WEDNESDAYS #1 vs. JAGUARS:

(vol. 15W, no. 1; newsletter by b.n.)
Wow, its been a long time since I have written a newsletter. A lot has happened since the last time the Wednesday Pirates laced-up a set of skates for an “official” game: The Sunday Pirates lost a Final's heartbreaker to the Jags; and the Wednesday Pirates had a scrimmage game (that turned in to a practice), a week off due to the Great Scheduling Gods, and another scrimmage against the O'Neills. With all the said, nearest I can figure, I haven't been called upon to write a newsletter since Aug 6, 2003. Hmmmm, I hope I can remember how to do it.

The Fall 2003 season opened for the Wednesday Coastal Pirates on September 10, 2003. Our opponents were the all-too-familiar Jaguars, who ended our last season in the Semifinals with a victory in a shoot-out (ironically, they repeated the same feat against the Sunday Pirates in the Championship Game). The Pirates were sporting the new trimmed down roster of 10 skaters (Scott LeMatty did not return this season). The first lines to hit the ice for the new season was the Miller Bros.-#67 on offense, while on “D” was the tandem of Mike-Keith (though it might have been Dave-Russ). The second forward line was Wildman-Chris-Allen. It would be the Jaguars who would get things going when they broke in down the left wing and wristed one over Harris' right shoulder for the 1-0 lead. The Pirates would answer right back when #67 controlled the puck after the face-off and dumped it to the far corner where Evan Miller — pulling a page out of his brother's “Zero-Angle Playbook” — fired the puck and somehow it ended up in the net. Russ would be the next Pirate to step up when he blasted one past the goalie for the score and the 2-1 lead. The Jags would answer back, however, when a turnover enabled Mark Andras to fire a shot from just inside the blueline for the even-up goal (this might not of really happened; with all the games against the Jags lately, this goal might have occurred in another game, but who knows anymore). After the 1st period ended, the teams were tied 2-2.

The 2nd Period had a lot of excitement: Allen had a great one-timer that I thought was definitely going in, but somehow it did not find the back of the net; Dave suddenly realized that the way to cover Gucci was to skate next to him and keep his stick on him to prevent him from shooting. Unfortunately, Dave's newfound skill was of little use when Harris decided to take a stroll from the crease — against the stringent cries from the bench for him to stay in the net; Harris befuddingly headed out of the net to retrieve a loose puck in the corner (long time readers of this newsletter know that whenever Harris does this, it leads to a goal — and not a goal for us; sometimes I wonder when Harris starts wandering if it wouldn't be better if he would just cover the puck way out there and take the penalty for delay of game ... hmmm, something for him to think about ... whenever he wanders he usually gets to the puck, its what happens afterwards that is usually not to our advantage). This particular case was no different. After getting to the puck, Harris tried to push it out of the zone up the boards, but his goal stick looked to be made out of rubber, as he tried to muscle it out the puck just seemed to slowly make its way to the blueline before Gucci got a hold of it and blasted it into the empty net for the score and the 3-2 Jag lead.

The 3rd Period started out on a grand note when our great Captain stepped up once again (on a feed from Mike Farrell) and tied the game at 3-3. Later in the period it was Russ once again stepping in front of a long headman pass at the center ice and stepping around a number of Jags before finally blasting his third goal of the night. Later in the 3rd with the Jags pressing, Harris made a number of key saves to keep the Pirates lead intact. Dave showed off his “Gucci technique” and was able to hound the aforementioned Gucci like no one has ever seen before. Late in the 3rd, Russ blasted a puck around the boards behind Harris, and the puck came to Evan who was just inside the Pirate blueline; Evan pushed the puck to the boards as the Jag defenseman tried to step up and keep the puck in the zone, but Evan stepped around the Jag player and broke with the puck in full stride and — with only Mark Seigal left on the opposite point — Evan had time to freeze the goalie with a fake to his backhand as he wristed one over the shoulder for the insurance goal. The Pirates continued to pour it on when Allen fed a puck to #67 in front of the net; #67 pounced on the puck and got one past the goalie for the final goal of the night.