WEDNESDAYS #8 vs. JAMOKES:

(vol. 15W, no. 8; newsletter by b.n.)
Jamokes. That is what they call themselves. Going into the last game of the regular season, that was all that stood between the Pirates and a spot in the playoffs. Jamokes.The Pirates needed a win to get in. The Jamokes had not lost a game all season. Contrary to earlier reports (which had Russ in Tahiti on a tropical vacation), Russ was able to catch the last Concorde out of London and arrive just before gametime. Allen Snyder was unavailable for the game and Scotty LeMatty was called up for the game. The game started with the Millers Bros. and #67 up front; #67 was questionable due to injury, but after some words of encouragement from Chris, he decided to gut it out. On “D,” Mike Farrell and Keith Richardson stood in front of our substitute goalie named “Hoenge.”

Things seemed to click for the Pirates right from the opening shift when Mike threw a puck off the glass that was grabbed by #67; #67 broke down the rightside of the rink and fired the puck past Claffy for the 1-0 lead. The next line of Chris-Wildman-LeMatty, with the defensive pair of Dave and Russ, kept things going. There might have been some more goals in the 1st period, but I can't remember them. There might have been a play by Evan (but, then again, it might have been Wildman) who fired the puck from behind the Jamokes goal, that deflected off the cage of Claffy and found the back of the net. Or that might have happened in the 3rd period.

The 2nd period saw more excitement when the Pirates picked-up another score; this time Scotty Miller fed # 67 in front who tried a spin-o-rama shot; as he was spinning, however, Evan yelled for him to leave it — always the obedient linemate, #67 did as instructed and left the puck for Evan who was able to lift it over the sprawled goaltender. The Jamokes would answer back when they were able to convert a 2- on-1 for their lone goal of the night. Wildman was able to get on the board too, when he broke in on Claffy; instead of covering the puck, Claffy tried to clear it up the middle of the rink and, oddly enough, he didn't seem to notice that Wildman was bearing down on him doing about 100 mph (the puck deflected off Wildman and was in the net before anybody knew what happened). There were probably more goals scored in the 2nd, but who can be sure.

There was at least one goal scored in the 3rd period when #67 banked a shot (in reality he missed the net) off the backboards; the puck once again came to Evan who picked-up his second goal of the evening. The Pirates were able to take it to their opponents all night and with a final score of 6-1, the Jamokes finally played like ... well, a bunch of Jamokes.