There is no poll. Don't worry, we'll have more soon!

Stay tuned!

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 3, Thrashers 0
2008-02-11: Mighty Pirates 3 at Thrashers 0

Guys,

Howie is pretty happy these days. The Pirates are winning — in fact, they are undefeated in 2008 — and Pirate Brand Hockey® is in gear, game after game after game. Last Monday, the boys, while down to 11 skaters and without their two top scorers, managed to shut out the Thrashers, the erstwhile hottest team in the Monday Rickard's Division, 3-0, in an incredibly hard-fought 32-minute battle.

With Matthew Lella manning goal, Captain Mola decided to go with two full lines and five defensemen. One line had Auby Mandell at centre, with Dave Turner on left wing and the captain on right, and the other line had Rob Kwinter at centre, Leggett on left and Bingham on right. The boys knew what they would be up against, and were up to the task. Though scoring was rare, there were opportunities on both sides, and both goalies played their hearts out. In the end, goals by Kwinter and Leggett put the Pirates up 2-0, and a slap shot from mid-ice with 5 seconds to go into an empty net by Mintz put the icing on the cake to give the Pirates victory number 5 for 2008.

It was a game that put the label "the team to watch" firmly on the backs of your heroes. And one of the best pieces of news to come out of that game was a clean score sheet under the "penalties" categories — not a second of ice time lost to ref calls. The second half of this season is getting more and more interesting by the week.

So where is this sudden success and focus coming from? Well, let's examine the five Ws:

Who? This one is easy! Every single Pirate has been stepping up and doing his job. The defense is protecting the goalie; clearing the puck from our end (along the boards!); pinching only when they know a forward has dropped back to cover; and they are connecting with the forwards via crisp passing on the attack. The forwards are covering their point men in our end and are ready to receive a clearing pass from the defense; they are making sure not to leave our zone until we have control of the puck and practicing the give and go; they are attacking the opponents' goal and mixing it up in their end; and they are starting to learn to use the point men on the attack. The centers are playing both ends of the ice, helping out the defense in front of our goal and being ready to take it to the net at the other end; they are winning the face-offs and finding the holes in the opponents' lines. And Matthew Lella has been a stalwart in front of the pipes, with a constantly improving GAA that has kept all of the games close and given the Pirates the chance to chalk up the W.

What? Pirate Brand Hockey®, of course. This involves a focus on defense first, while taking advantage of the opponents' slip-ups to create scoring opportunities. It involves all of the individual jobs that we saw above, as well as short shifts to keep the pressure on for three full periods, skating hard and getting off. And of course, it includes staying out of the penalty box for stupid calls. It is staying positive on the bench and on the ice, and hard teamwork all the time.

Why? Because we are the Mighty Pirates, that's why! We are a hopelessly overeducated, aging hockey club with a venerable history to uphold. We love playing hockey, and put more emphasis on camaraderie than scoring, more on post-game beer and wings than on the score sheet. But we have all agreed that "We have tried winning and we have tried losing, and winning is way better."

Where? The Mighty Pirates take the ice at RINX, to the delight of their numerous (though usually absent) fans, and for their own fun and good times. Sometimes (and for some Pirates), there is also the traditional Wednesday Night Pirate Skate™. And as always, there is news to be read, fun to be had, and statistics to be examined at www.PirateHockey.ca!

When? Every Monday night is game night for the Pirates at RINX, with game times posted on PirateHockey.ca and truenorthcanada.com. Wednesday Night Pirate Skate™ is at 10:00 p.m. for those who have registered. And your heroes are always on hand via the internet — now available on computers!

What does Howie have to say about all of this? Just this!

GO PIRATES!!! VIVA LOS PIRATAS!!!

Howie