WEDNESDAYS #5 vs. THE HURT:

(vol. 32W, no. 5; newsletter by h.s.)
YOU KNOW BRIAN'S HURT WHEN HE:
A) Gets hit and attempts to retaliate against a 6'8" guy.
B) Smashes his stick against the boards until it breaks.
C) Leaves before the post-game “meeting.”
D) All of the above.

If you answered “D” you were correct. And now onto the newsletter ...

After suffering back-to-back losses, the Pirates needed to get back to their winning ways. For this outing against the expansion team The Hurt, the Pirates had nine skaters in the line-up. Up front on the self-proclaimed “Old Man Line” was Russ-Evan-Dave Matthews, while the other forward line was Brooks-Brian-LeMatty. On the blueline we had a rotating trio of Mike, Joe Baio (subbing for Kevin), and Bobby Currao (subbing for Gucci who was “stuck in A.C. in a blackjack tourney). Sidelined with the flu was the other half of the Miller Bros.

The 1st period was an action-packed affair as both teams were playing wide open. The Hurt had some fast forwards and one of the biggest defense around — literally. It took the Pirates nearly 10:00 minutes to draw first blood and the resulting goal from Newcomb (assists LeMatty and Brooks) almost did draw first blood when Brooks collided with former-Pirate Rob Armswood during the aftermath. This would be the first of what Rob would later say was a rash of people skating into him for no apparent reason. Brooks — or more accurately the right-side of his face — would probably disagree with that assessment.The Pirates would head into the break with a 2-0 lead when Evan netted his first of the evening.

The Pirates lead would be cut in half just :35 seconds into the final period when one of their Shaq-sized players reached around Joe and tucked the puck between my pads. Fortunately Russ was channeling the real #99 this night and he patiently backhanded the biscuit into The Hurt's net after a deke a few minutes later. Although The Hurt would get a gift from ref Dave Kurasz to cut the lead to 3-2, the Pirates rattled-off three straight goals (Evan assist Baio, Mike unassisted, Russ unassisted) to cruise to the victory.

But no game would be complete without the obligatory controversies: First, the aforementioned goal that both Joe Baio and Mike claim never crossed the Pirate goal line; Second, the non-goal that ended-up in our net (both Russ and ref Schueleter said that was after the whistle) and resulted a Hurt player being ejected due to arguing with the ref; and lastly, the image of Brian rushing up ice and being body-slammed by Armswood (“He ran into me. I just stood there.”) To Rob's credit, he later called #67 and apologized. At this writing, Brian is recovering nicely although he claims his newsletter-typing hand was injured on the play.
date of game: 1.16.08