The post season picked up right where the regular season left off…with #6 Red taking on #3 Brown. While the rematch was much tighter than the first encounter (with Brown blanking Red 4-0), the end result remained the same. Jordan Pynn converted bright and early for Brown (9:24 in the first), but Steve Linke finally solved Don Tran (13/14) to even the ledger later in the frame. Tran was perfect the rest of the way, and the heroics of Chuck Russell (28/30) kept Red treading through a scoreless second, and into the thick of the third. It was then that Marc Lapointe (once again) proved his penchant for playoff poise, netting the game-winner to spoil Red’s spoiler plot, 2-1. The win moves Brown forward in the Winners’ Bracket to face the brute force of Navy, while the loss leaves Red down to their last thread in a Losers’ Bracket showdown with Silver. The playoffs are a different world, but both teams can draw some confidence from the fact that they have already beaten their next opponent once this season–Brown beat Navy 2-1 in Week Four, and Red bested Silver 3-2 in Week One.
Leave it to Captain Salt’s Navy to crash the playoff parity party. The somehow-second-seeded juggernaut staged a reenactment of their 4-1 regular season roll over Silver, adding an extra goal for good measure this time around. Luke Wollmer (2 and 1), Zach Salt (2 and 0), and Jon Salt (1 and 1), led the hit parade, staking Navy to a 5-0 advantage before a late Gideon Schon strike ended Don Tran’s substitute shutout bid (10/11) and provided a briefest blip of pride for Silver in the 5-1 loss. Navy cruise on to face Brown…one of only two teams to have beaten them thus far. Silver will look to stay alive against Red, in a rematch of their close/tough Week One loss. Whatever happens in the lower bracket, the early season Navy/Black buzz may be coming full circle, as the guns-ablazin’ former chugs onward toward a meeting with the guns-asilencin’ latter…
I don’t think many pundits would have predicted that Yellow v Orange would be the closest game of the night. The top seed had strutted and sashayed through the regular season, with their only loss coming in their debut against Navy back on June 13th. By contrast, Orange barely (and I mean barely) even made the playoffs after losing their final two games of the season by a combined score of 11-1. I should probably mention…Kris Tosczak…out of the lineup for the bottom seed. Also…Sean Kelly (so hot right now, Sean Kelly) in nets for Yellow. All of these facts set the stage for what seemed like absolute fiction as it unfolded, as Orange not only battled Yellow to a 2-2 tie through regulation, but also outshot the top dogs! Eric Willard put Yellow in front in the first, and Jim LaGrossa answered in the second. Joe Nguyen actually gave Orange the lead early in the third, only to see that challenge met and matched by new comer, Ash Wadhwa. A surreal, thrilling regulation gave way to a wild overtime, with chances at either end. The scene finally snapped back to reality with 1:26 to play, as (who else) Josh Wirt tucked home the game-winner to keep the favorites moving up, and send Orange down, 3-2. The win leads Yellow to an intriguing rematch with Black, whom they handled with relative ease back in Week Four. Black is riding the hottest (and best) goalie in the league, but Yellow will counter with the return of Alex Theis. Orange will look to extend their season in a do or die second dance with Green. The twist…Orange smashed Green 5-0 in their Week Five meeting!
The favorites had survived scares in two of the first three games, and squashed the lower seed in the other. Green was last up to take care of business against neighboring seed, Black. The five seed started things with a bang, as Kim Hernandez deflected a Mark Scelfo shot under the bar and in to make it 1-0, Black. That’s how this one would end…1-0 Black. Nick Vacchio came up one save short (10/11) in his first career playoff start. It was an intense, well-played game, but there is no greater super power on the rink right now than Sean Kelly. Kelly stopped 15/15, racking up his third straight shutout for Black. He has stopped 51/51 over that stretch, and absolutely willed Black’s way onward. That way leads next to a showdown with Yellow, in what is sure to be a can’t miss goalie duel. Green must swallow a tough loss and regroup against a suddenly threatening Orange. Week Two of the playoff is going to be ridonkulous, folks!