(vol.
19W, no. 1; newsletter by k.r.)
The World Cup of Hockey is done. The NHL players are
locked out. It is becoming obvious that the Coastal Pirates are becoming
the only hockey game in town — and they did not disappoint.
The Pirates picked-up right where they left off in the Summer with a solid
5-1 victory over the Ducks. This was the first game under the new rules:
22-minute halves and no icing. These changes seem to lend themselves to
the Pirates style because with only one break and no icing, line changes
become critical — and the Pirates (more than most other teams) have
two full lines at each game and can rotate fresh skaters throughout. This
was the plan tonight but Wildman was a “no show,” so the Pirates
played with a slightly shortened bench. (SOC note:
John is now up to nine beers in fines.) The “D” rotated
the trio of Keith-Mike Farrell-Dave Mathews, while up front was Chris-Jimmy-Scott
and the line of Brian-LeMatty-Scooby (Scooby and LeMatty were filling-in
for the Brothers Miller, while Mike was patching the hole left by Russ).
The 1st period was a feeling-out period with everyone getting used to the
rule changes. No one lit the lamp until the final :30 seconds of the frame
when Craig took a pass from Jimmy and scored shortside in the final :10
seconds of our first powerplay. The 1-0 lead was shortlived, however, as
on the ensuing face-off (where Craig swears he was still adjusting his glove
and mouthpiece) the Ducks gained control and scored with :02 seconds remaining
to tie things up 1-1.
What used to be a bad omen for the Pirates would prove to be a non-factor
tonight. The 2nd period proved to be all Pirates as they controlled the
game and tallied four unanswered goals: a pair by Jimmy, another by Craig
and even a kicked-in goal by Brian. The defense played well and if we keep
this up we might even better our stingy 2.00 g.a.a. from last season. Two
especially good signs from this contest were the inpact of the special teams
(two powerplay goals) and the fact that the Ferraro-Sudol-Goione line —
or FSG line (“For Some Goals”) — has tallied 15 points in
the last two games.
So as game one of the Fall Season enters into the history books, the Pirates
have a big climb to reach the Championship summit once again — the
good news is that we are on the right trail.
Editor's note: Don't blame Keith for that flood of metaphors in the previous
paragraph. I was trying to tie this all into the fact that Scooby recently
went westward to climb Mt. Rainier in Washington state and came back with
this great photo shown below. He was supposed to be plant a Coastal Pirates
flag at the peak, but lack of oxygen to his brain clouded his thinking.
