(vol.
9W, no. 1; newsletter by b.n.)
It could have been worse. It couldn't have been much worse ... but it could
have been worse. It should have been better ... but in this case, we can
only take from it what it was. Perhaps it was familiarity that breeds contempt
... perhaps it was the fact that the Pirates were not used to playing a
game earlier than the 10 or 11 o'clock that we had all last season. Whatever
the reason, what it comes down to was that every Pirate that walked into
the rink last night (and if you think I'm wrong let Harris know) thought
that we would chalk-up a victory against the Geriatrics. For the third time
in four games (if you count the blackout shortened-consolation game) we
found ourselves playing our familiar rival. Let's face it, if we didn't
play the Gerrys last season we most likely would have ended up with no victories.
Oh well, enough of the crying.
We should have realized that things would be different this season when
"Ant" Natale opened-up the scoring with a goal in the 1st period
to give the Gerry's the lead. The Pirates were able to battle back when
the Gerry's took a penalty and Chris fed Wildman on the ensuing powerplay
for the score to tie the game 1-1. The Pirates were awarded another powerplay
in the 1st and (in one of the prettier plays in Pirate history) every Pirate
had a hand in the goal: the puck went from Glen to Russ who fed it to Wildman
who was along the boards who fed the perfect pass to #67 who cranked the
one-timer for the score! (Well, that's what most people thought — #67
knew instantly that the puck deflected off Chris' stick). So after the early
scare, the Pirates seemed to have things in hand, leading 2-1 at the end
of the 1st.
At some point in the 2nd, I remember Russ saying something to the effect
that "we were letting the Gerry's hang around." The Pirates got
caught twice with odd-man rushes and before the period was out the Gerrys
had the 3-2 lead.
The opening play of the 3rd pretty much sums up the way things went for
us the whole game: Russ skated to the faceoff circle and told #67 to win
the faceoff to the far boards; Russ broke at the drop off the puck and,
as instructed, #67 delivered the puck where Russ wanted it. Russ then took
the puck skating full stride, skated away from the stick check of the winger,
skated around the "D" and cranked a shot that Depip snagged out
of the air with the glove. The Pirates got a lot of chances, but Depip had
one of his better nights in net. The game got a bit chippy in the 3rd. It
wasn't until late in the period when Glenn Farkas took the puck up along
the boards and went in on Depip and fired the shot on net; the whistle blew
and Farkas skated over to #67 and said "I should have shot a slapshot
there." As Farkas skated to the left faceoff circle, he was confused
why everyone else was heading to the center ice dot — it was about
that point that he realized he had scored. But that was not the game. With
just under :30 seconds to go a bouncing puck got past our "D"
and one of the Gerrys came in on our substitute goalie for the breakaway.
The way things were going for us it did not look good. When the clang of
the post rang out with the sound of Scotty yelling "NO GOOD!"
a collective sigh of relief was released from the bench.
... It could have been worse.
THE
SILVER
SKULLS
1) GLENN
FARKAS
For his Wednesday team debut that yielded a big goal.
2)
CHRIS GOIONE
For his 2-point night.
3)
JOHN CASSENS
For the score ("It's a powerplay goal!")
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