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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.

Pirate Brand Hockey Arrives At Last!
2005-10-31: Mighty Pirates 1 at Ice Cats 2

An Iron Man Streak ended, and the Pirates had their third game without a win, and yet Howie was not an unhappy correspondent after last Monday night's contest at RINX 2, where the Buccaneers took on the Ice Cats in a battle of title contenders in the TNHC Monday Night Molson Dry Division. Rather, he was quite pleased. because finally, finally, after five lackluster games (a term that applies even to the first three blowout Pirate victories early in the pre-season), there was the glimmer of the return of Pirate Brand Hockey® coming soon to a RINX near you!

It was an odd night to start with anyway. It was Halloween, after all, though most of the enthusiastic trick-or-treating had long since been concluded, the jack-o-lanterns extinguished, the candy handed out and the loot examined and distributed. The 11:10 p.m. start time is never the most popular with your heroes, requiring an extraordinary effort from each and every player to lift himself off the couch just as bedtime approaches, pick up the hockey equipment, dump it into the car and drive north, east, west or south in the gathering quiet of the night to join other wanderers like himself in the arena to dress for the game. Believe me, it was quiet in that locker room that evening! But on top of that, the rumours turned out to be true — Jonathan Gallivan, reigning Iron Man of the Mighty Pirates, was not going to make it to the game. Having spent the weekend in the Big Apple playing sweet music alongside David Usher, he had driven madly towards Toronto in an effort to make the game, but found himself felled by a cold/flu/virus/affliction and unable to answer the call. And the mystery of Richard Bingham continued to deepen, as the Pirates struggle to explain the absence (for six games now) of their redoubtable defenseman. The emptiness on the bench was palpable.

Captain Mola tried in his inimitable style to bring freshness and enthusiasm to the ensuing funk. He chose his lines carefully, putting Blair Dimock, Mark Cooper (he of the peroxide buzz-cut — a separate Howie Report could be devoted to that issue alone!), Paul Matusek and Rob Kwinter on defence. With three full forward lines available, he set up Nick Perri, Shaun Leggett and Dave Turner; Auby Mandell, Jim Jezioranski and Mark Sager; and John Mutch, Vito Mola and Les Klein. Matthew Lella was once again in net, sporting his excellent 2.0 GAA.

What a surprise, a pleasant surprise and a treat for the fans to see the fruits of the Wednesday Night Pirate Skate™ finally manifesting themselves on the ice, as the Pirates looked at last like a squad that knows how to play together. Shifts were by and large short and energetic, with each player skating hard and communicating effectively with his linemates. The passing was crisp, and the break-out plays were executed effectively. The forechecking was matched by the backchecking, and the forwards routinely dropped back to cover the rushing defensemen.

This was a team that was clearly starting to gel, after a relatively long period of adjustment. Theories abound as to why it has taken so long to happen, from a team affected by the smugness of the Summer Pirates' dominance of their division during their regular season (only to see themselves blown out of the playoffs in two quick and decisive games); to a team trying to adjust to the loss of two key defensive players from last season and the consistent absence of a third; to a lack of focus, desire and drive on the ice; to a team that is starting to show its age. Well, if these symptoms were ever to be shown in high contrast, it would be in a game against the Ice Cats, who had taken over first place the previous week, and were clearly shaping up to be the quick, strong and skilled team to beat in the division. And not only are they winning their games, but they are doing it in part by staying out of the penalty box, having notched just 4 penalty minutes all season.

The game was in fact a close contest, in this first meeting of these teams in the preseason. The Ice Cats showed their mettle early, as they pushed the puck hard into the Pirates' end, and hemmed them in, until the boys in their yellow jerseys finally regrouped and pushed back. In the end, the game was very evenly played, and every Ice Cat rush was matched by one (or more than one) from the Pirates. The scoring was meagre throughout the game, and the Pirates were in fact only able to notch one goal in total, on a lovely pass from the right point by Paul Matusek right to the stick of Mark "Jaromir" Sager, who beautifully back-handed it over the shoulder of the goalie. The Ice Cat goals, in contrast, were fluky affairs, the first resulting in a scrum in front of the Pirate net, with Matthew valiantly trying to cover the puck while lying on his back, and an Ice Cat — also lying on the ice, but on his stomach — reaching around Lella with a sweeping motion of his stick to tap the puck into an unprotected goal; the second off a shot from the slot that rebound off the goal post right back onto the stick of the shooting player, who blasted it past a helpless Matthew for the game-winner.

There were aspects of the game that rankled the Pirates — in their eyes, the Ice Cats were clutching and grabbing and interfering with the flow of the game and suffering no repercussions from the refs, whereas the Pirates were called for numerous infractions, which in the eyes of your heroes were evenly split between borderline calls and imagined sins. By the end of the game, the inequities in the calls were starting to grate on more than one player's nerves on the MP bench, and the vocalizations of this unhappiness only served to push the refs to further imbalances in their calls. In fact, the Ice Cats knew exactly how far they could go in their defensive tactics, and much of the strength of their game (and for that matter, the Pirates' game as well) was the depth of their defense. Both teams made sure that there were one, two and sometimes three players back to counter any attack, and their break-out plays were well executed. Their goalie also deserves credit for stopping the Pirate game cold, and despite numerous shots, never to be found out of position. In fact, the Ice Cats played a classic Pirates Brand Hockey game — strong defense, good position, quick shift changes and taking advantage of opportunities afforded by the other team for offense. This is a game of doing what you do well, avoiding what you do poorly and taking advantage of the other team's mistakes. Luckily, the Pirates also stuck to the game plan that has served them sell for many years, and the result was a solid even game from both sides, lots of lovely defensive gambits and a low-scoring affair.

There were also some scary moments, most significantly when Captain Mola went down hard from what was clearly a cross-check, and reinjured his shoulder. While his initial cry of pain could be heard in the entire rink, and while he claimed later that it was the least painful of the three such injuries he has suffered since his debut as a Pirate, the real ignomy of the event was that he was promptly sent to the penalty box as a result, to add insult to (in this case literally) injury.

With all of that in mind, this correspondent sees no reason whatsoever to change the makeup of this division, and hopes that True North will leave well enough alone. True, there is still one more week of preseason to go, and the Pirates look forward to their first meeting with the Suicide Wings since 2003, but if there is any team that ought to move up in order to rescue a badly outmatched team in the next tier up, it should be the Ice Cats. On the other hand, the Pirates, while 0-2-1 since the fateful locker room visit from TNHC's tier administrator, feel that there has not been a game that could not have gone the other way this season, depending on the nature of the team that shows up. And it would be a shame if they could not have the chance to try their hand again versus the Original Chiefs, Condors or these Ice Cats.

If this game was the start of something new — a tighter, more patient, more disciplined Mighty Pirate game plan — then the rest of the season shows great promise for them. If they can avoid playing their opponents' games and stick with playing the game they know and execute well, they will rediscover the success of Pirate teams of yore who worked well together and dominated their opponents. If on the other hand, such games are to be the exception, it will be a long, hard and frustrating weeks and months for the gold and ebony,and they will be just so much cannon fodder for the stronger squads in the division. The place to find out how the next chapter in this saga unfolds is RINX 2, the date is November 7, the time is 7:10 p.m. and the opponent is the Suicide Wings. Be there and get into it!

Howie