SUNDAYS #2 vs. BRUINS:

(vol. 20S, no. 2; newsletter by c.g.)
The Pirates met up with their long-time rivals the Bruins for some Sunday night action, but unfortunately the Pirates had a short bench. Playing for the first Sunday in their new alternate jerseys, the Pirates were without the services of Ralz, DiPierro and Farkas. Adding salt to the “wounded” Pirate bench was Bob Currao who, after committing the previous week to play for the Pirates, lined-up for the Bruins on their blueline. Subs were hard to find at this late hour, but Mike Farrell answered the call and the Pirates set-up with seven skaters: Scooby moved up to offense to join Russ, LeMatty and #19; while the defense was handled by the trio of Keith, Kevin and Farrell.

The 1st period belonged to the Bruins, as they jumped out to a 2-1 lead — ironically, both goals from the stick of Currao. Russ, and LeMatty teamed-up for our only score of the 1st period as Casey LeCompte was looking particularly big in net for the Bruins. Defensively the team was playing well, and Harris was making some good saves, but we still trailed at the intermission.

Things grew a little more bleak when the Bruins added a third goal early on in the final period — giving them a commanding 3-1 lead. With just 8:00 minutes remaining, the Pirates suddenly found the scoring that had eluded them to this point. But with time winding down, would it be enough? First Russ added his second goal of the night after #19 hit him with a pass; Russ found the smallest possible hole to sneak it through to pull the Pirates within one. Next Scooby would pick up a puck that had been shot, and bounced around for a bit, and send it home for the 3-3 tie with only a 2:45 minutes left to play. Both teams battled to the wire, but with a little more than a :01 on the clock, Mike shot in a rebound from one of Kevin's big blasts for the game winner. While my newsletter certainly doesn't capture the excitement of those last-minute heroics, it shows we are able to play competitively against the “A” teams by playing solid position hockey. Great job by all.

editor's note: Gucci had made the mistake of trying to block Kev's final shot, and minutes after the Pirates were celebrating their come-from-behind victory, he was still laying on the ice kicking himself for such a foolhardy attempt — the shot had, of course, hit him in the one unpadded area of his leg.