Alexis DaCosta made his triumphant return to SDFHL action, putting White on the board first in the first. The wagering world wondered what took so long for White to secure a lead, but Eric Willard’s response less than half a minute later, and Aaron Cooney’s strike minutes later had the unofficial underdogs officially on top through ten minutes of play. Captain Nagy built the lead to 3-1 early in the second, Vance Morra converted on the game’s lone power play opportunity, and Aaron Cooney laced home an encore to make it 5-1 Lime through two! Cooney was awarded POTW honors, having factored in all five Lime goals (2 and 3) with a full period left to play. The third period was comparatively quiet, with Alexis DaCosta’s second of the game making the final score a touch more respectable, but no more beneficial for White. Chris Tran did not face a lot of orange plastic in his fill-in role for Alex Theis (7/9), while Cory Brin (23/28) was kept busy throughout at the other end in the 5-2 loss. White was without Josh Wirt and Harsh Wanigaratne, and the presence of those two up front likely would have at least made this a closer contest, but the story of this game remains the play of much-maligned Lime, and Cooney’s breakout performance. It will certainly be interesting to see how both of these teams fare the rest of the way…
The Herrmannator™ & The Deputy™ are back for season two of their shoot ’em up series, and Atomic Blue was the first to face the reunited dynamic duo. Herrmann (Eric Herrmann, for those new to the league) scored the lone goal in the first, and Chuck Russell chalked up the game-winner in the latter half of the second period. It was Herrmann again, this time from ‘The Deputy’, Kevin Dinino, to give Orange a 3-0 lead through two. The third saw Herrmann from Dinino, then Dinino from Herrmann within the first three minutes, then (finally) a response from Atomic Blue (Luke Wolmer from Zach Salt and Matt Rogers). Ian Crooks capped the scoring for Orange in the 6-1 rout that had Wayne Wong (11/17) wishing he had stayed home, and Chris Tran (21/22) anchoring his side to an opening week W. Just how far with the Sherriff & The Deputy push Orange this season, and can Captain Chad Goins & Company show the league that this near photocopy of last season’s champs will not fade and fold without a fight?
Parity was certainly not paramount in Week One, as Captain Ryan Karns and his ‘Karnsma Police’ ran in ‘Tranaconda’ 4-1. Three games in…three games decided by three or more goals. This one stayed tight and scoreless until Captain Karns’ point shot deflected off Mark DeGraffenreid’s foot to give Blue a 1-0 lead late in the first. Captain Joe Malki settled the score midway through the second, but Anthony Cerasuolo would respond later in the frame to give Blue the lead back for good. Shawna Hamon added insurance at 4:10 in the third, and DeGraffenreid netted an empty netter to cap the scoring, and remove any semblance of drama from the final minute of play. Chuck Bender earned first star of the game for his 28/29 effort, while Don Tran absorbed a hard fought, hard luck loss with a line of 14/17. Blue is already brimming with confidence, having pulled off an opening week win in the absence of Alan Razoky. They face ‘the other Blue’ in the early game this week. Green hope to bounce back in the late game against Grey, who impressed against Pink in their debut.
Zach Salt is not often held scoreless, but both Salt boys going o-fer is definitely long Vegas odds. If you happened to have that parlay, you would be sitting pretty, as Grey shook off (Jon) Salt, and peppered Sean Kelly in a 4-2 Week One win. Rob Gaudio opened the scoring on a feed from Jim LaGrossa, and returned the favor on LaGrossa’s lamp lighter late in the period. Dan Jurgens had converted a Pat Gladstone pass between the two Grey tallies, making the score 2-1 Grey, after one. Matt DeBerry scored his first SDFHL goal early in the second (CONGRATULATIONS!) but Gaudio’s second of the game (from LaGrossa, of course) came just minutes later to wrest back the lead for Grey, 3-2. With Dan Jurgens ailing on the bench, and Matt Gottfried not in the lineup, Pink struggled to generate quality chances in the third. Grey was careful and calculating…trying to minimize salvos from the Salt cannon, and Jordan Pynn ultimately provided some stability with a late third period goal (from LaGrossa, of course). Parsa Mostafavi was sharp in his SDFHL debut, stopping 22/24 to secure the win, while Sean Kelly (20/24) suffered the loss, and a rare four goal statistical gouge at the other end.