Clean Up On Aisle Five

With Week Three of playoff action comes the first eliminations, and both Captain Bathgate’s seventh-seeded ‘ScrantoNeonicity’ and Captain Downes’ top-seeded ‘Orange Vod-Juice-Ka’ were hoping to avoid that fate and survive to see another second season Sunday. It was all Orange early and often, as Justin Ker put the favorites in front just 0:34 in (from super sub, Steph Palomo Schmidt). Zach Salt doubled the lead at 7:06 (from Ker and Palomo Schmidt), and Ker’s solo encore saw the period close with a 3-0 Orange lead. Ker completed the hat trick with another unassisted strike at 3:24 in the second, and it was really starting to look like the Battle Of Bright Colors would be something of a dull, one-sided affair. David Schlatter finally solved Matt Henderson (18/21) late in the second (from Shawna Hamon), and a powerplay pop from Vinny Santora (Jackson Tomaszewski) cut Orange’s lead down to two. Christopher Fiore’s goal with 1:49 remaining (Schlatter and Carl Vankoughnett) had the benches and spectator sections buzzing with shocked oohs and comeback coos, but Henderson would not concede anything further, and Orange would survive the scare, 4-3. Chuck Bender (18/22) needed a strong start in this one, but he held his team in to the end…an end that would spell the end of the season for Neon, and a chance at redemption for the top seeds. Captain Downes’ crew will need the same FPE (first period energy) against Green this Sunday if they hope to push on to an immediate showdown with second-seeded Red.

Captain Rob Gaudio’s upstart cover team, ‘Threat Level Midnight’, looked to continue their sneak attack on the higher seeds in a Week Three meeting with Captain Steve Linke’s ‘Red-Dit-Dit-Di-Doo’. While eliminations were not in the offing in this match, a ticket to the Final was, and it made for a very intense (many would say TOO intense) affair. Kyle Snyder put Black in front first, with Cory Brin collecting what may well be his first SDFHL point, but Pat Gladstone’s second in as many games (from Scott Wieland and Justin Stege) brought the favorites level just over three minutes later. Two quick late strikes from Snyder at 0:59 (from Andrew Wong) and Mason LaGrossa on the power play (from Will Heinl and Wong) brought the first period to a crashing, chaotic close, and had the underdogs suddenly up by a pair with two periods to play. Captain Linke converted on the power play (very) late in the second (from Sadie Hellstrom), setting up a tight third period that wound down to the final minutes with Black still clinging to a 3-2 lead. lt was more power play pay dirt with 2:10 to play, as Justin Stege cashed in unassisted to knot the score at three apiece, and set up the FOURTH overtime period in the first ten games of these playoffs. Overtime was fruitless, but it is worth noting that Red finished four periods of hockey with a 32-16 edge in shots. Cory Brin (29/31) was clutch in regulation and OT, but even more clutch in the shootout. Three blank rounds ticked past before Steve Linke proved that old men can still score…provided others are not allowed near them. Mason LaGrossa was quick to put Black back on even footing, though, and a blank fifth round set up a sudden death round six that saw Brin turn Boddy away, and Papa (Jim) LaGrossa finish what his son had started and send Black on to the big dance with a 4-3 shootout win. It’s a tough way to lose a game, but Red must find a way to bounce back against the winner of Orange v Green this Sunday if they want to chance at revenge/redemption. Black will enjoy a bye this weekend, and will need just one more win in the Final to capture the Cup and cap an impressive fifth to first playoff campaign.

The night cap was another win-or-go-home affair, with Captain Luke Wolmer’s eighth-seeded ‘Kelly Kapoorsports’ looking to keep their drive from barely-survive to best alive against Captain Kaitlyn Brusso’s sixth-seeded ‘Golden Dundies’. Green co-namesake, Sean Kelly, was in typical top form in this one, proving that a great goaltender can be THE key come playoff time. Kelly stopped all twenty-four Gold shots he faced, which means Green either won in regulation, or this was some crazy pitchers’ duel that went to a shootout. Spoiler alert, it was the former. Joe Malki struck first at 6:52 in the first (from Papa Chris Malki and Min-Soo Smith), then Captain Wolmer tucked home a short-handed goal (from Chris Malki and Shelby Shattuck) to give Green a 2-0 edge through one. A scoreless second meant the game was still well in reach for Gold, who were outshooting their rivals at a near 2-1 clip, but Joe Malki’s second of the night at 8:32 in the third (Wolmer and Smith) sure seemed like a nail in Gold’s proverbial coffin. It was. In fact, if you were paying attention to the early part of this recap, you know that Da Kid only needed one nail to send Gold to the playoff scrapheap, as he outdueled super sub Nick Meglich to carry his team to a 3-0 win. So, Gold join color cousins, Neon on the second season sidelines, while Green advance to a doozy of a doubleheader in Week Four. If Green should find a way to slide past #1 Orange, they will then have to drag their tired bodies past #2 Red in order to punch their ticket to the Final. If anyone can make it happen, it’s Kelly, who is one of the most decorated and celebrated performers in league history…with good reason.