SUNDAYS #4 vs. BRUINS:

(vol. 15S, no. 4; newsletter by c.g.)
The Coastal Pirates laced them up for a game against the A-division Bruins. For all intent and purpose, the Bruins are the old Jaguar A team and then some. The team they put on the rink seemed to be a collection of the GoodSports All-Stars, as some of the best players you would face in other games all called themselves Bruins on this night. Ironically you will still have to face these players — albeit not collectively — as they each still play for other teams. Regardless, this was the night's opponent and the Pirates skated out to give them a run. Because we were without Ralz, Kevin and Jimmy, substitutes included Wednesday night regular Evan Miller and longtime (ex-)Pirate Roger Weiss. The Pirate lines consisted of Farrell-Richardson-Weiss on “D,” with the forward lines of DiPierro-Wildman-Miller and LeMatty-Russ-Goione. Harris, as usual, was between the pipes.

The Bruins jumped out to an early lead as the game got underway. The Pirates were actually on the powerplay when Minerva raced in alone and scored a shorthander. The Pirates would answer back with a powerplay goal before the end of the 1st period, when Russ deflected a Keith Richardson shot that trickled behind Casey to knot things up at 1-1. The Bruins were visibly frustrated that they were unable to shake this B-division team, and took a bunch of penalties throughout the game.

The 2nd period was similar to the 1st in that the Pirates continued to put up some good defense and, except for a few ill-advised Pirate mistakes, were not being dominated this game the way they probably thought they would be. The Bruins added their second goal when they won a face-off in our end and quickly one-timed a shot past Harris. The Pirates offense continued to work hard and had some good chances, but couldn't slip another one by Casey. LeMatty and Russ lead the charge, with Farrell jumping up on a few plays to try and get a puck to go but didn't have any luck. Defensively, Wildman was like a man possessed— he hounded Minerva and Co. throughout, causing more than a few elbows to fly his way. Unfortunately at the end of the 2nd period it was Bruins 2-1 and they would never look back from there.

The 3rd period featured the Bruins playing “keep away” and they seemed to be content with dumping the puck down the other end. They put a third goal on the board when the Pirates were unable to clear the zone (which lead to a turnover in front that Harris had no chance on) and added a fourth to finish the night's scoring. While the score doesn't reflect it, it was actually a pretty well-played game by the Pirates and we were definitely giving them fits. Unfortunately, that seems to be a theme for our season: We play good enough to keep the games close, but just can't get over the hurdle to turn these good efforts into wins.