Pirates Tie Another One On!
2003-11-10: Mighty Pirates 3 vs. Slowetry in Motion 3

After a less than stellar preseason, and a disappointing full season opener last week against their long-time rivals, the Zig Zags, where the Mighty Pirates saw a victory and then a tie dissolve before their eyes in the dying minutes of the contest, perrenial Pirate prognosticators expected that the boys in yellow would come out of the gate flat on Monday for the first ever meeting between their heroes and TNHC Monday Canadian Division newcomers, Slowetry in Motion. The reality could not have been further from the truth! The Pirates, who throughout their venerable history have exemplified the very meaning of the word "teamwork," have shown time and time again that they work best when at full strength. This past Monday, the boys managed to muster 14 players to support their stalwart goaltender, Matthew Lella. In addition to the skaters, the boys in the locker room prior to the game boisterously welcomed their injured captain, Vito Mola, who magnanimously came to cheer his team on and literally coach them from shift to shift. He selected the lines before the game, and his insight into the dynamics at work on the 2003-2004 edition of the Mighty Pirates was prescient. The three full lines of forwards consisted of John Mutch centering Jonathan Gallivan and Les Klein; Jim Jezioranski centering Nick Perri and Dave Turner, and Rob Kwinter centering Shaun Leggett and Mark Sager. On defense were Brian Vandenberg, Peter Toth, Blair Dimock, Kapil Khatter and Michael Levine. Missing in action were the injured Auby Mandell and Richard Bingham.

SloMo, which features a logo straight out of a graphic designer's nightmare, did not live up to its billing. Using their two or three strong players on the attack and the rest of their forces as virtually static passing machines, they nevertheless managed to generate a surprising offense. As a result, they dominated the play in the first period, keeping the Pirates back on their heels for much of the first eight minutes. They potted their first goal just 25 seconds after the puck was dropped, and were awarded another one with 1:58 left in the first period on a very controversial call by a ref who was standing on another planet (a place governed by very different laws of phsyics than our earth) at the time the shot was taken, missing the fact (obvious to everyone else in the arena at the time) that the puck had hit the goal post and bounced out under Matthew's pads without ever crossing the goal line. That made it Caution Signs 2, Pirate Heroes 0. But Pirate Brand Hockey® was at play, and none of the buccaneers lost their focus. The simple formula of defense, defence, the fence was faithfully followed, with the puck being cleanly cleared out of the Pirate end, and the inevitable scoring opportunity finally appeared. Nick Perri and Jim Jezioranski took off down the ice on a classic give and go, and with Perri giving, Jezioranski went and put it past a sprawling SloMo goalie just 54 seconds later. That put the wind into the Pirates' sails, as the good guys, contrary to their usual practice, took control of the second period, moving the puck quickly and smoothly, and using the passing game to tire out the opposition, who became slowertier and slowetrier as the game wore on, their short bench inexorably catching up to them. Perhaps responding to rumours on the bench that the cameraman for the TSN highlight reels had missed their earlier performance, with just 3:26 left in the second period, Perri and Jezioranski took off again on their fancy flight down the center of the ice and, giving and going, staged a reprise of their earlier goal, Perri to Jimmy to money! Committed to not being outdone by the JPT line, with just 26 seconds left in the third, Dave Turner, who was dubbed the Iron Curtain for his unwillingness to let the puck emigrate out of the opponents' zone, knocked the puck to Brian Vandenberg, who in turn connected with Jonathan Gallivan, who undressed the goalie to bring the Pirates ahead 3-2.

Now this was Wednesday Night Pirate Hockey™ at its best, with every man giving his all on every shift. The Pirates were determined to not let this one get away, and the third period was a wild and wooly one, with the play alternating between an ever more desperate SloMo squad and the determined defensive posture of the Yellowmen. The strategy was working well until one extraordinary shift, where the puck refused to leave the defensive zone, as time after time, clearing passes found friendly and unfriendly chests, legs, skates and other body parts, uncharitably bouncing back into the Pirate zone in front of the blue line. As the clock showed just 0:59 left in the game, the unthinkable happened, as another power shot by SloMo playmaker Rodway bounced off Lella's pads and found a random enemy stick, which propelled it past the line and into the net for the game-tying goal.

The tie marked yet another point that got away from the Pirates, but there was little one could say to fault the play of your heroes that night. There was no shortage of scoring opportunities, no shortage of stellar team play, no shortage of Herculean individual effort. Indeed, it was fair to say that the Pirates played very close to the top of their game, and the result was another hugely entertaining, exciting and tight TNHC Monday Canadian Division battle. It appears that such will be the nature of the rest of the season, which will put the necessary pressure on the Mighty Pirates to play at their best every game, every period, every shift and every second. Let-downs will be punished and extra efforts will be rewarded!

Of special note that night were the extraordinary defensive work of the defensive team. Blair Dimock was the standard-bearer, repeatedly beating the opposition to the puck, handling and controlling it until a forward worked his way free to receive his perfect passes. Brian Vandenberg continued to reward Pirate management's decision to call him back to support the injury-laden team, consistently using skill and strength to control the puck (and drawing a controversial but potentially goal-saving holding penalty in the dying seconds of the first period). Michael Levine, the newest Pirate, continues to show versatility and skill, as well as extraordinary poise under pressure (and attracting his first penalty of the campaign). Peter Toth is back, combining his confident puck-handling at the back of the play with explosive speed to generate scoring chances with well-timed rushes. And Kapil Khatter executes the clearing pass and scramble with agility that amazes seasoned observers of the game.

The forward lines are also gelling nicely, with the centers using their wingers to ease into the zone and work the puck to the front of the opponent's net, and the wingers learning the rewards of covering the defense in our zone and crashing the net in theirs. The smoothness with which a forward drops back to cover a rushing defenseman has been commented on repeatedly in this young season as a sign that this team has a lot of maturity (heck, just check their ages!) and sophistication, which will serve them in good stead in the coming weeks and months. And the teamwork which is the backbone of the historic success of the Pirates was evidenced in full by the 14 attendees after Monday night's game at the post-game Howie beer-and-wings news conference and banquet. While fending off the hordes of fans (whose numbers are increasing from game to game, and which were estimated at 8 on Monday!), they took the late loss of the lead in stride and reminded themselves and the press that "it's a long season, you have to play the games one at a time, we give it 110% every day, and we could not have done it without Captain Mola behind the bench!" And indeed, having Vito there to handle line changes, rejig the lines during penalties (thereby protecting the Pirates' 100% penalty-killing percentage) and generally urging the team on made a palpable difference in the game, with the smooth line changes and extra effort each shift obvious to the most casual observer.

So, come and check out your favourite hockey team next Monday at 7:15 in RINX 1 as the boys look forward to avenging their most ugly loss of the season against Mike Myers's Goldmembers. This will be a game that tests whether the Pirates have the mettle to compete with the heavy guns in the division, and may well foretell better than today's standings where we will be at the end of the season. Come out and show your support for the Mighty Pirates, and don't forget to keep Wednesday Night Pirate Hockey™ a reality. Be there or be square...

GO PIRATES!!! VIVA LOS PIRATAS!!!

Howie