Sand Bagged

Three of the five final games of the Wing League 2026 season had major playoff implications, with one or both teams involved needing a tie, a win, help from other teams, or some combination thereof. The only game to feature two teams on the same precarious playoff pontoon came with the Week Nine opener between Captain Will Heinl’s 2-4-2 Purple, and Captain Ryan Karns’ 2-4-2 Green. Both teams would be in with a win, and while Purple would also advance with a tie (holding the head to head tiebreaker over Green), the only truly safe result for Green would be the two point option. A loss left either team exposed to being overtaken by Blue, and also left Green exposed to being overtaken by White, should White stage perhaps the most incredible coup in league history and defeat Sand later in the slate. You can’t win if you can’t score, and Ty Pereira did just that…that…that for Purple in the first. That wasn’t an echo, but rather three goals in the first for Pereira…at 8:36 from Sadie Hellstrom & Bao Nguyen, at 8:06 from Justin Hepler and Nguyen, and at 1:19 from Hepler and Weston Nawrocki. Green would hold Pereira and the rest of the Purple press off the board in the second, but the shot totals through two (24-4 in Purple’s favor!) told the truly tilted tale. Hepler would add a fourth goal with 1:22 to play in the third, and Captain Heinl (10/10) watched his team’s 4-0 winning effort unfold in front of him, knowing that April play was officially unlocked. Pereira’s ‘natural’ hat trick earned him (much deserved) POTW honors, and doubled his season goal total to a very defined and sexy six pack. Matt Henderson (27/31) did everything in his power to will Green to greener playoff pastures, but as a wise man once wrote, ‘you can’t win if you can’t score’. The win vaulted Purple all the way up to fourth in the standings, with some chance of sliding lower in the seeding based on results from the rest of the games. The loss was nothing short of devastating for Green, but a (highly likely) White loss to Sand, and a (toss up) Blue loss to Red would STILL have them into the second season…

Both Captain Darin Cerasuolo’s 3-4-1 Pink and Captain William Teglia’s 4-2-2 Teal had already booked playoff passage coming into the final week of play, and while Teal was 100% locked into the three seed, a win for Pink would mean a jump to the four seed, a position that would hold unless Gold prevailed over Black later in the slate. So…MUCH lower stakes for both teams, but a bump up the seeding ladder for Pink, and a little momentum heading into April play for either side is not nothing. What was ‘nothing’ was the scoring in the first period in this one, with Teal holding a 9-4 edge in shots, but neither team finding twine through ten. Chris Tran finally broke the scoring seal for Pink with a solo snipe at 2:07 in the second, but Kyle Snyder would answer for Teal less than a minute later (1:10 from Christopher Fiore) to push the ledger back to level going into the third. Captain Teglia was next to act, with his tenth (!) of the season giving Teal their first lead of the game at 8:05 (Snyder & Steph Palomo Schmidt), but first year forward, Jason Olver, would find a response for Pink at 4:08 (Captain Cerasuolo & Tran). The final shot totals from this game…28-14 in Teal’s favor. Unfortunately, as a wise man is typing right this very moment…’it’s not the shots you take, but the shots you make that count’. Jordan Pynn…the man, the legend…joining Pink’s ranks to replace injured superstar, Jon Salt…made his shot at 2:42 count…and unassisted game-winner for Pink in his first game back from his own injury journey. Chuck Bender (26/28) locked down the 3-2 win for Pink, helping to improve his team’s record to 4-4-1 and move them into (at least temporary possession of) the fourth playoff seed. As noted, outside of a slight sag in momentum, the loss did no damage at all to Teal, who hold firm at the three seed. In fact, Jon Cima (11/14) & Company were the only team in the league who knew their playoff position was set in stone coming in. The only remaining unknown for Teal…which team slot into the sixth position and stand as their opponent in the opening round of playoff play.

Captain Brennen Abel’s White came into the final week of regular season play at 1-5-2, but the five points salvaged from those first eight games of the season left them JUST BARELY alive in the playoff pursuit. White’s pin-thin path to the post season hinged on three results…a Green loss to Purple (check), an upset win over Sand, and a Blue loss to Red in the nightcap. ‘Upset’ is something of a relative term…there are definitely shades of upset. White beating Sand would top out as perhaps the biggest upset in SDFHL history. Still…Green’s loss meant that White would squeeze in with a win, as Green was White’s only regular season conquest, and if both teams were to finish at 2-5-2, a Blue loss to Red would leave all three teams with six points, with Blue eliminated on total wins, and Green eliminated on head to head. So…not the most sensible parlay available from your shady offshore gambling outfit, but…not impossible. ‘Impossible’ is a word that comes to mind when anyone suggests that you might ‘stop Alex Giummo from torpedoing your hopes and dreams’, and as the fates would have it, White scratched and clawed their way to the final week of play, only to find Thanos waiting to snuff them out. Giummo put Sand in front on the powerplay at 8:25 in the first (Trevor Vick), and while Zach Siemer would respond quickly for White at 7:52 (Jason Nothrup & Jason Lee) the rest of the period belonged to Sand’s supporting cast. Yes, Sand DOES have a supporting cast…though not a single player on the roster outside of Alex & Trevor, Inc. had a single goal on the season until this game! Matt DeBerry’s first of the season at 5:31 pushed Sand back in front (from Giummo and Trevor Vick, naturally), Wendy Enight’s first made it 3-1 at 4:15 (Trevor Vick), and Tim ‘I Know Trevor…I’m Actually His Dad…I Knew Him Before He Was Cool’ Vick’s first broke the game open at 3:25 (from Trevor Vick and Giummo, naturally). DeBerry wasn’t done, posting his second of the game at 9:20 in the second (Giummo), and a pair of Giummo solo strikes at 6:55 and 4:51 left little doubt that this game was well and truly over at 7-1 heading into the second break. White would put up a fight, with Rob Gaudio converting at 9:45 (Captain Abel), then returning the favor with the only helper on Abel’s goal to make it 7-3 at 9:09. Of course, it was just more Giummo from there, with his fourth of the game at 9:00 (Trevor Vick & Erin Plone), and a Giummo helping hand on Matt DeBerry’s THIRD OF THE GAME at 5:25! Congratulations on your first career hat trick, Matt! Super sub, Jenna Chercoe, posted one last response for White with seven ticks left, but Captain Nick Meglich (19/23) and Sand rode their trusty steed (and some actual helping hooves) to a 9-4 win, eliminating White and securing the top playoff seed in the process. Gabe Davenport (14/23) suffered the slings and arrows all season, and while his team did not find a way to April play, we are all happy to see him come away with a smile on his face, and resolve to continue his journey to become a force in nets in seasons to come.

With Sand having prevailed, Captain Kalen Hunter and Black joined Teal in the knowledge that there would be no possible change in their playoff position, regardless of how they might fare against Captain Nick Vacchio’s Gold. A win would keep them undefeated and see them finish with the same point total as their rivals, but Sand would preserve the top spot based on the wins tiebreaker. A tie would (of course) also suffice in keeping their loss column clean, but even a loss could not dislodge them from the second seed. A win for Gold would move them into the four spot, supplanting Pink, who had only just arrive in that position, while a loss would keep them locked in the sixth position. So, the every other game pattern of genuine playoff implications continued, with this second ‘even game’ on the night proving to be quite ‘low stakes’ for both sides. A scoreless first saw Gold outshot 7-4, but certainly not outplayed, with both teams looking as though they were ramping up to the proper level of playoff intensity. Captain Hunter snapped home the first goal of the game from distance at 6:03 in the second, and Josh Tran followed with insurance for Black at 3:28 (Austin Szymanski & Kerri Sevenbergen). Mark DeGraffenreid accounted for the only goal for either side in the third, finishing a nifty backdoor feed from Tran at 6:52 to bring the final score to 3-0, Black over Gold. Sean Kelly (16/16) recorded his first shutout of the season, improving his league-leading totals to .947/1.17/1 SO, and reaffirming the prevailing thought that he may be the only man who can actually stop ‘Thanos’ this season. Mason Holcomb (17/20) filled in very admirably for John Kushneryk, who was not absent, but rather playing defense for the other team. Such is the twisted, incestuous world of SDFHL hockey. As noted, Black holds on to the second seed, and will turn to face Blue in the opening round this Sunday, while Gold hold at the six spot, hoping to avenge their 4-3 Week Four loss to Teal.

The final game of the Wing League 2026 season was dripping with playoff implications. Captain Josh Wirt’s Red were already a playoff lock, but a win would improve their season record to 4-4-1, and the head to head tiebreaker with Pink would give them the four seed. A loss for Red would relegate them to the eight seed, meaning a very daunting opening matchup with Sand, while a tie would move them into the sixth spot, based on the third tiebreak criteria, goal-differential…they would JUST move ahead of Gold, who fell to a -4 after their 3-0 loss to Black. Captain Owen Perks’ Blue…a MUCH more significant ‘drip’ of implication…a loss would leave them out of April play, while a tie or better would save them. A tie would leave Blue in the eight seed, meaning a rematch with Sand…the ONLY team Blue beat all season, and Sand’s only loss on the season, while a Blue win would push them to the seven spot. Bryan Ossa put Red in front first, slapping home a power play chance at 7:55 in the first (Eric Caligiuri & Captain Wirt), but Wasif Hussain responded for Blue at 5:44 (Hima Joshi), and Dan Jurgens put the underdogs on top for the first time at 2:57 (Captain Perks). With Craig Russell off after an awkward collision with Chris Malki found him staunching a (relentlessly) bloody nose in the penalty box, Captain Perks struck short-handed to pad Blue’s lead to 3-1 at 3:57 in the second (Jurgens). It was Shawna Hamon’s time to shine in the third, with her first goal of the game at 8:27 cutting the lead to one (Eli Schonbrun & Ossa), and her second of the game at 5:43 (Schonbrun & Caligiuri) pushing Red back to even ground, and pushing Blue back to the brink of elimination. The collective exhale from the Blue bench was reportedly heard as far away as Ramona, as Captain Perks wasted no time responding to Hamon’s heroics, snatching the lead back for his team at 5:24 (Jurgens & Hussain). Blue now knew that even another Red tally could not keep them from the playoffs…they would just need to hold on and not lose. Mason Holcomb (17/20) would ensure that Blue would not only ‘not lose’, but would win this most crucial of contests, 4-3 over Red. Don Tran (15/19) was saddled with the loss, dropping Red into the unenviable position of the first team on Sand’s playoff radar. The win for Blue sealed Green’s scrap heap fate, and locked Perks & Company in at the seven spot, set to take on the only undefeated team in the league (and the team that topped them 6-1 in Week Five), Black, as playoff action kicks off this weekend.