Brown and Black got the Week Three parity party started right with a clean, intense, well-played game. Neither team could break through over the course of the first two periods, but it was Captain Mark Nagy leading the way for his team once again with an early third period strike that would prove to be the game-winner. It ranks as one of the grittier/prettier plays I have seen all season, with Matt Rogers charging and weaving into the zone, and laying a perfect cross to his captain for the finish. Frankly, it has to be a highlight reel play to beat Sean Kelly (8/9). The 1-0 loss is the first for Black (and ‘Da Kid’) since Week Eight (August 8th). Kelly certainly did all he could, but was undone by a great play, and outdueled by fellow pipes veteran, Don Tran (16/16). The win propels Brown into the Cup Final, giving them this Sunday off to rest and ready themselves. Black await the winner of Yellow v Navy, and hope to leverage their fresh legs to earn a chance to avenge their loss on October 24th.
It’s not often that the one and seven seeds meet in the third round…or maybe it is…I am too lazy to check the books. Whatever the numbers, and whatever the expectations, this game was as close as any other on a night of razor-thin thrillers. Vance Morra put Silver in front with an early first period strike, and Alan Razoky followed with a goal that was later disallowed (be sure to ask Captain Karns how he feels about this). Yellow seized the momentum of that reversal, and Eric Willard converted a Josh Wirt assist to even the score in the second. Willard and Wirt had helpers on Bill Casey’s go-ahead goal with 4:00 to play, and Captain Ty Pereira added any empty netter to make it 3-1. Silver was not done fighting, as Razoky found twine with 0:12 to play, but the top dogs would run out the clock, and run Silver out of the playoffs, 3-2. Yellow survive the scare, and move on to face Navy in the first of two elimination tilts this Sunday.
The close encounters continued into game three, with the dangerous and dynamic offenses of Navy and Green exchanging salvos in a wild and wonderful affair. Captain Jon Salt was an expectant father with an unexpected delivery to tend to, but Navy was no less imposing in his absence. Steve Jones got Green on the board first, Luke Wolmer and Weston Nawrocki flipped the lead in Navy’s favor, and Mostafa Azab brought the ledger back to level…all in the first ten minutes of play. It was all Green in the second (Jason Dick and Josh Tran), and all Navy in the third (Zach Salt, and a Patrick Fusco season-saving stunner with 0:12 to play), and we were back to square one, all square at 4-4 through regulation. Overtime could not produce a winner, so it was on to the shootout. Jones gave Green the lead again in the first round, but Deborah Finucane matched his tally in the third round, and Anthony Cerasuolo netted the decider in the final round…5-4, Navy over Green in SO style. It’s tough when your team is eliminated from the playoffs, but even tougher when you lose as Green did. Nick Vacchio’s final effort in his inaugural goalie campaign was valiant (14/18), but ultimately in vain. Nick Meglich (23/27) was steady enough through the storm to push his surrogate team on…they will face Yellow this Sunday, and hope to face Black in a back to back to make their way to the final Sunday of play.