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!

Our cover team this week has been making the papers for all the wrong reasons, having dropped from moderate to strong contenders through their first three games to ‘currently out of the playoffs’ with their ineptitude since. Aqua limped into a Week Twelve meeting with White on an 0-3-1 slide, and with both top pick David Schlatter and de facto ‘engine’ Matt Rogers out of the lineup, the hopes of reversing that tragic trend were not high on Captain Steph’s bench. White had already secured their playoff passage coming in, but were looking to bounce back after getting knocked around by Purple 6-1 the week prior. Captain Maureen’s team came out very strong in the early going, dominating play from the opening faceoff, but Chris Tran’s superb form kept any damage at bay until the final tick of the first period clock. To add insult to the injury of (literal) last second timing, that opening White goal was scored by SDFHL super senior citizen, Steve Linke (from Brennan Abel and Vance Morra). The old man would return the favor on Abel’s early second period tally, which (with respect) was one of the flukier balls to find a home this season, bouncing in off Anthony Cerasuolo’s midsection. How they go in doesn’t matter, it’s how many go in, and Aqua was only able to muster one response — Mark DeGraffenreid from Brian Sheptycki and Cerasuolo midway through the third. Chuck Bender (14/15) was hardly tested, as White’s iron-clad defense kept less than half of Aqua’s meager shot total in the ‘actually a threat to score’ column, while Tran’s stellar 29/31 effort was spoiled by a drooling elder, one tick of the first period clock, and a hard luck own goal. The 2-1 win keeps White comfortably in the top half of the standings, with an outside shot at the top spot on the line in their remaining two games. Aqua will need a good result in one or both of their remaining games (Olive and Red), or they will concede their playoff place to color cousins, Tropical Blue (or possibly even Red).

Charcoal and Royal Blue met in a heavyweight bout with little more than pride, playoff positioning, and scoring title stats at stake. Eric Herrmann’s 11 and 7 coming in gave him just a one point edge over a fittingly ‘OP’ Owen Perks (11 and 6). The offensive potency of both teams (well beyond the two aforementioned studs) made this match an appealing post season appetizer, and promised to be a regular season ‘great show’. It did not disappoint. THE Chad Goins (his words), rumored consort of Captain Janet, struck first for Royal Blue on the penalty kill at 6:09 in the first. Eric Herrmann collected the sole assist on that tally, and soloed a (breathtaking) goal of his own later in the period. Charcoal, in the personage of…who else…Owen Perks had responded to tie the game roughly a minute before Herrmann restored the one goal lead, and Herrmann’s second of the game (from Carl Vankoughnett and Mr. Goins) doubled the difference through two periods of play. Both Don Tran (15/18) and Nick Meglich (20/21) held up well under the weight of the two top scorers, but Meglich was a smidge surer, and Royal Blue’s super star was a mite brighter, as Royal Blue held on through a scoreless third to celebrate a big 3-1 win. I should also note that Charcoal scraped the (very) bottom of the barrel and brought in Melissa Busby to replace Nadia Connelly. Busby promptly (and not surprisingly) flailed and failed on glorious chance after glorious chance for Charcoal, begging the question ‘why not just play with four out there when Shawna needs a rest’. If you’re scoring at home, Herrmann keeps his seat on top of the scoring charts with 21 points (13 and 8), while Perks remains in striking distance with two games to play at 18 (12 and 6). The win keeps Royal Blue just two points behind standings leader, Silver, whom they will face this Sunday. A win for Royal Blue would move them into first, but that position is likely to be very temporary, with Silver holding a game in hand to close out the season. The loss drops Charcoal to 5-3-0 leading into a Week Thirteen test of their high-powered offense versus White’s shutdown defense.

The middle matchup between Tropical Blue and Red was dripping in playoff implications, with both teams desperately desperate to scrape together enough points to push past pitiful prior performances and into playoff position. At 1-5-1, a win for Captain Emily Bennington’s Red would give them five points in the standings, keeping cut line straddlers, Aqua, and at least one other team well within reach with two games to play. A win for Captain Kyra Forsyth’s 1-5-2 Topical Blue would give them two straight wins, and (miracle of miracles) would put them ahead of Aqua and out of the cellar in the final playoff position with (alas) just one game left on their schedule. If you happened to get a peek at the player of the week, you know that Nick Vacchio was the man of this match. In a twisted twist, Vacchio is actually on the roster for both teams, but Red was obligated to find a sub for him in nets, as is the way. That sub (Nick Meglich) was under siege throughout, facing persistent pressure as Tropical Blue pulled out all the stops in their late season push for a minor miracle playoff conversion. Dan Jurgens provided the first punch for Tropical Blue late in the first (from Vacchio and Christopher Fiore), then assisted on Vacchio’s game-winner just 0:31 later to improve the lead to 2-0. It was Vacchio again (from Jurgens, again) to build the lead to three in the second, and Red would muster just a lone, late response from Joe Gaudio (from brother Rob and Too Tall Tyler Winstead). Don Tran (22/23) got a taste of victory in a fill-in role, after absorbing the loss for his true team (Charcoal), and the shoe was on the other foot for Nick Meglich (29/32) who suffered a surrogate loss for Red following a win with his real roster, Royal Blue. So, with the 3-1 win, coupled with the results from the 4:00pm game, meant that Tropical Blue would move into a tie with Aqua at six points, even in the win column tie breaker, and holding the head-to-head tie breaker…but also having just one game left to play to Aqua’s two. The loss puts Red at 1-6-1, but (insanely enough) still alive in the playoff picture. They will need to beat Purple this Sunday (no small task), and will need some help (in the form of Olive beating Aqua this Sunday, and a Charcoal win over Tropical Blue in the final week of play), but if they manage to sneak past Purple, and that help does arrive, they will have their playoff fate in their own hands as they take on Aqua on April 30th.

The season long funeral procession for Captain Shelby Shattuck’s ‘Black Widow’ continued to wind through the streets of SDFHLtown, with Purple bearing the pall in Week Thirteen. The good news for Black…they scored twice as many goals in this game as they had in seven prior games combined. The bad news…Purple scored twice as many goals as Black in this game. Jon Salt put Purple in front late in the first (from Brandon Olsen and Rob LaVigne), but an Alan Razoky sighting at 3:55 in the second (from Justin Stege and Jordan Pynn) drew the underdogs level at 1-1. A pair of late second period strikes — Captain Kerri Sevenbergen from Salt and Olsen, then Olsen from Janine Ulloa abruptly upended any Black hopes for a upset win, and Eric Willard’s goal (from Olsen) at 6:16 in the third was just another shovelful of dirt on Black’s coffin (the coffin now having made its way to the cemetery plot, if you want to follow the imagery along). Matt DeBerry put a brief pause in da burial with his first of the season at 5:02 (from Mark Daquipa and Captain Shelby Shattuck), but Reverend Patrick Theis (22/24) cleared his throat, and completed his eulogy with ‘yea, and Purple laid Black to rest on that day, having scored two fold thine enemy’s two‘. The plate was then passed to collect donations for the Brotherhood Of Unsupported Goalies…a cause near and dear to Matt Henderson (20/24). RIP, Black…may winged hat tricks forever circle your shoulders in the after season. Meanwhile, back on the living plane, Purple have officially officially secured safe playoff passage with the win at 4-3-1. They will look to inter another quasi-corpse in Red this Sunday…

Two teams riding lengthy unbeaten streaks met to put those streaks to the test in Week Thirteen. Captain Wendy Enright’s Olive lost their first two games of the season, but had not lost or even tied since. Captain Audrey Stratton’s Silver side had, well, never lost, and had allowed just one tie in a mid-March meeting with White. So, while both teams sat very comfortably in playoff position already, with really nothing to lose in this match, neither wanted to set their unbeaten streak aside, and both hoped for something of a ‘statement win’ to further bolster confidence heading into the final weeks of play. A scoreless first saw Silas Perks as the far busier of the two netminders, as the MVP-to-be stopped all seven shots he faced, compared with the meager pair deflected by Zach Siemer at the other end. Erin Dowrey continued his sparkling swan song season with his fourth on the campaign (from Josh Wirt) at 6:43 in the second, but Zach Salt responded with a pair of goals later in the frame (the first from Sadie Hellstrom and Matt Gottfried, and the second from Captain Stratton) to give Silver a 2-1 edge through two. The third period clock wound towards its final tick, and it certainly looked as though ‘The Silencer’ would secure another W for Silver, but Josh Tran found a will and a way to wind one home with just 0:27 to play to provide what is perhaps the most apropos final score between two teams that refuse to lose…a 2-2 point splitter. Perks (18/20) remained the busier of the goalies throughout, and ACTUALLY ALLOWED TWO GOALS for just the second time in eight games. Siemer (11/13) surrendered the pair of Salt strikes in a busy second frame (facing ten shots in that period, alone), but Olive’s defense was sublimely stingy in the first and third, forcing Zach to make just three total saves over that twenty minute span. The result keeps Silver at the top of the pile at 6-0-2, with only a few potential threats to that perch remaining, including Olive (5-2-1).