Teams are beginning to feel each other out, and some are clearly getting very comfortable working up a sweat together on the floor. Some are still a bit clumsy and awkward with one another, and have come up shy where others have had little trouble scoring. The season is still young, and even the teams with the least game to this point could still find the right moves and get some action…
Red kept their darker-shaded counterparts at zero points in the standings, edging Burgundy, 4-3. Param Gill recorded the rare in-vain-hat trick, scoring all three Burgundy goals in the loss. Mark Daquipa earned first star honors from the blueline for Red, scoring twice, and assisting on Gary Peters’ game-winner in the third. Mostafa Azab rounded out the scoring for Red, and Marc Devoe recorded his first W of the season with a 15/18 line.
Another battle of color wheel neighbors saw Navy and Blue battle to a 2-2 draw. Blue was just fourteen seconds from starting the season 2-0-0, but Andy Strathman played hero, evening the score, and giving Navy its first point in the standings. Strathman’s 1 and 1 evening matched that of teammate, Chris Malki, while Chris Tran assisted on both Blue goals (Derek Lobo and Kris Tosczak). Both goalies were solid, with Matt Henderson bouncing back from a rough week one (14/16), and Cory Brin hanging tough in the near win (19/21).
Captain Joe Nguyen’s Green appears to be a scoring machine, racking up five goals in each of their first two games. Tim Helmbrecht earned POTW honors by factoring in four of those five goals in Week Two (2 and 2), and rookie, Philip Burke, slathered on three assists in the 5-3 win over Gold. Gold certainly threw everything they had at fill-in netminder, Fred Fournier, forcing the Frenchie to stop 39/42 to preserve the win. Katherine Dicker scored her first career goal for Gold with just 0:07 to play, and Nick Adkins kept pace in the goal scoring race with two twine ticklers in Week Two.
Purple evened their record at 1-1-0, and kept Pink winless with a 2-1 result . Wendy Enright opened the scoring for Purple late in the first, and Jim LaGrossa closed it late in the third, spoiling a solid effort from Elliot Hicks (18/20). Patrick Fusco scored his first of the year for Pink, but it would be all that Chuck Bender would allow on the evening (9/10). Staying out of the box (four penalties in two games), and generating more scoring (two goals in two games) have to be high on Pink’s to-do list as they look toward a Week Three showdown with Orange.
Speaking of Orange, they were blitzed, beleaguered, and beaten by Black, 3-1. Jon Salt scored just thirteen seconds into play, and Kamal Gill scored the game-winner with just ten ticks left in that same period. Salt outdid himself with a goal at 9:53 in the third, and Orange never found much time and space to retaliate. Rookie, Mike Muniz, snapped the lone goal home for Orange minutes after Salt’s second, but Steve Testen (17/18) remained resolute in out-dueling Alex Theis (20/23) on this night.