SUNDAYS #5 vs. BRUINS:

(vol. 25S, no. 5; newsletter by h.s.)
Unlike the Bruins in the NHL, this team knows how to win games. Sporting a full-bench, they wore away at the undermanned Coastal Pirates and handed them only their second loss of the Sunday season. Although the final score was lopsided, the Bruin tallies were spaced evenly throughout the 44:00 minutes so the game never seemed out of reach. Absent from the festivities were Russ, Keith, Chris and Wildman (actually Wildman was “early,” as he showed-up “on time” for the 8pm game he thought we were playing). Glenn Farkas, Ralz, Scott LeMatty Jimmy Ferraro and Nick comprised the unusual five-man rotation up front; while Kevin, Joe Baio and Dan DiPierro (yes, you're reading this correctly) manned the blueline.

The Pirates dominated the opening minutes with some heavy forechecking that had the Bruins on their heels. Casey, in-between the pipes for the opposition, hadn't cracked a Coors Light™ yet so he successfully turned away the barrage. After that initial flurry, the Bruins were able to regroup and mount an offensive campaign. The most popular piece of goaltending equipment was my mask as the Bruins put at least three shots directly into it over the course of the evening — including their first breakaway attempt. Once the Bruins got on their game, it still took some time for them to get on the board. The first goal (scored at about the 16:00-minute mark) was a rebounding, ping-pong shot and the Bruins followed that up about ten minutes later with a slapper from the face-off circle to close out the 1st period scoring.

The 2-0 lead became 3-0 in the opening moments of the final period, but then the Pirates kept the Bruins off the board until late in the period. Our highlights included Kevin bobbing-and-weaving up ice, leaving a trail of Bruins (he did this at least three times that I remember); and also Dan in the role of a blueline (who did a pretty respectable job of it). The most memorable goal of the game was their fifth (and final) one with just about 1:00-minute remaining: It's not the play itself that was special, but rather the aftermath. The shot pinged off the far crossbar and bounced back out into play, but the ref whistled it as good. This prompted Jimmy to skate over and explain the finer points of geometry and how, in fact, it was impossible given the dimension that we exist in for that shot to have gone inside the net and then exit in the fashion that it did. The call stood.

What better way to end the newsletter then with an anecdote about Wildman: As we mentioned earlier, John was fashionably late for our 7pm outing. At first he feebly attempted to blame the snafu on our webmaster (thanks John), but then at the post-game “meeting” — while under heavy interrogation by Jimmy — he finally yielded and pleaded “stupidity.” The end.
date of game: 4.23.06