(vol.
42W, no. 9; newsletter by b.n.)
Holy Crap Batman!
The Playoffs are back once again. And the Pirates started out right where they left off at the end of the season ... against the Hookey Teem. And the coaching started early as Russ laid down the law in the locker room: “No penalties in the offensive zone” (he tried to fire Dave Matthews up to go with “The Untouchables” speech, but it didn't go so well, but that is ok).
The game started regardless and unlike last week it wasn't a penalty fest ... It did start off with the HT scoring first and then early on the final period on a powerplay. But the Pirates were able to tie the score ... I think it was pretty late in the game when that finally happened.
And before you knew it, it was looking an awful lot like overtime.
But before it came Kevin was whistled for an interference with .08 seconds left. Pretty scary stuff ... Give up a goal and the season is over. But of course the Pirates were able to step up and kill it off in the first 2:00-minutes of overtime. And after a quick rush up the rink, the Pirates fired a shot on net that was stopped by the goalie. On the ensuing whistle, the HT took a time-out giving both teams time to regroup. Meanwhile, #32 (aka #67's son Dave) was busy trying to sneak on to the bench to take part in the upcoming shoot out ...
So as the HT was taking a breather, and #32 was busy trying to masquerade as #67, #99 was diagramming the upcoming face-off in the HT zone. The plan was KennyG tying-up his man on the faceoff and getting it to Marty. As it turns out, KennyG did in fact tie up his man, but his man decided to hit the deck and to try and grab the puck ... Kevin came and banged the puck loose to an open Marty (which was eerily-similar to the actual plan) and he was all alone at the backdoor for the score that nearly went wide but instead banged-off the bar of the net and in.
There was much rejoicing on the Pirate bench until Scott Miller inexplicable blurted out, “Wait its' still not over, there's still :40 seconds left!” (That is a true story by the way ... Even i had to stop and think about it for a moment. Let's think about it ... Overtime ... We score ... Yes ... The game is really over .... It's not the freakin' World Cup of soccer). So guys from the HT were upset, but none were as upset as #32 when he realized he wasn't going to get to take a shot in the shootout ...
FOR THE RECORD
Attendance (players): Cassens, Farrell, Genalo, LeMatty, Newcomb, Nicolosi, Matthews, Maccanico (sub), McLaughlin (sub). Net: Harris.
Scratches: None.
Injured Reserve: Gucci (season, bicep), Miller (3 weeks, ankle).
Scoring: 1st period: 1-0 Hocky Teem. 3rd period: 2-2 tie: Goals by Maccanico (Cassens); McLaughlin (Genalo). Overtime: 1-0 Pirates: Goal by Maccanico (McLaughlin, Genalo) at 2:08.
date of game: 7.21.10
A VERY GOOD SIGN
Mysteriously a Pirate Silver Skull appeared over the scorekeeper's doorway before our Semifinals game. Since this amazing appearance, the Pirates have not lost a game.
