Pink left Black on the brink, teetering dangerously along the cut line after a 2-1 defeat. Glenn Pinto scored in the first minute of play, and Kris Tosczak netted the game-winner with 3:17 to play in the third to shore up Pink’s playoff positioning, and give Tiffany Fox (24/25) her fifth win of the season. Jim LaGrossa had Black even with his eighth of the season in the closing minute of the second, but Fox held strong, Tosczak tallied, and Matt Henderson (12/14) swallowed his third loss in his last four outings. The win kept Pink in sole possession of second place, with Red now officially locked in first. They will close out their regular season, and look to protect their second seed against White on December 8th. Even with a loss, the lowest they can fall is the four spot. The aforementioned brink for Black features Captain Kayleigh’s Crew just one point ahead of Royal Blue with one game remaining for both teams. Also lurking at six, five, and four points, respectively, are White, Green, and Purple. The problem for Black…these three teams all have two games to play, and one of those games is Green v Purple. The other problem for Black…they tied White, and lost to both Green and Purple. Oh, one more problem…Black’s final opponent is Red!
Purple earned a crucial first win in Week Six, but a bye week snuffed that momentum, and had them starting from scratch in Week Eight. Maroon was looking for a final notch in the standings to secure playoff rights, and Eric Willard notched one early in the second to put the favorites on the front foot. A loss would not mean elimination, but it would certainly hurt the cause for Captain Chris Tran’s clan. Having failed to score on a lengthy 5 on 3, and with the clock winding down to wee seconds, it looked like Purple was going to have to embrace another loss, and hope for better results in their remaining games. Cue Andy Strathman…hero among men. Strathman finally solved Chuck Bender (16/17) with 0:04 to play, knotting the score for good at 1-1, and securing what could turn out to be a vital point in the standings for his team. Captain Tran was stellar, as always, stopping 15/16, and somehow willing his team to avoid the L. Purple are hoping that will finds a way, as Purple will almost certainly need wins in both of their remaining games in order to find their way into January play. It helps that those remaining games are against Royal Blue and Green, the very two teams that Purple is hoping to leap past. Maroon are now safely tucked in the top half of the standings, concerned only with maintaining/improving their playoff seeding going into their final match against Tie Dye on December 8th.
Speak of the devils, Royal Blue and Green squared off in a low standings, high stakes affair. Captain Jon Salt’s side had managed just one win and three points coming in, meaning that anything less than a tie would be all she wrote for the storied scorer and his gang. That storied scorer authored a hat trick (all unassisted), and Chris Tran’s 32/32 wrote off Captain Vacchio’s offense in Royal’s 3-0 triumph. The bottom of the standings is now an intriguing tangle of hope and desperation. If Royal can manage a win over Purple in their final game, they will have completed their swim to playoff safety. A loss, or a tie against Purple, and they will likely find themselves sunk. I, for one, am not counting Salt out. He has a knack for finding a way over the top, and with the playoff door ajar, I fully expect him to kick it in and stride through. Green will have to hope for a good result against a tough Orange squad in Week Nine, and/or find a way to prevail over Purple in their regular season finale. There are a number of scenarios that would find them in the playoff picture, but unfortunately for Green, Melissa Busby is set to return to play in nets to close out the season. Whatever the case, the final few weeks of play will be dripping with playoff implications.
The Week Eight showdown between Red and Orange was billed as a must-see heavy weight bout. Red came in undefeated at 6-0-1, and featuring the league’s top male point scorer (Connor Miller), top female point scorer (Julie Ott), and top goalie (Captain Nick Adkins, at your service). Orange came in having lost just once, hovering just below Red in the standings, with their very own London Peters hovering just below Mr. Miller on the stat slate, hoping to prove that they could be the team to bring down Big Red. Well…Connor Miller was absent, and neither team managed to score in a let down of a 0-0 tie that saw fans heading for the exits early. Orange dominated play for most of the game, outshooting Red 22-4, but neither Captain Adkins (22/22), nor Zach Siemer (4/4) would budge. Siemer’s shutout streak is now at 63:40 and counting, while Adkins filthy numbers got even filthier with his third shutout of the season. Here’s hoping a playoff rematch between these two features both Connor and London, or we may be forced to endure a 1-0 shootout result.