This week’s special guest writer is: Captain Ryan Karns! Well done, Ryan…thanks for giving me the week off! If you (yes, you…anyone) would like to write this Week Five recaps, please let me (Pope) know…
In the Wiz Kalifa matchup of the season, Yellow shined bright, while Black pulled a true Wiz Kalifa and faded away. Yellow continued their strong start to the season, as they tallied two quick strikes in the first period. Harsh Wanigaratne and Eric Willard both picked up two points in the 4-0 Yellow win. Nick Adkins impressed again with his second straight shutout, and everyone’s favorite…a goalie point! The Malkis went silent for the first time this season, as Black was outshot, and got caught playing catch-up early. Sean Kelly suffered his first loss on the season, allowing more goals in this game than he has the first three weeks, combined. Black will look to regroup on their bye week, and come out strong in Week Six against a lively Red team.
In the second matchup of the night, we had a white hot White team versus a Teal team resembling a certain teal team in the NHL. Jeff Anderson continued his point streak, picking up a goal and an assist. Chris Tran notched two goals, including the game-winner for his team. For the first time all season, Captain Mark DeGraffenreid was held off the score sheet, but Nick Adkins, Min-Soo “Stick Whisperer” Smith, and Sadie Hellstrom did their best to muster up enough offense in the late going. They fell just short, as White held on for the 3-2 win. As if things weren’t bad enough for Teal already, they now look to find a replacement for Tyler Lyne, who (fittingly) seemed to ghost Teal as they took on White, in true Casper fashion. Teal looks to get back into the win column as they take on a Pink team that seems to be in a complete tailspin.
What can Brown do for you? Captain Mark Nagy says “we can win”! Unlike UPS, Nagy’s ‘tRan Outta Toilet Pynnper’ delivered on Sunday (well…this Sunday. at least), peppering the Salts, and knocking off Navy, 2-1. What a bounce back game from a Week Three to forget for Brown. We had a Tran-off in net, as Don (23/24) got the best of his counterpart, Chris (16/18). Zach Salt struck late in the third with a short-handed goal to give Navy some life, but Jordan Pynn and Brown’s penalty killers would slam that door shut in a nail biting affair. Deborah Finucane continues to be the most dominant female, and a top player, overall. She picked up her eighth assist over the first four games. Matt Rogers scored the game winning goal, which opposing captain, Jon Salt, called the “goal of the year” (probably because it was actually scored by his teammate, Patrick Fusco). Brown goes into next week with some confidence, while Navy takes on a streaking Silver team.
This Red v Orange matchup did not disappoint, and actually turned out to be the game of the week. Carl Vankoughnett struck just 0:32 into the game for Orange, and Jet Javelet continued to fly high this season, tallying another goal to match the output of first round pick, Kris Tosczak. There does, however, look to be a depth problem for Captain Wirth & Company, as six players on Orange are still looking for their first goal of the season. The Jurgens-less Red team relied heavily on first round pick, Brian Sheptycki, who replied with “everyone hop on my back”! Sheptycki was a man possessed on the floor this week, tallying a hat trick, an assist, and the game-winning goal with just 0:13 remaining in the game. With that, Red pulled another rabbit out of the hat–a thrilling 4-3 victory. Orange goes into Week Five still looking for their first victory of the season, as Steve Deppensmith (12/16) falls to 0-1-2.
In the nightcap, we had Captain Copp’s Pink taking on Captain Karns’ Silver. Spoiler alert, there would be no silver lining for Pink. Silver bells were ringing early and often, as they put up nine, yes, NINE goals on Pink’s Jimm Reifsnyder (18/27). Pink was missing London Peters, Patrick Walker, and Greg Mallinger. While AJ was present, his teammates could not seem to find him, either. Vance Morra seemed to be saving all his goals for this matchup, going from 0 to 4 on the season. Saidi stand in, Jen Caringal, notched three assists, and Captain Karns chipped in two helpers of his own (his first points of the season). Name a player on Silver, and chances are they had multiple points. Ezra Cohen and Nadia Saidi were absent from the 9-1 score fest win, but hope to keep the party rolling in their return this week. Silver now moves to 2-2-0, and looks to keep climbing the standings. As for Pink, they’ll need to find some confidence (and some scoring), as they are still searching for their first win of the season.