WEDNESDAYS #5 vs. THE HURT:

(vol. 39W, no. 5; newsletter r.n.)
editor's note: Another Blackberry™-sponsored edition of the newsletter, as written by the Cap'n.
The Big Hurt, that appeared to have been paralyzing the heads of “The Sunday Pirates” post-Piratefest, cleared by Wednesday just in time for the “3rd” period of our match with Big Hurt. Our heads hadn’t fully cleared by the 1st period, as the painful opponents opened-up a two goal lead in what was a pretty evenly played period.

The Pirates on-board for the night were aided by super sub #2 Marty Maccanico (super sub #1 is undoubtedly Joe Baio). He and his linemates, Ken and Scott M., had a number of great chances in the opening period that were thwarted by the especially athletic “Hurt” keeper. The second line of Russ, Scott L. and John, who were also frustrated after a number of good opportunities created by strong forechecking and subsequent turnovers, yielded no tallies either. Gucci had a number of freight train rushes as his new svelte frame has him covering less of the rink but skating on a lot more of it; and Mike, Ed and Dave also had shots in the 1st period, but none of this led to any goals.

The game turned in our favor in the final stanza when a group of elder statesmen collectively put a little hard work together and found a way to score. After having the puck circling around in our offensive zone for what felt was two minutes, we lost the puck off a missed shot from Gucci at the point; Scott L. chased the opposition behind the net, the poor bastard reversed direction and literally ran into Russ who then stole the puck and flipped it to Dave “Pops” Matthews who adroitly settled the bouncing puck and let a low shot off which Russ deflected past the keeper. We had finally found a way to beat their goalie and it paid dividends again very quickly as the other member of this line, John “Wildman” Cassens stole a puck at the blueline and quickly blasted a slapshot of epic proportions for the tie.

We kept the pressure on until game end and dove into overtime with Scott, Russ and John on the rink for the first shift. Scott and John jumped off first about a halfway into the 3:00-minute overtime, as Russ was deep in our defensive zone. When Gucci won the puck behind our net, Russ signaled to Scott who jumped off the center ice portion of the bench. Eddie hit Scott with a bullet and Scott one-timed an incredible pass to the streaking super sub #2; he deked the keeper and slid it under him for the winner.

Hats off to Dave and Mike who really locked it down on defense and Harris for steady keeping. One of our more memorable come from behind wins against an excellent opponent.

FOR THE RECORD
Attendance (players): Cassens, Farrell, Genalo, Gesior, Gucci, LeMatty, Matthews, Miller, Nicolosi, Maccancio (sub). Net: Harris.
Scratches: Newcomb.
Scoring: 1st period: 2-0 Hurt. 3rd period: 2-2 tie: Goals by Nicolosi (Matthews); Cassens (none). Overtime: 1-0 Pirates: Goal by Maccanico (Miller, Gesior).
date of game: 9.30.09