WEDNESDAYS #8 vs. JAGUARS:

(vol. 19W, no. 8; newsletter by b.n.)
You know, I like #67 as much as the next guy, but sometimes he can be a real pain in the ass. Take last Sunday for instance. Before the Coastal Pirates game versus the Red Stars, there he was in the locker room rooting on the team. Well, as it turned out, he wasn't really rooting for the team, but rather trying to convince the Pirates to put the “left wing lock” in place to try and prevent Bob Downey from scoring more than four goals. Who cares how many goals Bob Downey scores? Well, on this particular night, #67 did. As it has turned out, the Fall of 2004 has seen some of the most bizarre occurrences: The Boston Red Sox become the first team to rally from a 0-3 deficit and win the World Series (“Reverse the Curse!” — now where have I heard that before?); President Bush won re-election even though the Washington Redskins lost their last home game prior to the election (an event that since 1932 has always been followed by the incumbent losing the election) and #67 led the Sunday night league scoring title (unofficially) by amassing the mind boggling (for him anyway) amount of 16 goals for the season. Wow! What a year. So, since #67 doesn't write the Sunday sight newsletter, he wanted me to take the opportunity to thank each and every one of the Sunday Night Pirates for preserving what is truly a once in a lifetime event. Unfortunately, I don't have the space available to thank each player individually, so the team “thank you” will have to suffice.

The Coastal Pirates' final game of the season turned out to be on Monday, November 8, 2004, which turned out to be the day after #67 clinched the Sunday night league scoring title. The Coastal Pirates were so confident going into this game that they put the “on fire” #67 on defense along with Keith and Mike; the offense consisted of Scott, Evan, Wildman, Craig and Jimmy Ferraro. The scoring got going early when #67 stepped around the Jaguar “D” and broke into the zone all alone; well, actually he wasn't really “all alone” because Jimmy was also in the zone and he too was just as alone. So they were together, but they both still alone in the sense that there were no Jaguars nearby. Except for their goalie of course (but as you know, goalies are in their own little world, so in this example it is fairly safe to consider that #67 was “all alone” as he strode across the blueline). It is really amazing how fast the mind can process information when it wants to: As #67 skated in on the goalie, his mind wandered to a conversation he had in the locker room before the game. Still reveling over his 16 goals, #67 was taking some ribbing (“Yeah, that girl goalie is pretty good” and “How many of those 16 goals did you put in your own net?” and finally, “You know, you are not supposed to count the goals that you score in warm-ups, especially the ones that go in after the goalie heads to the bench to get some water” Hmmmm, thanks for the supportive words Jimmy). So is it any wonder #67 decided to take the puck himself and blast it past the goalie? That gave the Pirates the 1-0 lead, but Jimmy would get his chance later in the 1st period when Mike Farrell took the puck down the left wing and fed the puck back to Craig, who pushed it to Jimmy, who one-timed a slapshot that just flat out smoked the Jag goalie. The Miller Bros. would then team-up for a goal as Evan fed Scott to put the Pirates in a comfortable 3-0 lead as the 1st period came to close.

Things didn't go as smoothly in the next period. Besides all the bizarre events of the year discussed above, there was one more once-in-a-lifetime event that took place in the final period: Jimmy Ferraro passed the puck! Man that never happens! But unfortunately, #67 was on the bench at the time and his second best alternative was Mike Farrell (who is a great player, mind you, but I don't think he ever scored 16 goals during a season). Unfortunately, he couldn't bury the pass and in the process launched what could be considered the equivalent of World War III on the hockey rink. There was doors being slammed, screaming and yelling. It got so bad that Harris thought there was a penalty expiring, but there was no one in the box. Oh well, it was all Mike's fault. The Pirates again had the chance to put the game away when Scott Miller was standing in front of the net when the puck got passed the goalie and looked to be about to cross the goal line; instead of swatting at the puck to make sure it went over the goal line, he raised his hands in celebration which was clearly a bit pre-mature as Gucci grabbed the puck just before it crossed the goal line and took off. After his usual set of moves, Gucci suddenly found himself skating into the Pirates zone, and none other than Mike Farrell in front of him; as it turns out, the only thing worse than Mike Farrell's shot earlier in the game was Mike's defensive play as Gucci literally skated right past Mike with absolutely no effort. Keith, tried to bail Mike out, but Gucci went around the outside of him and was still able to put the puck past Harris. The Jags would get no closer however, as Evan would take an errant clearing pass in the Jag zone with about :30 seconds remaining and put the puck and the game away.

And one more thing. Scott, if you are reading this: No you didn't get an assist on your brother's goal!