Color: Pink
Year Founded: 2004
2011 Regular Season Finish: 9-7-0 (5th, Hackett Division; 12th overall)
2011 Playoff Result: Lost to Sky Fighters in round of 16
Conference: Kazin
Division: Larsen
Team Song: Hair

Roster

abigail meisterman
brad thomason
corinne rosen
danny polinsky
david bernstein
Dez P
john neilsen
emily carson
jason hasday
jennie brown
jim dandeneau
josh wilson
jon rudd
megan lohne
meredith hasday
miles hunter
mike dudelovitch
sandy batista
showtime
sean reynolds

Remember the ‘94 Stanley Cup winning New York Rangers? Remember how they looked a lot like the Edmonton Oilers’ teams of the ‘80s. The 2012 version of the Dark Rainbows may have you doing a similar double take.
Sean Reynolds, has indeed, gone all Neil Smith on our collective asses.

We never thought we’d be comparing the 2005-2011 Demons to Gretzky and co. But then again, we never thought we would see a Dark Rainbows roster that looked like this.

Sure we could accept the defections of Abby “Dudemeister” Meisterman and Danny “Stripes” Polinsky. They’re the “nice Demons”. But “Dandy” Jim Dandenau? $howti3e? Reynolds’ embrace of the dark side of BTSH has many Rainbow followers wondering WWJD?

No point asking though. He’s retired along with Shortbus, John Meyer and most of the other traditional members of the Rainbow connection. The powerhouse Rainbows team that upset the Hookers and won the league championship a few years ago seems as distant a memory as the “Summer of Love”. You can almost hear the Byrds “To Everything There is a Season (turn, turn, turn)” playing in the background.

The ORG would have been fine with all this except for our concern that this also means the retirement of Rainbows uberfan, Violet. We’ve all watched that little girl grow up and if her parents think they can just take her away from us then they’re sadly mistaken. As Sarah Coombs wrote in her seminal childcare book “IT TAKES A HOCKEY LEAGUE”, being around sweaty, hungover weekend athletes is essential to every child’s proper development.

At least, not everything has changed. The core talent that once made the Rainbows among the league’s most feared franchises remains. Josh, Sean and Gingerballs can bring it. And John “Gamechanger” Neilsen remains the most underrated player in the league (trust us, other players would be totally scared of him if they knew who he was). We know they’ll do their best to carry on the proud tradition of the team in pink.

For the new look Rainbows the keyword is this:

CHEMISTRY.

Can Reynolds mold these disparate pieces in to a coherent whole? Will he even try?

If the answer is yes, then a full spectrum of talent could emerge to dominate their division.

If not, the 2012 Rainbows could end up resembling my youthful attempts at mixing together everything in my parents liquor cabinet – tough to look at and liable to make you vomit.

On a serious note, the ORG wants to commend Sean on making sure that one of the league’s classic franchises survives to play another year. It wouldn’t be BTSH without our beloved hippies and win, lose or draw we hope that they’ll be bringing their unique mix of “peace, love and hockey” to the courts for many seasons to come.

Entity They Most Resemble (according to Rich Glanzer)

Entity: NYC Homeless Soccer Team