WEDNESDAYS #6 vs. RAVE CONSTRUCTION:

(vol. 14W, no. 6; newsletter by b.n.)
There are some weeks when I can not catch a break. Last week was clearly one of them. For whatever reason, I always seem to catch a lot of flack for the amount of times that #67 is mentioned in the newsletter. Usually, I make no apologies for that — after all, I write the newsletter. However things clearly went a little too far last week. I didn't write the newsletter last week. It was dictated by Mike Farrell. So is it my fault that the only team member Mike chose to include in his newsletter was #67? I think not. There, I just had to get that off my chest.

In the last few weeks, Pirate Policy has come under close scrutiny: The home office of the Pirates was recently served with a subpoena by the FBI and seized in the early morning raid were all documents pertaining to the “no show” policy. It seems that a prominent member of the Pirate roster has sought the assistance of legal council in his effort to avoid providing the “six quality imported beers” that is mandatory for violating the aforementioned“no show” policy. And if all that wasn't weird enough, the other prominent Pirate pulled a no show of his own. Which brings up an interesting point: If the person that is supposed to be notified when you will miss a game is in fact the person missing, is he in violation of the “no show” policy? Hmm, I'll have to think about that.

Anyway, now for the game. It was so long ago, I am forced to just throw up my hands & say, “Who knows?” From what I remember of the game, our opponents were Rave Construction. Things got interesting early when one of their players drove to the net and smashed into our backup goalie, Doug Collimore. As Doug sprawled out in a heap, the puck deflected high into the air, bounced off his prone body and rolled into the net; surprisingly, the ref's bought the Rave player's story that he was hooked into Collimore and let the goal stand. That's pretty much the only thing I remember of the game.

According to Chris though, here's how it was:
Goal: Wildman (assist LeMatty)
Goal: Mike Farrell (assist S. Miller)
Goal: Russ (unassisted)
Goal: Wildman (assist Farrell) — :03 left in 1st
Goal: Allen (assist to Farrell) — 1:00 left in 3rd

The only thing I seem to remember is all the cheap shots the Rave took in the game. At some point in the 2nd, the Pirates were pressing and LeMatty found himself in front of the net swatting away before the goalie covered the puck and the whistle blew; with LeMatty on his knees in front of the goalie (and minding his own business) the same guy that took out Doug came flying in and gave LeMatty a wicked cross-check. At this point pandemonium ruled as LeMatty tried to defend himself and some other Rave player came in and got involved in the fracas; Evan Miller jumped in to make it an even fight as everyone on the floor seemed to be tangled up with someone. After all was said and done, LeMatty was thrown out of the game, the third man in from the Rave was thrown out of the game — even a Pirate fan in the stands was escorted out of the rink! The only person not thrown out was the guy on the Rave who started everything. After serving his time in the box, he was free to cause more chaos.

Chris Goione was then the victim of a Scott Stevens-style hit when he tried to break into the Rave zone while receiving a long headman pass; with his head turned to see the puck the “Tile Cutter” stepped forward and drove his shoulder into Chris's head. Oddly enough, the puck continued on into the zone before coming to rest in the corner. The call? You guessed it, the ref's ruled that the “Tile Cutter” was “playing the puck.” Yeah right.

The Dude that crashed into Doug and crosschecked LeMatty finally got tossed from the game after he came together with Wildman along the far boards; knowing he was beat, he just grabbed a hold of John and threw him to the ground. For his third penalty of the game he was finally shown the door.

After the game (nursing my own wounds from my own encounters) I thought to myself, “Gee, it seems the only person that didn't get smacked around tonight was Mike Farrell.” Then out of the blue the dude that caused all the grief came skating-up behind our bench and started talking with Mike like he was his best buddy. Figures.