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After extensive contract negotiations, the Mighty Pirates organization is extremely pleased to welcome back Howie for another season of insightful, amusing, and extremely addictive commentary! Yes, Howie tells it like it is!

You'll find links to each and every Howie Report right here after each game.

Leaf-like? Leaf-ish? Leaf-oid? Leaf-acious?
2007-10-22: Mighty Pirates 4 at Condors 4

Despite allegiances for NHL teams based outside of the Greater Toronto Area espoused by some who inhabit the Mighty Pirates (2-2-1) locker room, there seems to be no shortage of affinity in that hallowed space for Toronto's own Maple Leafs, if the Pirates' performance last Monday was any indication. In an otherwise splendid performance as a team, the Mighty Pirates nonetheless took it upon themselves to emulate the beloved (or besmirched) Leafs of 2007-2008 by first gaining, and then squandering lead after lead after lead after lead, only to end up in a hard-fought 4-4 tie with the revamped and newly improved Condors (1-3-1).

The Pirates were able to field nearly a full roster that night, even with Besant and Mutch out of town, province and perhaps country for the game; Bingham mysteriously absent, and sub Tassone under the weather. Front office did call up subs Brown and Sturgeon (the latter normally the Pirates' back-up goalie, but playing on the offensive line for the first time this season) to man the wings, as three forward lines and five defensemen shared duties. As organized by Captain Mola, the centers were Gallivan, Mandell and Perri; left wingers were Turner, Sager and Sturgeon, right wingers were Leggett, Brown and Phillips, and defensemen were Jezioranski, Kwinter, Mintz, Mola and Klein. Matthew Lella was in goal.

Gallivan regained the puck after first losing it on an early rush and managed to slip the puck past the Condor goalie just 51 seconds into the game, and the Pirates could be seen to relax just a tad, no doubt imagining that the Pirates' historic dominance of the big birds would carry through for this contest as well. But the Condors had done some off-season signings, as witnessed by their sudden increase in non-cage-wearing players, usually a sign of more skilled players (although also a sign of players who do not fear accidental injury from skaters less skilled than they!). Sure enough, in the midst of exciting end-to-end play in the first, the very same helmet-only Condors, Buxton and Stein, managed to collaborate on a tic-tac-toe play to fire the puck past a sprawling Lella with just over five minutes left in the first period, to tie it up. Not to be outdone, just two minutes later, Leggett played clean-up man in front of the net and popped the puck into the back of the net to finish off a point shot from Mola on the faceoff win by Gallivan, to regain the lead. But with Jezioranski languishing in the sin bin for the first Pirate penalty of the night, the Condors took advantage of the power play and a scramble in front of the Pirate goal, and pushed the tying goal through with just 37 seconds left in the first period.

In the second period, usually a time when the hard-working Pirates have trouble keeping up the pace, the boys in black and yellow maintained a very effective blend of offense and defense. Leggett, who had a fabulous game offensively as he continued to find opportunity after opportunity for quality shots on goal, nevertheless could not beat an increasingly confident and skilled Condor goaltender. But after a Condor left Klein sprawling on the ice with a game-ejection check from behind, the Pirates themselves took advantage of the power play, and retook the lead, as Jezioranski combined with Leggett to get the puck to Gallivan on the powerplay, who flipped it past the goalie with just under four minutes left to play in the second.

Now the challenge was to protect the lead, but no such luck! Just 22 seconds into the third period, the Condors' Stein struck again, taking the puck off the face-off and driving it home to tie it up once again. Now the Pirates had been watching this play very carefully, and as they lined up for the next face-off, decided that turn-about was fair play, and as Mandell tied up the Condor center, Mintz blasted through the middle of the circle, picked up the puck and dished it off to Brown, and the three of them tore off down the ice. Once last pass back to Mandell and he shoved it through on the right side for a Pirate lead yet again, just 13 seconds after the puck was dropped. Magnificent! You would think that this time it would be a Pirate lead for sure, but it was not to be. Just three minutes later, and the Condors had struck again on a sudden breakdown during a line change, and there was nothing that Lella could do to avoid the tying goal going in yet again. The Condors, showing much improved skills and strong efforts in the offensive zone, were able to cycle the puck effectively, and also used their pointmen to generate shots. But do not think that the Pirates gave up after that last tying goal. No — there were very effective efforts, both individual and team, that gave Howie cause to hope that this was indeed a team to be reckoned with this coming season. The crisp passing, the strong skating efforts on the forecheck and the backcheck, show promise. And as this team gels, there will be room for plenty of heroics, not just from new father, Jim Jezioranski, who clearly was there to make a statement that lack of sleep is no excuse for not skating hard, and that the sound of crying babies makes for great inspiration on the ice, but from each and every Pirate. They will each find his own source of inspiration to make this 15th anniversary season one to remember.

So the Pirates end the preseason at 2-2-1, a perfect .500, and it appears that TNHC has decided not to tinker too much with success. The Tigers moved up, and the Brewers moved down. In turn, the Rickard's Division (yes, there is a Rickard's Division, though we have to drink Keith's at Howie's Bar) gained the Aeros (4-0-1) from the Corona Division below and the Toronto Red Army H.C. (1-3-1) from the Coors Light Division above, but otherwise kept the teams intact. All in all, it looks like a good season coming up, with good clean competition coming atcha. However, we must not get too excited, because the first week of the preseason is a bye for the Pirates — that's right, no game on October 29. But on November 5, the Pirates are scheduled to fact the Toronto Blades (2-3-0) at 11:10 p.m. on RINX 2. Be there as the regular season kicks off - this time it's for keeps.

GO PIRATES!!! VIVA LOS PIRATAS!!!

Howie