First Blood

Brown versus Pink…a quintessential tossup to FINALLY open the Spring 2024 season, after weeks of ill-timed precipitation (I blame Czar Carl) had us all murderous with anticipation and frustration. The ghost of President Pope was not only ‘there in spirit’, but also (somehow) a spirited factor in the opener for Kyle Prior’s ‘No Shit, Sherlock’, racking up three assists, including the primary on Zach Salt’s first in the first, and second (on the powerplay) in the second (second assist to newcomer, Rob Pietropaula). Salt would complete the hat trick early in the third (from Chuck Russell), and Russell would add insurance (from DeGraffenreid and newcomer, Jim Peters) to build Brown’s lead to 4-0. Pink (specifically, ‘The LaGrossa Boys’™) would not go down without a fight, though, as Mason converted a pass from Papa Jim to snap the shutout, then returned the favor in setting up his old man to cut the lead to two with 4:46 to play. Matt Henderson (23/25) would hold strong the rest of the way, though, securing the 4-2 win for Brown as a stand-in for Cory Brin. Nick Vacchio (22/26) absorbed the loss for Captain Janine Ulloa’s ‘…Pink Tranthers’, and The Butler™ has informed us that Brown picked up two clues in the exchange, to go with the two points in the standings.

The second game of the new season saw a second Salt hat trick leading a second two-goal winning effort. Captain Ryan Karns’ White actually made the first cut in this one, with…wait for it…the return of The Deputy™! Yes, Kevin Dinino is back in action, and his first of the season (from Carl Vankoughnett and Dorothy Kline) at 5:04 in the first gave White the early edge. It’s too late for a spoiler alert, but that edge would be knocked from White’s hands with Jon Salt’s first of the evening at 8:59 in the second (Joe Nguyen & Tyler Winstead), picked up and brandished by Salt with an unassisted effort early in the third, then used to complete the kill with the hat trick marker less than two minutes later (from Jason Northrup). Matt Henderson (16/19) suffered the cruel fate of winning when it doesn’t count (for surrogate, Brown), and losing when it does, while Don Tran’s 15/16 sparkler was the perfect compliment to Salt’s assault in the 3-1 Purple win. The Butler™ has once again confirmed that White let two clues slip to Purple in this exchange, putting ‘General Eggplant’ and his troops that much closer to solving this mystery…and maybe also getting away with the ‘procurement’ of that shiny Cup in the library everyone is so found of…

The creamy middle of the Week Three cookie was a delicious duel that would ultimately end in a 3-3 draw. Captain Chad Goins unveiled his new experimental prototype, ‘Kyle Snyder Forward X’, and Captain Bryan Ossa looked to counter with The Schlatter & Gaudio Show™. It was Captain Ossa himself putting Orange on the front foot at 6:07 in the first (from Erin Plone), but that shiny new offensive weapon, Snyder, struck back for Grey later in the period (from Eric Willard & Vance Morra). Willard ‘scored’ the only goal of the second period…a genuine own goal for Orange, with Willard cashing in a goal-by-proxy to give Grey their first lead of the game. Snyder would build that lead with his second strike early in the third (from Janice and Tom Darlington), but Rob Gaudio sliced Orange back to within one just over a minute later (from Gary Peters and David Schlatter). Just when it looked like the lopsided shot count (28 to 14 in Grey’s favor) and the clock would tick and tock Grey to a season opening win, it was Gaudio again (from Schlatter and Plone) to pull Orange back even with 2:02 to play, and 3-3 is where it would stay. Don Tran (25/28) was heroic in his fill-in effort in Nick Meglich’s stead, while Jon Cima (11/14) was solid in his first turn since capturing the Cup with Red last season, but ultimately saddled with a non-win in his Spring 2024 debut. The result allowed both teams to keep one of their original clues guarded, but also forced them to surrender one. Every clue will count when it is time to make an accusation…

Captain Joel Gattey followed in Captain Ossa’s footsteps, getting his team on the board first early in the second (from proud papa, Tim Vick). From there, the stories for Red were the triumphant return of Nick Vacchio (sans goalie gear), and the arrival of a young new talent, Trevor Vick. Vacchio notched his first of the game at 3:32 in the first (from Craig Russell), then assisted on Trevor Vick’s first career SDFHL goal at 2:10 in the second (CONGRATULATIONS, Trevor!). Brennan Abel had checked in on the scoring sheet earlier in the second to cut the lead to 2-1, but young Vick’s stick pushed the cushion back to two to close out the second. Vacchio fired home his second of the game at 6:11 in the third (from…yep…Trevor Vick) to push the gap to 4-1, and while Abel’s second came as a quick response, it would be the only response Gold would muster. Alexis DaCosta (from Wendy Enright and Russell) iced an already ready-to-eat cake, and a standard-issue-stellar Sean Kelly (16/18) blew out any remaining Gold candles to preserve the 5-2 win. Chuck Bender (12/17) had something of a rough outing as a sub for the ailing Chris Tran, and Gold let both of their starting clues slip into their rivals’ hands with the loss…

The nightcap brought another much-anticipate debut…Ryan Loughran in nets! It’s always exciting to have new goalies in the league, and perhaps even more exciting to see how to ‘converted floor player’ fares. ‘Quite well’ was the answer, in this case. Dan Jurgens got the scoring started for Black at 2:39 in the first (from Captain John Boddy and Geoff Downes), and that 1-0 lead would remain unchanged until the second half of the third period. In that span, Loughran had snuffed out all ~20 shots he had faced, and looked to be heading to not only his first career win, but his first career shutout. Captain Boddy ended the offensive drought at 3:53 in the third (from Jurgens and Sadie Hellstrom), but Joe Malki responded just fifteen seconds later to cut the lead back to one, and prove to his mates that Loughran is beatable. Unfortunately for Captain Leah Gonzales and Chuck Bender (11/13), that second Black goal would indeed hold up as the game-winner, 2-1 Black over Teal. So, Loughran did not post a clean slate, but his 23/24 was certainly an impressive first outing. With that, the first night of mixing and mingling around 4S Manor concluded, with Mr. ‘Doctor’ Black snatching two clues from the careless lips of Lady Tealsdale…plenty of sleuthing yet to be done!