would not only seal a playoff seed, but also leapfrog them into the upper half of the bracket. Pink’s roster…rife with scorers and hockey savvy swagger…but not on this day. With Chris Tran, Antony Cerasuolo, Shelby Shattuck, and Captain Darin himself all out of the lineup, it would most likely be up to the dynamic duo of Eric Willard and Jon Salt to carry the offense for Pink. When Salt went down in a heap less than thirty seconds into the first period…later to find he had a torn ACL, the odds of Pink holding off a hungry Gold steepened significantly. Captain Vacchio broke the scoring seal at 0:38 in the first (Steve Linke), Luke Wolmer doubled the damage at 6:01 in the second (Captain Vacchio), and Wolmer iced the 3-0 Gold win with his second of the game at 0:25 in the third (Hima Joshi). Kushneryk (10/10) was steady, but honestly hardly tested throughout, while Chuck Bender (22/25) did all he could to keep his severely short-handed side in the game from start to finish. As noted, the win pushed Gold to 3-3-2, now sitting in fourth place and locked into the playoff picture going into their finale against Kushneryk’s ‘other team’, Black. The loss prevents Pink from ascending to a higher playoff perch, but they remain safely in at 3-4-1 as they prepare for their regular season closer against Teal. We wish Jon all the best in his recovery from this freak injury…t’was unpleasant to witness, for sure. The Board has ratified Jordan Pynn, himself coming back from injury rehab, to replace Salt this Sunday and through Pink’s playoff run.

Yet another ‘big game’ dripping with playoff implications served as the Week Eight nightcap, as Captain Josh Wirt’s 2-4-1 Red hoped to punch out Captain Brennen Abel’s 1-4-2 White, and punch their playoff ticket in the process. Red’s 0-4-0 start had painted them into a tight corner at the midway point in the season, but a 2-0-1 run had them back in the thick of the playoff hunt. For White, the entire season had been slog and struggle, with their lone bright spot, a convincing 4-1 Week Five triumph over Green, having kept them alive, but just barely with two games to play. A win over Red would push White into a three way tie with Green and Purple, push Red into the basement, and greatly increase their chances of survival heading into what by all accounting projects to be an auto-loss to Sand in Week Nine. If you didn’t know, Joe Malki and his wife are expecting their first child sometime next month. Joe decided to honor his offspring with an early delivery, posting his fifth of the season at 8:37 in the first (Bryan Ossa & Shawna Hamon) to give Red the early lead. Eric Caligiuri followed with his second of the season at 7:51 (Eli Schonbrun & Joe Malki), and Joe made it 3-0 Red with his second of the game at 2:53. Rob Gaudio would provide the first response for White at 1:34 (Zach Siemer), but Papa-Soon-To-Be-Grandpapa Chris Malki restored Red’s three goal edge with 0:38 to play before the first break. Red pushed further ahead in the second, with Hamon’s first (!) goal of the season at 9:41 (Captain Wirt & Schonbrun) stretching the lead to four, and Chris Malki’s second of the game putting things well and truly out of reach for White at 4:05 (Schonbrun & Ossa). White still had fight in them, with Captain Abel cutting the lead back to four at 2:54 in the second (Gaudio & Tyler Winstead), then back to three with his second of the game at 6:46 in the third (Siemer & LaGrossa), but Don Tran (15/18) would allow White no closer, and Emily Bennington’s first of the season at 3:55 (Captain Wirt & Joe Malki) made absolutely certain that Red would hold on to capture the 7-3 win over White to secure playoff passage. Gabe Davenport (13/20) continues to battle hard in nets for White, but at 1-5-2, he and his mates are now in a MUST win situation. Unfortunately (and that word does not do justice to the lack of fortune here), White will have to prevail over Sand…the juggernaut atop the standings…a team that features a single player with seven goals more than White’s entire roster. As noted, Red’s place in the playoffs is already secured, but they will look to improve to as high as fourth should they play spoiler for Blue in the nightcap. We wish the very best to Joe, Chris, and the entire Malki family as he takes paternity leave from here out, with Riley Mann called in to fill his spot in Red’s lineup with the playoffs just around the corner…

Week Seven boxes are up…recaps to come.

Sorry, folks…no recaps this week.

The midpoint of the regular season is about the time the playoff picture really begins to take shape. By the end of the Week Five slate of games, it is entirely possible that one or more teams will have already secured a playoff spot, while others will see themselves fated to a trench battle for survival over the remaining month of play. Neither Captain William Teglia’s 3-1-0 Teal, nor Captain Will Heinl’s 1-2-1 Purple were in either of those camps (yet) coming in, but the winner of this game would enjoy a considerable amount of additional security against falling into said ‘trench’ as March play marches on. Captain Teglia put his team on the front foot with his fifth of the season at 6:00 (Christopher Fiore), then added a late period solo strike to push Teal’s lead to 2-0. Justin Hepler scored the lone goal in the second to cut Teal’s lead to one (Gary Peters & Jon Zygelman), and a super sub sneak attack from Jenna Chercoe (Zygelman & Tom Darlington) at 7:36 in the third drew the teams level with a pair of twos. Teal had dominated the shot count over the first two periods (21-8), and while Purple mustered a slim shooting edge in the third (8-7), it was Kyle Snyder who would account for the truly important statistic…goals. Snyder snapped home his seventh of the season with 3:53 to play (Captain Teglia & Fiore), then added empty net insurance at 0:35 (Fiore) to seal the 4-2 win for Teal. Jon Cima (14/16) improved his personal record on the season to 3-0-0 with another strong outing, while Captain Heinl (24/27) and Purple were saddled with a third loss in five tries. The win bumps Teal into the aforementioned playoff-primed echelon of the table at 4-1-0. While I don’t know that they are ‘mathematically in’ at this point, it would take some serious ‘new math’ and misfortune to change their trajectory. At 1-3-1, Purple now sit just one point above the cut line…obviously very much in jeopardy of missing the second season if they do not make a run for safety ASAP. Lo and behold…a matchup with Captain Wirt’s sub-cut-line Red this Sunday…HUGE game for both teams!

Captain Brennen Abel’s White has been a ‘trench’ team all season, and while their 2-1 Week Three loss to Gold and 2-2 Week Four tie with Blue were signs of a trend up in the defense and goaltending departments, the end result was still one lonely point out of a possible four. At 0-3-1, their Week Five showdown with Captain Ryan Karns’ 2-2-0 Green represented an opportunity to finally move above the cut line and begin a second half push to playoff pastures. With the collective hope that Gabe Davenport had another gem game in his goalie bag, and with key Green cogs Carl Vankoughnett, Brendan Jew, and Weston Oakley elsewhere, the focus fell back on an a White offense that would need to need to find scoring form to carry the day. Captain Abel led by example with his sixth of the season at 6:29 in the first (Rob Gaudio), and Abel would return the helping hand on Gaudio’s third with just 0:23 to play before the first break (late period goals are such daggers). It was more of the same in the second, with Captain Abel pushing White’s lead to three at 4:42 (Leah Gonzales & Gaudio), then Gaudio cashing in his second of the game to make it 4-0 less than a minute later (Abel & Mark Nagy). Green’s only retaliation came off the stick of very unusual suspect, Lena Amelang. Amelang finally solved Davenport at 2:35 (Captain Karns)…her first of the season, and just her sixth goal in sixty-four career games…nice work, Lena! All goals count the same on the scoresheet, however, and (as noted) that was the only response Karns’ & Kompany would muster as Gabe Davenport (16/17) and the law offices of Abel & Gaudio finally delivered a win for White, 4-1 over Green. Don Tran (14/18) swallowed the bitter L pill in Matt Henderson’s stead, outdone by a determined opponent and a skeleton crew supporting cast. All goals count the same on the scoresheet, and technically all wins count the same in the standings, but this win for White is HUGE. Now at 1-3-1, White find themselves above the cut line for the first time, with renewed hopes of a playoff push heading into the second half. The loss feels equally HUGE (and heavy) for Green, who fall to 2-3-0, just one point ahead of White and two points north of the cut line with 4-0-1 Black up next, and 4-0-1 Sand still lurking in their late season schedule.

The built up pressure and frustration of an 0-4-0 start was compounded all the more by White’s breakthrough coup as Captain Wirt’s Red strode onto the surface for a belated Valentine’s Day showdown with Captain Darin Cerasuolo’s Pink. If you’re not a regular recap reader (who is, really) you may well have missed all of my borderline cheerleading for this Red team…I still believe them to be a very good team trapped in a dead and rotting team’s corpse. I noted last week that there would be/could be ‘no more excuses’ for Red if they did not win in Week Five. They not only desperately needed points in the standings, but also just needed to prove that they could come out on top (one game at a time), in spite of their position on the very bottom. Pink was definitely not the team you want to face in a ‘must win’ or ‘really, really need to win’ situation, with the league’s top offense and a 3-1-0 record tainted only by the auto-L that is a date with Sand. Still…’no excuses’…it was now, or most likely never for Wirt & Company. Joe Malki liked the sound of ‘now’, putting Red in front at 9:04 in the first (Captain Wirt), but Captain Cerasuolo would respond for Pink at 7:34 (Eric Willard) to bring the teams back to square one heading into period two. Bryan Ossa was next to act, putting Red back in front at 8:30 in the second (Eli Schonbrun) before Steve Goncalo pumped Red’s lead to two at 7:22 (Emily Bennington & Captain Wirt). Eric Willard slashed that lead back to one at 5:19 (Chris Tran), but Joe Malki’s second of the game at 2:57 (Schonbrun) had Red back in firm control heading into the final third. That third was a veritable scoring bonanza, with Captain Cerasuolo’s second of the game at 8:37 (Tran & Jon Salt) sending familiar shivers down Reds’ backs, Captain Wirt himself calming those nerves with his second (!) of the season at 7:31, Chris Malki plumping Red’s lead to 6-3 at 6:48 (Goncalo & Schonbrun), Captain Cerasuolo completing his hat trick on the power play at 4:26 (Willard) to keep Pink in striking distance, and Chris Malki slamming the door shut with his second of the period to FINALLY deliver Red to the winners’ circle, 7-4 over Pink. Don Tran (15/19) notched his first win of the season (for his actual team, anyway), and Red actually outshot their offensively gifted foes 26-19, in spite of being tagged with three penalties to Pink’s one. Chuck Bender (19/26) shouldered the loss for Pink, who remain safely in the high-middle pack at 3-2-0. The work has only just begun for Captain Wirt & Company, still sitting below the cut line with just two points, but with a wobbly Purple up next this Sunday, and with both White and Blue on tap to close their season, my fanboy-esque support of this team may well prove warranted come April…

With the ‘Battle Of Black Sand’™ behind us, and with both Black and Sand coming away undefeated, two of the more intriguing questions remaining in the Wing 2026 season became ‘which undefeated team will lose first’, and ‘which team will finally hand either of these teams a loss’. The first up in Week Five to try to answer these questions in their favor…Captain Nick Vacchio’s Gold. Gold’s 2-2-0 record coming in was built on a W-L-W-L pattern, with the last three entries in that pattern starting a new pattern of games decided by one goal. Captain Nick Meglich’s Sand…utterly dominant in two of their three wins, mostly dominant in the third (Pink produced a late two-goal push that came up short), and, of course, the draw with their attic mates and new rivals, Black. It’s no secret that the key to having ANY chance at all against Sand is to stop Alex ‘Thanos’ Giummo. There might be no bigger chasm between ‘said’ and ‘done’ than when uttering that strategy to your mates in the pregame huddle, but…outside of forfeiting, you have no choice but to try. The (presumed) ‘plan’ worked wonders in the first for Gold, holding Giummo off the board through the first ten minutes of play, but Trevor Vick took the scoring baton for Sand at 5:53 (Tim Vick & Erin Plone), sending Gold to the break with mixed emotions. Giummo finally broke through at 5:19 in the second (Jeremy Copp), but Captain Vacchio found a late period goal at 0:27 (Luke Wolmer & Vinny Santora) to cut the lead back to one and renew Gold’s hope of a stunning midseason coup. The good news for Gold…nothing further from Giummo for the first 7:13 of the third. The bad news…two goals from there out…his second of the game on the powerplay at 2:47 (Parsa Mostafavi), and a third at 1:42 to complete the hat trick and push Gold into the growing pile of broken teams with a 4-1 loss. Both Captain Meglich (19/20) and John Kushneryk (24/28) were sharp, but that late pair of punches from Giummo made a close game look like a laugher…such is the merciless magic of Thanos. The win has Sand keeping pace at the top of the standings, while the loss moves Gold to a somewhat precarious 2-3-0 going into a Week Six tilt with a desperate Blue side.

That ‘other undefeated team’, Captain Kalen Hunter’s Black, looked to keep their lossless streak intact in the final installment of the ‘Young Canuck Cup’ against Captain Owen Perks’ Blue. If you missed this bit, I basically arbitrarily decided to work a little ‘mini tournament’ into this season, with Captain Kalen (Black), Captain Owen (Blue), and Captain Brennen (White) competing for the highly coveted ‘Young Canuck Cup’. Never mind that there is no such trophy (at least, not yet)…the pride of these three young-ens (see what I did there…all of their names end in EN…do you…do you see) is what this is really about. Black defeated White, and Blue and White tied, so a win or tie would seal this silly pseudo prize for Black, while a win would steal it away for Blue. High stakes…let me tell you! There is also the matter of Blue really needing an upset win to push themselves back into the playoff picture, but…actual importance, schmactual schmimportance. Whatever the inspiration, Captain Hunter was feeling it early, putting Black on the board at 9:12 in the first (Kerri Sevenbergen). Mark DeGraffenreid flicked home a loose ball in the crease to make it 2-0 Black at 6:12 (Pat Gladstone & Josh Tran), and the first period momentum for Black quickly became a nightmare for Blue in the second. DeGraffenreid’s second of the game at 7:47, a slapper from the circle after Kevin Hunter’s shot from the other side of the rink rang off the crossbar, was followed quickly by Captain Hunter’s second of the game at 7:06 (John Kushneryk), then a pair of Kushneryk tallies at 3:25 (Josh Tran & Mark DeGraffenreid), and 0:14 (Gladstone & Austin Szymanski). When the smoke cleared, Black moved into the second break with a 6-0 lead, and with Kelly in nets, this game was effectively already over. Undaunted (and with nothing left to lose), Blue stormed out of the gate in the third, with Captain Perks finally producing a pushback for his team at 9:46 (Dan Jurgens & Chris Koziol). The helper was Koziol’s first career SDFHL point…CONGRATULATIONS, CHRIS! Perks & Company kept the gas pedal floored for another two or three minutes, but the game ultimately settled back into a scoreless rhythm, and Kelly (23/24) and his mates would cruise to a 6-1 win. Mason Holcomb (13/19) shouldered the loss for Blue, who, after the Red and White heroics earlier in the afternoon, remain the only team in the league without a win going into the final stretch. While they may be down, and may have lost the ‘ultimate prize’ in the Young Canuck Cup, there is still very much a path to safety for Blue. That path starts with a very important match with Captain Vacchio’s Gold this Sunday, where that elusive first win could also be their card key to exit the cellar…