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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.

Mighty Pirates Play 31.23 of Pirate Brand Hockey — TNHC Officials Belatedly Inform Team That Games Are 32:00
2004-11-29: Mighty Pirates 3 at Condors 2

You would have been so proud of the boys in yellow and black last Monday as they faced their first real opponent in the Coors Light Division, the Condors. The big birds were after all tied for first place in the division (with the Tigers and the Original Chiefs). On the other hand, in four previous contests, the Pirates had come out on top every time, and (demonstrating an eerie consistency) had held the Condors to two goals each time. So a certain amount of confidence might have been expected in the locker room prior to the game.

But no, rather than the testosterone-driven display behavior for which the Pirates are famously NOT known, the conversation was focused on the team's own performance, and how they could play Pirate Brand Hockey®. The boys were also bolstered by the fact that although Matthew Lella was sidelined for this game, their stalwart goalie-in-waiting, the Summer Pirates' Tim "Super-Sturgeon" Sturgeon, was ready, willing and able to take up the challenge. The defence was also somewhat short-handed as Shaun Leggett and Rob Kwinter were scratches for the game. Utilizing his creative juices to the maximum, Captain Vito Mola formulated a potent mix of offensive power and defensive solidity. The three forward lines consisted of Jonathan Gallivan centering Dave Turner and Jim Jezioranski; Nick Perri centering Auby Mandell and Mark Sager; and John Mutch centering Vito Mola and Todd Kitchen. Defensive pairings were Jim Butler and Richard Bingham, and Blair Dimock and Les Klein.

The serious manner in which the Pirates approached this important meeting was in no way deflected by the revelation that Dave Turner, all-time Pirate leader in games played, was celebrating his 50th birthday, and both Condors (who had previously experienced the excitement around Mark Sager's 60th birthday celebration) and Pirates knew that the stands would in fact be filled with his legions of adoring fans — this evening including Dave's mom and dad, no less!

The boys' focus did not go unrewarded, as the Condors experienced the strength of the Pirates' rush almost from the first drop of the puck. Observers were exuberant about the solid defence, bolstered by the centres consistently coming back as the third man, and about the offense, which controlled the play and kept the puck in the Condors' end of the ice for most of the game. Dave Turner, in particular, seemed energized by the crowd, and was at the centre of the play on every one of his shifts. At the same time, there was a certain rustiness, a hesitancy, a skipped step in the Pirates' play in much of the first two periods. This was exacerbated by the stellar performance of the Condors' goalie, who time and time again robbed your heroes of fabulous scoring chances. Most of those who watched the game, players and fans alike, gave full credit to the goal keeping on both sides, which kept the game a scoreless tie through 21 minutes and 21 seconds of play. If any more evidence is needed, the Condors' goalie faced a 5-on-3 situation near the end of the second period (the first 16:31 had been penalty free), and still managed to hold off the Pirates without a goal. Not to be outdone, Sturgeon also faced a power play situation at the end of the second period and the start of the third and came out unscathed.

It finally took a perfectly executed give and go play by John Mutch, Vito Mola and Todd Kitchen with 8:39 remaining in the game to break the deadlock, and the Pirates were in business. Four minutes and 29 seconds later, Jonathan Gallivan finished off a breakaway, fed by Blair Dimock and Todd Kitchen, to make the score 2-0, and 2 minutes and 50 seconds later, John Mutch (now just 4 points away from the legendary Mike Stein's all-time Pirate scoring record) notched a goal on a lovely feed from Blair Dimock to (seemingly) put the game on ice at 3-0.

But it was not to be. With 1:20 remaining, the Condors called a time out, regrouped, pulled their goalie and put out their six biggest, fastest and most fearsome players, knocking the Pirates (who were at last allowing their overconfidence to show) on their heels. They plowed through the Pirate lines and popped a goal past a sprawling Tim Sturgeon with 47 seconds to go, and followed the face-off with another one slipped under the pads 15 seconds later. With the seconds ticking off the clock, the Pirates did everything they could now, to salvage — if not the shutout — then at least the "W”" for the "always working" alternate goalie. Hearts a-thumping, the Mighty Pirates were happy to hear the final buzzer go and take a slim 3-2 victory into Howie's after the game.

So what happened? The fatalists and statisticians among us would say that the Condors are forever destined to score two goals – no more and no less – against the Pirates every time they play each other, and it was just the luck of the draw that they had to fit both goals into a 15 second period at the very end of the game. But as the headline says, the reality was that the Pirates decided that the game was over after they had scored three goals — the fact remains, gentlemen, that it ain't over 'til the final buzzer.

It remains to be seen if the Pirates can remember this lesson next week, when they face the Crunch next Monday at 10:10 in RINX 2, for the first time ever. In the meantime, some observers, noting the Pirates' newly minted three-game winning streak, are attributing the marked improvement in play not to a lower level of competition, but to the return of the Wednesday Night Pirate Skate™, now in full swing at Fenside Arena every Wednesday night at 10:30 p.m. Last Wednesday featured six players per side and a quality of hockey not seen since the early days of the game. Mighty Pirates, Former Pirates, Old Pirates and Friends of Pirates are all welcome to participate in this unique bonding experience. Strap on the blades and see how long you can go before you run out of gas!

In the meantime,

GO PIRATES!!! VIVA LOS PIRATAS!!!

Howie