Battle At The Bottom

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…