Lost

Our Week Four cover team was up first, with Captain Josh Wirt’s hard luck Red still seeking their first win…indeed, their first point of the Wing 2026 season. I have continued to prop Red up in spite of their winless start, primarily because I think they are built to win, but were perhaps scheduled for a rough February ride. Their opening loss to Gold came (mainly) courtesy of a stellar effort from netminder John Kushneryk, and their subsequent two outings came against the only two remaining undefeated teams in Black and Sand. A Week Four match with Captain Ryan Karns’ 1-2-0 Green seemed a likely offramp from the Winless Expressway, but the absence of Steve Goncalo and Captain Wirt himself would certainly complicate that simple plan. Red had struggled to score in those first three losses, and Wirt and Goncalo had accounted for half of the four total goals scored (Eric Caligiuri and Eli Schonbrun each with one, as well). The bright side…Papa (soon to be Grandpapa) Chris Malki was back in the lineup after missing the showdown with Sand. The reunited Malkis weren’t a factor early, with Jackson Tomaszewski finding his fourth of the season at 8:54 in the first (Weston Oakley & Brendan Jew), then Oakley building the lead at 6:18 in the second (Carl Vankoughnett & Lena Amelang), and a solo, short-handed Vankoughnett strike at 1:29 in the second pushing Green’s edge to three. The father and son would finally fight back for Red at that point, with a Papa Chris converting on the powerplay at 1:04 in the second (Joe Malki) to cut the lead back to two going into the first break. Tomaszewski slowed Red’s comeback roll with his second of the game at 5:54 in the third (Oakley & Amelang), but the Red rally continued with Joe’s first (!) of the season at 3:42 (Schonbrun), and Chris’ second of the game/season at 0:54 (Joe Malki & Bryan Ossa). So…now a 4-3 game, with Green clinging to a one goal lead in the final minute of play, and…Tomaszewski would finish what he started, capping his hat trick with an empty-netter at 0:40 to seal the winning deal for Green, 5-3. Matt Henderson (19/22) deserved a nice bounce back win after getting bounced around by Pink in Week Three, and his efforts helped Green level their season ledger at 2-2-0. It was just another tough loss for Don Tran (20/24) and Red, who at 0-4-0 have just five games left to lift themselves above the cut line and into playoff contention. There are no caveats or excuses from this point forward, and a loss to a potent Pink this Sunday might finally have me rethinking my assessment of this team as a wolf in winless wool.

Captain Nick Vacchio’s Gold and Captain William Teglia’s Teal were up next in a ‘crossroads’ match of 2-1-0 twinsies. The struggles of Red, White, and Blue (ironic, after the Winter Olympic ice hockey showing for those colors) have sapped some of the sense of urgency from these middle of the pack melees, but you can never be too far above the cut line, and 3-1-0 looks and feels a lot better than 2-2-0. Rob LaVigne pushed Teal out in front with his first of the season at 4:57 in the first (Mostafa Azab), but Gold had their intrepid last line of defense (John Kushneryk) to thank once again for keeping things close through ten minutes of play, with Teal holding a 10-5 advantage in shots. If you were playing in/present for this game, you know that there were a lot of ‘firsts’, which we (sort of spontaneously, and very sportingly) decided to celebrate (one and all). The first such first was Bryan Fisher’s first career SDFHL goal at 7:29 in the second to draw Gold level (Andrew Wong), then Andrew MacFarlane’s first career SDFHL point…the second assist on Captain Vacchio’s go-ahead goal for Gold at 6:58 in the second (Steve Linke with the primary). CONGRATULATIONS, BRYAN AND ANDREW! Alas for Gold, their lead lasted less than a minute, as Kyle Snyder would equalize unassisted at 6:04, then put Teal back on top with a solo, short-handed strike at 3:28. Linke’s lamplighter at 1:04 in the second (Steve Pugliese) meant that this intriguing middleweight match would go the full three rounds, with the teams headed to the second break in 3-3 lockstep. While the score was even through two, the shots were 17-9 in Teal’s favor, and it felt as though this one would either be another Kushneryk heist job (see Week One versus Red) or a ‘math is math’ Teal triumph. The shot total was an insanely skimpy FOUR (for both sides combined!) in the final frame, but it was Snyder who would make one of Teal’s three shots count, completing his hat trick at 7:04 (LaVigne & Azab) to lift Teal to a 4-3 win. Kushneryk (16/20) was heroic, but human, and Jon Cima (7/10) was strong enough to carry the day, as Teal take to higher rungs in the standings at 3-1-0 and Gold remain smack in the middle of the pack at 2-2-0.

The ‘BIG GAME OF THE WEEK’ between Captain Kalen Hunter’s 3-0-0 Black and Captain Nick Meglich’s 3-0-0 Sand served as the creamy middle to the Week Four slate. Everything and nothing at all were at stake in this one, but with both teams looking like strong Cup contenders, the SDFHL TV ($9.95 a month, streaming) ratings were through the roof for this initial clash of (presumed) titans. The storylines were pretty obvious…Black would need to find a way to contain Alex ‘Thanos’ Giummo, while managing to get the ball behind perhaps the hottest goalie in the past three seasons, Captain Meglich himself. Black’s plan of attack…a considerable amount of ‘extra defensive attention’ on Thanos, and some good old fashioned faith in the living legend last line of defense that is Sean ‘Da Kid’ Kelly. I am but one player on Black, but I could think of nothing the entire game but that ‘extra defensive attention’. The general plan to contain Giummo was working, with a scoreless first period serving as proof, but also proving that it is very difficult to both worry about a whirling dervish of destruction in the defensive end and push the offensive pace at the other. Josh Tran finally broke through for Black with a sizzling solo effort at 8:25 in the second, and while this provided an opportunity for the Black bench to exhale JUST a bit, they still held the majority of their collective breath and remained focused on the elephant on the court. The play swayed back and forth, with both teams finding shots and chances, but with time running thin in the third, it looked like Kelly and his Black mates might do the unthinkable…the undoable…not just contain, but actually STOP Giummo! Not…quite…a flurry of activity along the right side of Kelly’s crease led to chance…rebound…chance…batted ball…back of the net…Giummo to tie it with 0:48 to play (Parsa Mostafavi & Erin Plone). So, a very valiant, and not entirely in vain effort from Black, and perhaps the most satisfying ending imaginable for those SDFHL TV subscribers (and the executives at the network) as these two undefeated giants settled to a 1-1 tie. Both Captain Meglich (15/16) and Sean Kelly (20/21) were amazing, as advertised, and speaking of ‘advertised’…the price just went up for the commercial spots for the playoff rematch…

It was another ‘middleweight’ bout up next on the fight card, with Captain Darin Cerasuolo’s 2-1-0 Pink trotting their league-leading offense out to face Captain Will Heinl’s plucky 1-1-1 Purple. Beyond the obvious team goal of, you know, winning the game and improving playoff probability, there was considerable potential for the league scoring race to heat up, what with the second horse in that race (Captain Cerasuolo with 6 and 4, coming in), and (at least) a trio of other thoroughbreds in the mix, including Pink’s Jon Salt (5 and 3, coming in) and Purple’s Justin Hepler (4 and 2, coming in). With Thanos held to just ONE goal against Black, there was much whinnying and champing (not ‘chomping’, you luddites!) at the bit as warmups wrapped. With the comedic timing of Mr. Ed, it was Tom Darlington (of all horses) first out of the gate for Purple at 9:14 in the first (Hepler), but usual stallion suspect, Jon Salt, was quick to gallop Pink back to even on the powerplay at 8:40 (Chris Tran). Captain Cerasuolo found his racing form in the second, slotting his seventh of the season home at 8:50 (Salt), and Salt’s second of the game at 5:04 padded Pink’s lead to 3-1. Jon Zygelman (a fine horse, in his own right) ponied up his first (!) of the season at 3:23 to cut the lead back to one (Gary Peters), leaving things tight going into the final stretch. Eric Willard whipped Pink on with his fourth of the season at 6:25 (Salt & Shelby Shattuck), and while Hepler would jockey Purple back to within one with his second at 5:34 (Pat Gladstone & Gary Peters), Captain Cerasuolo said ‘neigh’ to a Purple comeback, potting an empty-netter with 0:30 to play (Willard). I have absolutely no idea how or why this recap became equine themed, but the important bit (more horsey humor) is that Pink got to the wire first for the 5-3 win, while Purple ‘placed’ second in a two horse race. Chuck Bender (15/18) was stable (subtle) again for Pink in the win, while Captain Heinl (26/30) and Purple were dealt another nagging loss. If you’re handicapping for the remainder of the Wing 2026 scoring race, the Week Four results have Captain Cerasuolo (12) gaining ground on the lead horse (Giummo at 15) with his two goal effort, Jon Salt (12) trotting up alongside his captain with 2 and 2, and Justin Hepler (9) keeping himself in the derby with 1 and 2. I remain headed for the glue factory with five points on the season…I’ll show myself out.

The nightcap was genuinely THE BIG GAME of Week Four, with Captain Brennen Abel’s 0-3-0 White squaring off against Captain Owen Perks’ 0-2-1 Blue in the second official game under the ‘Young Canuck Cup’ banner. If you’re confused/missed it in previous recaps, the Young Canuck Cup is a winner take all (prize TBD) regular season round robin affair between the Black, Blue, and White. Black defeated White in Week One, so a White loss to Blue would ‘eliminate’ Abel & Company from contention in this silly little side quest. Back in the ‘real world’, a loss to Blue would leave White at 0-4-0, cellar mates with Captain Wirt’s Red, and very close (already) to ‘must win’ mode in March. With just one point in three tries, Blue wasn’t exactly sitting pretty. A win over White would be huge, while a loss would flop them below the cut line with Red and push some panic into their play going forward. So…both teams VERY much needing the win, and VERY much dreading a loss…you know where this is going…a 2-2 tie! Yeah…went cart before the horse on this recap (guh…back to horses). It was Captain Abel acting alone at 6:56 in the first to give his team the first lead, and, ever-so-fittingly, Captain Perks to tie it for Blue just 1:30 later (Wasif Hussain). Abel snatched the lead back for White at 3:45 (Jim LaGrossa), but Dan Jurgens would draw Blue back to a draw at 3:48 in the second (Hussain). That was all the scoring from either side in this one, as Blue’s Mason Holcomb (11/13) and White’s Gabe Davenport (17/19) held the line through a scoreless third to leave this installment of the Young Canuck Cup a stalemate. Mad props to Davenport, who earned the second star in this one with his second straight game of allowing just two goals. If Gabe maintains this improved play, White’s rocky early road may well turn to a paved second half path to the playoffs. White have another ‘important’ game in Week Five against Captain Karns’ 2-2-0 Green, while Blue face a (theoretically) tougher challenge in the (super highly anticipated…trust me, bro) final game of the ‘Young Canuck Cup’ against Captain Hunter’s Black.