WEDNESDAYS #2 vs. JAMOKES:

(vol. 22W, no. 2; newsletter by b.n.)
The Jamokes. Didn't we lose to them twice last season? Then again, we pretty much lost to everyone last season. But it doesn't matter, a new season is upon us and unlike last season (when we finished in 6th place in the “B” division, this season I will go out on a limb and guarantee that the Coastal Pirates will finish no worse then 3rd place in the “White” division. I can confidently say that because this season the “White” division has only three teams in it. Meanwhile, the “Red” division (A) sports five and the “Blue” division (C) sports six. Why this is, I don't know. Oh well, back to the Jamokes. With just 2:00 minutes until game time, Craig Sudol and Evan Miller were the only Pirates in the locker room. Craig was even heard saying to Evan: “Looks like it's just us. Do you want to play up or defense?” Finally the rest of the crew showed up en masse just moments before the drop of the puck, thereby avoiding any serious fines (as it turned out, only Wildman, who showed up after warm-ups, will be facing the infamous three-beer “tardy” fine). If we had a coach he'd have gone crazy he'd have gone crazy with such insubordination. Speaking of coaches, maybe we should get Coach Jules (featured in the video below) to lead the Wednesday squad ...


[ download quicktime / click here ]

Hmmm, Coach Jules would certainly turn the ol' Wednesday team around. Anyway, as the game got underway the old MNM-line of Scott Miller-#67-Evan Miller was reunited on the first line and Chris-Craig-Wildman comprised the second shift on offense, with Keith, Mike Farrell and Gucci rotating on defense. After the Pirates had some solid chances turned away early in the 1st period, good hustle by Craig (who was chasing a chasing a loose puck into the Jamokes' end) forced their goalie Claffy to misplay the puck up the boards; Wildman was there to pick it off and quickly fired it into the vacant net for the 1-0 Pirate lead. In all my years of playing roller hockey — which dates back to the days in Eatontown seven years ago — I must admit I have never been happy to see Gucci score a goal; always an opponent, he often picks up the puck in his own zone, skates threw a wall of players and somehow emerges out the other side with the puck and throws a move or two on the goalie and scores. But with Gucci now wearing the Pirate Black, we can at last sit back and admire as someone listed as 300 lbs on the Pirate website moves like a ballerina and puts moves on players that make them look silly. This was one of those cases as Mike hit The Gooch with a pass and, after the obligatory three or four moves, Gucci throws one last move that seals the deal and puts the puck into a wide-open net for his first goal as a Coastal Pirate. That turned out to be all the scoring in the period and the Pirates held a 2-0 lead a the break.

The final period would see Mike and Wildman getting the puck to Craig who skated in on the goalie and fired a shot that squeezed through the five-hole and put the Pirates up 3-0. #67 appeared to have a two-game goal scoring streak going after he picked up a puck to the goalie's right and fired it into the net; but no sooner did the whistle blow then Scott Miller skated over and told him that the puck deflected off his leg en route to the net thereby relegating ol' #67 to an assist. Gucci's old buddy Bob Brooks would put the Jamokes on the board midway in the period after the Pirates had trouble clearing the puck; Bob ended-up cranking a slapshot from the blueline that beat Harris ending his shutout bid. Mike Farrell closed out the scoring for the night when he put in a shot from the blueline and sealed the deal on the Pirates young 2-0 season.
date of game: 6.01.05