A tight, thrilling opening night of playoff action kicked off with Kaptain Kayleigh’s Cinderella squad arriving in their shiny glass slippers to face Captain Chad’s three seed side. You’ll recall, Black made the playoffs with a shocker in (literally) the final minute of the regular season, with Jordan Pynn snapping home the game-winner at 0:55 to send his team on, and send Purple packing. Well, this one came down to the final minute, as well, and (spoiler alert) it was Pynn for the win once again. Tim Vick had Pink on the board first, converting on the power play late in the second. Jordan Pynn equalized around the midway point in the final frame, but Matt Henderson (18/19) and Tiffany Fox (15/17) stood tall through the rest of regulation and…almost all the way through OT. After a controversial no-goal decision late in OT stung Black, erasing what would have been a Jim LaGrossa from Jordan Pynn winning strike, the same duo teamed up, but switched roles seconds later, as Pynn cashed in on a feed from LaGrossa to end it at 0:26..2-1 Black over Pink. Can this trend continue for Black, or have they tempted fate to the limits at this point? The next test comes in the form of the second seed, Maroon, whom Black bested 4-2 back in Week 3 (without Pynn and Trevor Marsolini in the lineup!). Will Pink survive to see playoff Week Three? They will look to avenge a 4-0 Tosczak-less loss to White that they suffered back in Week Nine.
Maroon and White took things to OT and beyond in the second match of the night. Chuck Bender (9/10) and Christian LeClair (13/14) faced a total of twelve shots through the first two periods, and their combined efforts nearly kept things 0-0 all the way through regulation. Brian Sheptycki spoiled the scoreless party, putting White out front with 2:22 to go, but Jon Zygelman responded just five seconds later to bring things back to square ones (that’s a 1-1 pun). Bender and LeClair would not relent in OT…owing to the fact that (apparently) neither faced a single shot. It was on to the shootout, where (spoiler alert) it was all Maroon. Jerry Gonzales, Jon Zygelman, and Sailboat Lewis all made no mistake with the shake and bake, while Brian Sheptycki, Mark Ennsmann, and Eric Caligiuri got Chucked aside at the other end. A 3-0 triumph in the shootout meant a 2-1 win for Maroon, who march on to face the pesky Black team on the Winners’ side of the bracket. White will look to stay alive against Pink, with their captain out…and Tosczak in.
Captain Adkin’s crew romped through the regular season, suffering just one defeat (the aforementioned last minute shocker that sent Black to the big show). Green was largely romped-upon, by contrast, squeaking into the playoffs as the lowest seed. In an interesting twist, Melissa Busby is a member of both teams. Busby was, by design, not present when the two teams met in the regular season – a game which saw Red torch Green 7-1. The Sophie’s choice was made for her this time around, as Red has three females, and Green has but one goalie. Busby would suit up in nets for the underdogs, facing her other team, the top dogs. While she could not be truly thrilled, nor distraught with either team prevailing, she would certainly hope for a better fate than that of her Week Two substitute, Christian LeClair. Two scoreless periods ticked past, setting the table for yet another down to the wire Week One match. Busby had kept her team (Green) in the game with eleven saves to that point, shutting down her team (Red), and making an upset look like a real possibility. Greg Wirth spoiled the scoreless streak, making good on the power play at 9:44 in the third. In a stunning turn, Jason Remple answered back for Green almost immediately. Both goalies had been sharp, and (in spite of the two goal flurry) it looked as though we might be heading to a third straight OT thriller on the evening. Nope. Connor Miller…shot from distance…off Busby’s stick…straight up in the air…arching high over Busby’s head…Busby’s head swiveling about, trying to locate the ball…I swear a full two seconds tick by…the ball drops in just behind her, and into the net. That would turn out to be the game winner. I will let you be the judge whether that is better or worse that a 7-1 face smash. Anyway, I didn’t check to see if Melissa shook her own hand, but Red prevailed 2-1, and will move on to face Tie Dye in the upper bracket. Red won the first meeting with relative ease, 3-0, but playoffs are a different animal. This is a juicy matchup of the league’s top goalies…the fans want it to go to a shootout. Green look forward to a showdown with Orange, whom they bested 1-0 in Week Nine. That win was perhaps Busby’s best career game, and the one that ultimately secured a playoff berth for Green. Does she have any more magic left in those pads, or will she be down to one team come Monday?
Only one game left on the docket…surely this would be a convincing win, maybe even a blowout? On the contrary, this one outshined the previous three with respect to ridiculous thrill factor. Vance Morra deMorralized Orange with an early strike. Orange would finally find a crack in Sean Kelly’s armor late in the second, with Jet Javelet touching home the equalizer on a wild play in front. The score remained 1-1 through the rest of the second, all of the third and all of OT…wait…wait…all of OT? No! In one of the most insane and surreal finishes in league history, Harsh Wanigaratne tucked home the game winner with less than a second left on the OT clock. While Tie Dye celebrated, Orange looked around in stunned disbelief. Surely this dagger hadn’t beaten the buzzer?!? It had, or at least it was deemed to have done so by the naked eyes of the referees (and those of yours truly) in real time. So…no shootout, but one second and one shot put Orange down and out, 2-1. It was such a fitting way to end this spectacular night of playoff hockey. This league prides itself on parity, but this was just insanity from 4:00-8:30pm. The win has earned Tie Dye the right to face top seeded Red this Sunday. The loss has Orange thinking about redemption, starting with a chance to avenge a stinging 1-0 Week Nine loss to Green. If this week’s games are anywhere near what Week One gave us, buckle up and start reaching for the Cup…it looks like all eight teams are legitimate contenders.