Captain Ian Crooks’ Black brigade had picked up quite a head of steam coming into Week Four of playoff action. After dropping a nail-biting, heart-breaking Week One affair with Navy, they smashed a hapless Purple, 4-1, then blasted a VERY short-benched Grey, 7-0. Captain Luke Wolmer and Neon also lost their playoff opener (4-2 to second-seeded White), but then recovered to knock off the three seeds, Red, and the four seeds, Navy (by counts of 4-1 and 3-2, respectively). It really felt like anything could happen in this one…maybe Black’s high-powered offense finds enough cracks in Sean Kelly’s armor…or maybe Neon gets the big guns going, and let’s ‘Da Kid’ do the rest between the pipes. It was David Schlatter proving the latter to be a matter of fact, scoring at 9:04 and 6:05 in the first to give Neon a strong push off the blocks. Brennan Abel struck back from Black late in the stanza to cut the lead in half, but the second period saw more Neon flex, with Captain Wolmer converting on the power play, and Schlatter completing the hat trick to build the edge to 4-1. Abel provided the lone assist on Carl Vankoughnett’s response at 5:47 in the third, but Sean Kelly (15/17) held firm the rest of the way, and only an empty-netter from Schlatter (his fourth of the game) would find a home from there, as Neon went on to eliminate Black 5-2. Chris Tran (14/18) did not get a lot of help from his mates in the defensive zone, but sometimes you just have to tip your hat to great players making great plays…and both Wolmer and Schlatter certainly provided plenty of that for the upstart seven seeds. Neon did not have much time to savor the win before jumping back on the court for a revenge rematch with White in the second game of the night…
Revenge is a dish best served in a playoff elimination game. Captain Tomáš Jankovic and White had the first laugh back in Week One of the playoffs, with four different scorers (including Jankovic himself) building a 4-0 lead that would withstand some third period erosion in a 4-2 win over Neon. It was Neon on the board first in the rematch, with rookie Nik Thompson finding twine short-handed at 3:47 in the first. Rich Shane leveled the ledger with just 0:38 to play, finishing a nifty feed from super sub, Maureen Ruchhoeft. It was a similar exchange of salvos in the second, with Captain Luke Wolmer staking his team back to a one goal lead before his old teammate, Zach Salt, set things back even just over a minute later. Sean Kelly (14/16) would hold it down in the third, while David Schlatter went ‘hold my beer’ in a good way, assisting on Tom Darlington’s game-winner early in the period, then adding even strength insurance and an empty-netter to ice the win, and slice White out of the playoff picture, 5-2. White’s steady rise and sudden fall show just how unforgiving the playoffs can be, with the flip side being the so-so to surging switch flip that Neon has made. They will hope to keep their momentum mounting to a Cup crescendo, as they prepare to face Green in the Fall League Final this Sunday. If this is truly a revenge tour, it is a fitting final stop, as Neon suffered their worst loss of the season to Green back in Week Six (4-0). With last Sunday’s rainout, Captain Jon Champine and Green have idle since November 20th. A month between games may show as rest or rust for the top seed, but either way…one game or two…this is sure to be a thrilling climax to another great season.