Ranking Number One

We last saw Captain Rob Gaudio’s ‘Threat Level Midnight’ back in Week Three, with a rainout and another round of playoffs wedged between their tense, tight, testy 4-3 shootout win over Captain Linke’s ‘Red-Dit-Dit-Di_Doo’ and the Final. That first playoff meeting saw as many penalties as goals (seven), and was reportedly an ugly affair that left a fair amount of ill will and unfinished business on the table for both teams. Red brushed a tired and tested Green team aside in Week Four to make their way back to that table, where Black sat waiting for dessert…perhaps Cup ala mode.

Red had a different idea…a two course meal, including that proverbial dish ‘best served cold’. Red had actually doubled Black’s shot output in vain in the Week Three loss (32-16), and they nearly tripled the output in the first installment of the rematch (21-8). This time, the prevailing math and wisdom bore favor to the challenger, with John Boddy cashing in early in the first (from Justin Stege and Pat Gladstone), providing the second assist on Captain Linke’s strike in the second (Josh Tran with the primary), then sealing Black’s first game fate in the third (from Sadie Hellstrom) to lead Red to a 3-0 win. Much to the relief of the referees and fans of clean recreational hockey everywhere, the sin bin doors never swung open in this one. Jon Cima (8/8) was perfect, but hardly tested, and it certainly looked like the second seeds had the mojo and momentum well in their favor leading into game two…

The intensity was noticeably notched up for the Final finale, with both teams now on equal footing, and eager to prove that they deserved the season crown. Kyle Snyder served notice just 0:28 in that Black was now warm and ready for war. It was Boddy again answering the call for Red, equalizing the Snyder snipe at 2:32 (from Hellstrom) to close out the first period at 1-1. Boddy gave Red their first lead at 7:17 in the second (from Captain Linke and Scott Wieland), but Snyder responded quickly to restore equilibrium (from Captain Gaudio and Wendy Enright). Just when it seemed this one would be a turn-taking see-saw struggle, Red rattled off three in a row to blow the game open…Josh Tran from Boddy…Mark Scelfo from Boddy, and Tran again unassisted. That 5-2 lead shrank to 5-3 less than a minute later, with Wendy Enright bouncing a weird one past Cima (from Mason LaGrossa and Captain Gaudio), then to 5-4, with Papa Jim LaGrossa immediately making good on a Boddy high-sticking penalty (from Gaudio). So…moving into the third period…5-4 Red…still anyone’s game, and all of the glory waiting for the team that could manage to outlast the other. Most of the third period ticked by with no change on the board, but Captain Gaudio finally broke through at 2:27 (from Mason LaGrossa and Enright) to knot the score at fives, and set up a supercharged, super tense final two minutes of play. Obviously, both goalies had proven beatable at this point, with Cima finishing at 9/14), and Brin (10/16) fairing just as poorly at the other end. The question was…who would score next…surely that would be the dagger…but who would deliver it? Well, if you guessed the obvious, you guessed it right…Boddy…1:22…putting back his own rebound to put Red back in front 6-5 (Stege), then depositing an empty-netter to leave no doubt…7-5, Red over Black…Captain Linke and ‘Red-Dit-Dit-Dit-Di-Doo’ are your SDFHL Winter League 2023-24 Champions!