(vol. 43S, no. 10; newsletter by h.s.)
Usually Consolation games are meaningless — just a 44:00-minute gap between Championship games. This one, however, was different: Not only did both team have a serious battle (one that was not reflected by the final score), but also #32 played his first game for the Pirates.
Most you probably know #32 as Dave (aka #67's son ... er, Brian's son). He can usually be spotted handing-out Silver Skulls, quoting Pirate stats by heart, and drinking the occasional juice box at the post-game “meetings.” This time after warming-up with the squad Dave didn't head to the stands, but rather (with the blessing of the Jags) filled the spot of absent Dan DiPierro on the second line with Rud and Ralz.
In the 1st period it was Charlie Milo who would give the Pirates the early lead, but the Jags scored the next pair and you could tell they had no intention of playing this as a “game that didn't matter.” Still opportunities were abundant for the Pirates in the 1st period, but solid Jag netminding kept the Jags on top until late in the period when the Captain knotted things up. During that opening 22:00-minutes it was the first line that kept us in it, but you could see that “Line Up By Height” line of Rud-Tim-#32 were passing the puck well and it wouldn't be long until things started to click.
The final period was a scoring frenzy as the Pirates would tally all six goals of the frame — from the sticks of two players. LeMatty's hattrick would give him nine goals on the season, almost 3x more than any other Pirate. Meanwhile, #32 would net his first-ever Pirate goal (a deflection), followed by another (featuring some nice stick-work down low that forced the goalie to commit).
As the story goes, after Dave scored that second goal, he went to the bench where Father Brian told him “Okay Dave, stop shooting.” At just that moment though, ref Bobby Currao (who was photographing the event from ice-level for us) skated over and said, “Don't listen to him Dave. Go for the hattrick.” And Dave, in a rare act of defiance did just that: He scored the hattrick ... from an on-the-tape pass from dear old dad right down the middle.
FOR THE RECORD
Attendance (players): Cassens, Farkas, Gucci, Hand, Irausquin, LeMatty, Milo, B.Newcomb, Nicolosi, D.Newcomb (sub). Net: Harris.
Scratches: DiPierro.
Scoring: 1st period: 2-2 tie: Goals by Milo (Nicolosi); Nicolosi (Gucci). 3rd period: 8-2 Pirates: Goals by LeMatty (Nicolosi); LeMatty (Farkas); D.Newcomb (Cassens); D.Newcomb (none); LeMatty (none); D.Newcomb (B.Newcomb).
date of game: 11.27.10
“JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING DAVE?”
Sci-Fi fans will recognize the title of this caption from “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Instead of the HAL9000 though it was DAVE32 who had a mind of his own as he scored three in the final period.
(Photos by Victoria Nicolosi and Bobby Currao)
