Our 25th anniversary season has been an homage to all things 1997, and the definitive pinnacle of art and culture that year was the timeless work of cinematic excellence that was/is the movie film ‘Face/Off’. Orange and Grey can only hope to deliver the same powerhouse performances that Travolta and Cage blessed us with in the year of our league’s birth, 0 AD (After Dale). The scene is set, the cameras are ready to roll, and the action is set to unfold in a thrilling one (or two) hour epic/preposterous thrill ride this Sunday…
The family drama was shaken out of the Salt v Salt playoff battle to the death by virtue of Captain Jon’s absence, but there was still plenty of drama stirring in this, the third and final installment of Atomic Blue v Pink. A scoreless first led to a (mostly) scoreless second, with Carl Vankoughnett finally breaking the drought with a solo effort at the 2:57 mark. Sean Kelly (25/26) and Nick Vacchio (24/25) were the story for their respective sides, as Vankoughnett’s strike stood as the lone blemish for either netminder with time ticking past the halfway point in the third. Matt Gottfried put Pink on the board at 3:56 (from Joe Nguyen), bringing an already very even game to an officially even keel at 1-1. Regulation was not enough to declare a winner, and overtime fared no better at deciding things, so it was off to the shootout. Dan Jurgens converted where Zach Salt failed in the first round, but Carl Vankoughnett converted, and Matt Gottfried could not answer in the second round. Mostafa Azab and Joe Nguyen traded blanks, before Matt Rogers put the underdogs on top in the fourth round (capitalizing on Zach Siemer’s miss). With Steph Palomo Schmidt’s no goal in round five, the only saving grace for Pink would be a Kaity Gottfried conversion…she did not convert, and Nick Vacchio and Atomic Blue hung on to complete the 2-1 upset shootout win over Pink.
There is no rest for the weary in the fourth and final weeks of SDFHL playoff hockey. Atomic Blue was the weary, but no less hopeful Cinderella, and Captain Jeremy Copp’s ‘Steel Crazy After All These Years’ the midnight chiming clock tower. A furious first frame saw Brandon Olsen put Grey on top (from Rob Gaudio and Andrew Wong), Zach Salt level things less than a minute later (from Matt Rogers), Rob Gaudio put Grey back in front less than thirty seconds later (from Olsen and Jordan Pynn), and super sub, Steph Palomo Schmidt, tie a 2-2 knot with 2:01 to play. The scorers settled down, while Nick Meglich (19/21) and Nick Vacchio (14/16) settled in, keeping both nets empty through the next period, and the next period after that. Overtime…*crickets*….it would be another game, another shootout, with a punched ticket to the Final on the line this time. Jordan Pynn and Zach Salt could not find a way in round one, and Jim LaGrossa and Carl Vankoughnett were stymied just the same in the second. Rob Gaudio finally found twine in round three, and a Mostafa Azab miss put the pressure squarely on the remaining two Atomic Blue shooters…Matt Rogers, and Steph Palomo Schmidt. Neither shooter, nor their Grey counterparts (Justin Stege and Hima Joshi) could solve their respective opposing goalie, and so, Gaudio tucking one ball past Vacchio tucked Grey into the SDFHL Sprummer League 2022 Final with a crazy close 3-2 decision, and tucked Atomic Blue into the ‘close, but no cigar’ file.
Grey advance to the Final as the top seed, but come in as the ‘away’ team in a rematch with Orange. Captain Joel Gattey’s ‘GO, OJ, GO!’ embarrassed Grey in Week Three of the playoffs, after bowing to Grey in the regular season 5-3 (albeit, with the two ‘big guns’ out of the lineup). Get your popcorn, and your pompoms ready, because, one game or two, this is sure to be a spectacular finale!