Red Serious

A thrilling Week Nine clash between Captain Carl Vankoughnett’s ‘CarliforNeons’ and Captain John Boddy’s ‘Night At The PinkDeBerry’ saw the former squeeze past the latter 1-0, and set a baseline of buzz for the second season encore encounter. Both teams had handled their opening game business against their lower seed match, but neither was what you would consider a ‘convincing’ win. Neon edged past eighth-seeded Purple 3-1, but an empty-netter made that score look a bit more comfy than it really was. Pink made a one goal lead hold up through a scoreless third to move past their downstairs neighbor, Green, 3-2. With two of the highest scoring offenses through the regular season (Neon with 29 goals, and Pink with 27), it seemed unlikely that the rematch would leave the scoresheet as empty as the first go around, but a scoreless first was certainly ‘giving’ (as the kids say) another nail biting pitchers’ duel. Justin Hepler broke the scoring seal for Neon at 9:48 in the first (Darin Cerasuolo & Jim LaGrossa), and that seal was (apparently) holding back a flood! Darin Cerasuolo made it 2-0 Neon at 6:38 (LaGrossa), and it was DC again just twenty seconds later to make it 3-0 (Captain Vankoughnett & LaGrossa). Liv Bryant finally answered for Pink with a blue line snipe to cut the lead to two at 5:49 (Ryan Loughran & Captain Boddy), but Ryan Karns restored Neon’s three goal edge on a breakaway at 2:12 (Darin Cerasuolo & Mark Nagy). Jackson Tomaszewski answered again for Pink at 0:45 (Loughran & Boddy), but Cerasuolo capped his hat trick with just 0:07 to go before the second break (Hepler & Vankoughnett) to wrap a wacky, wild, Kool-Aid style seven goal second. Captain Vankoughnett made it 6-2 Neon at 5:48 in the third (Ramsey Ksar & Cerasuolo), Captain Boddy cut the lead to three at 1:10 (Bryant & Downes), and a Hepler empty-netter finally put an end to a ten goal maelstrom that buoyed Neon to a 7-3 win, and washed Pink down to the Losers’ Bracket with a lopsided loss. Chuck Bender (19/22) was solid in the win…likely having any nerves he may have had coming in settled by his team’s score-at-will swagger, while Will Heinl (13/19) faced three fewer shots, but looked at least twice as taxed in his first playoff loss. Darin Cerasuolo has certainly waged an impressive rookie campaign, but this 3 and 3 POTW effort locks DC in as THE rookie of the season, and perhaps the biggest reason to bet on Neon to finish what they started and win it all. Neon is not there yet, though…they must find a way past a red hot Red this Sunday to book a spot in the Final. Pink will need to regroup and redeem themselves to stay alive in the race when they face a hit or miss Brown side.

It’s safe to say that neither Captain Sean Bathgate’s Brown, nor Captain Tyler Winstead’s Grey were in much danger of winning their opening round match. Brown got smacked around and beaten (way) down by Red, who touchdown danced their way to a crushing 7-2 win in Week One, while Grey SOMEHOW (well…Don Tran how) held their losing line to Baby Blue to 3-1, in spite of being outshot THIRTY-FOUR to FOUR. So…straight to the Losers’ Bracket for both teams, with no margin for error, much less margin for falling behind by five goals, or conceding a thirty shot deficit. Mark DeGraffenreid put Brown in front first, tucking home a rebound on a Chris Tran power rush to give his team something to show for a 9-2 edge in shots through the first ten minutes of play. A scoreless second saw the shot gap close to 6-3 in Brown’s favor, and a Josh Tran equalizer at 8:49 in the third (Jenna Chercoe & Jeremy Copp), combined with…brace yourself…a 7-5 shot edge in Grey’s favor had the seven seeds feeling like this was their much-needed, long-awaited turning point. Neither team could muster a game-winner in regulation, so it was off to the first overtime period of these Summer League 2025 playoffs. The safe OT hero money was on someone like…oh, I don’t know…the man who tied last season’s final with 0:04 to go in regulation, then won it all at 3:05 in OT. Yes…it was that guy again…Josh Wirt reprising his hero role with the game-winning-Grey-gut-puncher at 3:02 in extra time (Austin Szymanski & Chris Tran). Wirt backhand batted a weird, arcing, deflected ball behind Don Tran (20/22) to keep Brown alive and unalive Grey, 2-1. Matt Henderson (12/13) was sharp as ever in the must-win for Bathgate & Company, who survive to face Pink this Sunday. These teams met WAY back in Week One (May 18th…time flies!) and Brown will have to hope for a VERY different result from the 6-2 groin kick Pink issued on that date. With the playoffs running ‘by the numbers’ to this point (no upsets), the underdog role seemed destined to be simply ‘roll over and die’, but…perhaps some lower seed inspiration would come from the final two games of the Week Two playoff slate…

The second Winners’ Bracket bout on the Week Two fight card was (for me, anyway) the most intriguing ‘on paper’. Yes, the Neon v Pink Week Nine tilt was a tight and titillating tip toward the playoff rematch, but the Week One battle between Captain Rob LaVigne’s #2 Baby Blue and Captain Wendy Enright’s #3 Red was an equally sublime showdown. You’ll recall (or not…I am here to remind you) that this was the game that Chris Tran (33/34) flat out stole for Baby Blue, with Kevin Hunter and Gary Peters cashing in on two of the total dozen shots Baby Blue fired in response to nearly thrice the other way to smash and grab a 2-1 opening week (indeed, opening game of the opening week) win. Revenge is a dish best served cold, but sometimes a cooked and cooled revenge plot is just a gross, cold meal that you are left choking down between sobs and slugs of warm white wine. Whatever the course set before them (see what I did there), Red would need to cut and stab with two of their key utensils in a drawer far away (Owen Perks and Andy Strathman). Baby Blue was bereft at the banquet as well, with Captain LaVigne and The Hunters™ (Kalen and Kevin) out of the lineup. So, it would be up to the ‘secondary scorers’, and none of those ‘secondary scorers’ managed to score through the first ten minute chunk. Jon Zygelman finally broke the scoreless tie at 6:21 in the second (Trevor Vick), but that would stand as the lone goal for either side heading into the third. Joe Nguyen became the second ‘secondary’ to do damage, bumping Red’s lead to 2-0 at 7:55 (Trevor Vick & Tim Vick), and Captain Enright made it 3-0 in her team’s favor with her first of the playoffs at 6:07 (Zygelman). JZ’s second of the night nestled into an empty net at 1:41, and had both sides gathering their belongings and heading for the exits, but a too-little-too-late-but-no-less-cool pair of strikes from Gary Peters at 0:58 (Luke Wolmer) and 0:10 (Wolmer) served to spoil the shutout for Jon Cima (10/12), and perhaps provided the slightest silver lining/reason to hope for Baby Blue in the 4-2 loss. So…right on cue…speak of the devil…the first upset of the Summer League 2025 season was authored by a suddenly VERY dangerous and daunting Red. Chris Tran (19/22) and the rest of the number two crew will look to rebound this Sunday against bottom-seeded Purple, while Red look to stay hot and scorch their way to the cat bird seat with a second straight upset win, this time over top-seeded Neon.

The Week Two playoff slate wrapped with (for me, anyway) the least intriguing match ‘on paper’. Nothing at all against Captain Bao Nguyen’s Green, nor Captain Mason Holcomb’s Purple, but an elimination bout between two lower seeds who finished in the bottom half of the regular season goals-for chart (including, of course, the two teams that didn’t make the playoffs), and just two players on either side having really strong seasons (both on Green…Brennen Abel and Sean Kelly)…not exactly the makings of ‘must see’ hockey, especially if you’re 50+ like me and have work in the morning. My ‘on paper’ assessment of this one was not at all ‘on target’, though, with another OT thriller unfolding under the lights as two down and desperate teams battled to determine who would survive, and who would become the fourth team on the playoff scrap heap. A scoreless first saw the bottom seeds holding a slim edge in shots (6-4), and that edge produced the first cut on the scoreboard at 7:42 in the second, with Joe Malki putting Purple on the front foot first with an unassisted effort. Dr. Greg Francisco picked a perfect time to score just his SECOND career goal, and first career playoff goal to make it 2-0 Purple at 6:09 in the second (Hima Joshi & Zach Siemer). CONGRATULATIONS, GREG! Nick Vacchio provided the first answer for Green less than two minutes later (Dave Bourgouin), leaving Captain Nguyen & Company down just one going into the final frame. Veteran Steve Goncalo was next to act, knotting the ledger at 2-2 with 5:32 to play in regulation (Mostafa Azab), and Sean Kelly (18/21) and Captain Holcomb (15/17) kept it knotted to force the second overtime period of the evening for all the marbles. A keen eye trained on the previous sentence (or, you know, just paying any attention at all over the course of this week) would tell you that it was Purple who would push the game-winner past the opposing goalie in that abbreviated fourth period, with Joe Malki finishing the hero’s quest he started earlier in the game with his game-winning/Green-eliminating second of the night at 4:10 (Shawna Hamon & Chris Fiore). The 3-2 OT win for Captain Holcomb’s plucky Purple served as the night’s second upset, and pushes the bottom seeds into another fight for life against a wounded but weapon-laden Baby Blue. Green Bao out (see what I did there) with the sudden death loss, becoming the second lower seed to exit the tournament, joining #7 Grey on the ‘no Sunday plans…what are you up to?’ pile with playoff personae non gratae, Royal Blue and White.