(vol.
18S, no. 11; newsletter by c.g.)
“THE 'IMPROBABLE' PIRATES END SEASON WITH IMPROBABLE
CHAMPIONSHIP”
Allaire (AP) - The Pirates completed an improbable run to the Championship
this past Sunday by defeating the second-seeded Dire Wolves. The final score
was a lopsided 8-2, as the Pirates swarmed the Wolves with intense pressure
and netted five goals in the 2nd period to easily put this one away. I won't
give you the play-by-play, but as I try to think of the “stars”
of the game, it is apparent that this was a true team effort, and in my
mind at least, everyone deserves accolades. So here are my personal Silver
Skulls for the game.
Defense: All together one of the finer defensive
efforts by a Pirate team, as Harris faced few quality shots. It is hard
to explain to someone without having witnessed it for themselves, but the
defense was so stingy, that what few shots the Wolves were able to muster
were mainly from the tops of the circles, or from low quality angles. Forget
rebounds, and second shots, they just did not exist, as the defense cleared
everything away. The threesome of Mike, Scooby and Keith were just stellar
— there really are no other words. Kevin only made it onto the rink
for one shift, but we wouldn't even have been there without his shoot-out
goal the week before, so obviously his contributions to this Championship
were huge.
Offense: For a team that provided back-to-back
scoreless efforts during a stretch of the regular season, it was nice that
we could break out with our highest-scoring game when it was most necessary.
Best of all, six different skaters scored goals in the effort. Russ-Dan-LeMatty
combined for four tallies, while the second line of Wildman-Farkas-Goione
equaled their teammates with four goals of their own. Dan DiPierro continued
his scoring streak by netting two more goals for the second straight game,
while Farkas put up two of his own playing in a new spot on left wing. Russ
netted a sweet breakaway goal to get onto the board during the 2nd period,
when he beat the goalie with a move that Pirate players have seen more than
a few times before from him. LeMatty played his usual solid game, and scored
a goal to boot and ended-up with four points in the playoffs; the thing
that always impresses me about Scott is that he makes it look so easy. There
is no one that works harder on the rink than Wildman, and the two points
that #19 scored were a direct result of John's hard work; I couldn't ask
to be paired with anyone better, and am fortunate that on most nights he
is my linemate.
Goaltending: So many times we are forced to
have Harris play at the top of his game or we are looking at a loss. In
a game like Sunday, Harris finally got a breather and only had to play solid
— which he did easily. Alot of people joke about Harris being the “Billy
Smith” of GoodSports due to his playoff dramatics, but when the chips
are down would you really want anyone else in there? Honestly, Harris has
an intangible quality that few can match — the proof of which lies
with the prior week's game when Harris shutout all three skaters he faced
in the shoot-out to ice a shot at this Championship. I have no doubt, that
had this game been more of an end-to-end affair, he would have come up big
again, and I would still be writing a Championship newsletter.
So there you have it, another improbable Championship. But was it really?
When this team plays like a team, we are certainly equal to, if not better
than any other Western Division team in the league, and can give quite a
few Eastern Division teams a run as well. So maybe the “improbable”
tag doesn't really fit. It was just a bizarre season in so many ways, but
I am glad with the way it turned out. Props to all ...
