The top two seeds have risen to a rematch, and the bottom two seeds are now out, as the playoffs stick and move into Week Three…
The second Sunday of playoff action kicked off with a loser-goes-home OT thriller. Captain Joe Malki was thrilled that >Navy sent Gold home losers in a 2-1 extra time affair. Even sweeter, it was Joe who assisted on his dad’s game-winner, Chris’ second of the game. Alexis DaCosta had leveled the match in the second period, but that would be the thin silver lining for Gold, who became the first team on the playoff scrap pile with the loss. Navy live to fight on, taking on fifth seeded Green, a team they narrowly nipped 1-0 in Week Nine of the regular season.
Vance Morra put Red on the board first in the first, with a strange, sneaky goal along the near post. The first period ended with the score knotted at 1-1, thanks to POTW Shawna Hamon’s first of the night. Hamon’s second of the night game in the third, and put the game officially out of reach, with Captain Mark DeGraffenreid having potted a pair in the middle frame on the way to another big win for Brown, 4-1. Alex Theis stopped 22/23, and Andy Strathman collected two assists in a typically stellar Strathman two way effort. Brown move on to the Winner’s Bracket finals, with a chance at regular season redemption and a ticket to the finals against White. Red will need to work their way through the Loser’s Bracket, starting with Purple this Sunday.
White has not exactly swaggered through the playoffs like the top seeded bosses they are. After sweating out an OT win over eighth seeded Yellow, they got even sweatier with a 2-1 shootout win over Green. Nick Adkins had White in the lead after one, but Captain Mara Bernd stayed hot to tie it, running her goal scoring streak to three games. Both goalies refused to budge, otherwise (Cory Brin 13/14 & Andrew Lockard 16/17), and OT passed with no winner determined. Michael Bottomley and Zach Siemer converted in the third and fourth rounds of the shootout, and Brin turned aside all four Green shooters to preserve the win, and propel White to the Winner’s Bracket finals. Green will look to regroup and rebound after a tough loss, taking on Navy in the opening game of playoff Week Three.
Sean Kelly and Captain Jon Salt made sure there was no Yellow drama in the late game, dispatching the bottom seeds, 3-0. Kelly struck for two in the second, and assisted on Salt’s insurance marker in the third, while super sub, Andrew Lockard, stopped all fifteen shots he faced. Yellow join color cousins, Gold, on the golf course, while Purple move on to face Red, whom they tied 1-1 in their regular season meeting.