WEDNESDAYS #2 vs. JAMOKES:

(vol. 15W, no. 2; newsletter by b.n.)
The Coastal Pirates came up against a new team on Wednesday: The Jamokes. I must admit that when I saw the name on the roster, I assumed it was going to be a team made up of new players — that someone like Mike Farrell would take advantage of to pad his gaudy goal-scoring statistics. As I watched the Jamokes during warm-ups, I realized that my initial assesment was incorrect; besides Rob Armswood (former Coastal Pirate), the team looked a lot like the old “Zombies” — including “Claffy” (real name unknown) in net, Rob Pollina, Ryan (last name unknown) and a number of players from the Lumberjacks that would slide in-and-out of the Zombie lineup. Before the game started, it looked like the Jamokes also picked-up the afformentioned Mike Farrell; as it turned out, he hadn't joined the team — he would just rather dress in their locker room rather then with his Coastal Pirate comrades.

As the game got underway, the joke was on the Pirates when the Jamokes jumped out to the early lead. The Pirates would answer back with Russ picking up a tally from the tandem of Scott and Mike, while Mike would pick up his own goal later in the 1st period to knot the score at 2-2. The defense played strong the whole night with Mike, Keith and Dave stepping it up. Allen spent a night with the Miller Bros., while Russ and Chris got stuck with #67.

But Where was Wildman? I never did find out, but he was the only Wednesday Pirate that was not in attendance. I certainly hope that he will honor the “No Show” policy (which I am certain that Harris will send to him as a reminder).

The 2nd period got rolling with Russ having a great chance; he broke in down the right wing and with #67 crashing the net, fired a shot that clanked off the post. To #67's eyes, the puck looked to be in the net as it pinballed around off the post and the back of “Claffy.” However, Baldwin began yelling “No Goal! Loose!” as “Claffy” sprawled out and the puck slid directly across the goal line, just missing the opposite post before Rob Armswood cleared the puck out of the zone. Later in the 2nd period the Pirates jumped back on the board when #67 won a face-off back to Keith who teed it up for the 3-2 lead to close out the period's scoring.

Did I say the “defense played strong the whole night”? Yes, I think I did say that. I can see it there at the top of my screen. What I should have said was that the defense played strong “most of the night.” There was one small incident where one of the Jamokes (Pollina) skated down the left wing and he was kind of falling and stumbling around and the defense could not clear the puck away. It seemed whenever they tried to swat it away, it would just come back to Pollina. At one point it looked like the “D” had it cleared, but when Pollina stumbled and almost fell over backwards he stepped on the puck — it was at about this point that #67 stepped in to help out. When #67 went to jab the puck, Pollina stepped around him and made another move to the net and bang — he scrored. Ouch. The Jamokes would add another tally as the 3rd period was ending and the Pirates were looking at a one-goal deficit. With just over a 1:00 minute remaining, Harris headed to the bench to give the Pirates the extra skater. The Jamokes had a golden opportunity to put the game away, when Armswood got a hold of the puck at his own blueline; he fired a puck that looked like it was heading in to the net, but one of the Jamokes was offsides. With just under :10 seconds left, though, it was Scott Miller from behind the net feeding Russ who blasted the tying goal past “Claffy” from point blank range. A “good tie” — if there is such a thing.