Captain Copp’s Pink Quarantinis have a potency problem. Perennial score-at-will-team-carrier, Andrew Jacobsen, was absent from the score sheet in Pink’s two losses to open the season, and he matched that production by being just plain absent in Week Three. Shawna Hamon returned from her injury absence, and immediately made an impact for Yellow, notching her first of the season, and the only goal of the game in Yellow’s 1-0 win. Eric Willard had the lone assist on the game-winner, and Nick Adkins was sublime in nets, stopping 23/23 to subvert the lopsided shot count, steal a win, and push Yellow to 2-1-0 going into the holiday hiatus. Nick Meglich stopped 9/10 to absorb yet another loss for Pink in Jimm Reifsnyder’s absence. It’s hard to win games when you don’t score, and Pink has just one goal through nine periods of play. Were it not for newcomer, Patrick Walker, they would quite literally have nothing to show for three games of effort, and they now sit alone at the bottom of the standings. Still, a win in their Week Four matchup with a so far so-so Silver could vault them back into the hunt…they may just need AJ to find his A game for that to happen.
A ‘so far so-so Silver’ was good as gold in their first win of the season over basement-bound Brown. Vinny Santora (who may or may not have self-advocated for front page glory last night) scored what had to be the goal of the season…nay, the history of this fine league, absolutely hammering home a corner-picking, museum-quality slapper to break a scoreless tie in the second, and send the capacity crowd into frenzied elation. Many wept openly, and every adult female in attendance (without exception) immediately de-pantied themselves and buried Santora in a lacy landslide. More than one onlooker grabbed the nearest sharp object and carved ‘VS 06.27.21’ into their forehead to forever memorialize the occasion, and a statue is schedule to be erected sometime in the coming weeks. The remaining details of this game are obviously of little relative importance, but for the sake of record keeping, Steve Goncalo also scored for Silver, capping Captain Karns & Company’s first win of the season, 2-0 over Brown. Chuck Bender needed just seven saves to secure the shutout, while Nick Adkins’ (20/22) faced another healthy shot total at the other end in a loss in place of a traveling Don Tran. Gideon Schon, Ezra Cohen, Alan Razoky, and Nadia Saidi all recorded assists….blah, blah, blah. Brown shares Pink’s problem…scoring scarcity…just one goal in three games. It goes without saying that their lone goal was just a regular goal…nothing Santoran, by any means.
The ‘superstars on the schneid’ list shrunk a bit in the middle game, as both Steve Jones and Brian Sheptycki found twine for the first time. Sheptycki’s strike was way too little, and way too late for Red, coming with just ten ticks remaining. Green had built a 4-0 lead through two, with Captain Chad Goins’ first and second of the season coming on assists from slumbering super sniper, Steve Jones. Jones followed with his first of the season to break the game open, and Nadia Saidi scored in Kaity Gottfried’s stead to round out the scoring for the winning side. Red’s Chuck Russell faced an absolute barrage, and fought fiercely (26/30), but suffered his first career L in the 4-1 Green W. I am sure Captain Goins’ and his crew would prefer I continue to focus the front page on Navy and Black, but…Green now shares the top floor at 2-0-1, and should certainly be in the megateam musings to this point in the season.
It was JJ v JA, (with a side of JN) as Jet Javelet and Jeff Anderson took turns tallying in a 2-2 tie between White and Orange. Javelet put Orange on the board first in the first with his second of the season, and Anderson struck back solo and short handed with his first of the season in the second. Javelet’s third of the season and second of the game came on Joe Nguyen’s second primary assist of the game, and Orange held strong until the waning minutes, when Anderson snapped home his second of the season, and second of the game to give White their first tie and third point in the standings through two games over three weeks of league play. If you followed all of that, I applaud your first rate, second-to-none reading comprehension skills. Nick Vacchio (16/18) earned a point for Orange in the standings in Steve Deppensmith’s absence, while Cory Brin remained atop the goalie table for GAA (.942), and kept his team one of four undefeated teams with a 19/21 turn. Many preseason pundits had one or both of these teams as long odds lost causes, but both have proven to be tough and talented to this point. Week Four finds both of them squaring off against fellow bottom halfers, in matchups that should give us a truer trajectory of all teams involved.
The big Navy v Black showdown was, well…perfect. Both teams held a lead at some point, both teams proved they could touch the other team up a bit, and both teams came away with one point, zero losses, and all eyes on a post season rematch. Zach Salt kept his league-leading points pace purring with his fifth goal of the season early in the first, but Joe Malki responded just over a minute later, and Papa/Captain Chris Malki snatched back sole possession of the scoring lead with his sixth minutes later to give Black a 2-1 edge. Patrick Fusco spoiled the family affair theme, and Sean Kelly’s bid for third win, knotting the score at 2-2 on the power play with just over two minutes to play. Chris Tran (25/27) and Sean Kelly (20/22) were both sharp, and fared as well as two goalies could hope to fare against the league’s top two offenses. Both teams enter the Independence Day break at 2-0-1, both clearly primed to be playoff powers come September. It remains to be seen whether Green, or any other team in the table can trip either of these titans between now and then…