A frisky foursome of games had all eight teams flirting with pleasure and pain in the opening weekend of playoff action. Things couldn’t have been much more intimate, really. In the end, only one of the higher seeds left unsatisfied. Still, even the sexiest seed needed a foxy female closer in OT to come out on top.
The playoffs opened with a bit of a hitch, as Navy arrived to play with no goalie. Fred Fournier suited up and saved the day (and may have boosted Navy’s outlook a bit in the process). When the game finally got underway, some thirty minutes late, Navy prevailed 2-0, and produced the only upset on the evening. It was a family affair, for sure, with Joe Malki scoring twice, both on assists from his old man, Chris. The aforementioned Fournier stopped 21/21 in Matt Henderson’s stead, while Elliot Hicks took the loss with a 20/22 line. Navy move on to face top-seeded Black, while Pink hope to avoid elimination against bottom-seeded Burgundy, as the playoff resume on Sunday.
First season sensation, Carl Vankoughnett, kept his hand hot, staking Orange to a 1-0 lead in the first. Weston Nawrocki responded early in the third, and the game could not be decided in regulation. Overtime gave way to a shootout, with that guy Carl again finding twine and helping Orange to a 2-1 win. Don Tran stopped all but one of twenty-two shots through OT, and was perfect in the shootout. Purple will now face #7 Red in an elimination match, while Orange will tangle with Green on the other side of the bracket.
Game three did not figure to be a nail-biter, on paper. Black had stormed to the top of the standings with an impressive playoff push, and Burgundy had only just managed to make it in the final week of play. Still, anything can happen in the playoffs, and anything nearly did. The teams strove and struggled to a 0-0 tie through three periods, setting up an overtime period for all the marbles. Those marbles were snatched and hoisted high by our POTW, Maureen Ruchhoeft, who brought sudden death to Burgundy and propelled Black to victory, 1-0. Ruchhoeft described the goal as ‘freaky’, and called it ‘my own hand of god moment’. Fluke or not, they all count, and this one counted big. Steve Testen earned the shutout with a 12/12 performance, while Andrew Lockard absorbed the tough loss with a 12/13 showing. Black stay on the Winner’s side of the bracket to face Navy, while Burgundy will battle for their playoff lives against Pink.
Tim Helmbrecht and Nick Adkins provided the goals, and Sean Kelly denied the goals against, as Green strode past Red, 2-0. Stephanie Palomo Schmidt and Captain Joe Nguyen collected assists, and Kelly was a perfect 21/21 to earn first star honors. Green move on to face Orange, to whom they suffered a 3-1 regular season loss, and Red will look for redemption against Purple in the early game this weekend.