The regular season match between Captain Ryan Karns’ Purple and Captain Mark Nagy’s Orange was…weird. Purple was without Papa Cerasuolo and his rising superstar son, Darin, while Orange was without Eric Willard and their own father son duo of Kevin Hunter and (already-risen superstar) son, Kalen. The game was VERY close, owing in huge part to another huge effort from Orange netminder, Nick Meglich. Meglich stopped 30/31 Purple shots, setting up Parsa Mostafavi to steal the deal with a go-ahead goal with 0:06 to play, then an empty-net icer with 0:01 to go. Needless to say, Purple needed no further motivation than a 3-1 loss in which they outshot their opponent 31-11 to continue their underdog railroad to the Final, and with nearly everyone present and accounted for on both sides for the big rematch (Orange with perfect attendance, and Purple without Brendan Jew, and with Wendy Enright subbing for Leah Gonzales), the stage was set for a rousing second round set-to. Darin Cerasuolo made his presence felt almost immediately, cashing in at 8:40 in the first (Jason Lee & Captain Karns), then closing out the first frame with a second at 1:04 (Pat Gladstone & Karns). It was more offense from the regular season match absentees, as Eric Willard logged Orange’s first response at 7:05 (Kalen Hunter & Jenna Chercoe), DC completed his hat trick and restored Purple’s two goal edge at 2:24 (Lee & Geoff Downes), and Kalen Hunter cut the lead back to one at 1:31 (Willard). Chercoe continued her run of hot play, drawing Orange level at 8:19 in the third (Willard & Kalen Hunter) and Weston Nawrocki gave Orange their first lead at 2:33 (Kevin Hunter) before Carl Vankoughnett played messiah for Purple with the equalizer on the powerplay at 0:22 (Downes & Karns). A scoreless OT period bled past, and for once (perhaps the first time all season…I’d have to check…but I’m lazy) Meglich actually faced fewer shots (20) than his counterpart (Chuck Bender faced 30). So, for the second straight game in the Fall 2025 playoff run…shootout. Young DC…no goal. Kalen…goal. Downes, Willard, Vankoughnett, Nagy, Lee…all turned away, then Mark Daquipa…converts to ice it, 5-4 Orange over Purple in shootout. Wendy Enright and Jenna Chercoe were relieved of shooting duties, and Orange was (once again) relieved to have slipped past a plucky and persistent Purple. Chuck Bender (26/30 – 2/4) shouldered the loss, while Nick Meglich (16/20 – 4/4) was (for once) provided with some offensive support in the hard fought win. Purple must regroup and get right (or go out) against Gold this Sunday, while Orange have one more hurdle to…well…hurdle, Captain Boddy’s Blue, with hopes of staking their space in the Final.

The Week Two focus shifted to the Losers’ Bracket for an elimination match between Captain Hima Joshi’s Gold and Captain Bao Nguyen’s Green. Joshi & Company were pleased to have the company of Owen Perks and Vance Morra this time around, both of whom were out of the line up in Green’s 4-2 win in the regular season meeting, and with Chris Fiore and Evan Melcher back on the blueline after a shootout loss to Blue the Sunday prior, Gold’s hopes of a big ‘best served cold’ revenge win were hot and ready. Captain Bao was out once again, and it would be up to (all of) the rest of his mates to ensure that Green would not bow out in one-two fashion. Owen Perks is…really good at hockey, and he opened the scoring in this one in solo style at 6:15 in the first. Mark DeGraffenreid slapped home a second Gold goal at 7:16 in the second (Shelby Shattuck & Greg Francisco), and Gold would carry a 2-0 lead into the final period of play in a close, back and forth match that saw the sides generate nearly matching shot totals (13-12, in Green’s favor, through two). Green ramped up the intensity in the third, but it was Gold getting on the board again next with Perks sniping home his second (DeGraffenreid & Francisco), then Chris Fiore putting the game all but out of reach at 4:05 (DeGraffenreid & Vance Morra). Mason Holcomb (22/23) was superb, and very nearly perfect…were it not for a sublime wrister from William Teglia with 2:11 to go (Jon Zygelman & Janet Goins). John Kushneryk (16/20) wrapped a very solid first season in nets with another strong effort, but Perks & Friends were just too much for Green in the playoff payoff…a 4-1 redemption win for Gold. Captain Nguyen’s gang became the first casualty of the Fall League 2025 playoffs, while Captain Joshi’s side survive to see another Sunday…strangely enough as the higher seed in a battle to the (playoff) death with Captain Karns’ Purple.

Captain Luke Wolmer’s ‘Into Darkness’ was (fittingly) an absolute black hole through their first six regular season games…sucking in one unfortunate opponent after the next, and spaghettifying (<==this is a real word, folks!) each in turn on their way to a 6-0-0 mark. Since that glorious apex in early November, teams managed to put some ‘woe’ in Wolmer, serving back-to-back setbacks to Black before a bounce back win in their regular season wrap kept them safe and sound as the top playoff seed at 7-2-0. That little taste of late season ‘woe’ turned to ‘whoa!’ in Week One of playoff action, with bottom-seeded Purple smacking down the once overwhelming favorites 5-1, and sending them shocked and spiraling down to the Losers’ Bracket. Captain Rob Gaudio’s White was a bit more accustomed to ups and downs, finishing the season at 4-3-2, but found themselves down, and on the verge of out along with their chromatic counterparts after a 6-3 loss to Orange in their opener. So…it would be over for one of these overseeds, and with perfect attendance on both sides (!), there would be no excuses for either side for being excused from the playoffs at this point. A scoreless first saw very balanced shot totals (6-5, in Black’s favor), and while White held a one shot edge (9-8) in the second, it was Black making more of their shots count. Wasif Hussain scored his first career SDFHL playoff goal at 8:03 (TK Mason & Riley Mann)…in fact his first ever career SDFHL goal…CONGRATULATIONS, WASIF! Tim Vick doubled the damage at 7:20 (Trevor Vick & Tom Darlington), before Captain Gaudio slashed the lead back to one at 5:57 (Jackson Tomaszewski & Mark Scelfo). Trevor Vick would restore Black’s two goal edge at 3:34 in the second (Tim Vick & Hussain), then open the third period scoring, and really open up a lead for Black with 8:23 to play (Janice Darlington). Will Heinl (17/18) held strong in nets down the stretch, and a second (game and career) goal from Hussain at 0:28 (Tom Darlington) tied a neat bow on a big bounce back 5-1 win for Black. Jon Cima (15/20) suffered the loss for White, who joined Green (and Red and Lime, of course) on the playoff sidelines. As the twisted irony of the playoff bracket would have it, Black must now grapple with a very tough three-seeded Teal, while the other Losers’ Bracket matchup will feature #7 Gold v #8 Purple. This could be the end of the line for the regular season champs, but if they survive the absolute thresher that is Alex Giummo, this writer at least will restore Black’s ‘favorite to win it all’ status…

That aforementioned ‘thresher’ was ready for another ‘thresh sesh’ (as the kids…in my head say…like, all the time), as Alex Giummo, Captain Copp, and the rest of Teal crew looked to build on their own six game winning streak against Captain John Boddy’s Blue. The happy little coincidences in any given SDFHL season schedule never cease to tickle me, and the fact that Teal’s last loss came against Blue (3-2) back in Week Five of the regular season added an extra splash of zest to what was already a spicy rematch. Giummo was held to just one goal (indeed, just one point!) in that first meeting, which is crazy, considering he has since scored, or assisted on nearly every Teal tally since. Chris Tran and Blue’s blue line would need to repeat that fantastic feat when it ‘really counts’, or Giummo would surely power Teal to a seventh straight, and lead them to the doorstep of destiny in the Winners’ Bracket Final. The first period came and went without a wrinkle in twine, but Shelby Shattuck (filling in for sister, Elyse) finally broke the seal for Blue at 7:10 in the second (Eli Schonbrun). Enter Giummo, who tied it with his 457th (feels like it, anyway) at 3:59 (Arnold Gonzalez), then gave Teal their first lead with his 458th at 0:17 Jeffrey Henderson & Andy Strathman). If you haven’t been keeping up on all of the SDFHL story lines, you might not know that this is Captain Boddy’s final run before he jets off to sunny Portland. Never accuse this man of lacking a flare for the poetic/dramatic…it was Boddy to knot it at 2-2 at 9:09 in the third (Tony Thinh), then Boddy to win it…short-handed…with just twenty-one ticks left in regulation (Sean Kelly)…wow! Schonbrun heaved a sigh of relief jumping out of the sin bin to celebrate the stunning 3-2 win with Chris Tran (22/24) and his mates, who move on to a showdown with Orange with a seat at the Final table on the line. It seems six is the limit on win streaks this season, with Teal’s winning thread snapping on the seventh pull just like Black’s regular season run. Captain Copp, Matt Henderson (14/17) and ‘The Thresher’ will need to regroup and start a new win streak starting this Sunday against a likewise down, but far from out Black.

A rousing 5-3 Week Four win over Brown had Captain William Teglia’s Royal Blue (finally) in the win column, and (presumably) proved that a playoff pulse was present with plenty of points still possible in the pending pentad of play dates. Tough, tight losses to Red (2-1) and Pink (3-2) in the ensuing weeks made the big win over Brown feel much more like a death rattle than a rallying point, and the ‘Salt Scores, Silas Saves’ strategy that seemed so sound from the start was now strained to the point of snapping. Still, a second win in Week Seven over Captain Bao Nguyen’s Green would bring Royal Blue back into the thick of the playoff pack, and leave them with a considerably improved projection and sense of purpose heading into the final two weeks of play. Green came in on a two game slide of their own, having lost 6-3 to Pink in Week Five, then 2-1 to Baby Blue in Week Six…a game that should have been a blowout, and would have been a blowout with anyone but an absolutely possessed Sean Kelly in nets (37/39). So, two teams in increasing need of a course correction, two of the top goal scorers in the league in Brennen Abel (8) and Jon Salt (8), and a goalie matchup for the ages with ‘Da Kid’™ opposite ‘The Silencer’™…GO! You can’t spell ‘Goncalo’ without ‘GO’, and the veteran forward (and Pope stunt double) put Green in front at 1:01 in the first. Brennen Abel doubled Green’s lead with a gut punch goal with just four ticks remaining in the first (Captain Nguyen)…the required (and usually rewarding) second strike against The Silencer™. The rare (and often required) third strike against The Silencer™ came at 2:32 in the second, with Goncalo pumping home another unassisted belt notch to push Green to a 3-0 lead. Gordon Schmidt finally answered for Royal Blue less than two minutes later, but with the shot count at 21-9 in Green’s favor through two, and a keyed up Kelly keeping the crease at the other end, it would take more than a shake of Salt to save Royal Blue from a third straight loss. That shake would come, with Salt cutting the lead to one with 3:42 to play (Tony Thinh & Captain Teglia), but Da Kid™ (17/19) would hold on to outduel The Silencer™ (30/33) in an important 3-2 win for Green, and an equally devastating loss for Royal Blue. The win moves Captain Nguyen’s Green to 3-3-1, and finds them tucked cozily in the middle of the pack and almost (actually, quite likely definitely) in playoff position with remaining games against a resurgent Brown (4-3-0) and a gasping Grey (1-4-2). Captain Teglia & Company will either need to find more ‘secondary scoring’ (Salt accounts for 9/15 team goals, with one of the remaining six goals coming courtesy of super sub, Jenna Chercoe), or hope that the ‘Salt Scores, Silas Saves’ strategy will pay off when it counts with a gnarly 5-2-0 Neon up next, and a down and desperate White waiting in Week Nine.

Said ‘down and desperate’ White was next to take a turn at trying to turn their trajectory, coming into their match against Captain Wendy Enright’s ‘Gilda Redner’ at a woeful and wanting 1-4-1. That’s a tough record through any lens, but White could either choose to take hope or lose heart in just how close each of those four losses were to a productive point (or two) in the standings. Week One…a 2-0 loss to Purple with Jerry Gonzales out of the lineup. Week Two…a 3-2 loss to a potent Pink, with Boddy’s game-winner coming with 3:05 to play. Week Three…a 4-1 loss to Green…obviously overmatched in this one. Week Four…a 2-2 tie with Grey. Week Five…a stunning 3-2 coup over Neon. Week Six…a rollercoaster 4-3 loss to Brown. So, one tie, one narrow win, and three narrow losses, but never ‘enough’ to string together positive results and paste together a playoff push…probably not the best Sunday to face a peaking, Perks-powered Red. Enright & Company came in riding a 2-0-1 streak, having improved their overall record to 3-2-1 after a slow start, and with perfect attendance and eyes on the punched playoff ticket prize, it would take all the heroics Captain Meglich could muster, a few timely strikes, and perhaps a little luck for White to survive against the heavy favorites. Trevor Vick wasted little time putting Red in front, sending his second of the season home at 8:23 (Captain Enright & Tim Vick) just 0:13 prior to being whistled for the rarest of minor penalties…carrying two sticks. It was Andy Strathman whose stick Vick was (innocently and thoughtfully) retrieving back in the first, and Strathman’s stick (now in full control of its owner) doing the damage on the powerplay at 1:18 (Jon Zygelman & Owen Perks) with a shelf snipe from the point to make it 2-0 Red through two. Captain Meglich was almost certainly reminding his team during the second intermission that this game was still very much in reach, and even very much more vital to their season survival. Meglich’s mates, sappy sports movie lovers, and long shot bettors with big money on White could hope for a third period rally, but statistics can be sobering, and with just eleven goals to show for twenty periods of play, the odds of White churning out two to tie or three to top in ten minutes of play were, well…very long. Jon Zygelman made those long odds even longer at 8:20 (Perks & Strathman), and when Payam Sazegar scores his second career goal in 107 career games, you know your coffin is well and truly nailed shut. Sazegar’s goal was a pretty one, for sure, completing a nifty tic-tac-toe combo from Zygelman and Perks at 2:59 to build Red’s lead to four. Trevor Vick would then close the scoring that he opened back in the first, recording his second of the game and third of the season at 1:49 (Papa Vick & Captain Enright) to cap a convincing 5-0 Red win, and leave White lurching into the final two weeks of play in near-literal ‘must win’ mode. As seems to often be the case, Jon Cima (7/7) had a damn-near-relaxing ride to his fourth win of the season, while Captain Meglich (21/26) was very overworked and (obviously) under-supported in a fifth loss the finds White just steps from the playoff scrap heap. This Sunday could very well see White slide still closer to a bitter end, with Captain Rob LaVigne’s 5-2-0 Baby Blue waiting to lay waste to a lame and limping opponent. Amazingly enough, a sixth loss would not eliminate Meglich & Company, with both Royal Blue and Grey still wallowing nearby, and the former on the schedule for the final game of the season…you just have to love the SDFHL schedule gods.

After an inspired (and surprising) 3-0 first win of their season over previously-unbeaten Baby Blue in Week Three, Captain Sean Bathgate’s Brown fell back down with an equally surprising loss to previously-winless Royal Blue in Week Four. Taking solace from the fact that they had already faced the league’s top three teams in Pink, Neon, and Baby Blue, Bathgate & Company looked to mount a midseason rise to playoff safety. Wins over Purple and White had their record even at 3-3-0, and had them poised to put the finishing touches on their playoff security in a Week Seven showdown with Captain Tyler Winstead’s Grey. A lack of scoring punch to the tune of just eight goals in the six games coming in was clearly the primary root of Grey’s 1-3-2 start, with a tie for third worst goals against (18) serving as the yucky yin to that yucky yang (yes, I get that yin and yang are supposed to be diametric opposites…save it). The good news for Winstead & Company was that the team sharing that third worst goals against was warming up across from them as the two sides prepared for the Week Seven middle game. A scoreless first bled into a strange second, with both teams controlling the ball in the offensive zone for minutes at a time. One particular such push for Brown lasted OVER FOUR MINUTES! Somewhere in that feast or famine chaos, a Mark DeGraffenreid (slow and steady) point shot found twine behind Don Tran to finally break the scoring seal and give Brown a 1-0 lead (7:29 from Chris Tran and Josh Wirt). With the shot totals in near lock step, and the zone/possession time tipping back and forth wildly, it was definitely ‘anyone’s game’ going into the third. Erin Plone decided she’d like to be that ‘anyone’, persisting on a rebound series in front at 6:26 (Josh Wirt & John Kushneryk) to cash in her first of the season and lower the collective pulse of her Brown mates. The clock wound ever onward in Brown’s favor, and a Wirt’s league-leading tenth of the season off a steal/breakaway with 0:41 would put the game out of reach for good for Grey. While the rest of the Brown bench was happy to be locked in for the win, Wirt decided to pull the ultimate hockey jinx no-no and state (out loud) ‘let’s get the shutout’…Jordan Pynn from Captain Winstead and Josh Tran maybe ten seconds later at 0:07….bruh! Matt Henderson (18/19) was his standard sharp self in the 3-1 Brown win, which (along with other results on the evening) officially locks Bathgate’s Bunch into August play. Don Tran (17/20) shouldered another Grey loss that drops them to 1-4-2, JUST above the cut line with two games to play. Amazingly enough, just one win in their final two games (Week Eight against Purple, then Week Nine against Green) may be enough to book playoff passage for Grey, but even two losses would not necessarily eliminate them! If Grey, Royal Blue, and White all lose this Sunday, and Grey loses and Royal Blue and White tie in Week Nine, we would have three teams at 1-6-2…with only ties between all three teams head to head! That would drop us all the way to the ‘goal differential’ tie breaker, which currently favors Royal Blue (-7), followed by White (-11), then Grey (-12). Of course, that combination of losses and a tie is not super likely but…intriguing, none the less. At 4-3-0, Brown have only improved playoff seeding on their agenda as they face off against Green this Sunday, and Red the following.

The penultimate Week Seven match was one of power on power, with Captain Carl Vankoughnett’s 4-2-0 Neon taking on Captain Rob LaVigne’s 5-1-0 Baby Blue. With Captain LaVigne himself out of the lineup with an undisclosed lower body injury (well, I supposed I just disclosed it), and a surprisingly stat-tacular Bryan Ossa (4 and 2) on the shelf for the remainder of the season, Neon were seen as slight favorites in this one. Ryan Karns’ absence tipped things back Baby Blue’s way a skosh, but the return of Neon’s true superstar, Pat Gladstone, was more than enough to make up the difference. Obviously, neither team had any more in this game beyond bragging rights and playoff posturing, but it is always good to ‘measure’ your team against other strong teams, especially in Neon’s case. Their two losses this season came back-to-back coming into Week Seven — a pair of 3-2 losses to two of the lowest teams in the league. Those two straight Neon losses stood as the only win on the season for both White and Grey, and served as notice to Vankoughnett & Company to respect and be fully prepared for any opponent, regardless of records/expected outcomes. Will Heinl was first to act, completing a series from Kevin Hunter and Gary Peters to give Baby Blue the lead at 4:32 in the first. Young super stud, Darin Cerasuolo, was quick to respond, leveling the ledger just nineteen seconds later (Mary Nagy) with his sixth of the season. Luke Wolmer would restore the Baby Blue lead at 7:51 in the second (Leah Gonzales & Heinl), but the rest of that middle stanza belonged entirely to Neon. Justin ‘The Albatross’™ Hepler tied the score with his fourth of the season (Nagy), Captain Vankoughnett gave Neon their first lead of the game at 4:14, and Jim LaGrossa’s second of the season with 1:32 to play iced a big bounce back 4-2 win for Neon, drawing them level with their fallen rivals atop the standings at 5-2-0. The loss is the first of the season for Chris Tran (16/20), with Baby Blue’s only other loss coming against…Chris Tran and Brown 🙂 Chuck Bender (11/13) and Neon steady themselves with the win, and keep themselves in prime position to capture the top seed going into the final weeks of play. Vankoughnett & Company share first place with Baby Blue, whom they have just beaten (if you have any measure of reading comprehension at all) and Pink, whom they will face in their regular season finale. Baby Blue warp their season against a woeful (but…super desperate) White, then a mid AF (as the kids say) Purple. So, a chance to play spoiler, and a definite chance at that top spot for LaVigne & Company, but they will be rooting for Pink against Neon, having beaten the former and now lost to the latter.

With Parkageddon™ in full swing earlier in the slate thanks to the 500th youth soccer tournament of the year, games were running well behind by the time the ball dropped on the nightcap between Captain Mason Holcomb’s Purple, and Captain John Boddy’s Pink. Pink came in riding high at 5-1-0, but with Captain Boddy out of the lineup, and all of the major weapons and defenses in place for Purple, this game had a decent level of upset potential. Slowing the roll on that storyline considerably was the fact that Holcomb & Company came into Week Seven play as THE coldest team in the league. Three consecutive losses (2-1 to Neon, 4-1 to Brown, and 3-2 to Red) had shifted Purple from 2-1-0 to 2-4-0, and a fourth straight L would keep them in cut line peril with just four points going into the final two weeks of play. Chris Malki put the redemption plan in motion with his second of the season at 2:10 in the first (Shawna Hamon) and a scoreless second meant that his goal would remain alone and lonely into a winner take all third. Pink can typically rely on plenty of ‘secondary scoring’, with Jackson Tomaszewski (5 and 8) and Geoff Downes (5 and 3) as the likeliest sources, but those sources could not find a way to produce in their captain’s absence, and Purple capitalized with some ‘secondary scoring’ of their own in the third. Zach Siemer’s third of the season finally gave Purple some breathing room with 8:00 to play (Chris Malki), and Shawna Hamon snatched POTW honors with her first of the season at 3:10 (Steve Linke and Joe Malki), then her second of the game/season into an empty net at 1:00 (Chris Malki). Hamon’s 2 and 1 turn, combined with Captain Holcomb’s 16/16 sparkler meant a huge 4-0 upset win for Purple, moving them to six points and relative playoff safety going into late July. The loss was just Pink’s second of the season, and the first on the season for Will Heinl (17/20). As with Chris Tran, his team’s only prior loss came at the hands of his ‘other team’ (although, Will was not in the lineup for either team in that Week Four matchup). Holcomb & Company will hope to avoid the same upset fate that they dished out to Pink when they meet with Grey this Sunday. A win would put them in, while a loss would leave them in a dangerous position, especially given that Baby Blue await them on July 27th. The loss is of little real concern for Pink, especially with the asterisk provided by the absence of their super star captain. A missed opportunity to regain sole possession of first place, and slightly dampened hopes to end up on the top of the pile come month’s end are about the extent of the damage to what is still a clear Cup contender.

Folks…I am out on vacation through the end of the month. Carl has graciously volunteered to handle all of my web site and Thursday Night Hockey duties. Please contact him with any questions/complaints/kudos…I will see you all in August!

Perfection is a persnickety little princess, and pursuers of said princess leave themselves prone to the pangs of pushback at some point in that pursuit. It was at this late juncture in the season that Captain Copp’s Orange met Captain Captain Goins’ Red, with the former hoping to perpetuate their push to pre-playoff perfection, and the latter merely pursuing points in an effort to stay playoff proof going into the final weeks of play. While Red had brightened their playoff outlook significantly with a two game winning streak coming into Week Nine, a loss to the lossless Orange would drop them into a precarious pack of teams fighting to remain above the cutline, while a win would not only serve as a major ‘statement’, but also all but guarantee passage into April play. Aaron Cooney put the favorites in their favorite position with his tenth tally of the season at 5:48 (Matthew DeBerry), and an 8-3 shot count in Orange’s favor seemed to indicate that this would be just another piece of the perfection puzzle. The same duo made it two-oh at 5:33 in the second, with DeBerry doing to scoring honors, and Cooney lending the helping hand. Josh Tran finally answered for Red, then assisted on a second response from Jackson Tomaszewski that brought the two teams level…for roughly three minutes, before Silas Perks restored Orange’s edge at 1:44 (Cooney) and pushed Orange’s perfection preservation plot just one period from panning out. This recap has been brought to you by the letter P, and Josh Tran’s play positioned him prominently as the ‘P’ in ‘POTW’. Tran’s second of the game at 4:37 in the final frame (Tomaszewski & Palomo Schmidt) drew Red level for a second…and final time, as Jon Cima (18/21) and Red would hold on to FINALLY wrest a point away from Orange, 3-3. All good things must come to an end, and even great things like Orange’s dazzling dominance can slide a step back to ‘just plain good’. Obviously, Orange won’t be missing the point (*rim shot*), as the course of their incredible season has been charted since the early weeks…be the last team standing. For Red, the draw not only provides some additional playoff security, but also provides a patch of pride…the only team so far this season to NOT LOSE to the clear Cup favorites.

That ‘persnickety princess’ named Perfection was hot and heavy with Captain Rob Gaudio’s Blue through the first three weeks of the Wing League 2025 season. The two were seen necking (as the kids say) openly at clubs, and rumors of Blue making that princess a wedded and bedded queen began to circulate through the SDFHL rumor mills. Alas, the princess persnicked…and persnicked…and persnicked, turning a hot and heavy 3-0-0 start to Blue’s ribald romance with rash royalty into a tepid and timid 3-3-0. With perfection well out of the question, Captain Guadio’s gang turned their eyes to the MUCH more approachable Princess Playoff Passable. With the ‘ugly lights’ on, time was beginning to run out for a Blue rebound, and…*GASP*…Captain Zach Siemer’s White was already chatting up PPP, slurring something about ‘coming back to our place to check out our collection of shutouts’ between spilly sips of sangria. Tom Darlington (of all people…seriously) led the rizz-capade with his first (shocker) goal of the season at 8:01 in the first, with Scott Wieland and Steve Linke serving as wingman and wing(old)man. A scoreless second saw Blue REALLY pouring on the charm (10-2 shots in their favor in the period) to absolutely no avail, with ‘The Silencer’™ smoothly taking shot after shot on a stool nearby, making a mockery of their every attempt at making a move on the suddenly-popular princess. Leave it to Scott Wieland to take the sloppy leftovers of any social scene…he would ‘score’ on an empty net to seal the 2-0 win for White, and deliver another staggering slap to Blue’s once peachy playoff prospects. The White shutout win, Silas Perks’ second of the season (23/23) locks Captain Siemer’s side into the playoff picture, but…the result is also the FOURTH straight loss for Don Tran (8/9) and a hard luck Blue. They will now NEED to win, or at least produce a point or two in their remaining two games, or it will be bitter bachelorhood and Blue balls come April. To add drink-in-the-face to this most recent slap…Princess Playoff Passable (who, it turns out, isn’t even a real princess) will be swooning over Orange this Sunday, while Blue vies desperately for her attention…sad.

It’s as though Captain Shawna Hamon’s ‘Turds Of A Feather’ literally wrestled the figurative ‘Win Baton’™ from Captain Gaudio’s Blue in Week Five. Brown entered that match at 0-3-0, desperate to find a way to win and keep hopes of playoff play alive, while Blue stood at 3-0-0, not even especially concerned about losing superstar Kyle Snyder, what with six points in hand, and plenty of time to rack up more. That figurative baton certainly changed hands that day, with Brown blanking Blue 3-0, and the coming weeks produced two more wins for the former, and two more losses for the latter. Brown watched and waited to warmup as Blue continued their Titanic trajectory with a fourth straight loss, and Captain Hamon & Company hoped that these two eerily intertwined trends would hold true, billowing Browns win streak to four, and all but assuring them of a playoff berth after what appeared to be an out-of-the-gate death. Captain Joel Gattey’s Lime was only partially present, with Gattey himself on the shelf with a calf injury, and, oh yeah…Jordan Pynn (who, I learned has been playing on a broken foot for some time), Chris Malki, Sean Bathgate, and Leah Gonzales all unaccounted for, So, two teams who seem ‘even on paper’ and who share six point mid-pack parking spaces in the standings, but one team missing a lot of potent pieces and a relying on relief from a mere two subs…distinct edge to Brown. A scoreless first saw both teams come out gunning, racking up ten shots a piece to no avail, and while Brown held a 6-4 edge in shots in the second, it was Lime’s Vance Morra who would be first to break through. Morra’s fourth of the season at 5:27 (Joe Malki) had the undermanned underdogs on top through two. Brown’s press produced a 7-1 shot count in their favor, but as the clock wound toward full time, it looked like Matt Henderson might steal a big win for Lime. Kalen Hunter was not particularly a fan of that ending to the story, so he wrote his own with a game-tying tally with 1:42 to play…a gorgeous tic tac toe rush from Andy Strathman to Jim LaGrossa to Hunter to knot things at 1-1…where they would stay. Henderson (22/23) was spectacular in the point-saving effort, while Sean Kelly (14/15) kept his team undefeated since February 2nd with another trademark terrific turn. The point a piece gives each team seven, now just hovering on the high end of the middle pack, primed to punch playoff passage with two games to go.

Captain Bryan Ossa and his cover team, ‘FlamingOssas’, were on the same sinking ship as Captain Gaudio’s Blue coming into Week Nine. After flashing out to a 2-1-0 season start, Pink’s plumage paled along with their once sound playoff position, dropping three straight, including a 7-1 beatdown loss to White, and a dagger of a 5-2 L to a barely breathing Black. If ever there were a do or die test for a struggling Wing League 2025 team, it would be a meeting with a down and desperate Green, already very much in must-win-and-get-help mode coming in at 0-6-0. A loss to Green would be disastrous at best for Pink…a fourth straight loss, yet another loss to a fellow standings basement dweller, and…I mean…the ONLY win for a team that has struggled all season, and whose captain was serving the second game of a two game suspension. Green had every reason to write off the season, make excuses to miss this game, or show up and put forth a half-hearted effort, but that was not at all the case. With Captain Razoky, Eli Schonbrun, and ‘The Browns’™ all out of the lineup, the rest of Green’s roster arrived dialed in and determined to play playoff spoiler for Pink, and keep their own sliver of second season hope alive in the process. The first period passed with no scoring, with Pink holding the edge in shots (9-6) and overall play, but when Green flipped the shot script (9-5 in their favor) in an equally scoreless second, Pink’s FOMP™ (fear of missing playoffs) hit new heights. Sadie Hellstrom finally broke the scoring seal and the palpable tension in Pink’s ranks, tucking home her first (!) of the season on a funky bounce in front (Bryan Ossa) at 7:29. The winless/captain-less underdogs kept the pressure on, with super sub Nick Meglich preserving Pink’s edge in spite of a number of glorious Green chances, but a furious Ossa forecheck and a feathery centering pass led to a second Pink goal (Mark DeGraffenreid), and the collective Pink exhale could have pushed a sailboat across the Pacific. Hellstrom’s second of the game/season at 1:36 was even funkier than the first (Will Heinl & Mostafa Azab), but they all count the same, and the 3-0 score would count for a slump-snapping, possibly-season-saving win for Pink. Meglich (23/23) was otherworldly in the fill-in foray, and with Pink having lost newcomer netminder Michael Haine for the season, they will need to rely on superb sub play from here out if they are to see their way into April (and beyond). The loss was the final nail in Green’s coffin, making them the first team to be officially eliminated at 0-7-0. Pink has ‘The Blues’ remaining on their regular season slate, starting with Captain Ryan Karns’ Flint Blue this Sunday. A single point, coupled with a Black loss would be enough to push Pink into the playoffs, but a loss, let alone a loss and a Black (and/or Blue) win will put them in a very bad place going into the final week of play.

Such a smooth transition from mentions of Flint Blue and Black…the two faced off in the nightcap, with Captain Karns’ crew looking to punctuate their already-booked playoff passage and stay within striking distance of top-seeded Orange, and Captain Joshi’s Black looking to chain together two wins, stay in the thick of the six point pack, and keep the pressure on Pink, Blue, and the rest of the potential cut line casualties. Proud papa, Jon Salt, was back in the lineup for Black, and with Luke Wolmer away for Flint Blue, the door to a much needed win was ajar for Joshi’s 2-4-0 team. Mark Nagy slammed that door in Black’s collective face just FIVE seconds into play, converting a Dan Jurgens feed into an instant 1-0 lead for Flint Blue. Black would settle in, and Papa (Jon) Salt would have equalize in his newborn’s honor at 8:58 in the second (Rob LaVigne & Wendy Enright), leaving the teams tied going into the all important third. We may want to check Nick Meglich for PED’s, because the man is absolutely shutting down offenses of late. He would earn his second first star honors in as many games in Week Nine, keeping Black off the board in the third and finishing with an 18/19 line (or 41/42 on the night, if you’re scoring at home). John Boddy wasn’t scoring from home, but he was scoring, notching his ninth of the season with 3:50 to play (Jurgens and Pat Gladstone) to lead Flint Blue past Black, 2-1. The win keeps Karns & Company in the hunt for the second season catbird seat, now just two points back of Orange…though Orange does hold the head to head tie breaker, as they do over all but one team to date. The loss leaves Black in a rather bleak position, with four points, and only winless Green below them in the standings. Should they fail to earn at least a point against Lime this Sunday, their playoff hopes could be crushed before they play their final game (if both Pink and Blue manage a tie or better against the top two teams…not likely, but not impossible). A win and some help this Sunday will keep Black alive and kicking into the last week of play, where (as fate would have it) they would face the nothing-to-play-for Green on the heels of a Pink v Blue match that should produce an opportunity to leapfrog their way into one of the final spots in the playoff picture.