WEDNESDAYS #2 vs. DUCKS:

(vol. 18W, no. 2; newsletter by k.r.)
Once again Wednesday was Monday at GoodSports as the Coastal Pirates took on the gentlemanly Ducks. It was a hard-fought battle that, in the end, settled nothing (so much for the “unscored-upon” season).

For all its chippiness, the game was competitive. The Pirates led 1-0 after the first buzzer and widened the gap to 2-0 midway into the 2nd period. Unfortunately, the Pirates were plagued with penalties and the special teams were not up to the task of killing-off the powerplays: First, a bizarre deflection off #67's stick (hey, wasn't he last week's Silver Skull winner for his “no minus streak”?) resulted in a pop-up flying over Harris' head at the end of a 5-on-3 advantage; Then, the Ducks capitalized late on their second powerplay to knot things up 2-2 at the end of the 2nd period. In the 3rd period, the Ducks briefly took the lead until the Pirates rallied back.

Two of the three Pirates goals were scored from sharp angles: The first from Scott Miller (a typical Miller Bros. goal that was just about on the goal line); The second by Jimmy Ferraro (Scott LeMatty found Jimmy with a cross-crease pass and Jim fired it high to the shortside of the keeper). The goaltending — as has been the case for a while now — was solid and kept us in the game. As with all games against this team there was the occasional check, trip and shove; having said that, the Ducks are a solid team with many skilled players, so in hindsight a 3-3 come-from-behind tie was not a bad result for the Coastal Pirates. And, remember, the undefeated streak is still alive.