SUNDAYS #2 vs. CHIEFS:

(vol. 35S, no. 2; newsletter by h.s.)
The Pirates staged a dramatic comeback — capped by an overtime goal — to win their first game of the Sunday season. The goal came off a slaphot by Kevin just 1:00-minute into overtime when he beat John Arena for the second time this night. Kudos to Tim and Glenn for providing the traffic in front (and to Gucci who kept stressing the key to success was for Pirate forwards to make a nuisance of themselves in the crease).

The Pirates had their ten-man, original line-up for this match and (for the first time that I can remember) we played a club that also fielded a full ten-man crew. The Chiefs crew was version2.1, however, as they drastically enhanced their roster for the new season. Included in their updates was (in Tony's words) “That big guy who plays for the Blackhawks who used to rip the sleeves off his jersey because he's so big.”

The first goal of the game came off the stick of the aforementioned “big guy” after he wound-up for a huge shot; he would miss-hit the puck, but it still lamely beat me five-hole. (I blame Tony for that goal because I was a little intimidated as I heard him telling tales during warm-ups of how it was not uncommon to see opposition players hanging-off the arms of this big guy as he worked the puck up ice.) That would be the Chiefs only goal of the 1st period though, and Kevin would knot things up 1-1 on the next shift so we were all even at the break.

Also in the period, one scary moment came when two Chiefs collided hard behind the Pirate net — the collision sending one player to floor and leaving him unmoving for several minutes. He finally came to and left the ice on his own power, returning on the next shift and even scoring a goal in the next period. This was even more amazing because Scott Baldwin's idea of first aid at the time was to fan the player furiously with his smelly ref jersey.

The Pirates would continue to play catch-up to the Chiefs throughout the final period, each time trailing by a goal and then tying it once again. Down 3-2 with only 6:00-minutes remaining the Pirates took what appeared to be a costly penalty; the Chiefs set up in our zone and fired a shot on net, but luckily the puck deflected-off my paddle and directly onto the tape of Tony's stick at center ice. With Gucci yelling “go, go, go,” Tony took his breakaway and scored the game-tying, shorthanded goal.

The teams couldn't break the 3-3 tie in regular time so we headed to a 3:00-minute overtime ...

In the opening minute the Chiefs stormed our net and had a pair of quick shots, but moments after we regained possession Kevin headed-up ice and put an exclamation point on a great Pirate comeback.

FOR THE RECORD
Attendance (players): DiPierro, LeMatty, McLaughlin, Gucci, Farkas, Farrell, Nicolosi, Serkin, Toscano, Hand. Net: Harris.
Scratches: none.
Scoring: 1st period: 1-1 tie: Goal by McLaughlin (Toscano). 3rd period: 3-3 tie: Goals by Farkas (none); Toscano (Harris), SHG. OT: 1-0 Pirates: Goal by McLaughlin (none).
date of game: 10.05.08