WEDNESDAYS #5 vs. RED STARS:

(vol. 20W, no. 5; newsletter by b.n.)
Into every sunny day, some rain must fall. Or is it every cloudy day? I don't remember, but that is unimportant. What is important is that the Coastal Pirates reached into the recent past and pulled out the “classic” black jerseys in their game against the Red Stars. Going into the game, the Pirates had more of their starting roster than they had in recent weeks. At least I think they did. From what I can remember, the offense consisted of The Miller Bros., Wildman, Chris Goione, Russ and LeMatty (subbing for Jimmy); while on “D” it was Keith, Dave, #67 and — halfway to his fourth appearance of the season — Scooby. Way back in Week 1, the schedule originally had this game as the second game of what could be called a “home-and-home series”, as the Wednesday Pirates were to play the Red Stars two games in a row; but after the endless revisions of the schedule came out, there was only one game against the Red Stars (although the Sunday team ironically faced them four days later).

The 1st period saw the Red Stars pull out to a 1-0 lead, but the Pirates were able to battle back when Wildman took advantage of the wandering of Star's goalie John Arena (on a turnover in his own end); Arena tried to dive and pokecheck the puck away from Wildman, but Wildman stickhandled around him and patiently threw the puck into the net. Unfortunately the Red Stars were able to add a pair of goals after that to make the score 3-1 at the end of the 1st.

The Pirates hung in there for most of the final 22:00 minutes, though the Red Stars were able to pick up one more goal. Unfortunately the Pirates powerplay unit — that had been so potent last season — went 0-for-3 against the Stars' strong defense. The Pirates did not give up however, and with about 2:30 remaining Harris was sent to the bench for the extra attacker; the action picked-up and the Pirates had a few great chances late, but got no closer. Although the Pirates didn't face the Stars back-to-back, they did struggle through the roughest part of the schedule and accumulate back-to-back losses. Now the Pirates find themselves heading into the mid-season break (we have a “bye” this week) with a 2-2-1 record. Hopefully the forecast for next three games will be more sunny.