Captain Steph Palomo Schmidt’s ‘Pearl Chen’s Summer Tour’ has hit rock bottom, as every team in the league currently has them in their rear view mirror (reference check). A win over Blue in Week Four had the band amped (*rim shot*), and with every team technically making the playoffs, White is still very much alive (reference check), but their season will fade to black (reference check) quickly if they can’t win more than once (reference check) in five tries…
Captain Mark Nagy’s ‘SubLime’ shocked the world (well, the world, minus me…my faith never wavered) with two convincing wins to start their season, but rolled into Week Five after suffering a convincing loss to Pink. Grey entered the week with a 2-1-1 record and a bit of a strut, and had to love seeing Arron Cooney and proud papa, Eric Willard, out of Lime’s lineup. Alex Theis (21/22) earned his paycheck in the first period alone, stopping all ten Grey shots in a scoreless first, but Jim LaGrossa finally broke through with the game-winner with 3:11 to play in the middle stanza. Brandon Olsen and Rob Gaudio each collected an assist on the play, and each were assessed minor penalties in a heated third that, like the first, saw no scoring. Parsa Mostafavi (15/15) recorded his first career shutout, and improved his record to an impressive 3-0-1. Grey now stands in a virtual tie with Pink at the top of the standings, but they do hold the head-to-head tie breaker, should the race for the top playoff seed come down to the wire. The 1-0 loss drops Lime back to .500 at 2-2-0, leaving them in a middle of the pack mush with three other teams, including their Week Six opponent, Gold. They will look to snap their slide, but will have to do so without Theis, and possibly (again) without the services of a diaper-changing Willard.
If you read the headline, you know that White did not make their way to a W last Sunday, but the box scores magnify the woes of their 1-3-1 record. Captain Steph Palomo Schmidt’s crew has allowed five goals in three of their five games to this point, and have surrendered twenty total goals to this point…more than double most other teams in the league. It was another five upside their heads again in Week Five, this time courtesy of a hot and cold Gold. Brian Sheptycki turned in a POTW performance with a goal in the first, and a goal and an assist in the second. Second rounder, Mark Ennsmann, contributed a goal and three helpers, and Maureen Ruchhoeft and Captain Will Heinl himself capped the scoring for Gold in the 5-1 win. White’s team namesake, Jeff Chen, provided the only response for White, and the only blemish on Nick Meglich’s sheet (23/24) midway through the third. Gold took full advantage of the absence of one of White’s primary weapons (Alex DaCosta) and primary shields (Rob LaVigne), evening their record at 2-2-0 with the runaway win. Cory Brin’s valiant effort (30/35) was, alas, in vain. White take comfort in the fact that even the lowest, limpest team still has a shot at the second season. Still, winning isn’t everything, but it sure beats losing…
Four goals in less than three minutes of the first period…surely the final was something like 9-8. Nope…Atomic Blue and Green blew their respective loads in a short span (story of my life), wrapping the first period at the 2-2 score that would hold as the final. Greg Wirth gave Atomic the lead at 3:02 in the first, Captain Joe Malki answered for Green at 1:35, Papa Chris Malki put Green in front 2-1 at 0:57, and Zach Salt found the equalizer at 0:16. Wayne Wong (18/20) and Don Tran (20/22) were happy to have the scoring bonanza behind them, holding on for dear life the rest of the way to earn their team a point in the standings. That point has Green at 2-2-1…good enough for third place (bearing in mind that five of the six teams below them have only played four games), while Atomic Blue find themselves on the wrong side of .500 at 1-2-1. More blues for Atomic…they face frontrunners Grey in Week Six, while Green look to keep cellar-dwelling White right in their place.
‘Karnsma Police’, much like ‘SubLime’ began the season with a win-win bang, and much the same as SubLime, they have since fizzled to a loss-loss lull. It was ‘no Salt, no Jurgens, no problem’ for Pink and their stalwart backstop, Sean Kelly (17/18), who was his customary superhuman self in the 2-1 win. Chuck Bender (4/6) was much less tested, but twice bitten…with the final bite coming courtesy of an odd man rush in the final minutes of play. Joe Nguyen was that odd man, converting Matt Gottfried’s centering feed at 1:18 to break the one all tie and propel Pink to an stunning coup of a win. Zach Siemer had put Pink on the board at 6:47 in the first, and that lead held until Geoff Downes finally solved ‘Da Kid’ on the power play at 5:27 in the third. The win keeps Pink nestled at the top of the standings with a record of 3-1-1, and drops Blue back into the middle of the pack morass at 2-2-0. It’s scary to think about what Pink will look like with all of their pieces presents, accounted for, and uninjured/uncompromised. There is a month of games left to play, but…Cup favorites?