SUNDAYS #1 vs. ST. PATS:

(vol. 37S, no. 1; newsletter by r.n.)
The Pirates beat St.Pat's in a spirited battle last Sunday. To be honest, primarily Jay and Tony beat St. Pat's with a few nice assists to John Cassens. We decided to shuffle the lines a little in the new season and put John on the Jay/Tony line and move Glenn over with Scott/Russ. This added more mucking (John's expertise) and defense to the number one line and more speed to the number two line. It worked out wonderfully as we pressured St. Pat's all night and really should have had a few more goals especially if Scott and Russ would have finished on a number of great chances off passes from each other and Glenn. On defense, the trio of Joe, Gucci and Mike were solid until Kevin joined in and really helped seal the deal for us.

The two highlight goals were off great feeds. Tony worked the puck deep while shorthanded. He cycled and battled for the puck for what seemed like a minute. He broke free and started to dart behind the net but just before he was to disappear behind the mesh, he slipped a pass to a cutting Jay who deposited it past the goalie who had already started to think wrap and slipped to the other side of the net. The other highlight goal was from Tony. He battled through a number of hooks and grabs, took one hand off the stick to free himself and then once past the mauling defense, quickly regripped his stick and slipped the puck past the goalie. The goal nullified the delayed penalty about to be enforced. Harris made some big stops while the game was still in doubt and earned his 979th victory as a Pirate (estimated) when Glenn found the empty net to ensure the win.

FOR THE RECORD
Attendance (players): Cassens, Toscano, Serkin, LeMatty, Gucci, Nicolosi, Farrell, Farkas, McLaughlin, Baio (sub). Net: Harris.
Scratches: DiPierro.
Scoring: 1st period: 4-2 Pirates: Goals by Toscano (none); Serkin (Gucci), SHG; Serkin (Toscano); Toscano (none). 3rd period: 6-3 Pirates: Goals by Toscano (Serkin); Farkas (none), EN.
date of game: 3.08.09