With the usual field of eight now set, Week Two opened with half that field sitting on one loss, and half looking to remain unbeaten. Captain Joe Malki’s ‘Tranaconda’, and Captain Steph Palomo Schmidt’s ‘Pearl Chen’s Summer Tour’ found themselves in the former camp, hoping to survive their first scrap in the Losers’ Bracket trenches. It was Papa (Chris) Malki who led the way throughout, and led off the scoring for Green, accounting for the lone goal in a furious (yet, near-futile) first period that saw his side rack up FIFTEEN shots. The tide turned swiftly in favor of the underdogs in the second, as Harsh Wanigaratne and Steve Goncalo scored at 9:28 and 8:18 to move White out to a one goal edge. It was Malki again (Chris), then more Malki (Joe, on the power play) to wrest the lead back for Green later in the frame, and at this point, all signs pointed to round six of the Week One parity parade. Nope. Nick Vacchio went off script and put Green up by two early in the third, but Josh Wirt cut the lead back to the customary thinnest of margins a little over three minutes later, and the race to the finish line was on. Well, as ‘natural hat tricks’ go, this one was pretty lame (no disrespect). Vacchio’s empty netter pumped Green’s lead back to two, and his second empty netter put White down and out for good, 6-3. It certainly wasn’t the blowout that the final score made it out to be, but it did take an ultra-valiant fill-in effort from Zach Siemer (31/35) to keep it close. Don Tran (25/28) was no slouch at his end either, but the real story you can trust is that White never really managed to pose a threat to anyone but ‘Karnsma Police’ (RIP) this season. White become the second team on the playoff scrap plie, while Green live on to face the next lowest remaining seed in #7 Atomic Blue this Sunday.
The second game on the slate featured the other duo in the ‘do or die’ camp, as a (still) stunned and (now) steeled Pink faced off against the people’s champion, Lime. Knuckles whitened on both benches, as neither side could seem to solve the stellar shot-stoppers in the personages of Sean Kelly and Don Tran (subbing for legend in his own right, Alex Theis). Two scoreless periods elapsed, when Captain Mark Nagy finally broke the scoring seal on the powerplay to put Lime on top 1-0. It was Dan Jurgens who was in the box for Pink when that strike was struck, but Jurgens redeemed himself by assisting on the counterstrike from Joe Nguyen less than two minutes later to bring things level with half a period to play. All good things must come to and end…even the playoff run of my stone cold lock Cup favorite….actually, especially that…must definitely come to an end. The end took the form of…who else, Captain Jon Salt himself. The Pink captain converted a Matt Gottfried feed to build their first lead — a lead that Sean Kelly (15/16) and company would never relinquish…2-1, Pink over Lime. Don Tran (19/21) absorbed the last loss of the season for his surrogate team, who were one-two punched out of the playoffs in (very) tight losses to two of the toughest teams. ‘SubLime’ can certainly hold their heads high for their consistent level of compete from season start to finish. Local fatso and Lime super defender, Steve Linke, wistfully remarked that “this team almost made me forget about my crippling obesity, and the fact that I will be 80 next week”. Reporters quickly reminded their (super) elder that he is, indeed, very fat, and that he turned 80 a month prior…but who’s counting? Where was I…oh…Pink push forward as the highest-powered bottom in the Loses’ Bracket, and will look to sweep the leg on a Sheptycki-less Gold this week.
Captain Joel Gattey’s Orange is, well, named after a man who got away with murder. In that spirit (and, in hindsight), it can safely be said that Gattey himself ‘got away with murder’ at the draft table. Eric Herrmann is a clear first overall pick, but David Schlatter was a relative unknown…a dice roll…an x factor back on draft day. Well, if he is still a ‘relative unknown’ to you, then you haven’t played against him. The fact that this beast is on the same team, let alone the same line as Herrmann…historically sick duo from hell. Mercifully for opponents, that duo has only appeared together in five of eleven games for Orange thus far. Unfortunately for Atomic Blue, half of amazingly awesome is still either amazing or awesome, and Schlatter was one or the other for sure in a powerhouse playoff performance that pushed Orange on to the Winner’s Bracket Final. Wendy Enright had the lone assist on Schlatter’s game-winner midway through the first, Chuck Russell doubled the lead with help from Ian Crooks in the second, then it was Schlatter unassisted, and Schlatter from Enright again to cap the scoring in a 4-0 Orange roll over Atomic Blue. In the glare of all of the offensive star power, it’s easy to lose sight of the steady defense, and the netminding heroics that have brought Orange to this point. Chris Tran stopped 26/26 to stamp out any threat of a close contest, and a Hermann-less Orange moved on with relative ease to face their top-seeded rivals, Grey. Atomic Blue still have second life in the Losers’ Bracket, where they will face a team they tied 2-2 in Week Five, Green.
Captain Will Heinl’s maiden voyage at the helm of an SDFHL ship has been mostly smooth sailing. However, as any sailor can tell you, the seas can be rough and unpredictable, and you just have to hope that your crew stay onboard and healthy. After losing Jerry Gonzales to a knee injury at the end of the regular season, Gold was able to enlist the services of Dale Stuzka, and his presence helped the five seed overcome in a Week One thriller. Stuzka provides smarts and stability, but the man hoisting the main sail and manning the cannons is clearly Brian Sheptycki. Without him, Gold may find themselves sinking…and that was the case against the dread pirate, Grey(beard). Jordan Pynn wasted no time putting the favorites in favorable position, striking six seconds in to set a grim tone for Gold. Elliot Hicks tempered that tone later in the period, but Rob Gaudio turned it back up to make it 2-1 in favor of the one seed through one. Gaudio then assisted on Brandon Olsen’s game-winner in the second, before adding a powerplay goal early in the third, and an empty netter to complete the hat trick in the waning minutes to seal the 5-2 winning deal for Grey over Gold. Stuzka recorded his first point in a Gold shirt, providing the lone helper on Vinny Santora’s third period marker, but it was not nearly enough to get Gold near enough on the scoreboard to make this one interesting. Grey’s formidable firepower made it a long night in nets for Nick Meglich (15/19), while Parsa Mostafavi (11/13) continued to put shine on his Calder campaign with yet another win, helping his team cruise through to a Winner’s Bracket showdown for the ages with Orange. Gold will once again be without the services of their super sailor, Sheptycki, and hope not to find themselves Shep-wrecked in a life or death scrap with Pink.