Howie Loves Pirate Brand Hockey
2006-12-11: Mighty Pirates 0 vs. Scorpions 3
There is nothing Howie loves more than a hockey team that plays Pirate Brand Hockey®. This consists (for the uninitiated) of the following key elements, among others:
- Emphasis on defence, with scoring chances created from fundamental hockey, moving the puck up with crisp passes and strong positioning
- Defensemen working in tandem, forwards covering the points and centres coming back to help and then leading the breakout plays
- Short shifts and hard skating from every player every shift, winning every race to the puck, or at least trying, and not floating out on the ice
- Commitment to backchecking and forechecking from the forwards, centres and defense
- Good communication on the ice
- Clean, good-natured hockey, including respect for the referees and opponents
- Positive attitude on the ice and on the bench
- Taking the penalties as they are called
- Emphasis on the team and support of teammates, win or lose
- Positive outlook and message
Feel free to add more if you wish...
And there was plenty of PBH™ on view on Monday night at Rinx 2, but unfortunately, it was coming from the Scorpions, and not the Mighty Pirates themselves. The Scorpions are a team that sports few if any superstars, hotshots or boneheads. On the contrary, they are a team that looks like they are always having fun. Even in the midst of total confusion about line changes (they got called for too many men 1:25 into the game), face-offs, penalties or goals, they seemed to enjoy themselves. And why wouldn't they? Win or lose, they are getting to play a game they love, with guys they like — and they feel great doing it. Does it matter to them that they scored their first goal on a puck slowly tapped by a player in the act of falling on his face in front of the net? Does it matter that they did not look that good on the power play, even though they managed to score short-handed? Did it matter that they were called for 12 minutes of penalties — after all, the Pirates got 14. No, they just went out and played their game. The fact that their game includes a bit more pushing than others may have gotten under the skin of the Pirates, but heck, it worked!
By contrast, it was the ghost of Pirates past that was in evidence last night, an overconfident group of players, who seemed to think that the W was theirs by right rather than by work, and who knew way better how to play, call and control the game than the overworked and underpaid refs would ever know. There was attitude in the locker room, attitude on the ice, attitude on the bench and attitude in the penalty box. Never mind that this attitude resulted in even more penalty minutes — the Pirates would be heard, no matter what the cost. And it was even worse: shifts were too long, defensemen rushed without regard to who was back to cover their position (resulting indirectly in two goals), forwards and centres floated at mid-ice while the play unfolded in front of the Pirate net — and through it all, there was not a lot of calm.
The game could have gone differently. The boys, wearing their yellows, put out twelve skaters and Matthew Lella in net. Mintz, Klein, Matusek and Jezioranski were on defense, Perri and Mutch were the centres, and wingers consisted of Sturgeon, Mola, Leggett, Turner, Mandell and Gallivan. Missing in action were Kwinter, Besant, Phillips and Sager.
The Pirates kept the game close for the first period and a half, much like they have done in each of their previous two games. And there were plenty of chances as well. The ringing of the posts from Pirate shots was a regular sound effect heard on the ice, and there were some individual performances that stood out. But perhaps that was the problem, individual performances but little teamwork. But once the Scorpions got on the board, and the shots did not go the way the Pirates wanted them to, the attitude of entitlement spurned came out in bucketfuls.
Let's face it, Howie was not impressed. But some of the Pirates seemed to find goodness in it all, as you can read in the plaintive missive below, received in the aftermath of the debacle:
Dear Howie,
In the aftermath of last night's debacle and senseless parade to the idiot box, which pretty much precluded the Pirates from getting on the score sheet let alone winning the game, I hope you will remember a few things. That is, if you actually bring yourself to write about this game at all. I would not blame you if you skipped filing a report this week. But ...
Lella and Mintz both turned in their usual strong performances. Evan rang a hard shot off the crossbar early in the first period and played with heart and flair all night. Matthew simply kept the embarrassment to 3-0. Without these two it would have been a lot worse.
Other notable performances where a second period shift by Sturgeon who parked himself in front of the Scorpion's net to screen a series of shots and try to coral a rebound. Tim's efforts kept that particular attack going for most of that line's shift. Impressive.
A third period power play saw the Pirates sustain another intense burst of pressure as Leggett and Klein worked the puck back and forth from the corner to the point, allowing Klein two shots on net and Leggett to set up two other chances. Alas, it all came to nothing but it was pretty hockey for a while.
And funnily, I can't point to any one that slacked off last night in a 3-0 loss.
In the final analysis, as is often the case, the Mighty Pirates were pushed off their game by a young and aggressive team. (I can't deny that I find their style of playing the body highly irritating, and retaliated myself more than once.) And this has happened to us before. The MICs neutralize us in exactly the same way when they are on our game. Our last tilt against the Tigers was made from the same disastrous recipe. As a team we have to figure out how to deal with this because in spite of all the posturing and post-game agreement that we are a better skating team, JG has scored two goals against this team and that is all we have managed in six periods. Clearly, they are doing something very right and we are doing something very wrong.
Mutch observed after the game that nothing was going our way. Passes were just off, moves were just not enough, shots not quite accurate. I think his observations were keen and the reason these things happened is we allowed the Scorpions to drive the pace of the game. We collapse under aggressive checking. So what do we do about it?
Bottom line? The Pirates have to learn to deal with winning and with losing. Until they do, the only question that will be asked in the post-game conference is the one raised by Tim Sturgeon: "What colour of whine will it be tonight?Red or white?"
In the meantime, Wednesday Night Pirate Skate™ continues. It is at least more fun — less whining, more skating (depending on the turnout, LOTS more skating). And the boys have another chance to see if they can redeem themselves next Monday night, 8:00 p.m. on Rinx 3 against the Steelheads. Just don't let the Pirates see that the Steelheads are dwelling in the TNHC Monday Night Coors Light Division basement, or who knows what kind of game they will play!
WILL THE REAL PIRATES PLEASE STAND UP???
VIVA LOS PIRATAS!!!
Howie
