Last One In…

The mathematical rubber really meets the road in the final weeks of the regular season, with teams cozied along the cut line carefully calculating the significance of win/draw/loss scenarios. Obviously, it is often very important how other teams in similar standings strata fare, as well, but as you can’t control the course of another game, so the simplest (and sanest) option is to ‘just win, and hope for the best’. Captain Hima Joshi’s ‘Zero Dark Birdy’ had not been doing much ‘just winning’ at 2-5-0 coming into the first of two weeks of make-up play, leaving them ‘hoping for the best’ (and a little help) to survive to see the second season. Captain Joel Gattey’s injured calf did not keep him from showing up to support his Lime mates in their bid to collect a point (or better) and officially secure playoff passage. A loss for Black would mean a lost season, so it was really ‘just tie…at a minimum’ for Joshi & Company as the ball dropped to open the Week Three Make-Up slate. Papa Jon Salt put Black on course for that much needed result, sniping home his seventh of the season from Wendy Enright at 4:18 in the first. Salt’s goal touched off a wild series of scoring from both sides in the ensuing minutes of play, as Jordan Pynn equalized for Lime at 3:46 (Vance Morra), then Sean Bathgate gave Lime their first lead at 0:22 (Morra)…then Marc Lapointe re-tied the game with just six ticks left in the opening ten (Steve Pugliese & Enright)! So…two to two going into the second…and going into the third…and at the final whistle…no scoring for either side outside of that 4:12 span in the latter half of the first. Both Matt Henderson (20/22) and Chuck Bender (17/19) (in a fill-in role for the globetrotting Will Heinl) were sharp, with the 2-2 tie just enough to keep Black’s playoff hopes alive (pending later results), and just enough to lock Lime in for April games. Black will need Blue to loss to Pink at 5:00 this Sunday, and will need to follow that result with a win of their own over the disaster that is 0-8-0 Green. So, plenty of ‘hope for the best’ left for Black, but it is now a must-win-and-get-help final day of play.

Another team fretting over points and pushing through to the playoffs hit the court next, as Captain Bryan Ossa’s Pink warmed up opposite a skeleton crew showing for Captain Ryan Karns’ Flint Blue. Having just witnessed Black’s one point result, Ossa & Company knew they would be in with a win, and the odds of collecting that win were significantly improved with the likes of John Boddy, Luke Wolmer, and Ryan Loughran (who combined to account for over half of their team’s goals, coming in) not in the Flint Blue lineup. Pink would be without the services of Sadie Hellstrom and the aforementioned globetrotter, Will Heinl, but with their ‘big guns’ (Carl Vankoughnett and Josh Wirt) locked and loaded, this was Pink’s game to lose. Karns’ Krew showed early push, but soon flagged, and Pink began their assault in earnest late in the first period. Josh Wirt found twine at 3:32 (Elyse Shattuck & Mostafa Azab), and Carl Vankoughnett followed just twenty ticks later to pump Pink’s lead to two (Wirt & Captain Ossa). Vankoughnett struck again less than a minute later (2:34, from Mark DeGraffenreid and Pat Gladstone), and with a 13-3 shot count in Pink’s favor through the first period of play, it seemed clear that the FlamingOssas would get the result they needed on this day with relative ease. The action quieted down in the second period, but Vankoughnett’s hat trick capper at 4:47 (DeGraffenreid & Ossa) kept any inkling of a Flint Blue comeback at bay going into the final period of play. That final period saw a fourth Vankoughnett goal (Wirt & Gladstone at 8:10) and a sixth and final goal for Pink, courtesy of Captain Ossa at 7:27 (Vankoughnett & DeGraffenreid) to stick the dismount on a 6-0 playoff-clinching win. Jon Cima (12/12) was hardly tested in a surrogate shutout stint, while Nick Meglich was GREAT, but gutted in a 33/39 losing effort. The win gives Pink two in a row, evens their record at 4-4-0, and takes all pressure off for their regular season wrap against Captain Gaudio’s Blue. The loss for Flint Blue was hardly a playoff positioning hinderance for the presumptive second seeds, and should foster no concern otherwise for Captain Karns’ & Company, given the limited bench and arsenal available in this loss (however convincing).

Remaining recaps to come…