Seesaw Battle Leaves YTV High and Dry
2003-12-01: Mighty Pirates 4 vs. YTV 3
"Prophetic" is the word pundits were using, while watching the Mighty Pirates battle their perennial rivals, YTV, last Monday night, recalling the results of last week's Pirate poll. A huge majority of 75% of respondents reiterated their faith in their heroes by voting that "The Pirates will gel and finish above .500, peaking for playoff glory!" No sooner said than done, as the boys, wearing their home yellows proudly, battled for 32 full minutes to edge out the Yoots in a start-to-finish thriller!
Thirteen skaters took the ice wearing the Mighty Pirates colours to serve and protect goaltender Matthew Lella. Bringing to the fore his years of captaincy experience, Shaun Leggett took the reins in the locker room and engineered a well-balanced attack force with a solid defense. Blair Dimock, Peter Toth, Michael Levine and Richard Bingham implemented a "both ends of the ice" strategy, stopping YTV charges and giving backing to the offensive lines, made up of John Mutch, Shaun Leggett and Les Klein; Jim Jezioranski, Nick Perri and Dave Turner; and Jonathan Gallivan, Kapil Khatter and - thrilling Mighty Pirates fans world-wide - the returning Pirate hero, Auby Mandell!
The game started poorly for the hometown favorites, as YTV managed to sneak a goal past the Pirates' first line just 37 seconds into the game, before they were even fully awake. That was, however, the wake-up call, as the Pirates then battled back and stopped YTV attack after attack. Then, half-way through the period, the Mighty Pirates' most powerful secret weapon of the 2003-2004 season so far went into action, and Nick Perri took yet another perfect pass from Jim Jezioranski, further assisted by defenseman Blair Dimock, and put it into the YTV goal, to tie the game at 1-1. That situation, alas did not last long, as the boys (and girl) with the funny piece of goop on their jerseys scored another goal just one minute later, to take the lead again. Not to be outdone or become downtrodden, the secret weapon struck again, this time reversing roles, as Nick Perri fed Jim Jezioranski, who stretched the back of the net for the score-tying goal, and the first period ended in a tie at 2-2.
The second period, normally a downer for the Pirates, was extremely well-played, as the Pirates took advantage of their long forward bench and, using shorter shifts and strong skating, slowly but surely wore down the YTV squad, especially their defence. Thus, with just 11 seconds left in the second period, the Pirates notched the excitement level ever higher, as Peter Toth took a shot from the blue line, the rebound from which the newly rehabilitated Auby Mandell redirected into the goal for the 3-2 lead. Talk about thrills!
The game, however, was not by any means over. Just 31 seconds into the third period, YTV evened it up again, trying to put added pressure on the Mighty Pirates, who by this point in the season had already racked up three ties and were desperate for a W. But YTV too had lost three in a row, not having won a game since they were moved up to the TNHC Monday Canadian Division. What resulted was an increasingly no-holds-barred battle to the finish. Attack after attack was turned back at both ends of the ice, with the goalies making highlight-reel quality saves, eliciting groans, moans and wows from the stands filled with a lone Pirate fan. As a result of increasing desperation and exhaustion, penalties (which were notably absent in the first two periods) began to pile up, with each club assessed for two misdemeanors. The excitement really rose however when with just 29 seconds remaining, John Mutch dipsy-doodled his way past the by now fatigued YTV defense and took the puck, delivered to him via special delivery by Peter Toth and Blair Dimock and to the thrill of the crowd, powered the go-ahead goal between the pipes. Despite a last second YTV attempt to tie up the game by pulling their goalie, the Pirates pulled out a W for the first time since the regular season began, and as a result moved within a point of both YTV and Venom in the standings and climbing out of the cellar.
In true Mighty Pirate form, the boys combined solid positional play with crisp passing, energetic forechecking and backchecking, short shifts and great on-ice communication to produce a team effort reminiscent of Wednesday Night Pirate Hockey™. Speaking of which, despite a relatively poor turnout, with just 11 skaters and two goalies, the Pirates and FoPs managed a great workout at their practice venue this past week. Club management continues to encourage and support the WNPH, but also continues to express concern about the financial viability of the venture with such a poor turnout. All Pirates and FoPs, as well as OPs, FPs and RPs, are urged to come out and ensure that this venerable hockey institution continues into the new year!
And speaking of continuing, the regular season does so on Monday, December 9 at 9:00 p.m. at RINX 2, as the Pirates battle another of their rivals, the Zig Zags to the delight of their many fans. The Zig Zags sit atop the division, tied with Slowetry in Motion, at 7 wins, 1 loss and 1 tie. With their record against the Papers 3-1-0 all time, and their only other meeting this season a heart-breaking 5-6 loss, the Pirates will be looking to continue their winning ways and to deliver another two points into their line in the standings. Be there for what those pundits quoted above call "truly great hockey in the True North Hockey Canada tradition."
GO PIRATES!!! VIVA LOS PIRATAS!!!
Howie
