Dead Or Olive

Captain Ryan Karns’ ‘Wirt-Collar Crime’ limped into Week Seven play with a 1-3-0 record, and TEN of their fourteen goals coming in their lone victory, a wild Week Four overkill ownage of Orange. Captain Kyle Prior’s Brown rolled in with the opposite record, but also with the knowledge that the scheduling and attendance gods had smiled on them to that point in the season, particularly in their Week Five trouncing of a taped-together Teal roster with no subs and even less sizzle. Attendance is a fickle mistress, however, and a rendezvous with a mistress sometimes leads to unwanted results. With Zach Salt and Shawna Hamon out of action, it would be down to a quality sub (thank you, Jess), and the rest of Brown’s roster to scrape enough skill and stamina together to outlast a good team with a bad record. Jim Peters notched his first career SDFHL goal (CONGRATULATIONS, Jim!) tucking home a backdoor pass/shot from Mark DeGraffenreid to give Brown the early edge, and super sub, Nick Meglich, held White off the board in spite of facing thrice as many shots as his counterpart (15-5 edge in White’s favor through one). Carl Vankoughnett finally broke through for White on the penalty kill (Josh Wirt), and Kevin Dinino (Karns) sandwiched his third of the season between trips to the box for high-sticking and slashing to give White the one goal edge through two periods of play. Chuck Russell returned the short-handed favor at 3:13 in the third (DeGraffenreid), and with Matt Henderson shaken up on the play, there were thoughts that a stand-in would need to stand in to finish out the game. Henderson would shake it off and stand tall the rest of the way, though…a rest of the way that included a game-winning Wirt wrister at 1:33 (‘The Ryans’™…Karns and Owen)….White over Brown, 3-2. The win is a big one for White, who move out of cutline country and into the middle of the pack at 2-3-0. Matt Henderson (20/22) can ice his shoulder with a winning smile on his face, while Nick Meglich (26/29) was studly as ever in the losing effort in lieu of Cory Brin. The loss knocks Brown off their pursuit of a top spot in the standings, but at 3-2-0, they are still well in the playoff mix as they make the turn into the truly tough part of their schedule (Black/Red/Purple). Fun fact…and don’t look now…actually, do look now, as I am sure it will change this week…with two assists in this loss, Mark DeGraffenreid (yours truly) remains your points leader at the halfway point in the season!

On paper, our cover team, Olive, looks fairly ordinary…at least to these old, cobwebby eyes. ‘The Silencer’ has certainly staked a solid claim to ‘best in the business’, Dan Soar and Jon Zygelman are proven (though, not ‘premier’) point producers, and the rest of the cast is solid, but my preseason predictions would have had this team closer to struggle bus then armored tank. With both Soar and Silas out of the lineup to face Orange, SURELY the first loss of the season would land on Captain Jeremy Copp & Company…right? Wrong….and don’t call me Shirley. Zygelman put Olive on top very early (Hima Joshi), and the confusion and controversy surrounding the goal would not keep it off the board. Aaron Cooney’s second of the season even earlier in the second (Christopher Fiore) doubled Olive’s advantage, and Zygelman’s second of the game (Cooney) came without controversy, and gave Olive a 3-0 lead. A Schlatter-less Orange (speaking of notable absences) finally found their scoring form with 0:05 remaining in the middle stanza, with Mostafa Azab making good on a Jess MacKinnon feed….her first career SDFHL point (CONGRATULATIONS, Jess!). Weston Nawrocki kept the teeth clenched and sweat flowing on both sides, cutting the lead to one at 3:44 (Azab and Rob Gaudio), but pseudo-Silas, Ian Crooks (14/16), and Olive would hold on for the 3-2 win to remain undefeated at 3-0-1. Nick Meglich (24/27) suffered his second loss of the night, but this one actually counts towards his numbers, which remain really good at 1-1-0/.942/2.00. Now at 1-2-1, Orange are JUST above the cutline, but really in need of some positive midseason momentum. The bad news…they face 4-0-1 Red this Sunday. Olive will look to keep their loss column spotless against a resurgent Grey side who have won two of their last three.

The marquee Week Seven matchup between Black and Red lived up to the ‘tough, tight, and thrilling’ billing. Captain Joel Gattey’s Red knew nothing but winning coming in, while Captain John Boddy’s Black had split points once in their first three outings, and hoped for at least a point and a renewed zero in the loss ledger against the early season frontrunners. Rookie sensation, Brendan Jew, kicked off the scoring for Black with his first career SDFHL goal (CONGRATULATIONS, Brendan!) with the lone assist belonging to Mark Scelfo (pronounced SKELL-fo…now you know). Geoff Downes made it 2-0 in favor of Black later in the first (Bao Nguyen and Captain Boddy), and it was starting to look like a third Meglich loss of the night would be the first loss of the season for Red. Jordan Pynn took matters into his own super skilled hands in the second, careening coast to coast to cash in with a sick strike to cut the lead in half, and Tim Vick followed later in the period to even the score (Nick Vacchio and Captain Gattey) heading into the final frame. Vacchio’s powerplay punch (Gattey and Trevor Vick) had Red all the way back in the driver’s seat with 7:10 to play, but Captain Boddy answered just twenty seconds later (Dan Jurgens) to knot things at three apiece. The clock carried the day from there, as Nick Meglich (20/23) would hold the line for Red in Sean Kelly’s stead (and avoid a personal third loss on the night), and Ryan Loughran (13/16) would keep both himself and Black lossless for at least another week with a strong effort in the 3-3 thriller. Black face an intriguing challenge in Brown in Week Eight, while Red will look to regain their winning ways against an up and down Orange.

If Red v Black was the marquee Week Seven matchup, Teal v Pink was the bathroom stall graffiti game of the night. Captain Janine Ulloa’s ‘Tranthers’ came into the contest as the lone un-feated team, while (new, replacement) Captain Zach Siemer and Teal had only just slipped off the schneid with a shocking 6-3 grilling of Grey the Sunday prior. Needless to say, both teams were in rather immediate need of a batch of better results, and stepping on the shoulders of another cellar dweller is the ideal way to climb out of a woeful hole. It’s hard to step anywhere with a ruptured Achilles, and Teal’s tender tendon this season has been attendance. Without Chris Malki, Luke Wolmer, and Will Heinl in the lineup, Pink was presented with a platinum opportunity to prevail on a proverbial platter. The first period passed without a point, but Teal’s tired legs started to show in the second, and Pink’s peckish offense started to produce. John Gamm’s first of the season came courtesy of Matthew Ulloa’s first assist, and Mason LaGrossa gave Pink just their second two-goal lead in five games later in the period. Jim LaGrossa matched his son’s goal with one of his own midway through the third (from said son and Gordon Schmidt), and would later add an empty-netter (once again, from Mason) to seal the deal on the first W of the season for Pink, 4-1. Captain Siemer served up the only resistance in a futile fight (Joe Malki and Justin Ker), and Chuck Bender (14/17) and Teal dropped to 1-4-0 with the loss, now officially dead last in the league going into their bye week. Nick Vacchio, rich with wins as a member of Red, finally felt the joy of victory in nets with a smooth 17/18 showing. A win is nice, but Pink are FAR from out of the woods at 1-4-0, themselves. They will need to upset a rested 2-2-0 Purple side this Sunday to bring any real sense of hope to their situation.

The nightcap saw two hungry teams looking to stay alive in the playoff hunt at the midseason mark, with Captain Chad Goins’ 1-2-1 Grey facing Captain Jeannine Stuzka’s 1-2-0 Gold. Both teams were looking to bounce back from a Week Six loss, but Grey had perhaps a bit of additional motivation to prove that their 6-3 loss to previously-winless Teal would not define the rest of their season. At the risk of sounding like the most broken of records, attendance is a big factor in this league. Captain Stuzka’s team has been without vaunted veteran netminder, Chris Tran, all season long, and would have to hope that Zach Siemer (essentially an ’emergency’ sub) could hold off Grey’s attack, while their own offense could find a way to start and run without its engine (Brennen Abel). The good news for Gold…Grey would be without Kyle Snyder, Rob Lavigne, and Jeff Henderson in this one, making the odds making on this one hazy, at best. Enter Vance Morra, whose quiet, unassuming manner allows him to fly well below most opponent’s radar. Morra was flying high in this one from the start, racking up a natural hat trick in the first period to give Grey a commanding 3-0 lead. Eric Willard and Captain Chad Goins assisted on the first goal, but the other two were unassisted ‘radar schmadar’ strikes from the sneaky skilled vet. Tom Darlington made it 4-0 on the powerplay in the second, and Willard (Justin Stege and Janice Darlington) and Captain Goins (Morra) rounded out the scoring in a 6-0 statement body slam for Grey. Morra captured POTW honors with the 3-1 display, and Chuck Bender (16/16) recorded a shutout in Jon Cima’s shoes to improve Grey to a healthy 2-2-1. Zach Siemer’s rough night with his native Teal was not helped by the lopsided loss, but his 27/33 could have been 32/33 and it wouldn’t have mattered to an anemic, incap-Abel Gold. Captain Stuzka’s crew take on White this Sunday in what has to be considered a crucial contest for the cutline dwellers. Grey face a tough challenge in undefeated Olive, but an upset win will have them very comfortable going into the playoff home stretch.