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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.

Early to Bed, Early to Rise...
2006-01-02: Mighty Pirates 4 at Suicide Wings 7

Well, Howie knew it was going to be this way: the first game of 2006 for the Pirates had to be the deadly 11:15 p.m. start against the first place Suicide Wings. Overfed, partied out, poorly rested and sluggish, the Pirates looked right from the outset as if someone had added twenty-pound weights to each of their skates. As a result, they only had enough gas for — oh, say — half a game. What a half it was, but while the controversy continues to swirl among the Pirates about the design for their third jerseys, some observers suggested that the team should be more worried about being deked out of their hockey pants!

On top of the aftermath of the holiday season, Captain Mola was faced with the continuing absence of power defenceman Paul Matusek (felled by a flu though nearly recovered from his back problems), Rob Kwinter (off skiing with his family) and Richard Bingham (who was apparently not aware that there was a game on) - three big parts of the Pirate scoring and defensive machine. On the other hand, he and his teammates happily welcomed back Matthew Lella to "stand on guard for thee" Pirates. To protect Matthew, Vito paired Blair Dimock with Les Klein, and Jonathan Gallivan with Mark Cooper. The two centres were John Mutch and Nick Perri, and the three pairs of wingers were Auby Mandell with Shaun Leggett, Dave Turner with Jim Jezioranski, and Vito Mola and Mark Sager.

To almost no one's surprise, the Suicide Wings took control of the game early, and one of their two big scorers (they currently boast the second and third highest point scorers in the TNHC Monday Dry Division) blew by the Pirate defence and scored their first goal just 28 seconds in. But 46 seconds later, deep in the Wings' end, Klein intercepted a Wing clearing pass, threw it wildly towards the goal, but Mutch picked it up, quickly dishing off to Sager, who neatly took control and put by the frozen netminder to tie up the game. The Pirates kept up the pressure, Matthew kept the Wings at bay, and the first period ended in a 1-1 tie. The boys looked like they had some hope, and it was further buoyed by the fact that the period was penalty-free, always a source of joy for the Pirates management.

Shortly after the second period began, the Wings struck again, with the defense caught off guard by the man stationed behind the net. But Perri and Sager teamed up to feed Mola just 54 seconds later, to tie it up, and then 48 seconds later, Klein head-manned the puck to Mutch, who made it count, and the Pirates took the lead, 3-2! That lead stood up for all of two minutes and 26 seconds, and as the time began to run out on the second period, the Pirates began to show the effects of the two week hiatus. With 3:50 remaining, St. Germain picked up his second goal, to tie it up, and then 17 seconds later off the face-off, the Wings took the lead back for good. The Pirates' game plan began to fall apart, as they had more and more trouble winning the races to the puck and clearing the zone. Thus, while the second period was also penalty-free, the collisions and body contact began to increase.

The Wings delivered the coup de grace early in the third, as they scored just 49 seconds in, and then again 14 (yes, 14!) seconds later, taking a dominant 6-3 lead. Jezioranski, himself a Pirate powerhouse, with help from Perri and Turner, managed to pull the Pirates close, but then Nick Perri was called for penalties twice in the period, and instead of taking the offensive, the Pirates were forced to play defensively. And with 1:50 left, the Wings managed to put another one away, making the final score 7-4.

So how do the Pirates score four goals and still manage to lose the game? Let's not forget that the last time these teams met, they ended up battling to a 6-6 tie! These contests are not, by their very nature, going to be low-scoring affairs. So, to this correspondent — and true Pirate fans everywhere — the only things that separated the Pirates from a W (first place team though the Wings are) were a bit of conditioning, and the presence of the balance of the line-up. Add a goal each from Bingham, Kwinter and Matusek (or take a goal away from the Wings through stronger defence), and you have yourselves a tie game.

Not that we want to take anything away from Terri O's boys (and girl) — they played well and with heart as well, and — with one notable exception — quite cleanly. This was mostly a fun game. Unfortunately, at the very end of the game, one Wing who had not attended the Pirate "hockey under control" seminar and seemed to regularly crash into one or another Pirate, rammed into Blair Dimock, setting off the normally staid defenceman on a serious raging fit. Blair, who has been nursing a bad back and other injuries for the last couple of seasons, was affected both physically and emotionally by what was an unnecessary incident that had the potential to injure — whether intentional or not. The same lecture given to the Pirates — namely that this is an adult non-contact recreational hockey league — needs to be delivered to all players on all teams. No one wants to get hurt, and we all have jobs to go to tomorrow morning.

In the meantime, the Wednesday Night Pirate Skate™ was back in its full glory, and six Pirates skated together for a great workout. The passing was lovely, the teamwork synchronous, the skating like lightning, the comraderie infectious. Check it out for yourself, and get in shape for Mondays! Next Monday sees the Pirates facing the Tigers, a team that has yet to beat the Pirates, but where all of the games have been barn-burners, and the last one ended in a 3-3 tie. With the TIgers and the Pirates tied in the standings with 14 points apiece, this one promises to be another grinder. The Pirates will have to play their best, and make sure that the Tigers do not get under their skins and throw them off their game plan. Be at RINX 2 at 7:10 and see how it turns out.

In the meantime,
GO PIRATES!!! VIVA LOS PIRATAS!!!

Howie