Last Call

Dan Jurgens watched in street clothes (shirt and all!) as Glenn Pinto took the court in his stead for Captain Zach Salt’s Lime in a Week Nine showdown with a down and desperate White side. Jurgens’ nagging injury had finally landed him in surgery, but Lime had survived his limited capacity and significant attendance issues elsewhere in the ranks to find themselves just a point or two away from a locked and loaded playoff bullet. Captain Geoff Downes’ White were in a considerably more desperate position, with their 2-4-1 record leaving them just one rung off the bottom of the standings ladder, still below the cut line with five points, and in desperate need of a win. Sean Bathgate and Captain Downes himself were out of the lineup for this crucial clash, but Lime (of course) obliged with the absences of Troy Ohlsson and (make sure you are seated, please) Justin Ker. A scoreless first saw both teams trading chances, and it wasn’t until the latter half of the second that Carl Vankoughnett would finally break the scoring seal (4:08, from Zach Siemer and Wendy Enright). White’s lead lasted less than two minutes before Captain Salt drew Lime even (2:17, from Eric Willard), and the teams would head to the third period in a 1-1 deadlock. Zach Siemer struck bright and early in that third period (8:51), converting a Mark Scelfo feed into a 2-1 lead, and brimming White’s bench with hopes of redemption for a season of coming up short. The one goal edge would hold, then hold some more, forcing Lime to pull Jon Cima and send everything in an effort to steal a point. Not all heroes wear capes, but at least one wears novelty shorts emblazoned with dozens of lime margaritas. That person…Shelby Shattuck…Lime’s hero, and White’s hated heel…turning and wristing home a backhand from the slot to tie the game at 2-2 with 0:47 to play (Eric Willard & Captain Salt), lick Lime’s playoff envelope, and leave White very much in playoff peril. Both Lime’s Jon Cima and White’s Sean Kelly posted identical 15/17 lines, but the late strike and the significant stakes makes the latter sting (appropriately) like salt and lime poured on an open wound. It was a special moment to watch for one of my favorite Shattuck sisters, but an absolute dagger for Downes & Company, who must now hope for points and/or help to survive the season. The good news…their destiny is in their hands as they face Gold in the biggest game for any team all season. Lime have a drastically less dramatic denouement on tap, as they take on fellow nine pointers, Brown, in a low key playoff tune-up.

Kalen Hunter’s Week Eight heroics finally snapped Brown’s three game losing slide, and left them primed for a playoff ticket punch as they lined up to face Captain Jeremy Copp’s Grey. Grey carried a matching record (3-3-1) coming in, but found themselves in the throes of their own slide, thanks to a 3-2 Week Seven loss to Red, and a 3-1 Week Eight loss to Green. A win for either side in this one meant playoff safety, while a loss meant at least some measure of genuine cut line peril. Jokes of an agreed-upon tie were batted about as the teams met to face off in the first, with three wins and eight points projected to keep both teams safe from regular season elimination. No such deal was struck (nor seriously considered, lest you are a crazy conspiracy theorist at heart), though the first and second periods wore by with the rivals locked in a 0-0 tie. Owen Perks finally found paydirt for Grey at 9:38 in the third (Jon Zygelman), and quickly followed with a second just fifty-one seconds later (Dan Soar & Hima Joshi) to give Grey a two goal edge. Mark DeGraffenreid eased the tension for Brown at 8:25 (Kalen Hunter & Andy Strathman), and Mario (pronounced MAY-rio) Peia brought Brown even with a crazy, bad angle bat from along the goal line (Pat Gladstone & Strathman). This was a huge goal for Brown, and a milestone for Peia…his first career SDFHL goal! CONGRATULATIONS, MARIO! The tie lasted just a few more minutes before DeGraffenreid slapped a second home at 5:12 (Sadie Hellstrom & Hunter), and Hellstrom would punctuate the 4-2 win with an empty-netter at 0:24 (Captain Ryan Karns). Mason Holcomb (13/15) collected his second straight win, while Matt Henderson (20/23) suffered his third straight loss, tempering his stellar early season shine a touch. The loss is a setback for Grey, for sure, but they remain in playoff position, and only a double dose of wins for White over Gold, and Red over Heather Blue can put them in a position to NEED a point (or more) against Orange in their finale. As the scheduling fates would have it, Grey will know where they stand when they take to the court for warmups. Speaking (well, typing) of warmups, Brown will take on standings twins, Lime, in their finale, with little more than pride and playoff positioning on the line.

I’m not sure what the league record for ties in a season might be, but Captain Jon Salt’s Heather Blue has got to be in that conversation. While still undefeated, Heather Blue had not managed to distance themselves from the rest of the pack coming into Week Nine thanks to FOUR ties in seven tries. Keeping the loss column clean is a big statement, but beyond being a fun, fútboltacular feat, and a nod to the ‘slow and steady’ adage, a 3-0-4 record does make the betting world wonder how Salt & Company will fare in the tie-free wilds of the playoffs. Those playoffs have been guaranteed pastures for Heather Blue for several weeks, and Captain Nick Meglich’s Green group was equally comfortable coming in with nine points in the bank at 4-2-1. A win for Green would not only finally hand defeat to the only remaining undefeated side, but would actually vault Green into first, with the total wins and head-to-head tiebreakers in hand going into the final week of play. So, while not quite dripping with the drama of the playoff trench wars, there was enough at stake in this one to make it spicy…the kind of spice that only YET ANOTHER TIE could tame. Josh Wirt began his POTW campaign with an early first period goal (8:09 from Maureen Ruchhoeft and Vinny Santora), and a second at 5:57 (Trice Harvey) to put Green up two. Heather Blue doesn’t even like to leave a given period untied, though, and a pair of Captain Salt shakes–3:45 from Joe Nguyen and Bryan Ossa, and 2:13 from Ty Pereira–had all things even at two going into the second. The second period was another stalemate, this time of the scoreless variety, and the third…also a tie! Ty ‘Even The Players Are Named Tie’ Pereira converted another Ossa apple into the go-ahead goal at 9:15, but Josh Wirt completed his hat trick and saved the day for Green with 0:43 to play (Nick Vacchio). That’s right, loyal readers…ANOTHER TIE for Heather Blue, this one a 3-3 draw with Green to give them FIVE on the season! Mason Holcomb (13/16) was bapTIEzed in Heather Blue’s grand tradition of ‘meh’ in a fill-in stint for Eric Kroeker, while Captain Meglich’s 29/32 sparkler was about as valiant a non-winning effort as one can imagine. The tie keeps Heather Blue on top of the pile, but should they post another tie in their finale versus Red this Sunday (odds currently sitting, fittingly, at 1:1), they will leave the door open for Green to steal the crown with a win over Atomic Blue. A loss for Heather Blue this Sunday actually leaves the door WIDE open for FOUR other teams to claim the top spot, based on the ‘total wins’ tiebreaker…winning has fringe benefits.

Captain Joel Gattey’s Gold limped into Week Nine with a 1-4-2 record, all but left for playoff death, but also knowing that a win over Captain Janet Goins’ Orange would bounce them off the standings floor and actually leave them in a surprisingly solid/strong position to pull the nose of the plane up and land a playoff spot at the last possible second. Orange had rather simple designs on winning a game they expected to win, thereby officially securing a playoff berth, and keeping themselves in contention for the top seed in the process. Any potential for drama in this one was sucked out and spit off a cliff in a seven (!) goal first period. Unfortunately for Captain Gattey’s gang, six of those seven belonged to Orange. Jackson Tomaszewski’s first came at 7:51 (Brennen Abel & Steph Palomo Schmidt), his second at 7:29 (Alan Razoky & Gordon Schmidt), and his third at 5:46 (Abel & Schmidt). Chad Goins wedged one of his own home in that span, the eventual game-winner at 5:46 (William Teglia & Steve Linke), giving Orange a 4-0 lead in the span of 2:05 (!). Kyle Snyder finally answered for Gold at 5:06, but Orange quickly snuffed out any swing in momentum with goals at 3:25 (Abel) and 2:21 (Palomo Schmidt). It’s worth noting (and fretting over, if you meet Orange from here out) that all of this carnage took place against a very good goalie (Alex Theis), and all without the services of Orange’s leading goal scorer, Eric Enciso. A kinder, gentler, saner second saw just two tallies, with Abel notching a second to make it 7-1, and Snyder a second to bring the lopsided ledger to 7-2, which would hold as the final (mercifully, for the sake of the scorekeeper’s wrist). The trouncing may well be the last action of the season for Theis (17/24), who will be spelled in Gold’s finale by Chris Tran, while Chuck Bender (16/18) continued his steady hand in helping Orange to a 4-1-1 record after a tough 0-2-0 season start. Incredibly enough, Gold are still not done! A win over White in their regular season swan song would improve their record to 2-5-2, and drop White to 2-5-2 in the process. If Red then lose to the heavily-favored Heather Blue, it would produce a three way tie for the final playoff spot, and if you can believe it…Gold would advance from that threesome on head-to-head points against the other two! So…brace yourself for the 4:00 and 6:00 games this week, SDFHL fans!

The Week Nine nightcap was rife with playoff implications, with Captain Rob Gaudio’s 3-3-1 Atomic Blue facing Captain Mark Nagy’s 2-3-2 Red. A win for Atomic Blue would seal a playoff seat, while a win for Red would vault them past White and Grey, and put them in a much-improved position to survive the cut line…especially with an auto-tie coming in the form of a meeting with Heather Blue 🙂 . Scott Wieland dipped his toe into the goal pond for the first time since his triumphant return to league play, picking a fine time for this first of the season to put Atomic Blue in front at 4:46 in the first (Shawna Hamon & Mostafa Azab). A scoreless second ended with the teams posting nearly identical shot totals (Atomic Blue with thirteen, and Red with fourteen), but both goalies holding strong, leaving the all important standings points on the table going into the third. Chris Tran capitalized on a rare delay of game penalty with 4:38 to play, with Wieland adding an assist to go with his earlier goal and bump the Atomic Blue edge to two. Vance Morra, who has scored at least one goal in all but ONE game for his team this season (!), closed the scoring with an empty-netter 1:11, capping the 3-0 Atomic Blue win over Red, officially stamping his team’s playoff passport, and leaving Red curled up along the cutline with one Sunday left in the regular season. The win was big for Atomic Blue, but an even bigger potential plus came with the 19/19 shutout return to glory for Silas ‘The Silencer’™ Perks. If Perks really has rediscovered his winning form, Atomic Blue may be the team to beat come November. Gaudio’s gang draw a perfect pre-playoff challenge in Green this Sunday, while Red will fight for their second season lives against the lossless Heather Blue. Don Tran (14/16) shouldered another loss to keep Red out of the postseason picture going into the final Sunday, but there remain a number of combinations of results that would allow for Red redemption. The simplest path is probably a tie (or better) against Heather Blue, coupled with a Gold win over White. If White should beat Gold, Red’s only hope is a win over Heather Blue, and anything but a win for Grey in their finale with Orange.