Orange squeezed Lime 3-1 in the SDFHL Citrus Bowl, all while ‘The Herrmannator’ enjoyed a much needed break after dealing a five goal death punch to Green in Week Seven. David ‘The New Deputy’ Schlatter led the way in the absence of ‘The Sherriff’ (he’s so good he has two nicknames), equalizing Eric Willard’s opening strike in the first, then potting the game-winner in the second (with primary assist to ‘The Old Deputy’). Chuck Russell added insurance in the third, but you can carry a pretty lean insurance policy when you have Sean Kelly in nets. Kelly stopped 16/17 in a fill-in roll for the ailing Chris Tran, and Alex Theis (21/24) was no slouch, but found no solace in the loss. Orange have run their win streak to three, having outscored their opponents 15-4 in that span. Their 4-2-1 record assures them no worse than a four seed, but no better than a two seed in the looming playoffs. Lime remain in the lower standings pack at 3-4-0, but should be safe from the play-in game eight and nine spots, barring some crazy math/tie breaker scenario.
Captain Jon Salt’s ‘Fembots’ had not lost a game since their week one stumble out of the blocks against pole-sitters, Grey. They will enter the final week of play with the very same bragging rights, and a chance to move past their first week foil, who can only wait and watch from the bye week couch. Arnold Gonzales put Pink in prime position just 0:26 in, but Alijay Omar scored his first career SDFHL goal (CONGRATULATIONS!) less than two minutes later to bring Gold even. Dan Jurgens netted the game-winner just a minute or so after serving a slashing penalty (assists to Kaity & Matt Gottfried), and Captain Salt himself (from the lesser Gottfried) capped the scoring for Pink in the 3-1 win. Oh yeah, Sean Kelly (13/14) was in this game, too. His efforts ran his record to 5-1-1 with a .957/1.57…ho hum…totally human stuff here. Nick Meglich (21/24) is having another great season, albeit with not-as-great (team) results as his starring turn with last season’s ‘Sweet Child O’ Malki’. So, Pink is poised to snatch the top spot, while Gold will hope to hand Blue their sixth straight loss, and shore up their playoff positioning, in the process.
Captain Stephanie Ann Xavier Jesus Palomo Schmidt, Esq and her White side have really found a home on the corner of Skills Galore Street and Tough Luck Terrace. Their find-the-banana-peel season seemed to have FINALLY taken a turn for the better after a rousing first period that saw them take a 3-0 lead on fellow struggle bus riders, Atomic Blue. To no one’s surprise, it was Josh Wirt leading the charge, scoring the first and third goals of the period, and assisting on the second (Captain Palomo Schmidt’s second of the season) in between. The second period saw a bounce back for Atomic Blue, with Captain Chad Goins cutting the lead to two, and Zach Salt making it 3-2 half a minute later. White went to Wirt again to restore the momentum, and restore the two goal edge, making the two period total 4-2 in favor of a win-starved White. Spoiler alert…the White hunger would extend yet another week. Luke Wolmer converted a Carl Vankoughnett pass to make it 4-3, Wolmer assisted on Captain Goins’ second of the game to knot the scores at fours, then Vankoughnett broke the tie, and (once again) broke already-hurting hearts with the 5-4 game-winner, Atomic Blue over White. This is the perfect season for a ‘caged tiger’ to come roaring back to free and ferocious form, and no team is more caged, nor more tiger than White. There 1-5-1 mark assures that they will be one participant in the play-in party, but they may well be a force to reckon with if they survive. The good news is that they will likely face Blue in that showdown…the one team they have managed to manage to this point. The other good news is that they have Josh Wirt, who earned rare POTW-in-a-loss with the 3 and 1 outing. Meanwhile, the win propels Atomic Blue closer to a legitimate playoff seed, but a Week Nine loss to Lime, and a Blue win over Gold will sink them back into a play-in plight.
Grey continued their climb, and Blue continued their (precipitous) fall, as another one goal loss meant FIVE straight down the drain for Captain Ryan Karns’ and ‘Karnsma Police’. If you believe in karma, please let those of us on Blue know what we have done to deserve this fate. Brandon Olsen cashed in on the power play to break the scoreless tie at 3:30 in the second, then assisted on Jim LaGrossa’s game-winner 1:10 later. LaGrossa enters his bye week leading the scoring field with 19 points (6 and 13), with the only threat to his crown coming in the form of…who else…’The Sherriff’. Weston Nawrocki spoiled Wayne Wong’s fill-in shutout bid (16/17) with just 0:48 to play, but that would be the only goal allowed by Wong in his final SDFHL performance before heading out of town to pursue higher education. So, another week, another win for Grey, another loss for Blue…this time by a 2-1 final. Chuck Bender (18/20) has taken his lumps along with his team, who have (almost) nowhere to go but up now at 2-5-0. White may still be a rung below them on the standings ladder, but no team is colder (it doesn’t get much colder then and 0-5-0 run). Blue still have a chance at redemption if they can pull up the nose against Gold this Sunday. Grey will watch and wait to see whether or not Pink will overtake them for the top spot.