Poppin’ Tops

The 2024 SDFHL Fall League playoffs kicked off with the first of two insta-rematches, as regular season finale foes Green and Atomic Blue looked to settle an unsettled score after battling to a 1-1 draw seven days prior. Both goals in the first meeting came in the third period, with Josh Wirt and Rob Gaudio trading one early (9:15), and one late (1:45) goal to spoil a rather ho hum donut for Green Captain Nick Meglich (12/13), and tame a monster effort from Silas ‘The Silencer’™ Perks (42/43). The shot totals were a little less lopsided in the rematch, and the scoring was even scarcer. Josh Wirt reprised his role as torch bearer for Green’s offense, putting his team on top with an unassisted marker at 4:40 in the first. By now, a clever reader would realize that the 1-0 Green lead would hold as the final score, with Captain Meglich (9/9) handling the light load with relative ease to guide his team to an opening win. The Silencer™, who really found his legendary form late in the regular run, continued to show that he is ‘back’, but a 23/24 night would not be enough to keep Captain Rob Gaudio & Company out of the Losers’ Bracket. Atomic Blue will start the fight for their playoff lives against bottom-seeded Grey, while Green turn their attention to the top-seeded Heather Blue on the Winners’ side.

Captain Jon Salt’s Heather Blue played a lot of close games in the regular season, with one win by one goal, two wins by two goals, FIVE ties, and one blowout win. Unfortunately for Captain Jeremy Copp’s Grey, that one blowout win was a 6-1 Week Four boat race at his team’s expense. Fortunately for Captain Copp, Matt Henderson was not suited for the first meeting, and Matt Henderson happens to be having a VERY good season. With their horse back in the stable, Grey hoped to serve cold playoff vengeance to Salt & Company…a first loss of the season at the worst possible time. Jon Zygelman started writing that twisty tale, opening the scoring for Grey just 0:26 into play (Dan Soar), but Joe Nguyen quickly countered with a solo strike just thirty-six ticks later. It was Nguyen again at 8:36 in the second to give Heather Blue their first lead (Captain Salt), and Salt doubled the difference at 3:57 in the second (Ty Pereira & Luke Wolmer). The 3-1 lead turned to 4-1 with 4:27 to play (Julie Ott from Wolmer and Craig Russell), then 5-1 at 2:37 (Pereira from Bryan Ossa), putting the rematch on track to end a carbon copy of the first go around. Zygelman would close the scoring that he opened in the first at 2:19 (Owen Perks), but that would be all the resistance Grey would muster in the 5-2 loss. Nick Meglich (10/12) kept his evening on a winning note in a fill-in stint for Eric Kroeker, and kept Heather Blue out of the loss column and ushered them into the Winners’ Bracket where, ironically, they will face his Green team this Sunday. Henderson (26/31) was nearly thrice as busy as his counterpart, and battled hard, but ultimately met the same fate as his regular season fill-in, Chuck Bender. Grey will look to stay alive in the late game this Sunday against Captain Rob Gaudio’s Atomic Blue.

It was another tiebreaker take two in the 7:00pm slot, with Captain Geoff Downes’ White taking on Captain Janet Goins’ Orange. The two teams met back in Week Eight, with both team taking a point and leaving a point in a 2-2 no decision. While a tie is a tie is a tie, the balance of the season for both teams left Orange the decided favorites in the rematch. A scoreless first saw Orange holding just the slightest of edges in the shot column (6-5), but a a drastic second period shift in shots (16-2 in Orange’s favor (!)) finally bore fruit for the favorites. Brennen Abel was first on the board at 8:40 (William Teglia & Alan Razoky), and first year sensation, Eric Enciso, made it two-nil at 2:14 (Leah Gonzales & Razoky). Teglia put the game out of reach with his first career playoff goal at 8:27 in the third (Gonzales & Abel), and Chuck Bender (10/10) handled the modest, Meglich-esque (if you will) workload at his end to preserve the 3-0 win for Orange. Silas Perks was valiant, but his 26/29 Perks-esque (if you will) sub spell for Sean Kelly was in vain as White slipped into the win-or-go-home battle trenches to face Brown. Orange move on to face Lime in a redux of the Week Six ‘Citrus Bowl’™. Orange got the better of the initial encounter by the count of 6-4, but the rematch between the two seed and three seed is predicted (by me) to go the distance and then some…expect a high scoring, slug fest OT thriller, fans.

The first week of playoff action finished how it started, with an insta-rematch of a regular season finale. Captain Zach Salt’s Lime got the better of Captain Ryan Karns’ Brown in the late October clash that will go down as one of the craziest goal fests in league history (10-7!). While you could hardly expect another near-scorekeeper-death-from-writer’s-cramp street fight with playoff pride and passion in play, it was equally safe to say this would not be a mirror of the 1-0 game that kicked off the opening evening slate. If you haven’t already heard me say it (I do at least once, every time I see the man play), Christopher Fiore is a bad dude, and easily one of the most underrated players in the league. His draft stock continues to climb with each game of super steady lockdown defense he plays, but he has also taken his offensive game to new heights (4 and 7 this season with Lime). Some good luck is a nice compliment to great skill, and while Fiore definitely has the latter, he benefited from the former on the game’s first goal…a wide point shot that bounded off Mark DeGraffenreid’s leg and around Mason Holcomb to make it 1-0 Lime with just thirty seconds to play in the first (Captain Zach Salt). Eric Willard snapped home Lime’s second goal at 4:50 in the second (Salt), but Brown finally found an answer in the form of a pretty Pat Gladstone pearl at 4:17 (Mark DeGraffenreid). The 2-1 lead held through the first half of the third, with the next goal really feeling like THE goal to decide who would ultimately prevail. That goal came at (or around…no time was recorded) 4:12…Fiore’s second of the night on the power play to put Lime on top for good…3-1 over Brown. Both goalies faced the same number of shots, and both had a much better game in the sequel, but it was another win for Jon Cima (17/18), who handed another loss to rookie Mason Holcomb (15/18) and kept his team moving onward and upward to the Winners’ Bracket. As noted above, Lime will square off with Orange in what is sure to be a good one, while Brown will look to stay alive against one of only two teams ranked below them in Captain Downes’ seven-seeded White.