Teams are beginning to feel each other out, and some are clearly getting very comfortable working up a sweat together on the floor.  Some are still a bit clumsy and awkward with one another, and have come up shy where others have had little trouble scoring.  The season is still young, and even the teams with the least game to this point could still find the right moves and get some action…

Red kept their darker-shaded counterparts at zero points in the standings, edging Burgundy, 4-3.  Param Gill recorded the rare in-vain-hat trick, scoring all three Burgundy goals in the loss.  Mark Daquipa earned first star honors from the blueline for Red, scoring twice, and assisting on Gary Peters’ game-winner in the third.  Mostafa Azab rounded out the scoring for Red, and Marc Devoe recorded his first W of the season with a 15/18 line.

Another battle of color wheel neighbors saw Navy and Blue battle to a 2-2 draw.  Blue was just fourteen seconds from starting the season 2-0-0, but Andy Strathman played hero, evening the score, and giving Navy its first point in the standings.  Strathman’s 1 and 1 evening matched that of teammate, Chris Malki, while Chris Tran assisted on both Blue goals (Derek Lobo and Kris Tosczak).  Both goalies were solid, with Matt Henderson bouncing back from a rough week one (14/16), and Cory Brin hanging tough in the near win (19/21).

Captain Joe Nguyen’s Green appears to be a scoring machine, racking up five goals in each of their first two games.  Tim Helmbrecht earned POTW honors by factoring in four of those five goals in Week Two (2 and 2), and rookie, Philip Burke, slathered on three assists in the 5-3 win over Gold.  Gold certainly threw everything they had at fill-in netminder, Fred Fournier, forcing the Frenchie to stop 39/42 to preserve the win.  Katherine Dicker scored her first career goal for Gold with just 0:07 to play, and Nick Adkins kept pace in the goal scoring race with two twine ticklers in Week Two.

Purple evened their record at 1-1-0, and kept Pink winless with a 2-1 result .  Wendy Enright opened the scoring for Purple late in the first, and Jim LaGrossa closed it late in the third, spoiling a solid effort from Elliot Hicks (18/20).  Patrick Fusco scored his first of the year for Pink, but it would be all that Chuck Bender would allow on the evening (9/10).  Staying out of the box (four penalties in two games), and generating more scoring (two goals in two games) have to be high on Pink’s to-do list as they look toward a Week Three showdown with Orange.

Speaking of Orange, they were blitzed, beleaguered, and beaten by Black, 3-1.   Jon Salt scored just thirteen seconds into play, and Kamal Gill  scored the game-winner with just ten ticks left in that same period.  Salt outdid himself with a goal at 9:53 in the third, and Orange never found much time and space to retaliate.  Rookie, Mike Muniz, snapped the lone goal home for Orange minutes after Salt’s second, but Steve Testen (17/18) remained resolute in out-dueling Alex Theis (20/23) on this night.

Our ten virgin captains took their respective dates out for an evening of ritualized courting this past Sunday.  These first encounters can often be a bit clumsy and awkward, and things clearly have not quite meshed yet for some of our couples.  Some seemed to be really hitting it off well, while others may need some hot tips, or a very good wing man (or wing woman) to step up.  The ultimate goal here is to score…whether you are just getting lucky, or you have great game.  It’s date night again this Sunday…pucker up, and make sure you’re wearing clean underwear.

Mark Ennsmann and Andrew Jacobsen each netted a pair of goals, and Mohan Krishnamoorthy scored the game-winner in the first as  Gold cruised past Burgundy, 5-0.  Captain Zach Siemer’s crew racked up sixteen shots in the third period alone, keeping Andrew Lockard very busy (26/31), while Don Tran needed just ten saves to record a shutout in his fill-in stint for rookie, Tiffany Fox.

Summer teammates turned to Fall foes, as Dan Jurgens and Jon Salt exchanged goals for opposing teams within a seven second span in the first period.  That would be all the scorekeeper wrote.  The 1-1 Black v Pink tie was the lowest scoring game on opening night, a game that featured the fewest total shots, as well.  This was either a great early season match-up between two defensive juggernauts, or a yawner between to offensively-challenged squads destined to be cut line neighbors come November.  Time will tell…

Captain Joe Nguyen lead off the scoring, and lead his team by example, sparking a 5-2 Green romp over Purple.   The scoring certainly appears to be balanced for Green, with four different players scoring the remainder of the goals in the opener (Tim Helmbrecht, Nick Adkins, Stephanie Palomo Schmidt, and Steve Goncalo).  Don Tran collected the win (for his own team, this time), stopping 19/21, while Chuck Bender had a rough go against a potent attack, taking the loss with a 12/17 line.

The Mark-Mark-Mara line got off to a good start on Sunday, accounting for three of the four goals in Orange’s 4-0 win over Navy.  Mara recorded an assist on the first of two goals for Captain Mark Boulanger, while Mark DeGraffenreid scored the first goal of the game, and assisted on Boulanger’s second.  Carl Vankoughnett became the first rookie to find twine this season, adding an insurance goal from long range in the third.  Fred Fournier did Alex Theis proud in a sub role, stopping all eighteen he faced to keep Orange relaxed, and on the attack in the win.

The game of the night was the nightcap between Blue and Red…no question.  The teams battled back and forth, and entered the third period knotted at three apiece.  The seesaw continued, but Chris Tran broke a 4-4 tie on the power play late in the third to give Blue the 5-4 win.  This game really could have gone either way…not unlike Steve Linke (you didn’t hear that from me).  Steve Jones recorded just one assist in his much-anticipated return to league action, while young gun speedster, London Peters, dashed and thrashed his way to a 2 and 1 effort for Red.  Kris Tosczak picked up where he left off last season, matching Peters with 2 and 1 of his own, and Derek Lobo racked up three assists from the blueline for the victors.

Captain Joe Malki’s Navy cruised into Sunday evening with plenty of weaponry, and plenty of sailor swagger. Unfortunately, they would manage just one goal against Purple. Fortunately, one goal was enough! Unfortunately, they managed zero goals against White. Fortunately, zero goals was enough! ONE goal scored in regulation in their first game, and NONE through regulation and overtime in their second game, and yet they are on to the final against Brown this Sunday. At the risk of sliding into eye-roll-worthy poetic/philosophical blather, it goes to show the power of one. Unfortunately for White, the power of that one seed was not enough to carry them through…

Ashley Herfindahl scored the one and only (non-shootout) goal of the entire night, and super sub Chris Tran (10/10) outdueled long lost cousin, and fellow super sub, Don Tran (9/10) to seal the 1-0 win for Navy over Purple. Donald Chow and Captain Joe Malki assisted on the game-winner, which came at 8:27 in the third period. It was a rollercoaster season for Captain Jon Salt’s Purple Cobras, who went winless in their first four, before a name change and front office shakeup. Navy did not have much time to relish the narrow victory before taking on top-seeded White…

You know by now that nothing of consequence happened through three periods and overtime in the Loser’s Bracket final. What you may not know is that Cory Brin was standing on his head to hold a determined Navy at bay. Brin stopped 29/29, while Chris Tran had a much less taxing night at the other end (8/8). Still, Brin had given his team a chance to prevail in the shootout, as they had done against Green in their playoff opener. That chance went to waste, as a trio of Navy shooters (Chris Malki, Mark Nagy, and Captain Joe Malki) converted their chances, answered only by White’s captain, Jim LaGrossa. The 3-1 shootout decision meant a ticket to the final for the upstart number three seed. They will need to defeat Brown in back-to-back games this Sunday to comlete their surge and capture the Cup. The teams have met just once, with Navy handing Brown their worst loss to date, 3-1…*cue intrigue music*….

The top two seeds have risen to a rematch, and the bottom two seeds are now out, as the playoffs stick and move into Week Three…

The second Sunday of playoff action kicked off with a loser-goes-home OT thriller. Captain Joe Malki was thrilled that >Navy sent Gold home losers in a 2-1 extra time affair. Even sweeter, it was Joe who assisted on his dad’s game-winner, Chris’ second of the game. Alexis DaCosta had leveled the match in the second period, but that would be the thin silver lining for Gold, who became the first team on the playoff scrap pile with the loss. Navy live to fight on, taking on fifth seeded Green, a team they narrowly nipped 1-0 in Week Nine of the regular season.

Vance Morra put Red on the board first in the first, with a strange, sneaky goal along the near post. The first period ended with the score knotted at 1-1, thanks to POTW Shawna Hamon’s first of the night. Hamon’s second of the night game in the third, and put the game officially out of reach, with Captain Mark DeGraffenreid having potted a pair in the middle frame on the way to another big win for Brown, 4-1. Alex Theis stopped 22/23, and Andy Strathman collected two assists in a typically stellar Strathman two way effort. Brown move on to the Winner’s Bracket finals, with a chance at regular season redemption and a ticket to the finals against White. Red will need to work their way through the Loser’s Bracket, starting with Purple this Sunday.

White has not exactly swaggered through the playoffs like the top seeded bosses they are. After sweating out an OT win over eighth seeded Yellow, they got even sweatier with a 2-1 shootout win over Green. Nick Adkins had White in the lead after one, but Captain Mara Bernd stayed hot to tie it, running her goal scoring streak to three games. Both goalies refused to budge, otherwise (Cory Brin 13/14 & Andrew Lockard 16/17), and OT passed with no winner determined. Michael Bottomley and Zach Siemer converted in the third and fourth rounds of the shootout, and Brin turned aside all four Green shooters to preserve the win, and propel White to the Winner’s Bracket finals. Green will look to regroup and rebound after a tough loss, taking on Navy in the opening game of playoff Week Three.

Sean Kelly and Captain Jon Salt made sure there was no Yellow drama in the late game, dispatching the bottom seeds, 3-0. Kelly struck for two in the second, and assisted on Salt’s insurance marker in the third, while super sub, Andrew Lockard, stopped all fifteen shots he faced. Yellow join color cousins, Gold, on the golf course, while Purple move on to face Red, whom they tied 1-1 in their regular season meeting.

Captain Ryan Belbin and his largely Canadian contingent handed Malkhale’s Navy their first defeat since Week One…which happens to be the last time these two teams met. Match-ups are funny that way…some teams just have another team’s number. The top two numbers in the seeding took care of their lower ranked opponents, but Green added an under-card upset as well, besting fourth-ranked Purple.

Panic set in in the lead up to the opening game of the playoffs, as Green’s goalie was nowhere to be seen. A quick call to Andrew Lockard confirmed the worst…he was probably thirty minutes from the rink, expecting a 6:30pm start. With no time to waste in a tight slate, Mark DeGraffenreid donned the hodge podge, incomplete mix of orphan goalie gear from the bin, and trotted in behind Green’s starting five. The result was predictably not great (the former Rec Gym goalie managed to stop just four of the six shots he faced), but Green had rallied from an early 0-2 hole to even things by the time the real talent arrived. Shelby Shattuck and Matt Drake had taken full advantage of the stand-in, but Tony Thinh and Jeff Chen had responded, and Green held a considerable edge in the shot column through two periods. Captain Mara Bernd capped the comeback, tucking the game-winner past Shane Sullivan with 2:57 to play. The unlikely 3-2 win for Green has Purple Captain Jon Salt thankful that he didn’t push any harder for a single elimination format. Green move on to face top-seeded White, while Purple look to lick their wounds against the other end of the seeding spectrum in Yellow.