The Malkis…omnipresent at the top of the standings, and never an easy outing for opposition. It was another win with an evil grin for Green in Week Five, as they have now cleaned out the neatly wrapped W’s from under each opponent’s tree. They sit glowering and gloating from their mountain retreat, bellowing ‘WHOS NEXT’ (see what I did there?) down the steep and slippery standings.
Captain Ryan Karns’ ‘Mötley Blüe’ slowed their roll, and fell in the loss hole against (still unbeaten) Green in Week Three, but looked to regain their scorching scoring touch coming off their bye to face Pink in Week Five. It was Pink who punched first (and laughed last), with Joe Nguyen scoring less than a minute in, and Jim LaGrossa following just over a minute later to put ‘Sean Bon Joshi’ up 2-0. A two goal lead is typically an auto-win for any team backstopped by ‘Da Kid’, but Kelly was touched for two in the first, as well. Raj Cheema recorded his first SDFHL goal to make it 2-1, and Gideon Schon brought Blue level late in the frame, with both goals helped along by usual suspects, Andrew Jacobsen, and Alan Razoky. The second slipped by with no scoring, and the third looked a lock to follow suit…until Greg Mallinger broke through with 0:34 to complete a stunning 3-2 coup, Pink over Blue. Patrick Walker assisted on the game-winner, as well as Nguyen’s opener, and Sean Kelly collected POTW honors for his 28/30 masterpiece. Chuck Bender (13/16) suffered the heartbreak loss, but Blue still find themselves smack in the middle of the pack at 2-2-0. At 2-1-1, Pink are nestled just behind the only zero loss teams (Purple and Green), and have a ‘game in hand’ on both, to boot.
‘Sweet Child O’ Malki’ find themselves in a warm, safe place, undefeated at the top of the standings at 5-0-0 through the first half of the season. The latest notch in the win belt came at the expense of fellow-GNR-themed team, ‘Goins ‘N’ Roses’. Sadie Hellstrom put Green out front in the first, and there would be no looking back with Nick Meglich between the pipes. Meglich made sure that one was enough, posting his first shutout of the season (11/11) to stay atop the goalie statistics charts in all categories (5-0-0/.947/0,80/1 SO). Harsh Wanigaratne doubled the lead for Green later in the first, and Jet Javelet tripled it in the second, with the sole assist to POTG, Hellstrom. The 3-0 win keeps Green perfect, and proves that the leaders of the pack have more than just two leaders in their pack, and can prevail without a direct scoring contribution from the Malkis themselves All of this has their remaining five opponents (Grey, Pink, Purple, Black, and Cream) plotting and planning for their crack at cracking the code. The loss drops Red down to the cut line, with the teams trailing them in the standings all holding a game (or two) in hand. They’ll need the remorseless scoring machine Jon Salt of Weeks Three and Four back if they hope to turn things around in the second half.
The White v Cream make-up game was…not close. A five goal first period (Ennsmann, Pinto, Wirt, Ennsmann, Finucane) included TWO short handed goals in the span of twenty-two seconds, making this battle of winless wonders a walk-off for White. Ennsmann would finish with 3 and 2, Finucane (subbing for the injured Shawna Hamon) 2 and 1, and Wirt 1 and 4 in the 7-0 season swinger for Captain Wirth & Company. Cream have now settled to the bottom with a 0-3-1 record, but there is plenty of time left to make up ground, and this team has plenty of talent. Tim Hamon has come on to replace the departed Derek Baxter, and if Captain Gattey can ever get the full team assembled, they should be competitive in the second half of their slate. For now, they remain the lone team without a win, and they are set to face powerhouse Purple this Sunday…yikes. White’s first win has them coming back to the pack at 1-3-1, and a seven goal scoring surge is never anything but a confidence builder, particularly going into a Week Seven matchup with Red, who also sit at 1-3-1…
Purple Reign remained unbeaten, and maintained their second seat in the standings with a convincing 4-0 cruise past basement-bound Brown. Matt Rogers started the scoring late in the first, and Luke Wollmer doubled the lead just over a minute later. It was Wollmer again in the second to make it 3-0, and Captain Zach Salt to round out the romp in the third. Alex Theis was in full beast mode, stopping 24/24 to earn the first star of the game. Theis has been incredible this season (even by Theis standards), and is clearly a pillar for Purple to this point. Nick Vacchio (17/21) absorbed his third loss in four tries, with his save percentage now on the wrong side of .850, and his GAA on the wrong side of 3.00. He will need to be better, and Brown will need to be better as a whole if they are going to survive to see the second season.
Captain Jordan Pynn’s ‘Rolling Gladstones’ limped into Week Five without much hope of a non-loss. With (new recruit) Kevin Wilkinson, Eugenio De Santis, Joe Gaudio, and Marc Lapointe out, it was going to be a one sub bench against a very deep and dangerous ‘Black Slappath’. As good fortune (and the goddess of parity) would have it, Black was also short, with key threats Jeff Anderson, Josh Tran, and Brian Phillips out of the lineup. Grey took full advantage of the lack of disadvantage, opening a 3-0 lead on Tomas Jankovic’s first of the season/first of his career in the first, then a rare pair from Mark DeGraffenreid in the second. Captain Pynn collected two assists, and Pat Gladstone, Craig Russell, and DeGraffenreid were all good for one. Captain Nick Vacchio provided the only answer for the losing side (with assists to Ezra Cohen and Kyra Forsyth), as his team fell back to .500 with the 3-1 loss. Grey moved up to the same record (2-2-1) with the win, which saw the triumphant return of Chris Tran (7/8) in nets. Wayne Wong (14/17) continued his statistical struggles, in spite of showing improvement in the first five fixtures of his foray into the position.