Orange squeezed Lime 3-1 in the SDFHL Citrus Bowl, all while ‘The Herrmannator’ enjoyed a much needed break after dealing a five goal death punch to Green in Week Seven. David ‘The New Deputy’ Schlatter led the way in the absence of ‘The Sherriff’ (he’s so good he has two nicknames), equalizing Eric Willard’s opening strike in the first, then potting the game-winner in the second (with primary assist to ‘The Old Deputy’). Chuck Russell added insurance in the third, but you can carry a pretty lean insurance policy when you have Sean Kelly in nets. Kelly stopped 16/17 in a fill-in roll for the ailing Chris Tran, and Alex Theis (21/24) was no slouch, but found no solace in the loss. Orange have run their win streak to three, having outscored their opponents 15-4 in that span. Their 4-2-1 record assures them no worse than a four seed, but no better than a two seed in the looming playoffs. Lime remain in the lower standings pack at 3-4-0, but should be safe from the play-in game eight and nine spots, barring some crazy math/tie breaker scenario.

Captain Jon Salt’s ‘Fembots’ had not lost a game since their week one stumble out of the blocks against pole-sitters, Grey. They will enter the final week of play with the very same bragging rights, and a chance to move past their first week foil, who can only wait and watch from the bye week couch. Arnold Gonzales put Pink in prime position just 0:26 in, but Alijay Omar scored his first career SDFHL goal (CONGRATULATIONS!) less than two minutes later to bring Gold even. Dan Jurgens netted the game-winner just a minute or so after serving a slashing penalty (assists to Kaity & Matt Gottfried), and Captain Salt himself (from the lesser Gottfried) capped the scoring for Pink in the 3-1 win. Oh yeah, Sean Kelly (13/14) was in this game, too. His efforts ran his record to 5-1-1 with a .957/1.57…ho hum…totally human stuff here. Nick Meglich (21/24) is having another great season, albeit with not-as-great (team) results as his starring turn with last season’s ‘Sweet Child O’ Malki’. So, Pink is poised to snatch the top spot, while Gold will hope to hand Blue their sixth straight loss, and shore up their playoff positioning, in the process.

Captain Stephanie Ann Xavier Jesus Palomo Schmidt, Esq and her White side have really found a home on the corner of Skills Galore Street and Tough Luck Terrace. Their find-the-banana-peel season seemed to have FINALLY taken a turn for the better after a rousing first period that saw them take a 3-0 lead on fellow struggle bus riders, Atomic Blue. To no one’s surprise, it was Josh Wirt leading the charge, scoring the first and third goals of the period, and assisting on the second (Captain Palomo Schmidt’s second of the season) in between. The second period saw a bounce back for Atomic Blue, with Captain Chad Goins cutting the lead to two, and Zach Salt making it 3-2 half a minute later. White went to Wirt again to restore the momentum, and restore the two goal edge, making the two period total 4-2 in favor of a win-starved White. Spoiler alert…the White hunger would extend yet another week. Luke Wolmer converted a Carl Vankoughnett pass to make it 4-3, Wolmer assisted on Captain Goins’ second of the game to knot the scores at fours, then Vankoughnett broke the tie, and (once again) broke already-hurting hearts with the 5-4 game-winner, Atomic Blue over White. This is the perfect season for a ‘caged tiger’ to come roaring back to free and ferocious form, and no team is more caged, nor more tiger than White. There 1-5-1 mark assures that they will be one participant in the play-in party, but they may well be a force to reckon with if they survive. The good news is that they will likely face Blue in that showdown…the one team they have managed to manage to this point. The other good news is that they have Josh Wirt, who earned rare POTW-in-a-loss with the 3 and 1 outing. Meanwhile, the win propels Atomic Blue closer to a legitimate playoff seed, but a Week Nine loss to Lime, and a Blue win over Gold will sink them back into a play-in plight.

Grey continued their climb, and Blue continued their (precipitous) fall, as another one goal loss meant FIVE straight down the drain for Captain Ryan Karns’ and ‘Karnsma Police’. If you believe in karma, please let those of us on Blue know what we have done to deserve this fate. Brandon Olsen cashed in on the power play to break the scoreless tie at 3:30 in the second, then assisted on Jim LaGrossa’s game-winner 1:10 later. LaGrossa enters his bye week leading the scoring field with 19 points (6 and 13), with the only threat to his crown coming in the form of…who else…’The Sherriff’. Weston Nawrocki spoiled Wayne Wong’s fill-in shutout bid (16/17) with just 0:48 to play, but that would be the only goal allowed by Wong in his final SDFHL performance before heading out of town to pursue higher education. So, another week, another win for Grey, another loss for Blue…this time by a 2-1 final. Chuck Bender (18/20) has taken his lumps along with his team, who have (almost) nowhere to go but up now at 2-5-0. White may still be a rung below them on the standings ladder, but no team is colder (it doesn’t get much colder then and 0-5-0 run). Blue still have a chance at redemption if they can pull up the nose against Gold this Sunday. Grey will watch and wait to see whether or not Pink will overtake them for the top spot.

I am playing catchup, so below are the Week Six recaps, followed by the Week Seven words…

Gold and Lime came into Week Six with matching 2-2-0 records, and a similarly undefined season trajectory. Lime surprised everyone (but me) with two wins out of the gate, but came in having lost two in a row. Gold won their opener after a Week One bye, then dropped two before evening their record in Week Five. The scene was set for an interesting and intense match, but much of the buzz blunted when a late Alex Theis scratch left league officers with limited fill-in options. Chuck Bender had the unenviable task of trying to fill those HOF shoes, but acquitted himself quite well…just not well enough to win. Brian Sheptycki put Gold in front late in the first, Maureen Ruchhoeft netted the short-handed game-winner in the second (running her goal scoring streak to three games!), and Ezra Cohen added insurance late in the third after Vance Morra halved the lead near the other end of the frame. Sheptycki and Cohen finished with 1 and 1, and Nick Meglich notched the win with a 10/11 effort. The 3-1 win pushed Gold into the upper half of the standings, leaving Lime lamenting their third straight defeat.

If you’re scoring at home, Eric Herrmann is empirically the most ridiculous player in the league. Enter David Schlatter, who approaches most ridiculous player in the league levels himself. Now imagine both of these players on the same team. Now imagine them on the same line. Yeah…as the headline suggests…overkill. For only the second time in five games, the two of them were in the lineup together, and together they absolutely terrorized Blue to the tune of five and two. Schlatter opened the scoring early in the first, Herrmann followed with the GWG, and Wendy Enright got in on the act to make it 3-0 Orange through one. Schlatter kicked off the second period with his second, Gary Peters netted his first of the season, then Schlatter finished his hat trick to make it 6-0 through two. At this point, Blue’s goal was to ‘win a period’, and while they didn’t manage that, they did at least manage to tie Orange in the final frame, with Geoff Downes finally solving Don Tran (21/22) to equalize Herrmann’s second strike earlier in the third. The 7-1 smash to smithereens actually feels like a kind, gentle reflection of the level of dominance exhibited by this terrible twosome in this one. It might as well (and easily could have been) 15-0. In looking back on the schedule, I see that Schlatter and Herrmann were together in the lineup against Gold in Week Two. I have no idea how Gold survived that encounter, let alone prevailed, let alone prevailed convincingly (5-2), but we have our top scientists working on that now…

In contrast to the filthy, degrading gangbang that was game two of Week Six, game three was a slow, sensual, tantric rendezvous, with only one ‘O’ to be had. Typically, it was a man who found release, and even more typically (ask Janice), it was Tom Darlington who finished first, ‘slipping one past the goalie’, and accounting for the only offense for either side in a 1-0 win for Green over White. Chris Malki and Jeannine Stuzka recorded assists on the winning strike (ceasing and desisting with the sexual metaphors at this point), while Don Tran (15/15) recorded his first shutout of the season. Tran reported to this reporter after the game that Darlington (still referring to the lesser, here…Tom) was worthy of ‘first star’ for ‘saving a goal defensively, and scoring the only goal a few minutes later’. So, here I sit, passing on ten day old kudos to you, Tom…you heard it hear last. Cory Brin (13/14) absorbed to hard luck loss, as White continued to struggle and sag in the standings. They entered their Week Seven bye at 1-4-1, having only triumphed over the increasingly lowly Blue in Week Four. The win vaulted Green over the .500 mark, but then they faced our cover team in Week Seven, and well…their back to .500 as I type.

Two teams trending toward opposite poles in the standings capped the Week Six slate with a thriller that served as a moral, minor miracle victory for Atomic Blue, and a stinging, sour pill for Grey. The league’s leading scorer, Jim LaGrossa (stoked I still have his rookie card), led off the scoring for Grey bright and early in the first, with the current show horse in the stats race notching the primary assist. Carl Vankoughnett answered, then upped the ante with two strikes in a five minute span later in the period. Justin Stege brought Grey level with the only goal of the second, and that dynamic duo struck again (this time Gaudio from LaGrossa) to put Grey back out front 3-2. The clock wound down toward another Grey W, but Luke Wolmer found the equalizer with 0:41 to play, knotting the score for good, 3-3, blowing up the Atomic bench, and sending shock waves through Grey’s ranks. Neither goalie had a night you’d put on the mantle, with Wayne Wong stopping 9/12, and Parsa Mostafavi deflecting 14/17, but the one point, and the way that one point was produced could really propel a weak and wobbly Atomic Blue team on to better things. Meanwhile, Grey is hardly hurting after the non-win, but blowing a late lead is never any fun.

It is very well documented that I left the Sprummer 2022 draft knowing (and professing loudly) that Captain Mark Nagy’s ‘SubLime’ lineup was destined for greatness. I sat unsurprised as they cruised to a convincing victory in their season opener, and I loved watching my fellow pundits eat crow as they repeated the feat, and strode out to a 2-0-0 start. Even the great teams falter, though, and while both Lime and Blue began the season with twin two win spins, they had both suffered a trio of fizzles since. Something had to give…one of these sleeping giants would have to prevail, and regain their winning form. Unless…I mean….unless they tied. They could have tied. They didn’t. Captain Nagy drew first blood late in the first, and a scoreless second had Blue talking to themselves, and believing in bad mojo. Blue carried the majority of the play, but could not solve Alex Theis (17/18) – not until Shawna Hamon finally flicked a bad angle bullet through the armor early in the third to draw things to…a draw. Each tick brought this one closer to a hard fought tie, but instead it was another hard luck loss for Chuck Bender (13/15) and a woebegone Blue. Steve Linke, a player known for his penchant for jumping up in the play and grinding near the opposition’s goal crease, stayed true to his power forward nature, parked in front, and tucked the game-winner between Bender’s pads with 0:28 to play….2-1 Lime over Blue. Blue have now lost four straight, and while ‘every team makes the playoffs’ this season, it’s definitely looking like an uphill climb for Captain Karn’s crew.

Captain Will Heinl’s ‘Gold Will Hunting’ (incidentally, Pope-le’s Choice award for best team name this season) rolled into Week Seven on…well…on a roll. Their two game win streak started with a steamrolling of league doormats, White, in Week Five, followed by a shocking 3-1 upset of juggernaut, Lime in Week Six. Captain Hima Joshi’s Grey came lolling in off a listless two game stretch that started with a 1-0 sleepy stunner over top gunners, Lime, and a 3-3 tie with a not-so-hot Atomic Blue. The league’s deadliest duo (when Herrmann and Schlatter aren’t around) paced Grey to a plodding 3-0 win, with Gaudio in the first (from Andrew Wong), Gaudio in the second (from LaGrossa), and LaGrossa in the third (from Gaudio) serving as the steady beats of the victory drum. Parsa Mostafavi kept his rally for rookie of the year going with the second shutout of his nascent career (12/12), and kept his record lossless in the process at an impressive 4-0-2. Nick Meglich was sharp, but slowly, steadily, subdued, keeping Gold in position to pounce throughout with a 16/19 line.

Fans who bought tickets to the Pink v Atomic Blue match before the season started, hoping to catch another Salt v Salt showdown, were disappointed to learn that this one would be a one Salt affair. Captain Chad Goins’ struggling squad was disappointed to find that the one Salt was not a zest of resident super star, Zach, but rather a pinch of Pink captain, Jon. It was another Jon that opened the scoring for the non-Captain-Jon side, as Zygelman converted a Carl Vankoughnett pass into pay dirt in the first. Captain Jon would respond early in the second (with assists to Mr. and Mrs. Gottfried), but Vankoughnett made every minute count with a late goal to wrest back a one goal lead for Atomic Blue through two. The third period was almost all Gottfried, with Matt from Kaity making it 2-2, then Kaity from Captain Jon capping the 3-2 comeback win for Pink. The shot count seemed shockingly steep to this humble scribe, but the scorekeeper of record swears by his scorekeeping record, and apparently Wayne Wong stopped 32/35 in the loss, while Sean Kelly swatted 26/28 in the win. It may not have been the game that fans were clamoring for, but as one out of two Salt games go, this one was at least three and a half out of five stars.

It’s back to our cover team to close out the not-so-current coverage, and it’s going to be easier for me to just do the scoring recap like so: Herrmann (David Schlatter)-Herrmann-[Vacchio fucking up the flow, with assist from Malki, Joe]-Herrmann(Schlatter/Josh Tran)-Herrmann(Schlatter)-Herrmann(Schlatter)-[Vacchio twize as nize from a pair of Malki guys]. That’s the ‘from concentrate’ tale of another romp and stomp win for Orange, 5-2 over Green. Seriously, folks, you want no part of this two-headed monster from the depths of hat trick hell! Word on the street is that Schlatter may miss most/all of the playoffs…consider that your team’s saving August grace, if so. The loss finds Green bouncing into their bye week at an even-as-can-be 3-3-1, while back-to-back wins (while outscoring their opponent 12-3), has Orange perching in the high branches of the standings at 3-2-1.

Captain Steph Palomo Schmidt’s ‘Pearl Chen’s Summer Tour’ has hit rock bottom, as every team in the league currently has them in their rear view mirror (reference check). A win over Blue in Week Four had the band amped (*rim shot*), and with every team technically making the playoffs, White is still very much alive (reference check), but their season will fade to black (reference check) quickly if they can’t win more than once (reference check) in five tries…

Captain Mark Nagy’s ‘SubLime’ shocked the world (well, the world, minus me…my faith never wavered) with two convincing wins to start their season, but rolled into Week Five after suffering a convincing loss to Pink. Grey entered the week with a 2-1-1 record and a bit of a strut, and had to love seeing Arron Cooney and proud papa, Eric Willard, out of Lime’s lineup. Alex Theis (21/22) earned his paycheck in the first period alone, stopping all ten Grey shots in a scoreless first, but Jim LaGrossa finally broke through with the game-winner with 3:11 to play in the middle stanza. Brandon Olsen and Rob Gaudio each collected an assist on the play, and each were assessed minor penalties in a heated third that, like the first, saw no scoring. Parsa Mostafavi (15/15) recorded his first career shutout, and improved his record to an impressive 3-0-1. Grey now stands in a virtual tie with Pink at the top of the standings, but they do hold the head-to-head tie breaker, should the race for the top playoff seed come down to the wire. The 1-0 loss drops Lime back to .500 at 2-2-0, leaving them in a middle of the pack mush with three other teams, including their Week Six opponent, Gold. They will look to snap their slide, but will have to do so without Theis, and possibly (again) without the services of a diaper-changing Willard.

If you read the headline, you know that White did not make their way to a W last Sunday, but the box scores magnify the woes of their 1-3-1 record. Captain Steph Palomo Schmidt’s crew has allowed five goals in three of their five games to this point, and have surrendered twenty total goals to this point…more than double most other teams in the league. It was another five upside their heads again in Week Five, this time courtesy of a hot and cold Gold. Brian Sheptycki turned in a POTW performance with a goal in the first, and a goal and an assist in the second. Second rounder, Mark Ennsmann, contributed a goal and three helpers, and Maureen Ruchhoeft and Captain Will Heinl himself capped the scoring for Gold in the 5-1 win. White’s team namesake, Jeff Chen, provided the only response for White, and the only blemish on Nick Meglich’s sheet (23/24) midway through the third. Gold took full advantage of the absence of one of White’s primary weapons (Alex DaCosta) and primary shields (Rob LaVigne), evening their record at 2-2-0 with the runaway win. Cory Brin’s valiant effort (30/35) was, alas, in vain. White take comfort in the fact that even the lowest, limpest team still has a shot at the second season. Still, winning isn’t everything, but it sure beats losing…

Four goals in less than three minutes of the first period…surely the final was something like 9-8. Nope…Atomic Blue and Green blew their respective loads in a short span (story of my life), wrapping the first period at the 2-2 score that would hold as the final. Greg Wirth gave Atomic the lead at 3:02 in the first, Captain Joe Malki answered for Green at 1:35, Papa Chris Malki put Green in front 2-1 at 0:57, and Zach Salt found the equalizer at 0:16. Wayne Wong (18/20) and Don Tran (20/22) were happy to have the scoring bonanza behind them, holding on for dear life the rest of the way to earn their team a point in the standings. That point has Green at 2-2-1…good enough for third place (bearing in mind that five of the six teams below them have only played four games), while Atomic Blue find themselves on the wrong side of .500 at 1-2-1. More blues for Atomic…they face frontrunners Grey in Week Six, while Green look to keep cellar-dwelling White right in their place.

‘Karnsma Police’, much like ‘SubLime’ began the season with a win-win bang, and much the same as SubLime, they have since fizzled to a loss-loss lull. It was ‘no Salt, no Jurgens, no problem’ for Pink and their stalwart backstop, Sean Kelly (17/18), who was his customary superhuman self in the 2-1 win. Chuck Bender (4/6) was much less tested, but twice bitten…with the final bite coming courtesy of an odd man rush in the final minutes of play. Joe Nguyen was that odd man, converting Matt Gottfried’s centering feed at 1:18 to break the one all tie and propel Pink to an stunning coup of a win. Zach Siemer had put Pink on the board at 6:47 in the first, and that lead held until Geoff Downes finally solved ‘Da Kid’ on the power play at 5:27 in the third. The win keeps Pink nestled at the top of the standings with a record of 3-1-1, and drops Blue back into the middle of the pack morass at 2-2-0. It’s scary to think about what Pink will look like with all of their pieces presents, accounted for, and uninjured/uncompromised. There is a month of games left to play, but…Cup favorites?

Orange and Grey rolled into their Week Four meeting with matching sample platter records (1-1-1). Without heavy hitter, David Schlatter, and heaviest of hitters, Eric Herrmann, Orange would have to find some ‘depth scoring’, and/or a game-stealing effort from Chris Tran. They got the former (if we can even consider ‘The Deputy’ to be ‘depth’, at this point), with Kevin Dinino equalizing a first period strike from Jordan Pynn early in the second. The latter ‘key to the game’ unraveled later in the second, as a trio of tallies found twine behind Tran in a span of 1:32 to tilt the score in favor of Grey, 4-1. Hima Joshi (talk about depth!) scored her first of the season, and Rob Gaudio poured in this third and fourth, with the second serving as the power play game-winner. Chuck Russell responded for Orange with a power play punch of his own, cutting the lead to 4-2 with just one tick left on the second period clock. It was ‘The Deputy’ again (definitely not ‘depth’) midway through the third to keep the tension on, but Justin Stege deflated the drama balloon, converting with 1:22 remaining to seal the 5-3 win for Grey. Gaudio’s 2 and 2 was good enough for POTW honors, Parsa Mostafavi (13/16) earned his second career win, and Jim LaGrossa collected another four assists, bringing his total to TEN through four games. LaGrossa actually leads all scorers this season with twelve points (2 and 10), with Gaudio in the second spot with eight (4 and 4…in one less game than LaGrossa), and…you guessed it, The Deputy holding a share of the bronze position with seven (3 and 4).

All good things must come to an end…even for a moves-like-Jagger-juggernaut like my personal odds-on Cup favorite, ‘SubLime’. Captain Mark Nagy’s crew sprinted out of the opening gate this season, dispatching their first two opponents by a combined 9-2 margin, and the confidence was brimming to the…well, brim, as they took the court to face Captain Jon Salt’s ‘Fembots’. Pink’s 1-1-1 mark coming in meant that they were certainly beatable, especially if Lime could contain the captain, who had been successfully contained (zero points) in two of three games coming in. It’s that ‘other game’ that is the dangerous one. Week Two…Salt erupted for four goals. Week Four…2 and 1 would do nicely, with Matt Gottfried, Arnold Gonzales, and Joe Nguyen all getting into the act, as well. Five goals is a lot to overcome, especially when you realize you need to put five (or more) past Sean Kelly to avoid the L. Spoiler alert…Lime did not avoid the L, although they did avoid being shut out, thanks to Shelby Shattuck’s late third period slice of vengeance. Still, it was a first loss, and a 5-1 beatdown loss, at that, for SubLime…so much for that perfect season. Alex Theis (17/22) suffered the knockout in this battle of heavy weight netminders, with Kelly (11/12) cruising to his second win of the season, and driving his numbers up to their usual lofty perch in the goalie ranks. Our locker room reporter caught up with a very fat, very sweaty Steve Linke after the loss, who (between deep wheezes, and some gurgling fat guy noises) graciously credited ‘that skinny guy on the other team…the captain, with the hard shot’ as being the difference maker in this one. Profound insight, fatso…you’re a regular ESPN analyst.

You typically expect to find a Malki team smashing and bashing through teams with relative ease, but this season’s Malki mob is finding a bit more fight in their foes. Coming in at 1-2-0, and coming off a 4-0 loss to (admittedly, powerhouse) SubLime, a one-Malki-down ‘Tranaconda’ crew looked to right the proverbial ship against Captain Will Heinl’s ‘Gold Will Hunting’. The missing Malki was none other than Captain Joe, but Pops furthered his claim to the ‘Better Malki’ belt, scoring in the first to take the lead, and in the second to take the lead (again). That first Gold goal came courtesy of Maureen Ruchhoeft (depth), but Green held a two goal lead to start the third, after Nick Vacchio made it 3-1 with his first of the year late in the second. Brian Sheptycki (opposite of depth) cut the lead to one midway through the third, but ‘Too Tall’ Tyler Winstead found the empty net to seal Gold’s fate, 4-2. Nick Meglich (18/21) earned third star honors for valor in spite of the loss, while Don Tran (14/16) evened his record, and that of his team at 2-2-0 with the bounce back win. Gold is going the wrong way, having dropped their last two after an impressive 5-2 debut over Orange. They will look to get back to .500 against fellow 1-2-0’s, White, while Green look to catch up with the lead pack with a good result against Atomic Blue.

Captain Ryan Karns’ ‘Karnsma Police’ strutted into Week Four warmups as the only remaining unbeaten. A scoreless first saw White holding the edge in play and shots on goal, but Geoff Downes had the L-less in front with his second of the season late in the second. White responded with two goals in nine seconds to flip things in their favor (Steve Goncalo, and Josh Wirt) early in the third, and Andy Strathman converted on the power play to make it 2-2 down the stretch. It was Wirt again, working through a weird, weak wrister past Chuck Bender (23/26) to make White 3-2 winners. Cory Brin (23/25) was in top form, making all (but two) of the stops from ho-hum to hum-baby to notch his first W of the Sprummer campaign. So, White’s first win meant Blue’s first loss, and things are getting cozy in the standings at the halfway point. White will look to repeat the winning feat against Gold, while Blue will hope to get back to their winning ways against a tough (but reportedly ‘sodium-free’) Pink in Week Five.

Eric Willard got Lime, and his POTW campaign, off on the right foot early in the first, and doubled the damage late in the second. Meanwhile, Alex Theis made a sparkling Sprummer debut, coming off a monster season for reigning champs, ‘Purple Reign’. Theis stopped all twenty-two shots he faced, making Willard’s first strike the only one needed to punch out Green. Vance Morra padded the lead in the third, and Mike Chiaco iced things with an empty netter (from Willard) to produce the 4-0 final, and boost ‘SubLime’ to a namesake-worthy 2-0-0 start. I don’t know why so many people doubted this obvious juggernaut-to-be back in late April…some people just have no foresight. Speaking of foresight, there is no looking back for Lime, now setting their Week Four sights on Pink, who have sample plattered things, to this point (1-1-1). Captain Joe Malki and ‘Tranaconda’ hope to prove that there ‘is snakes out der dis big‘ (again, people…culture!) when they face off against a 1-1-0 Gold this Sunday.

Captain Chad Goins and ‘Hakuna Mostafa’ came into Week Three with no wins, no points, and now…no Zach Salt. The Atomic Blue locker room was surely not a hotbed of optimism in the lead-up to a meeting with ‘Gold Will Hunting’. Sample size aside, Gold was all a-bling after a crush and cast aside 5-2 win over Orange, and the low sodium lineup on the other bench had to have them salivating for another W. Brian Sheptycki had that salivation turning to surety with his first of the season less than two minutes in, but Carl Vankoughnett enhanced his SDFHL scoring CV (see what I did there) with the equalizer later in the frame (from Jon Zygelman and Mostafa Azab). A scoreless second saw more of Nick Meglich (18/20) working hard, and Wayne Wong (4/5) hardly working, as the tie score held in spite of the lopsided shots/chances. Another Vankoughnett shot/chance finally did find twine (this time from Luke Wolmer and Greg Wirth), and that tally would stand as the game-winner for Atomic Blue, 2-1 over Gold.

Again, sample size is a thing for a reason, but ten games into the Sprummer 2022 season saw six blowouts, and just one game that was decided by less than two goals. Parity finally came to the party in W3/G3, as White and Grey battled back and forth to the bitter end. Josh Wirt had White on top in the first, and assisted on Alexis DaCosta’s fourth of the young season early in the second. Brandon Olsen finally made his SDFHL debut for Grey, and cut the lead in half with his first career goal, and Jim LaGrossa made the last second of the second period count to bring the count to 2-2. Encores from both DaCosta and Olsen (in that order) kept things square, with Olsen’s powerplay marker saving Grey from a second loss in three tries, and serving up a 3-3 tie to both teams. Cory Brin (19/22) and Parsa Mostafavi (12/15) were solid (I assume), though both now sport a save percentage that sags below .900. It’s early, but goaltending has proven to be a key ingredient in (at least recent) Cup runs…

OK, there’s parity, and then there’s paucity…no one (outside of fútbol fans) wants to see a 0-0 tie. Well, like it our not, that’s what we got in the Week Three nightcap. Nothing…we got…nothing. Chris Tran (15/15) and Sean Kelly (23/23) got something, of course…another SO on their career charts, and a point in the standings for their respective teams, but…we paid for blood! <== That’s a record third Simpsons reference in one week, if you’re scoring at home. Captain Jon Salt actually relayed to me that Kelly himself said of this effort that it was ‘the best he has ever played’! That is certainly not ‘nothing’, especially given the considerable and consistent conquests chalked up over Kid’s colossal career. So…congratulations, Kid…you have finally peaked! The 0-0 result has both teams (fittingly) tied with Grey at 1-1-1 to start the season, (appropriately) knotted in a pack behind co-leaders in the clubhouse, Blue and Lime.