Eric Willard got Lime, and his POTW campaign, off on the right foot early in the first, and doubled the damage late in the second. Meanwhile, Alex Theis made a sparkling Sprummer debut, coming off a monster season for reigning champs, ‘Purple Reign’. Theis stopped all twenty-two shots he faced, making Willard’s first strike the only one needed to punch out Green. Vance Morra padded the lead in the third, and Mike Chiaco iced things with an empty netter (from Willard) to produce the 4-0 final, and boost ‘SubLime’ to a namesake-worthy 2-0-0 start. I don’t know why so many people doubted this obvious juggernaut-to-be back in late April…some people just have no foresight. Speaking of foresight, there is no looking back for Lime, now setting their Week Four sights on Pink, who have sample plattered things, to this point (1-1-1). Captain Joe Malki and ‘Tranaconda’ hope to prove that there ‘is snakes out der dis big‘ (again, people…culture!) when they face off against a 1-1-0 Gold this Sunday.
Captain Chad Goins and ‘Hakuna Mostafa’ came into Week Three with no wins, no points, and now…no Zach Salt. The Atomic Blue locker room was surely not a hotbed of optimism in the lead-up to a meeting with ‘Gold Will Hunting’. Sample size aside, Gold was all a-bling after a crush and cast aside 5-2 win over Orange, and the low sodium lineup on the other bench had to have them salivating for another W. Brian Sheptycki had that salivation turning to surety with his first of the season less than two minutes in, but Carl Vankoughnett enhanced his SDFHL scoring CV (see what I did there) with the equalizer later in the frame (from Jon Zygelman and Mostafa Azab). A scoreless second saw more of Nick Meglich (18/20) working hard, and Wayne Wong (4/5) hardly working, as the tie score held in spite of the lopsided shots/chances. Another Vankoughnett shot/chance finally did find twine (this time from Luke Wolmer and Greg Wirth), and that tally would stand as the game-winner for Atomic Blue, 2-1 over Gold.
Again, sample size is a thing for a reason, but ten games into the Sprummer 2022 season saw six blowouts, and just one game that was decided by less than two goals. Parity finally came to the party in W3/G3, as White and Grey battled back and forth to the bitter end. Josh Wirt had White on top in the first, and assisted on Alexis DaCosta’s fourth of the young season early in the second. Brandon Olsen finally made his SDFHL debut for Grey, and cut the lead in half with his first career goal, and Jim LaGrossa made the last second of the second period count to bring the count to 2-2. Encores from both DaCosta and Olsen (in that order) kept things square, with Olsen’s powerplay marker saving Grey from a second loss in three tries, and serving up a 3-3 tie to both teams. Cory Brin (19/22) and Parsa Mostafavi (12/15) were solid (I assume), though both now sport a save percentage that sags below .900. It’s early, but goaltending has proven to be a key ingredient in (at least recent) Cup runs…
OK, there’s parity, and then there’s paucity…no one (outside of fútbol fans) wants to see a 0-0 tie. Well, like it our not, that’s what we got in the Week Three nightcap. Nothing…we got…nothing. Chris Tran (15/15) and Sean Kelly (23/23) got something, of course…another SO on their career charts, and a point in the standings for their respective teams, but…we paid for blood! <== That’s a record third Simpsons reference in one week, if you’re scoring at home. Captain Jon Salt actually relayed to me that Kelly himself said of this effort that it was ‘the best he has ever played’! That is certainly not ‘nothing’, especially given the considerable and consistent conquests chalked up over Kid’s colossal career. So…congratulations, Kid…you have finally peaked! The 0-0 result has both teams (fittingly) tied with Grey at 1-1-1 to start the season, (appropriately) knotted in a pack behind co-leaders in the clubhouse, Blue and Lime.