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					The Howie Report
					The Captain's Log
					The Headlines

Iron Man	Game Streak
D. Turner	37
Phillips	27


	Mutch has played 450 career games! M. Sager has played 400 career games! Mandell has amassed 200 career points!

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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.

Thoughts from 2007
2007-12-17: Mighty Pirates 3 vs. Steelheads 4

Thoughts from 2007

The Mighty Pirates played another nail-biter in their final game of 2007. Heading into the game with a perfectly balanced .500 record of 4-4-3, equal number of goals for and against, the Pirates were facing a choice of what direction they wanted to take into the long three-week holiday break.

With Leggett the only confirmed absence, the Pirates did not call up any reserves. Unfortunately, perhaps due to the 11:15 p.m. start, both Bingham and Mandell turned up AWOL, and the Captain was forced to make do with twelve skaters, choosing to go with four D, two centers and two sets of three wingers. With Matthew Lella in net, Klein and Mintz and Kwinter and Jezioranski took up the defensive duties; Gallivan and Mutch played center; left wingers were Turner, Phillips and Sager; and right wingers were Mola, Perri and Besant.

The game was a tight affair from the first drop of the puck, with the Steelheads mounting a strong attack on the Pirate zone. The Steelheads came out skating, and would keep up the pace throughout the game. They showed at once the crisp play that has seen them climb from near obscurity to second spot in the Monday Rickard's Division. Yet despite their strong teamwork and playmaking, just moments in, Mola came flying into the offensive zone, but his first shot flew over the net.

And it was the Pirates who first bent the twine - short-handed even - with 3:14 left in the first period, as Mintz worked his stick-handling magic, moving across the ice, then faking a shot. The shot-pass went right to Phillips in the slot who, without missing a beat, redirected the puck through the goaltender's legs. It was an NHL highlight reel goal for sure! While this first power-play was typical of the Pirates this season, with the Steelheads putting more pressure on the black and yellow than vice versa, the Mighty Pirates' power play goal was their first in over five games.

Unfortunately, the Steelheads responded just 21 seconds later with the tying goal, with a goal that went off Klein's leg and past a sprawling Lella. That misplay sparked a huge melt-down for the Pirates, as the Steelheads then scored again on a breakaway 2 minutes and 25 seconds later, and then right off the face-off just 14 seconds later. The first period thankfully ended 12 seconds after that, but with the Pirates down 3-1.

The three unanswered Steelhead goals to close out the first period left the Pirates trying to come from behind for the remainder of the game. The strong defensive structure of the Steelheads, as well as the solid goaltending from division leading (1.36 GAA, 5 SO) goaltender Stevenson, made this a challenging task. He scooped shots out of the air, using glove and blocker effectively, and smothering the puck when he was under pressure. The only shots that seemed to work at all were along the ice. It did not help that shot after shot from the Pirates went wide, high and into the posts.

The second period was a more balanced affair, and with 6:19 left on the clock and the Pirates on a power play, Gallivan collected the puck near the Pirates' bench, spinning, and feeding a streaking Mola. Mola crossed the blueline like a freight train and blasted a shot high, handcuffing the goalie on his glove hand - no small feat considering how many glove saves he was making that night. The Pirates had peppered him with shot after shot, but had been unable to fool him. But now the Pirates were within one. However, with 2:23 left on the clock, the Steelheads struck again, and the Pirates were down two again.

With the third period half gone, Mintz again played keep-away from three different Steelhead defenders, working his way deep into the corner. From nearly along the goal line, he spotted Gallivan parked in front of the net unchecked. His quick pass was redirected by Gallivan through the 5-hole yet again. At this point, the Pirates really began to press, and the Steelheads were pinned in their zone. Unfortunately, with just over four minutes left, a hard shot from the point by Mintz bounced off a defender to the middle of the ice, and the 'heads were off on a 2-on-none breakaway. With Klein and Mintz chasing futilely, Lella foiled a perfect shot to the upper corner with his glove hand, so smoothly that the refs actually thought initially that it was a goal. The scorer actually put the score up as 5-3, even though the face-off took place to the left of the net. Unfortunately, some pushing and shoving distracted both refs and scorers, and it took a post-game intervention with the refs to set the record straight.

So an otherwise hard-fought and reasonably fun game was marred by childish shenanigans in the end. And worse than that, in a division as tight as the Monday Rickard's, one loss dropped the Pirates from a four-way tie for 3rd to a three-way tie for 5th in one fell swoop. Once again, a game decided by a single goal has a huge impact on standings and the mood in the locker room afterward.

Some Thoughts for 2008

We have been spending way too much time in the penalty box. While two other teams have also chalked up 68 minutes (and one other has 64), there are also teams with 20 and 26 minutes as well as two with 90 and 114. Given the role that penalty minutes play in tie-breaks at TNHC, and the tightness of the division, who do we want to emulate? There is no place in my opinion for silly, immature penalties — and we seem to draw them on ourselves.

We have to start playing our positions. We are relying more and more on end-to-end rushes to generate offense, instead of crisp passing plays to properly positioned players to move the puck ahead. How many times have our defensemen had no one to pass to at the blue line and found themselves trapped in our own zone instead? Watch our opponents, the ones that beat us time after time, and see how they clear the puck.

Forwards must start attacking the opponents' net. We have squandered way too many fat rebounds because there is no one in front of the net to take advantage. If you want to see how it is done, watch Sager maneuvering himself in front of the goalie when we are on the attack. He will not get out of the face of the goalie, and he makes things happen.

Let's take advantage of our subs. We have an agreement that subs will only be called if we know at least three players will be out of action. But we need to know that as early as possible in order to give Gio, Tim and/or Adam a chance to make arrangements and get to the game. One more player against the Steelheads could have made a difference...

Short shifts - get on, skate hard, get off. No floating, no gliding, just hard skating and hard hockey...

That is all... now let's go get 'em! Our next game is Monday, January 7, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. at Rinx 3 against the Toronto Blades, with whom we are tied for 5th, but against whom we are 0-1-1, with a 0-3 whipping and a 4-4 tie. Can we make this next game a hallmark of Pirate Brand Hockey®?

GO PIRATES!!!! VIVA LOS PIRATAS!!!!

Howie