Toppled

You had to know that Captain Tyler Winstead’s Olive was going be a race car in the red in Week Three, after being (Salt) shaken off in a 4-3 OT loss to (aptly-colored) rival Red the week prior. Captain Carl Vankoughnett’s Yellow served as the first curve in Olive’s road to redemption, and the second seed took that curve at high speed, and handled like a dream. Wendy Enright (from Chris Tullio and Greg Wirth) hit the ignition for Olive at 9:22, but Mason LaGrossa brake checked matters with a solo effort three minutes later. Captain Winstead wrested the lead back for his crew on the power play (Vacchio) at 1:26, and Kyle Snyder cashed in at 0:50 to give the favorites a 3-1 lead coming out of the first. It was Snyder again on the power play late in the second to build the lead to three (from Enright), before Captain Carl cashed in at 0:23 to make it 4-2 through two. That would be the last ball past super sub Chris Tran (28/30), who did his long lost cousin, Don, proud and kept the road paved for more fast and furious Olive action in the third. Nick Vacchio continued his monster Summer 2023 campaign with his first of the playoffs at 7:21 (Snyder), and Craig Russell dissolved any remaining thread of Yellow hope with an empty-netter at 1:04 (Tullio and Winstead) to cap the 6-2 win for Olive, and send Yellow to the playoff pits. Captain Winstead’s crew must now complete a daring drive through both Purple and Teal to keep their checkered flag dreams in gear.

Captain Karns’ Teal lost just once in the regular season (a Week Nine WTF shocker to White), but a bounce back win over Olive to clinch the top seed, and a successful pair of playoff outings since had them on the verge of taking what seemed like their rightful and destined spot as the sitting team in the Summer League 2023 Final. While Teal’s roster is obviously (over) loaded, attendance has been a bit of a hitch, and the absence of Alan Razoky and John Boddy was definitely cause for concern coming into a match with a fully-staffed and steadily stout Red. Captain Geoff Downes’ had to feel good about his team’s chance of an upset, especially while taking warmups on his goalie, Silas ‘The Silencer’ Perks. If Sean Kelly (in nets at the other end) is the SDFHL goaltending GOAT, Perks is almost certainly the GOAT-to-be, having absolutely dominated in his short SDFHL span, including a .959/0.86/3 SO regular season line over the summer months. Something had to give in this titanic tilt, and Jon Salt gave his team a 1-0 lead at 5:19 in the first (from Captain Downes). Maureen Ruchhoeft doubled the lead later in the period (Salt and Justin Ker), and a 2-0 lead is typically a death sentence when facing The Silencer. A scoreless second bled into a scoreless third, as Perks did indeed punctuate that death sentence with a 21/21 shutout effort. Kelly was stellar (27/29) in his own right, allowing only the first period strikes, but you can’t win if you can’t score, and Red did all of the scoring in a tight 2-0 win for the three seed to send them on to the Final. Teal are now down, but they are far from out. Karns’ & Kompany will await the (tired and sweaty) winner of Olive v Purple, and they will be fully focused on bringing their flight to the Final to fruition, with the lure of revenge over Red providing any extra motivation they may need.

The Week Three slate shifted smoothly from blowout, to overtime thriller, to (spoiler alert) scintillating shootout showdown, as the lowest two remaining seeds sought to stave off elimination and get glass slipper shopping in earnest. Captain Sev Brown’s sixth-seeded side survived an upstart White in Week Two, after suffering a Salty loss to Red in Week One. Captain Zach Siemer’s Grey wiggled a win out of wild one with Yellow in their opener, then succumbed in the shootout after a nil-nil nothing burger run of play against Teal. With Syd Costello in her customary ‘anywhere but in nets for my SDFHL team’ position, it would be up to super sub Chris Tran, Zach ‘The Other’ Salt, and…perhaps a surprise hero(ine) to carry the day for Purple. Grey’s bench was nearly completely bare, with Bao Nguyen, Payam Sazegar, Tom Darlington, and Eric Willard all MIA, but where there’s a Kalen Hunter, there’s a way (as they old saying goes). Lo and behold, it was Hunter exerting his will, and leading the way for Grey at 6:27 in the first (from Dan Soar and Captain Siemer). Zach Salt would respond for Purple at 3:38 (from Ty Pereira), leaving things as tied as they were at the start going into the second. Captain Brown continued his incredible playoff scoring pace with his third of the postseason to give Purple a 2-1 lead at 3:08 in the second (from Salt), and the underdogs held that one goal upper hand into the third. First year standout, Dan Soar, evened the score at two apiece at 5:57 in the third, and neither Tran (17/19) nor the considerably-less-tested Matt Henderson (7/9) would allow anything more through regulation and overtime. On to the shootout, where a fourth round lamp-lighter from Rob LaVigne looked to have things signed and sealed for Grey. Enter Erin Plone, the afore-alluded-to Purple heroine. Plone was feeling it…to to the point where she reportedly called her shot to teammates before strutting to the line, striding in, and ripping the game-saving strike past Henderson! Janice Darlington channeled her AWOL husband, Tom, failing to match Plone’s effort to ice it for Grey, and Salt would not miss his second attempt in a sudden death sixth round. Captain Siemer had one last chance to keep his team alive, but Tran was equal to the task, and Purple (once again) found a way to prevail, this time in a 3-2 shootout scrape past Grey to move on to Week Four. Captain Brown’s brood face a near impossible double dare this Sunday, facing the top two regular season teams in a back-to-back gauntlet that will take everything they have and more to survive…