Captain Carl Vankoughnett’s ‘Yellooow, Newman’ were the Week One victims of our clobbersaurus cover team, falling 8-5 in what was clearly a tight, defensive struggle. The brightly-clad clan looked to flip the script in Week Two, and maybe hold their opponent to less than an octo-spot. The good news for Yellow…they did manage just that. The bad news…they did manage JUST that. This game was wildly entertaining, and precisely-patterned through most of the first two periods of play. Joe Malki opened the scoring for White (from Mostafa Azab)…Jim LaGrossa responded for Yellow (from Elyse Shattuck and Marc Lapointe). Jordan Pynn for White (from Chris and Joe Malki)…Brennan Abel for Yellow. Papa Malki starts the second period scoring (Lil’ Malki and Emily Bennington)…Scott Wieland brings things back level (LaGrossa and Vankoughnett). Chris Malki again on the power play (Malki and Azab)…Captain Carl with the answer (Brennan and LaGrossa). It was here that the pattern petered out, with White opening a three goal edge with a trio of late second period strikes…Will Heinl at 1:26, Joe Malki at 0:36, and Chris Malki at 0:04 (from Pynn). Then, just as steady as the two period scoring spate had had been, the nets ran dry in the third, leaving White on the winning end of a 7-4 final. So…less than eight goals allowed, but barely, and now FIFTEEN goals allowed in two tries for Yellow and Jon Cima (15/22), who’s first foray into the league has been a falter, thus far. Nick Meglich (24/28) was busier and better at the other end, helping to even his team’s record after their own inauspicious debut (an 8-0 loss to Red). Joe Malki captured POTW honors with a 2 and 3 sparkler, and combined with his dear old dad for 5 and 4 in the impressive bounce back win.
Big numbers and blowouts are already proving commonplace this season, but the Orange v Teal matchup brought us back to a simpler time when Linke was under 60, and the SDFHL draft produced profound parity. Orange was a part of the only such close contest in Week One (a 2-2 tie with Blue), and they continued their trend of tight tilts in Week Two. John Boddy picked up where he left off in a POTW Week One effort (a 5-1 win over Black), putting the first mark on the score sheet with his fourth of the season at 3:11 in the first. David Schlatter followed with his first of the season (he missed Week One with an injury), and Teal carried a 2-0 lead out of the first on the strength of two solo efforts from their super stars. We’ve established that Orange likes a close game, and Hima Joshi cut the lead to one with (by all accounts) a sweet second period slicer past Sean Kelly (from Mike Chiaco and Captain Josh Tran). Joshi is good for about a goal a season, and this one not only looked pretty, but looked to be perfectly timed to prime an Orange comeback charge. Nope…that would be the only offensive juice for ‘Pulp Can Move, Baby!’, as Kelly (21/22) and company shut the door and sealed the 2-1 win to remain perfect at 2-0-0. Jimm Reifnsyder (19/21) remains quite impressive in his big return to league play, ranking just behind big boys Perks and Kelly amongst goalies through two weeks of play.
The proceedings remained plump with parity in the middle match, as two 1-0-0 teams looked to start the season off with a pluses in the win column. Red was hot off an 8-0 thrashing of White, while Grey was pumped after a 5-2 punking of Purple. The hot hands cooled significantly in this one, with even the shot totals meager for both sides. Still, it’s not always about quantity, but quality, and both Matt Henderson (6/7) and Silas Perks (13/14) made the saves they needed to make to keep either side from prevailing in what was ultimately a 1-1 stalemate. Kevin Dinino put Red on the board early in the first (from Mark Ennsmann), and Rob LaVigne struck back for Grey late in the frame (from Bao Nguyen). That’s all she wrote…two goals for two teams who combined for thirteen in their opener. If you’re looking for the obvious explanation for the offensive offset, it’s worth noting that Jon Salt (5 and 3 in Week One) was out for Red, while Kalen Hunter (2 an 0 in Week One) was out for Grey. That’s the typical summer story…absences make the wins grow founder. Sometimes, managing a tie (or better) with your stars on the shelf is what separates contenders from pretenders…
Leave it to our Week Two cover team to bring back the bludgeoning. Olive can now boast back-to-back monster mashes after serving the other nine teams in the league with a second helping of shock and awe. There is actually too much scoring in this one to recap in a traditional manner, so…Kyle Snyder with one goal in each period and a helper on Chris Tullio’s second of the night…Tullio with a hat trick of his own with two in the first and one in the second…Alexis DaCosta with the game-winner and a powerplay insurance marker in the first to go with two assists…Nick Vacchio with one and one…Craig Russell with three apples…and both Wendy Enright and Captain Tyler Winstead making the sheet with a helper apiece. That was just the Olive scoring…nine goals scored, on the heals of scoring eight in their opener…gross. Purple had very little punch back, but did manage to solve Don Tran (8/10) early in the second (Captain Sev Brown from Erin Plone and Trice Harvey), and very late in the third (Mark Scelfo from Harvey). Tran collected his second win of the season in the 9-2 romp, and it would be hard not to, with the ostentatious offensive output in front of him. Syd Costello (14/23) continued her early SDFHL career struggles, now straddled with a 7.00 GAA through her first two games. While it’s extremely unlikely that Olive can maintain this torrid scoring pace, all eyes will be on their Week Three meeting with White (who are hoping Meglich eats an extra helping of Wheaties Sunday morning). Purple’s poor start has them sharing a basement bed with Yellow at 0-2-0. They will need to squeeze past Orange this week, or find themselves in a hole that is too deep for comfort.
The nightcap was whacky, wild, Koolaid style, with a rather sloppy slosh ending in a shocking 4-4 wash. Sadie Hellstrom’s first of the season broke a scoreless standoff at 5:28 in the second (from Mark DeGraffenreid and Dan Jurgens), and DeGraffenreid built the lead to two with a crazy double deflection deposit just thirteen ticks later (Hellstrom and Mark Nagy). Shawna Hamon converted a Rob Gaudio pass into pay dirt to cut the lead in half and set up a tight, tense third. Jurgens’ first of the night had Black breathing easy early in the final frame (DeGraffenreid and Nagy) and his second of the night had Black exhaling after strikes from Tim Hamon (John Gamm) and Rob Gaudio (Tim Hamon) had brought Blue all the way back to even at 3-3. The 4-3 edge looked a lock to hold with the seconds ticking past and Syd Costello out of the net for an extra attacker for her surrogate side. Every second counts, and Janine Ulloa made her chance count (from Gaudio)…batting home a bouncing ball to complete a furious final push from Blue to stave off a loss and produce their second tie in two tries. The lone point is as bitter for Black as it is sweet for Blue, as Captain Ian Crooks’s Crew now find themselves sitting just above the cut line at 0-1-1. Of course, it’s way too early to really consider the cut line crucial, but wasting a win with seconds to play is proven to be playing with fire, no matter when in the season it falls.