The final piece of the Summer League 2026 playoff picture would fall into place based on the results of the first and last games on the Week Nine slate. More accurately, that piece COULD fall securely into place at the conclusion of the first game, but only if Captain Bao Nguyen’s Green managed to secure a point against Captain Jeremy Copp’s Orange. A tie would leave Green at 2-5-1, and while Red could match that record exactly with a win over Grey in the nightcap, Nguyen & Company held the all-important head-to-head token over Red. For Orange, a win could boost them as high as the second seed, while a loss could drop them as low as seven. Suffice it to say that Red was hoping for the former result, but hope without the ability to act is often a tragically frustrating endeavor…they would NEED Orange to complete phase one of their death bed redemption. Jackson Tomaszewski struck the first blow against that end, putting Green in front with his third of the season at 7:11 in the first (Ty Pereira & Nick Vacchio), but a neck-brace-sporting TK Mason would equalize with a nifty deflection goal for Orange at 3:19 (Aaron Cooney & Chris Fiore). Red’s hopes rose in the second, with Justin Hepler scoring the only goal of the period at 3:13 (Cooney & Mason), and with time winding past the halfway mark in the third, it looked like Green would remain at risk of elimination and Red would remain alive and hopeful. Enter Jason Olver…the steady second season player…in…shot…score…3:13 on the tying goal (Chris Tran & Dorothy Kline) to swell Green’s hearts and pierce Red’s with a 2-2 tie-making tally. Gabe Davenport (7/9), fresh off his first win of the season over Brown the Sunday prior, held steady the rest of the way, and was understandably exuberant as the final whistle rang out in the 2-2 tie that meant an official playoff berth for Green, and a first ever personal playoff appearance for the young goalie. Matt Henderson (16/18) was twice as busy, but equally rewarded for his efforts, and while Mason captured first star of the game honors for her 1 and 1 gem, Olver was named POTW for the impact that his lone goal had on not just this game, but the season itself for both Green and Red. Green are certainly happy to have made it to the second season, but are likely less thrilled to see top-seeded Purple on the books as their first opponent. The Week Four regular season meeting between these two ended in a 5-0 win for the odds on Cup favorites, but…you never know. Orange settle into the five seed with the tie, and will face Blue in their first playoff action, with Orange having bested Blue 3-2 in their first meeting back in Week Eight.
I’ll refrain from suggesting an inappropriate nickname for the clash between Captain Lena Amelang’s Pink and Captain Bryan Ossa’s Brown, but suffice it to say that Brown was not favored by most, and Pink seemed the likelier choice (to win this game, of course). By some small miracle, Brown had somehow managed to cobble together the points and tiebreakers needed to qualify for the playoffs coming in, in spite of now finding themselves tied in points with Green, a team that blew them out 7-3 the Sunday prior after struggling the entire season to find any footing at all. Pink, by contrast, entered at 4-2-1, unable to snatch the top spot from Purple, but virtually assured of the second seed, regardless of the outcome of this final foray. So, with minimal team stakes in play, this game was perhaps more about the personal statistical jockeying. Pink’s Brennen Abel entered as the leader on the scoring table with 19 points (7 and 12), while Brown’s Josh Wirt lurked nearby with 17 (6 and 11). With William Teglia already idle in the clubhouse with 17 (9 and 8), and no other player quite in striking range of the scoring crown, it would come down to Abel v Wirt in this Week Nine clash. Chris Koziol put Brown on the board first at 8:11 in the first (Josh Wirt & Mark Nagy), and Nagy doubled Brown’s lead on the powerplay at 4:48 (Wirt). Eric Willard cut that lead in half with his ninth of the season unassisted at 3:11, and Abel drew Pink level with just 0:19 to play before the first break (Andy Strathman & Joel Gattey). So, after ten minutes of play, the live scoring standings had Wirt at 19 points (6 and 13) and Abel at 20 (8 and 12). The second period featured just one goal…a second Koziol strike at 4:53 to put Brown on top, and with Wirt collecting the lone assist, the two lead horses in the scoring race now sat DEAD EVEN. Abel evened the score for Pink, and restored his scoring lead with his ninth of the season at 8:39 (Scott Wieland), but a pair of goals from Mark DeGraffenreid…7:53 (Nagy & Wirt) and 5:31 (Wirt) carried Brown to a two goal lead, and Wirt to a 22-21 lead in the scoring race with just half a period to play. With Chuck Bender (21/26) pulled, Andy Strathman would find twine at 1:28, and…who else would have the helper but Mr. Abel. The late score certainly put a scare into Brown, but Mason Holcomb (23/27) and his mates would white-knuckle a 5-4 win to close out their season on a high note and (ultimately) secure the seven seed. With the dust settled, Wirt’s FIVE assist effort and Abel’s two-and-one turn meant that the gap had been closed, and the league would crown co-scoring champs for the Summer 2026 season…CONGRATULATIONS, Brennen and Josh! In spite of their struggles this season, DeGraffenreid’s 10 and 6 output was good enough for fourth in scoring, meaning that Brown boast two of the top four scorers in the league. Time will (quickly) tell if this makes them a dangerous playoff side of not, with the first test coming in an instant rematch of these two teams this Sunday…
Both Captain Carl Vankoughnett’s 3-3-1 Neon and Captain Eli Schonbrun’s 4-3-0 Blue were already safely nestled on playoff perches coming into the final week of regular season play, but a win would lift Neon to a third place finish, and a win for Blue would mean sole possession of the second seed and some much needed momentum for perhaps this season’s most Jekyll & Hyde squad. It was all Captain Carl out of the gate in this one, with Vankoughnett converting at 7:16 in the first (Gary Peters), scoring again at 5:17 (Janice Darlington & Ryan Karns), then providing the lone assist on a Joe Malki powerplay strike at 0:43 to pace Neon to a 3-0 lead through one. I feel like I type ‘…a scoreless second period…’ multiple times each week, and while this ‘scoreless second’ was the first of Week Nine play, it was the first of two on the night…I feel like perhaps this needs to be studied. The third period would not pass scoreless, but would feature just one goal…Gary Peters’ third of the season at 6:40 (Joe Malki & Wendy Enright) to put the icing on a 4-0 shutout win for Neon. Don Tran (15/15) earned second star honors with his first blanking of the campaign, and while John Kushneryk (14/18) and Blue absorbed the loss, their 4-4-0 mark left them (fittingly) the four seeds, smack in the middle of the playoff pile, and eager to prove themselves with a clean slate, with an intriguing rematch with Orange the first course on their playoff plate. Neon will face Grey in their first taste of playoff play, and while they secured a 3-1 win over Captain Siemer’s team in their Week Seven meeting, that result can hardly be considered telling, given that absence of (quite literally) half of Grey’s roster, including stud striker, Kalen Hunter.
Green’s heroic one point conquest in the early game sucked all of the drama out of what would have been a VERY high stakes nightcap. While Captain Rob Gaudio’s Red knew in warmups that they had nothing left to play for, they certainly did not play like a dead team walking. Captain Gaudio led by example and led the charge for his team, scoring his seventh of the season at 6:48 in the first (Wasif Hussain). Captain Siemer would not be outshined by his counterpart, however, with the Zach Attack™ resulting in the skipper’s FIRST goal of the season at 4:53 (Kristin Sigler & Steve Linke) to bring Grey level heading into the first break. Another scoreless second (see…it’s a thing!) set up a thrilling third that saw Grey take their first lead on a Sean Kelly goal with 5:10 to play (Captain Siemer & Elyse Shattuck), then…one final, furious death rattle push from Red. Namesake (at least in part), Hima Joshi, notched her second of the season at 1:47 (Mostafa Azab & Hussain) to pull Red back to level ground, and with just seventeen ticks left on the clock, it was Captain Gaudio again…leading and leaving by example with his second of the game to vault Red to a 3-2 win ‘at the death’ (just wringing the last of the World Cup terminology out of my system). Erin Plone and Darin Cerasuolo would register assists on perhaps the most tragically ‘meaningless’ goal in league history. If Orange had managed to hold on and defeat Green in the 5:00 game, this goal would have been THE moment of the season for any team…an absolutely vital dagger to eliminate Green and save Red’s season. Alas…a nice story, in the moment, but really…sadly…just a ‘meaningless’ goal in a ‘meaningless’ win. Don Tran (10/12) backstopped the win (meaningless, or otherwise) in relief of newlywed, Nick Meglich (CONGRATULATIONS, NICK!), while Chuck Bender (12/15) shouldered the (meaningless) loss in his 500th sub stint of the season. Grey would really love to see Kalen Hunter in the lineup against Neon this Sunday. Siemer & Company were without their super star in this loss, and this loss marks their third straight without the league’s top goal scorer in the mix. That’s right, folks…Kalen missed the final three games of the regular season, and STILL topped the goal scoring charts with eleven…I suppose that is impressive.
