SUNDAYS #2 vs. WAVE:

(vol. 18S, no. 2; newsletter by k.r.)
I will do my best to write this newsletter but it may be hard. Because of an error on the site, the writer spent the whole game trying to figure out who all these new Jaguars players were. It wasn't until the post-game meeting that I was informed that we played the Wave. Thanks for asking me to write this Harris (only kidding). I figure that after last week's newsletter this “only joking” disclaimer is necessary.

Our second game of the Sunday season started with the Pirates fielding a full complement of players — ten skaters and the keeper. This is the first time in a while that this was the case. Up front were centers Glen Farkas and Wildman. With the wingers Chris G, Ralz, Scotty L, and Dan. No beer fines this evening from last week, this game fell into the usual Pirates formula: Going up early, falling behind on late-period goals, and not enough time left to change things.

The Pirates got on the board first when Kevin took an errant pass from a Wave defenseman and, as usual, blasted one past the keeper. The first ended 1-1, though, because the Pirates again let up a late goal. After falling behind 2-1, the Pirates would knot it up again midway through the 2nd; Ralz would take a feed from Keith, break down the right wing and beat the keeper on a deflection off his own defenseman. At the second buzzer, things were 2-2.

In an all-too-familiar scenario, The Pirates would then let up the go-ahead goal in the 3rd period. This goal was a direct result of some bad positional play which enabled the attacking defenseman to drive in from the point and beat Harris almost point-blank. It has been about four weeks now that we keep mentioning how well Harris is playing between the pipes; if you look at our record during this time though, you would notice it's only about .500 — so it is easy to come to the conclusion that the skaters are the problem. While it is true that other teams have more-talented players, that should be no excuse; two seasons ago the Flyers had superior players and we swept them in a best-of-3 series to win the Championship. Still, whenever we play the Blackhawks or Red Stars we notice their talent, but always conclude the conversations with “wow, they must have played with each other a while because they all know where each other is.” This is simply because of positioning. We are all getting older and our progression curve may be starting to go the wrong way, so the answer is fundamentals — let's start executing them.