There is no poll. Don't worry, we'll have more soon!

Stay tuned!

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.

"Icing" on Turner's Cake
2014-03-10: Mighty Pirates 1 at Grrrowl 1

No matter what the outcome of the Pirates' last game of the season, there were certain immutable facts already in place. The Bucs were going to end up in the A Pool of the TNHC Monday Gilmour Division playoffs. They were going to end up in third place in the standings. And D. Turner, the Tower of Power, the current Pirate Iron Man, one of the three original Mighty Pirates, was going to play his all-time Modern Era team-leading 400th game!

There was also the immutable fact that your correspondent was going to be late to this game, no matter what, so you can imagine his shock when arriving five minutes into the first period, it was Grrrowl that held a 1-0 lead over the Mighty Pirates. It took a while to figure out, in fact, that the mark belonged to the 'dogs, given that the Pirates seemed to dominate play. But there was far more to be seen than met the eye at first glance.

The Pirates were skating with a full bench, while Grrrowl was working with 12 skaters. The Commute Line was out there and intact, the 3M Line was also there and working together, and the Grind Line had Rosenberg centering the Tower of Power and Allan Phillips. The defensive pairings were also awesome, and it was particularly fitting that T. Turner made an appearance as a sub and was minding the blue line while Dear Old Dad manned the boards on the left side.

The Sturgeonator was beyond impressive. He was reported to have made a monster save on the first shift with his blocker after a Grrrowler came out of the corner and moved into the slot, and that set the tone of the game. It was to be a defensive struggle, and Tim sent out a message loud and clear that he was up to the challenge. Grrrowl scored their only goal of the game with 4:57 left on the clock in the first period, and then Sturgeon just shut the door tight, not letting in another goal and making spectacular save after spectacular save, including a monster glove save early in the third period on Grrrowl's #52 Welsh, which turned out to be a game-saver.

The "Commute Line" had a solid game, with plenty of hard digging and great passing. Leggett and Lella were getting to the right spots all night long, which for some observers was a welcome change to being the "goals against" goats of the past few weeks. In this correspondent's view, however, this combo has been delivering the goods all season long, and they showed that they are ready for the playoffs now.

Similarly, the 3M line was cooking with gas all night, led by Captain Mola, who was flying got off some great slapshots. "Auby on the Spot" Mandell was also working hard, despite recovering from bad cold/flu symptoms, and Mutch was dipsy-doodling around the defense all night long. Rosenberg skated miles for the grind line, and was brilliant in forechecking and making sure Grrrowl couldn't get set in our end, and Phillips took off on a couple of breakaways that stunned the Grrrowl defense.

Defensively, J. Klein, Kwinter, Jezioranski and Besant each stood their ground against Grrrowl charges, took opportunistic rushes and minded the blue line efficiently. Sousa in particular made a brilliant blue line "keep in" late in the second as the Pirates continued to get shots to the net, and Thomas Turner picked up a four minute body checking penalty with 12 seconds to go, which normally would have been frowned up, but we think his Dad wasn't upset once it was clear that JTT was fine. In fact, a wry smile on Dad's face suggested that maybe he liked it. In the end, it was old-fashioned Pirate Brand Hockey® that earned the Pirates the single point for the tie, as Sousa fired the puck on the goal from the blue line yet again with just 2:06 left in the game, Leggett picked up the rebound, shoveled it to Gallivan on the far side, and Jonny roofed it for the equalizer.

To give Grrrowl credit, they played hard, skated hard and kept the Pirates off the scoreboard for almost the entire game. It is due in no small part to their goalie, who literally stood on his head to keep the Pirates from scoring. Give the refs credit, too — this observer has not seen as many icing calls in a True North Hockey game for decades! But in the end, the Pirates knew that they were playing for honour and also to prep for the playoffs. Looks to me like they're ready to go!

That would have been all she (or I) wrote, but the true story of the game, the season, and indeed the history of the Mighty Pirates was summed up in one incident that was seared into this reporter's memory. At a very heated moment of the game, DT — the 400-game man — went deep into the corner on a Pirate attack and completely leveled the defenseman covering him in a battle for the puck. Both players went down together. DT, true to form, got up and checked that his opponent was okay before rejoining the play — the Tower of Power to be sure, but also ever the gentleman. That, my dear readers, is what makes a great Pirate. Dave Turner personifies the essence of Pirate hockey: be a team player, work together, and have a whole f*ck of a lot of fun.

TO DAVE TURNER, A TRUE PIRATE — 400 MORE!