Our second week of playoffs kicked off with an elimination bout between #4 Orange, and #8 Green. Green rode their 1-0 Week Nine win over Orange into the playoffs, and looked to repeat the feat to stay alive after a tough loss to top seeded Red to open their playoff campaign. Things looked promising early for Captain Nick Vacchio’s group, as Josh Wirt delivered a breakaway counter attach goal in the first minute of play to put the underdogs on top. Gary Peters leveled the ledger minutes later, and second period strikes from Captain Kevin Dinino and Bill Casey had Orange up 3-1. Jason Remple brought the tension back later in the second, closing the gap to 3-2. A Gary Peters retaliation penalty late in the third made for a thrilling finish, especially with Orange unable to finish several empty net chances. Time would ultimately run out for Green, who became the first playoff casualty with the loss. Orange’s trademark habit of outshooting opponents held true again in the 3-2 win, as they nearly doubled their opponent’s output. Melissa Busby could not find the sequel to her sparkling regular season effort against Orange, but certainly gave her team a chance to win, stopping 21/24. Zach Siemer’s first career playoff win in nets came on an 11/13 effort, strong enough to propel Orange on to a Week Three match with the two seed, Maroon.
Timing is everything in hockey, as in life. Jordan Pynn’s last minute game-winner put Black in, and Purple out of the playoff picture, and it was the only loss on the entire season for Red. Meanwhile, Tie Dye had scraped and scuffled through the first four games of the regular season (0-3-1), only to find their stride in the latter half (3-1-1) to make the middle of the playoff pack. Harsh Wanigaratne’s (literal) last second timing sent Orange to the Loser’s Bracket, and moved Captain Joe Malki’s team on to a showdown with the aforementioned Red. Connor Miller struck once in the first, and once in the second to put the top seeds out front 2-0, but the lone remaining period would prove ample time for Tie Dye (who have proven they need mere seconds). Chris Malki cut the Red lead in half, then assisted on son Joe’s game-tying tally. It was Joe again to give Tie Dye the lead, and Kamal Gill providing insurance on the power play to complete the surge from down and out to up and on for Tie Dye, 4-2 over Red. It was the first time in ten previous games that Captain Nick Adkins (26/30) allowed more than two goals in a game, and even that only happened twice. Again, timing is everything, and Red was bested at the worst time…the playoffs. Sean Kelly’s 15/17 was enough to hold the fort, and the third period onslaught has Tie Dye charging on to the Winner’s Bracket finals to face Black. Red still has time to recover, and you can be sure they will not be an easy out from here on out. Their first test on the other side of the bracket comes in the form of #3 Pink.
Speaking of Pink, Dale Stuzka twice tickled the twine with the game on the line, opening and closing the shootout scoring, and closing the door on White’s season. Regulation ended in a 1-1 tie, as Eric Caligiuri’s late first period goal for White was matched by John Gamm’s equally late third period goal to crush White’s spirit and send this one to OT. Pink’s PK had to go to work in that extra session after Kris Tosczak was sent off for a high-stick. Both goalies stood tall, with Tiffany Fox stopping 17/18 for Pink, and Christian LeClair deflecting 13/14 at the other end. Captain Chad Goins made the right call, and a bold one, at that, slotting the veteran Stuzka at the top of the shootout order. Dale delivered, and after the next eight shooters failed in turn, it looked like it might be all that was needed. Andrew Wong provided one last burst of heroics for White, who were without Captain Mark Ennsmann, but Stuzka repeated the feat in the second round, and Brian Sheptycki was denied anew by Fox to seal the deal. White join Green on the scrapheap, while Pink advance from the frying pan to the fire with the 2-1 shootout win, which has earned them a meeting with Red in the late game this Sunday.
The evening closed with a back and forth affair the ultimately pushed Black forth to the Winner’s Bracket Final. Dan Jurgens’ power play marker for Black in the first was equalized almost exactly a minute later by Maroon’s Eric Willard. The lone second period strike belonged to Black’s Mark Nagy, and an early third period Jordan Pynn goal gave Black a 3-1 edge. Jon Zygelman cashed in on the power play with 0:25 to play, because all of this season’s playoff games MUST have wire to wire drama. Pynn put an end to the tension with an empty-netter, his second of the night, fourth of the playoffs, and sixth in his last three games. In fact, Nagy’s and Jurgens’ goals in this 4-2 win are the only non-Pynn goals for Black since Jim LaGrossa’s Week Eight tally in a 2-1 loss to Pink. Chuck Bender absorbed his first playoff loss with an 11/13 line, while Tiffany Fox was fine and dandy in a fill-in role for Matt Henderson, stopping 17/19 at the other end. Black has certainly caught fire at the right time, and if the non-Pynn scoring continues into their Week Three match with Tie Dye, the six seeds could certainly find themselves in the Final catbird seat. Maroon remains alive, and will look to stay that way by repeating the 3-2 regular season defeating of Orange.