Serious Jeopardy

Momentum is huge in sports, but it isn’t everything, and the playoffs can be a much needed ‘reset’ for some, and an untimely streak snapper for others. Captain John Boddy’s Pink cruised out to 3-0-0 to open their season, built the rest of their playoff case with a 2-1-0 middle third, then crashed hard and limped to the finish line with three straight losses to fall to the four seed. So, a ‘reset’ was certainly the plan for Pink, while Captain Bao Nguyen’s Green looked to continue their resurgence after entering the playoffs through the front door with a 2-1-0 final swing to push to the middle of the post season pack. Nick Vacchio put Green on top first at 3:07 in the first (Brennen Abel & Steve Goncalo), but Jason Lee drew Pink level on a nifty power play series from Liv Bryant and Geoff Downes at 2:31. Eli Schonbrun put Pink’s ‘reset’ in motion in earnest at 7:23 in the second (Jackson Tomaszewski & Downes), and Downes padded the Pink lead at 5:49 (Lee & Captain Boddy). Abel drew Green back to within one with 2:13 to play in the second (Goncalo), setting up a tight, tense third with Pink hoping to preserve their ‘reset’ and avoid an ‘upset’. Green were only in striking distance of the latter thanks to the heroics of Sean Kelly (23/26) who was (once again) keeping his team in a game in spite of a very lopsided shot count (26-10 in Pink’s favor, at game’s end). Alas for Captain Nguyen & Company, striking distance would be as close as they would get, as Mason Holcomb (8/10) deflected all four shots he faced in the final period to earn a 3-2 win for Pink in a fill-in foray for Will Heinl. The ‘reset’ win has earned Pink a rematch with Neon — a chance to avenge a VERY tough/tight 1-0 Week Nine loss and propel themselves one step closer to the Final in the process. Green will need a regroup/reset of their own now, with bottom seeds Purple lurking in the late game this Sunday.

Much like momentum, playoff seeding is important/telling, but far from a fool-proof predicter of post season performance. Captain Carl Vankoughnett’s ‘CarliforNeons’ had not only the momentum of a three game regular season landing-sticking dismount, but also the glory, prestige, and privilege afforded by a hard-earned top seed on their trophy shelf coming into their playoff opener against Captain Mason Holcomb’s Purple. Purple…losers of their last two to faceplant through the back door to the playoffs as the eighth seed…basically Neon’s polar opposite in terms of mojo and expectation, but…you never know how the playoffs winds will blow. The winds blew tumbleweed through a scoreless first that saw the teams combine for seven shots, but Captain Carl finally broke the scoring seal at 7:52 in the second (Jim LaGrossa & Darin Cerasuolo) to set Neon on their presumed path to victory. Justin Hepler made that presumed path a bit less precarious at 6:42 in the third (LaGrossa), but an odd/fluky Chris Malki shot from range tightened the margin back to one with 5:11 to play (Joe Malki & Steve Linke). Neither Chuck Bender (9/10) nor Captain Holcomb (13/15) were especially taxed in this game, but Neon’s one goal edge forced Holcomb to vacate his net in the waning minutes, leading to a Darin Cerasuolo empty-netter to seal the 3-1 win for Neon (Hepler & Mark Nagy). As noted in the first recap, this result sets up rematch for the ages between Neon and Pink in the Winners’ Bracket, and a fight for playoff life between Green and Purple on the Losers’ side.

Yet another typical metric employed in divining the outcomes of playoff play is, of course, the outcome of the regular season matchup. The outcome of the first Red v Brown throwdown was a resounding/convincing 6-2 victory for Captain Wendy Enright’s Red, and (of course) a deflating/demoralizing 6-2 loss for Captain Sean Bathgate’s Brown. Adding to the impact, the fact that this lopsided first meeting loaf came hot and fresh out of the Week Nine oven. The only glimmer of ‘yeah, but’ for Brown…the absence of both Chris Tran and Mark DeGraffenreid in that regular season finale. With both back in uniform in the post season rematch, and stalwart defender Andy Strathman out of the lineup for Red, Brown had to like their chances of keeping this one close, and possibly even staging the first upset of the Summer League 2025 second season. Nope…hard, loud, booming NOPE! Josh Wirt actually had Brown believing the ‘revenge is a dish…’ angle early, putting Brown in front 1-0 with an impressive effort (Austin Szymanski & Mark DeGraffenreid), but the Red storm started less than a minute later with Jon Zygelman’s counterstrike at 5:45 (Owen Perks & Tim Vick). Super sub Shelby Shattuck made it 2-0 with an unassisted tally at 2:12, and Perks notched the first of his three on the night to make it 3-1 before the first break (Zygelman & Trevor Vick). The second period was all Red, with Tim Vick adding his name to the list of Red scorers at 9:40 (Perks), then Perks piling on his second of the game at 9:05 (Trevor Vick), then sliding home his unassisted hat trick capper at 8:12 to push this one into ‘laugher’ territory at 6-1 through two. Trevor Vick became the fifth Red scorer of the night at 8:40 in the third (Perks & Shattuck), and a late deflection goal for Chris Tran (Mark DeGraffenreid & Josh Wirt) did very little to soften the crushing blow of the instant encore 7-2 blowout win for Red. Perks claimed his second straight POTW crown with a 3 and 3 hammer, as Jon Cima (9/11) earned the win with light effort while Matt Henderson (12/19) bore the brunt of Perks’ brilliance, and Red’s truly impressive offensive array. Captain Enright will be back to enjoy the fun with her fully-fueled friends as Red square off against a tough number two in Baby Blue, while Brown look to avoid playing the clown and going down and out of the playoffs as they fight to right their sinking ship against seventh-seeded Grey.

The Week One nightcap saw the first team to book playoff passage, Captain Rob LaVigne’s Baby Blue, taking on the last team to make the cut, Captain Tyler Winstead’s Grey. Granted, LaVigne & Company shared the Week Six post season confirmation honors with both Pink and Neon, but they were technically the first, due to the order of the schedule that night. Winstead’s crew, meanwhile, laid dead and waiting to be buried for seven weeks of regular season play before rolling away from the edge of the grave and rising to the seventh seed like a zombie in a way-too-farfetched-even-for-a-zombie-flick flick. All consideration of ‘momentum’ and ‘destiny’ aside, it would take an even less believable effort for Grey to topple Baby Blue on this night, especially with Josh Tran out, and Jordan Pynn having given way to the capable, but hardly-Pynn-akin (no one is, to be fair) Mark Daquipa. This tale read as written, but not without Don Tran (31/34) giving his all and then some to subvert the prevailing plot. Tran’s heroism, even if it had risen to the heights of absolutely perfection, would have BARELY been enough to see his team to a win. With three goals allowed, Grey would have needed literal shot perfection to prevail. That’s right, humble reader…Grey scraped together just FOUR shots! Grey mustered period shot totals of ZERO, ONE, and THREE, whilst THIRTY-FOUR shots were fired the other way. It’s a minor miracle that this game was ever in doubt, but Tran kept Baby Blue frustrated through a 12-0 shot first, and only (finally) allowed the first blemish on his sparkling sheet at 1:34 in the second…Arnold Gonzales from Luke Wolmer. Wolmer made it 2-0 at 9:04 in the third (Arnold Gonzales & Kalen Hunter), and an unassisted strike from Captain LaVigne at 6:47 finally saw the score coming into some semblance of mathematically sane sync with the steeply sloped shot count. Distant Don cousin, Chris Tran (3/4), meanwhile, may well have been lulled to sleep at his end by then, and can hardly be blamed for the lone Grey retaliation off Dan Jurgen’s stick with 5:45 to go (Mark Daquipa and…yes, DON TRAN). That’s right, folks…Don added an assist as the cherry on top of his incredible Sunday sundae, but Baby Blue earned just desserts for their dominant performance with a 3-1 win. LaVigne & Company will hope for a cooler opposing crease-minder when they take on Red in a VERY intriguing Week Two matchup, while Don will hope for a more balanced shot count and some actual scoring support as Grey battle with Brown to stay alive on the Losers’ side.