Standings after November 18th games:
1. Sky Blue 12 (50/34)
2. Orange 10 (53/37)
3. Gray 10 (48/40)
4. Black 7 (45/47)
5. Red 5 (34/44)
6. Yellow 2 (33/62)
Looking ahead to November 25th:
Yellow vs Gray at 620 ---- Yellow is locked into the number 6 spot and will play the top overall seed on December 2nd. Gray cannot get any worse than a #3 seed and still has a chance at a #2 seed depending on what happens this Monday. Sky Blue beat Gray earlier this season which will prevent gray from a realistic chance of a #1 seed. Orange also has a head to head tiebreaker with Gray. If there is a 3 way tie for first, the tiebreaker would go by goal differential.
Orange vs Sky Blue at 720 ---- This game will most likely determine the top seed going into the double elimination playoffs. The top overall seed will play yellow on December 2nd. In years past, we have had the top overall seed play against the #6 seed in back to back weeks if the top seed wins that first playoff game. This year, we are going to have the top seed play against the 6 seed in the first playoff game. In the 2nd week of the playoffs, the top seed will play against the #5 seed no matter what happens in the first week of the playoffs. The other 2 matchups will be determined based on who wins and who loses that first week (2 winners play each other and the 2 losers will play each other). Whoever wins between sky blue and orange will most likely be the #1 seed and will get to play against yellow the first week of the playoffs and most likely against Red in the 2nd week of the playoffs. In short, whoever gets top overall seed will get back to back weeks against the 2 bottom teams.
Black vs Red at 720 ---- Red will most likely be the #5 seed, unless they can beat Black by 9 goals in regulation on Monday. If red gets the #5 seed, they will play against the #2 seed in the first week of the playoffs followed by a game against the #1 seed in the playoffs the following week. Black will probably be the #4 seed and will play against the #3 seed in the first playoff game, which will most likely be gray or orange.
Sky Blue 10 Yellow 3
These 2 teams could meet again in 2 weeks depending on how Sky Blue does against Orange this coming Monday. Sky Blue beat Yellow pretty convincingly for the 2nd time this season. If they play again, hopefully Brice Miller and Ben Rossi will be able to make it for yellow. They did not play in either of the games these 2 teams played this season. John Matchock and Jason Stamler filled in and helped keep the game close for a while, but things quickly got away for team yellow. A 3-1 game midway thru the 2nd period turned into a 6-1 game by the end of the 2nd period. From there, a 6-1 game turned into a 10-1 game before Vinnie and Larry scored late goals for yellow. Tyler Stitt scored 2 first period goals for blue and played a big part in them opening up their lead as the game went on. Blue had a good balance of scoring again with Anthony Schuckers leading the way in goals. Jake Kline, Cody Haag, Jerred Amick and Tyler Waltman each scored goals as well. Tony Dodd filled in for Bubba last night. Yellow has been a much better team this season with their complete roster present. We will see if they can establish some confidence for the playoffs when they close out the regular season against gray next week. Gray had to rally for an overtime win the first time they met. Sky Blue will have Cody for the next 2 weeks and will look to get revenge from their only loss of the season when they play orange next week. That game will most likely determine the top seed going into the playoffs. The #2 seed will most likely play against Red in the first week of the playoffs. Jake Kline may actually get a break for Blue this week, unless Jerred Amick gets stuck in Detroit before games start Monday night.
Black 9 Orange 2
Despite the blowout loss last night, team orange will most likely get the top seed if they win against Sky Blue next Monday night. As is the case with golf, you have to have a short term memory in hockey. Orange fell victim to the Andy Calvert/Laken Dodd show last night. The two combined for all of team black’s goals and it looks like they are establishing an identity going into the playoffs. There is a chance these two teams could meet again the first week of the playoffs which will make the game against sky blue this Monday pretty important. Phil Pompeii made the only mistake of the night for black when a pass in the first period got intercepted by Jason Stamler which led to an early 1-0 lead for Orange. The game was neck and neck for over 20 minutes before Andy and Laken took over. Orange scored a power play goal in the 2nd period to tie the game at 2 but Black answered with 7 goals to close out the game. Zach Foradori filled in for a missing Corey Bassett and seems to bring winning to whatever team he plays for in this league. Orange was without John Matchock again due to Matchock goalying against them again last night. We normally would have gotten Foradori to fill in for Orange, but Black needed a fill in as well. Josh Clontz and Corey Bassett should be available for black next week. If Laken and Andy play like they did last night, they may not need anyone else alongside of them. Black will play against red next week. The only way red could leapfrog them in the standings is if they win by 9 goals against them next week. The #5 seed will have to play the #2 seed the first week of the playoffs followed by playing the #1 seed the following week. In short, getting the #4 seed will be fairly important.
Gray 9 Red 6
At about 8:18 last night, the only players present for red were Noah Kline, Morgan Lyons and Henry Sutter. We quickly recruited Zach Foradori and Jerred Amick so a game could be played last night. Just as Jerred Amick was putting his skates on, Troy Gaydosh, Steve Pompeii and Peach walked into the building. Troy Gaydosh had another big goal scoring night for red which led to an early 3 goal lead. Gray actually had Trent Bembenic present last night and he contributed a 2nd period goal off a setup from Bob Anderson. Bembenic would seal the game late in the 3rd period after making a nice pass to Zach Smith for Gray’s 9 and final goal of the night. It took over 10 minutes for gray to score (Bob) but Red still had the lead most of the way until the 3rd period. Noah Kline contributed some goals as well for red. Bob and Zach led team gray’s 2nd period comeback by setting each other up a couple times. Cory was also included on one of the nice passing sequences for team Gray during their 2nd period rally. Gray was ahead 7-6 late in the 3rd period when Bob Anderson took a pass from Brian Anderson (nearly got intercepted by steve Pompeii) to give gray its 8th goal and some much needed insurance. These two teams will most likely meet again in the first playoff game if gray can beat yellow on Monday and if Sky Blue can beat Orange on Monday. With Jeff not showing up for red this season, we will try to find them a sub of similar caliber for the playoffs considering that he was an early round pick for Noah. Tony Dodd got his 2nd win of the night.
***We will get back to interviews next week***.
XHL Rumors ------- It sounds like the yeti will be back to defend its title from last year. Their core will be together again, but they may have to plug in a few holes to round out its roster. It sounds like the Eagles will be back as well with maybe a few slight changes as well. Anthony Schuckers is trying to find players for a team as he got a sponsor for this season to help with the costs. If you are looking for a team, let us know. It sounds like he recruited Laken Dodd and Bubba already with Zach Foradori involved in a discussion as well. The Colonials will not have Kevin Smith back this season but they have not yet talked too many people about a replacement for him. It sounds like Kevin is retiring unless someone can talk him out of it. The Knights will most likely be returning as well to try to get their championship back. They fell just short in both the xhl and srhl in 2024.
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