WEDNESDAYS #2 vs. WINGS:

(vol. 17W, no. 2; newsletter by k.r.)
The Coastal Pirates earned their first victory of the season last night by clipping the Wings 3-2.  In dramatic fashion they scored a late goal to break the tie in a game that was both well-played and fast paced. The Pirates attack was lead by the Miller Bros.-Ferraro line that tallied four points on the night (2 goals, 2 assists). In addition to this line, Wildman centered Chris G. and Craig Sudol while manning the blueline were the defensive tandems of Keith-Mike and Russ-Dave M.

The Wings jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the opening shift, but by the end of the 1st period the Pirates would hold a 2-1 edge on back-to-back goals by Jimmy Ferraro and Evan Miller. The first Pirate tally came with Scott Miller working down low in the zone when he spotted Jimmy — who was traded in the off-season from the Sunday to Wednesday team for #67 — in the high slot who proceeded to rip one past the keeper; Perhaps this goal would explain Jimmy's good mood at the end of the game, when he felt compelled to go into the opponent's locker room all by himself (I am sure it was to thank all of them for a good game — right, Jimmy?). The second tally was also set up by Scott, but this time to his brother Evan (do you think these hockey playing brothers bring their toy race cars with them on road games?); Evan raced in on a breakaway and beat Vic high to the gloveside for a sweet goal.

The 2nd period was a give-and-take affair.  The only blood drawn was by the Wings when they scored on a nice play across the crease.  The period locked in a 2-2 tie, setting the stage for a dramatic 3rd period.

The goaltending was good throughout the game but the 3rd saw it go up a notch.  Everyone sensed that there may only be one more goal, but before that goal would come the Pirates got a little scare when Russ and Wildman ran into each other and Russ was slow getting up; he had his bell rung but would be back (I kind of knew that he would be okay because he didn't realize who hit him so while he was lying on the deck his first instinct was to swing his leg around and trip the culprit which left Wildman and Russ flailing on the ground). Shortly after that at 4:05 remaining the Wings called a time-out. Just :30 seconds after play resumed, Craig would pick up the puck and come around the cage to the right of the keeper where he dropped it back to the point; Keith let a slapshot go that found Chris for the tip in and the go-ahead goal. The game was not over because with 1:30 left the Pirates were given a penalty and had to play on the kill for the remainder of the game — including a brief 6-on-4 when the Wings pulled their goalie. The one Wings scoring chance came in the final :30 seconds from a Pirate turnover in our zone, but was blocked when the puck glanced-off Harris' “Garth Snow”-style shoulder pads as he was going down.