Apologies for the lack of recaps last week, and the delay this week…I am struggling to keep up with life, of late…

The playoff parade popped off with a meeting in the middle of the pack between #4 Yellow and #5 Grey. Captain Vankoughnett & Company looked to replicate their Week Seven regular season 3-1 winning result, while Captain Zach Siemer’s crew hoped to avenge that loss and ‘win when it counts’. It was all Grey in the first, with Kalen Hunter doing what he always does…finding twine (from Captain Siemer and Bao Nguyen) to give Grey the early edge, then Bao Nguyen doing what he very rarely does and scoring one of his own (from Hunter) to put Grey up two through one. Brennan Abel matched his Young Canuck™ counterpart’s scoring effort with a solo strike in the second, but the hottest player in the league, Tom Darlington (who else), put Grey back up two midway through the third (from Dan Soar and Hunter). Captain Vankoughnett kept his troops focused and fighting to the end, and his goal at 3:11 (Scott Wieland and Jim LaGrossa) kept the heat on Matt Henderson and Grey down to the wire. Henderson (11/13) and his mates would hold on for the 3-2 win to kick off the second season with an upset (albeit, the smallest of upsets). Jon Cima (11/14) was saddled with the loss for Yellow, who now find themselves on the verge of elimination, with their (potential) road to redemption beginning in the early game this Sunday against bottom-seeded Blue. With respect to Mr. Cima, Yellow will benefit from an upgrade in nets in his absence in Week Two, with Nick Meglich stepping in to show down and throw down with veteran stalwart, Chris Tran. Yellow prevailed in the Week Three match with Blue, though Captain Rob Gaudio’s absence adds a bit of an asterisk on that result. There is no rest for the winners, as Grey advance to the treacherous Teal territory in their first Winners Bracket bout. They will need an A+ game from Henderson, some typical scoring punch from Hunter, and perhaps another rare gem goal from the likes of Nguyen and (Tom…the inferior) Darlington if they hope to start glass slipper shopping in earnest.

Maybe it’s just me, but it feels like Kyle Snyder can basically just decide how much damage he wants to do in a given game…the just go out and get what he wants. That’s a scary super power to have, especially come playoff time, and White’s miraculous late push to even make the playoffs was rewarded with a date with the ‘Snyborg’. Joe Malki put White in front first at 7:54, but Chris Tullio responded just fourteen seconds later (from Snyder), and Snyder cashed in on the power play to give the second seed the lead going into the second. Snyder’s second of the game (from Craig Russell) stood as the lone goal of the second, and the word from our on-site reporter (Don Tran) is that Russell blocked a shot on a ‘gaping net’, which led to the play going the other way for the Snyder score…kudos, Mr. Russell! Mostafa Azab provided the lone White response to that third Olive goal early in the third, then it was Snyder again to restore the two goal edge at 5:41 (from Tullio and Greg Francisco), and Snyder one more time into the empty net to complete his predetermined/programmed output of 4 and 1, and lead Olive to a convincing 5-2 win over White to open their playoff run. Don Tran (13/15) continued his run of solid to stellar play in nets in the win, while Sean Kelly (17/21) took solace in the fact that this loss would not count towards his record, nor that of White’s rostered goalie, Nick Meglich. Olive advance to the Winners’ Bracket to face a dangerous Red side, while White look to stave off elimination against Purple in a battle of six and seven.

Math is hard, but the likelihood of an eight seed stunning a one seed is a percentage approaching zero…even in this league, where a (relatively) small regular season sample size and attendance variables can leave pundits puzzling. Still…anything is (technically) possible, and in this case, the probable proved the most possible. Despite the scorekeepers best efforts to marginalize his contributions, John Boddy was the star of the Teal show in this one. His first period goal (from Joel Gattey) would be all that Sean Kelly (18/18) would need to lock in a win for the top dogs. A pair of second period Boddy shots, the first from Gattey and Nadia Connolly, and a solo effort on the hat trick tally, capped the 3-0 winning outing for Captain Ryan Karns’ and crew. Chris Tran (26/29) had his valiant effort wasted, with Blue’s depleted roster (Bryan Ossa, Shawna Hamon, Tim Hamon, and Josh Wirt all out) unable to put anything past a poised and ready Sean Kelly. It’s frightening to think what Teal will do with the likes of David Schlatter back in the lineup this Sunday…this is what keeps their Week Two opponent, Grey, up tossing and turning Saturday night. Captain Rob Gaudio and Blue will need all of their weapons on the court, and a strong effort from all involved if they hope to knock off Yellow and live to see another Sunday in the Losers’ Bracket.

It’s been a while since we had a Salt Bros™ showdown. It seems like each of the last three possible clashes between the league’s resident super siblings has been short circuited by one of the other brother being injured or away. Captain Geoff Downes’ Red prevailed over a Zach-less Purple 4-2 back in Week Seven, but Zach AND Jon would finally make it to the rink to renew their brotherly love in the night cap of the Week One playoff slate. A scoreless first had the tension building, as both sides wondered which Salt would shake one home first. The answer came early in the second, as Jon put Red in front (from Captain Downes), but Zach responded less than two minutes later (from Luke Wolmer and Trice Harvey) to even the score at ones. Wolmer turned a Zach Salt pass into pay dirt on the power play later in the period, leaving the six seeds primed for an upset (and Zach primed for brotherly bragging rights) going into the third. Alas, it was Jon who would have the next laugh, and the last laugh, knotting the score at 2-2 with 4:50 to play (Downes), then notching the game-winner/hat-trick-completer at 3:59 to give Red a 3-2 lead they would never relinquish. By all accounts, it was another sublime (albeit, losing) effort from Purple’s Syd Costello (24/27), proving that the elder Salt’s shot really is (almost) unstoppable. It was another ho-hum winning effort from Silas Perks (14/16) at the other end…with both the ‘ho’ and the ‘hum’ being a result of his ridiculous prowess, rather than a source of shade to Zach, Luke, and the rest of Purple’s offense…dude is just amazing. Purple will look to stay alive in the playoffs against upstart seven seeds, White, while Red face a tough challenge in Olive in what I am billing as the Week Two ‘game of the week’.

Sometimes you have to plan for the worst, and hope for the best in life (and hockey playoffs). The ‘worst’ for Purple came in the form of a Jon Salt facial injury, which he sustained in the Thursday night session days prior. With the super sniper and scoring title co-silver medalist on the shelf, all that was left was for Captain Kerri Sevenbergen and her crew to hope for the best against a very tough, and very determined Charcoal side. Patrick Theis’ solid rookie campaign was really turning to sparkle in the second season, and the son of a league legend was locked in through the first two periods of play, holding a relentless Charcoal attack at bay and stopping all eighteen shots he faced. Don Tran was less busy, but equally effective at the other end, stopping all ten Purple attempts to keep things deadlocked at 0-0 going into the final frame. As the clock wound down under the 4:00 mark, it began to look like this one would have to be decided in extra time, or possibly shootout, but a Chris Tran tip found its way past Theis to break the scoring seal for the second seeds (from Owen Perks and Mark Ennsmann). Kalen Hunter doubled the lead with a solo effort at 2:08, and Ennsmann (from Jackson Tomaszewski) sealed Purple’s fate with an empty-netter at 1:28. Purple wasn’t done fighting, but Eric Willard’s response at 0:55 (from Trice Harvey) was too little, too late. Theis would finish with a 26/28 line, and a rare first star honor for a player one the losing side. Tran’s steady 14/15 kept his team primed for victory until the third period pounce, with just the late blemish to submarine his shutout bid. The 3-1 win, while perhaps ‘too close for comfort’ for Captain Shawna Hamon & Company, was enough to push Charcoal on to a showdown with a waiting Royal Blue…

So…it would be number two and number three battling for the chance to take on number one…just as the regular season foretold. There is mixed wisdom on whether there is an advantage, or a disadvantage to being the team in Charcoal’s position…coming off a do or die game only to jump right back into a second. Conventional logic would be ‘of course it’s a disadvantage…you’re already tired from playing a full game’, while the real history of this scenario seems to bear out that the ‘tired’ team is actually more ‘primed/warmed up’ than anything else. Whatever the case, it was sure to be a great match between two great teams, with the major asterisk being that Royal Blue was without Eric Herrmann…only the league’s leading scorer, and most consistently dominant force in the league for seasons on end. Ty Pereira was running and gunning throughout this match, and he put Royal Blue on the board first with a solo strike late in the first. Jackson Tomaszewksi (from Chris Tran and Kalen Hunter) responded at 5:41 in the second, but it was Pereira again minutes later on the power play (from Carl Vankoughnett) to give the edge back to Royal Blue through two. Captain Shawna Hamon equalized for her team at 5:11 in the third (from Mark Ennsmann and Parsa Mostafavi), but that was just the start of her heroine heroics. Much like the earlier game, Don Tran was the less tested of the two tenders (12/14), but his play kept Charcoal in striking distance long enough for Hamon’s strike to land and force OT. Nick Meglich was ‘magical’ as ever, stopping more than two and a half times the shots at his end (31/33) to set up everyone’s least favorite/favorite way to decide things…the shootout. Both goalies were gritty and great under the peerless, pin drop pressure, with both Tran and Meglich turning aside the first four shooters. Captain Hamon was up last for Charcoal, and…she delivered a sweet shuck and jive goal past Meglich to put her team on the precipice! Eric Plone would need to respond for Royal Blue, or it would be an all ‘shades of grey’ Final. Plone did get off a nice shot, but it sailed over the bar, and Charcoal slipped into the Final with a 3-2 shootout win.

This just in…we will have to wait until June 18th to wrap this endless season…Mother Nature sneaked in one last rainout!