Well, it was 462 days in the making, but the SDFHL finally got back to action on Sunday. The slate kicked off with Captain Gattey’s Red taking on Captain Karn’s Silver. Dan Jurgens proved his true draft value, scoring first and last for Red, and assisting on Steve Linke’s middle marker for good measure. Newcomer Jen Caringal chalked up primary assists on both Jurgens goals, and Sarah (‘AJ’) Higginbotham got into the assist column for Red, as well…the first point of their respective SDFHL careers. Nadia Saidi joined in the newbie reindeer games, notching her first career goal for Silver in the final tick of the second period. Alas, Nadia’s effort, and the late Andy Strathman tally were not enough to save Silver from an opening 3-2 loss. Yet another newcomer, goaltender Chuck Russell, shone brightly in his debut for Red, stopping 21/23 to record his first SDFHL career ‘W’. He outdueled Chuck ‘The Original Chuck’ Bender, who suffered the loss with a 7/10 line.
Black and Pink squared off next, with Captain Chris Malki leading the way for his squad with tallies in the first and second (assists to Joe Malki and Tom Darlington). That was twice the offense that Sean Kelly would need, as he posted a rather ho hum shutout to start the season (11/11), and account for the zero in Black’s 2-0 win. Jimm Reifnsyder’s return to SDFHL action was spoiled by Malki’s spoils, but he kept Pink in the game with a 20/22 effort, in spite of his side being outshot two to one. Andrew Jacobsen was held off the board entirely, which is a rare feat, indeed. He either has COVID rust to work off, or he just needs London Peters back in the line up to stir the pot in the attack zone.
It was a quiet first period in game three…too quiet. Nick Adkins and Chris Tran kept the balls at bay early, but the latter would face only a light peppering the rest of the way, while the former drown in Salt. Captain Jon and ‘little brother’ Zach took turns scoring goals, and assisting on said goals to the tune of four and four, while Deborah Finucane collected three assists, and Patrick Fusco rounded out the scoring in the 5-0 face smash. Tran’s 15/15 frustrated a Yellow lineup that was missing two of its key players (Josh Wirt and Shawna Hamon), while Adkins held as well as he could (21/26), but the Salts showed no mercy. Needless to say, the fact that J & Z touched one of the best goalies in the league up for four goals is a major warning shot to their next nine opponents. Who will be the first (if any) of the teams to shut these two down?
Jim LaGrossa and Kris Tosczak eached racked up one and one in the first, pacing Orange out to an early lead in what looked to be an easy win. Teal adjusted their lineup, kept their collective chin up, and retaliated midway through the second (Min-Soo Smith) and early in the third (newcomer, Tyler Lyne). Jet Javelet put Captain Wirth’s side back on top with Orange’s second powerplay goal of the evening, but Captain Mark DeGraffenreid shoveled home a rebound with just over a minute to play to knot the game for good, 3-3. It was another game, another rookie getting in the scoring books, as Sally Jackson earned her first and second career assists on Teal’s third period goals. Nick Meglich was very sharp, arguably stealing the game for Teal with a 25/28 outing in his much-awaited return. Steve Deppensmith was challenged much less, but registered the same result in the records books with a 10/13 effort.
In spite of the relatively low shot count, and the 1-1 final score, the Week One nightcap was a definite thriller. Don Tran (13/14) and Nick Vacchio (9/10) kept watch over two scoreless periods of play before rookie sensation, Kevin Wilkinson, finally broke through for Green on an unassisted wrap around early in the third. Captain Nagy himself evened the score for Brown a few minutes later, with assists from Jordan Pynn, and super sub, Dorothy Kline. Pynn was great, as always, but I am afraid his one assist is not going to keep him on the POTW podium that he has lived on for something like a year and a half. In other news, Steve Jones was held off the score sheet for the first time in…maybe ever. Both AJ and Jones…no points through Week One…brace yourself if you are facing either of these perennial terrors this Sunday!