Beer Me That Win

Captain Joel Gattey’s White was well entrenched in the ‘desperation’ camp coming into Week Eight. At 1-3-2, they shared the standings basement with Grey and Purple, and while Silas ‘The Silencer’ Perks had kept them in games (and even won them one), their seven goals scored was the lowest in the league. They would either need to have a breakout offensive outburst, or hope for Perks perfection against a high octane Neon side who rolled into Week Eight with nearly thrice the goal total, and at least twice the swagger. Captain Gattey himself was out with injury, but it had to be some relief to him and his mates to see Kaity and Matt Gottfried out of the lineup on the other side for this one. Bryan Ossa drew first blood for White at 5:14 in the first (from Jon Zygelman), and a strangely anemic Neon mustered just two shots in the first ten minutes…not nearly enough volume to expect results against the league’s reigning goalie god. A five shot second period did produce pay dirt, however, as the (ironically) white hot Carl Vankoughnett converted on the powerplay at 7:38 in the second (from David Schlatter and Captain Sean Bathgate) to level the ledger at 1-1. The third period belonged entirely to White, who finally found that aforementioned ‘offensive outburst’ in the form of Ossa’s second of the game, Zygelman padding that lead (from Jeannine Stuzka), and Ryan Loughran icing the 4-1 White win on the powerplay. So…desperate team finds their scoring form, gets the game they have come to expect from their stud netminder (Perks (12/13)), and secures a crucial two points in the standings to move above the cut line for the first time since Week One. The kicker, they hold the tiebreaker over Neon, who now feature an identical record, but find themselves below the cut line as a result of this loss. Both teams turn to the holiday break knowing that another important game looms on the other side. Neon will face off with Brown, and White will joust with Green…a win in these games means leapfrogging to playoff safety (at least temporarily).

Captain Geoff Downes’ Orange strutted into Week Eight at the top of the pile, with just a 1-0 loss to Green in Week Five dulling the shine on their 5-1-2 record. That one loss came in the absence of Janet Goins, Justin Ker (surprise), Mostafa Azab, and…oh yeah, Zach Salt. So…maybe you write off the L, but maybe you also worry about another L when you roll into battle with Brown without Bao Nguyen, Glenn Pinto, Nadia Connolly, and…oh yeah, Zach Salt. At 3-3-0, Captain Rob LaVigne’s Brown was neither dashing nor desperate, but every point counts, and a chance to topple the top dogs (regardless of their attendance) is always a mouth-watering prospect. Brennen Abel had the underdogs out to a strong start with his league leading eleventh of the season at 2:43 in the first (from Harsh Wanigaratne and Janice Darlington), and Vance ‘Refrigeration’ Morra doubled the lead early in the second (from Captain LaVigne). Well, you don’t get handed a free pass to the top of the standings, and Orange showed their stripes in the absence of their brightest star, rallying to a 2-2 tie late in the second. Both goals belonged to Captain Downes…a 2:40 strike from Mostafa Azab and Ryan Karns, and a 0:46 conversion from Ker and Azab. Matt Henderson (28/30) continued his tour de force season, keeping his team alive and kicking from start to finish, and improving his league leading line to .935/1.43/1 SO. Nick Meglich (11/13) was considerably less pressured at the other end, but coming away from a tangle with Orange (Zach Salt, or not) without a loss is impressive, and the single point gives Brown some much needed cut line breathing room. Numbers are hard, but I believe that Orange has already clinched a playoff spot. Brown will likely need just two more points to make certain they are playing into February, and the last leg of their campaign begins with a match with a potent Neon side who will be determined to swap places with Captain LaVigne & Company in the standings.

Our cover team was up next, and while Red came into Week Eight play at 3-2-2, and having moved through their schedule to date with relative calm and ease, the fact that most teams behind them carried a game in hand meant that they would need to stay on the front foot going into the two week holiday break (made three weeks virtue of their January 7th bye). A loss to Captain Kaitlyn Brusso’s 3-3-0 Gold would push them to .500, and have them waiting a full month to redeem themselves and resume their final playoff push. Zach Siemer put the heat on Captain Linke’s crew with his second of the season at 8:08 in the first, but a late pair of goals from (who else) John Boddy flipped the lead in Red’s favor moving into the middle ten. Sadie Hellstrom had the first assist on Boddy’s first tally, and she chipped in one of her own in the second (from Josh Tran and Phil Nguyen) to make it 3-1. Hellstrom was not done yet, building Red’s lead to 4-1 with her second of the game/season (from Captain Linke) at 6:08, and with Gold having mustered just FIVE shots on goal to that point, it began to look very bleak indeed for Captain Brusso’s bunch. Andrew Jacobsen finally produced an answer to Red’s run of four (from Erin Plone and Alan Razoky), but Justin Stege blocked any emergency exists with an empty-netter to seal the deal for Red…5-2 winners over Gold. Boddy’s two tallies have him in a tie for the goal scoring lead at the holiday break with eleven (Abel), and while Red show no shortage of scoring punch, one COULD raise an eyebrow of concern over their goaltending. Jon Cima (4/6 in this win) has fared just fine with the avalanche of goal support that he typically enjoys, and Red does allow BY FAR the fewest shots per game (now 92 in eight games), but his .816 save percentage is the worst in the league, and if teams down the stretch/in the playoffs find a way to put more volume his way, that could be an issue. Still…a win is a win is a win, and Red now have four of them in eight tries, and a total of ten points, which is good enough for a (virtual) tie with Blue for second place at the break. Don Tran (19/23) takes the loss for Gold, who now find themselves at 3-4-0, very much in danger of being dragged below the cut line when play resumes in January.

It has been another painful season for yours truly…having to type up a seemingly endless string of summaries of yet another loss after yet another loss for my team. The high from Purple’s win over basement buddies, Grey, was worn away quickly by the sobering reality that we would likely need at least five points in our final four games to have any hope of playoff redemption. Enter…Black, a team that was once like Purple, but whose two game win streak coming into Week Eight put them in a relatively comfortable perch in the middle of the standings, and at a decided advantage in all ways over their 1-3-2 opponent, not the least of which advantage being the all important confidence. Kyle Snyder put any confidence Captain Mark Nagy & Company did muster/possess to the test with a late first period jab (from Mason LaGrossa and Eric Caligiuri), and an early second period powerplay cross (from Captain Gaudio). Purple would fight back, with Josh Wirt cutting the lead in half at the midway point in the game (from Mark DeGraffenreid), but the penalties starting piling up for Purple, and with that came pressure, and with that came another Black goal. This time is was Jim LaGrossa from Wendy Enright and Kyle Snyder, but even as I type this, I remain skeptical that it was an actual goal. It was counted as one…and counted as the second powerplay conversion for Black in the second period, a wild stretch that saw Purple charged with three penalties, and Black sitting for one. It was more of the same in the third…three more Purple penalties, and two more Black box visits, but Purple managed to shake off the short-handed situations, and a second goal from Wirt (Captain Nagy & DeGraffenreid) early in the final frame made this one tight and tense to the bitter end. Alas, it was just that once again for Purple…a bitter end…another loss…this one a 3-2 head shaker to a surging Black. Don Tran (24/26) secured the win in a sub role, while Sean Kelly (28/31) absorbed the loss in the same capacity at the other end. The three week win streak has Black quite comfortable, though not quite assured of a postseason place at 4-4-0. They will come out of the break to a true test against penthouse pimps, Orange, while Purple will begin their final fateful push to playoff safety beginning with an uber-important grapple with Gold.

Captain Luke Wolmer’s crew put up a fight in Week Seven, with the skipper himself posting a hat trick, but Neon had a scoring bee in their bonnet that day, and not even the likes of Sean Kelly could hold back the offensive flood that left Green soaking in an 8-4 loss. Joe Malki was not in the lineup for Green in that beatdown, but he returned in Week Eight hoping to avenge his team against a down and out Grey side. Captain Kyle Prior’s gang were looking for a bounce back of their own, fresh off a loss to Purple, the lone remaining un-feated team in the SDFHL Winter League pool at the time. In fact, they were in desperate need of at least a tie to stop the bleeding and save them from an extended basement stay. Spoiler alert…it was the Joe Malki side of this story that would have a happy ending in Week Eight. Joe and Papa Chris had the assists on Matt Rogers’ early first period goal, as well as Rogers’ second goal minutes later to make it 2-0 Green. It was the Joe show from there, with two goals for the young Malki to close out the first (the first from Rogers, and the second on the powerplay from Emily Bennington), then a late second period strike to complete the hat trick (from Rogers…who also clearly had a big night). Captain Wolmer capped the scoring even later in the second (from Joe and Chris…again), and a (mercifully, for Grey) quiet third meant that Joe’s Green Dead Redemption would come in the form of a 6-0 win over Grey. The 18/18 clean sheet for Kelly has him back on track, and the win pushes Green to higher ground in the standings at 3-3-1. It has been all downhill for Cory Brin (17/23) and Grey since his show-stopping 24/24 effort in a 2-0 Week Five win over Red in his first game back from a long league hiatus. Now sitting at 2-5-0, Grey will need to find a way to at least two wins in their remaining three games if they are to have any hope of surviving to see the second season. The bad news…their opponents in the new year…an undefeated Blue side, current top dogs, Orange, and another high-powered offense in Neon…ouch!