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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.

NO LAWYERS? NO ROCK STARS? NO PROBLEM!
2008-10-20: Mighty Pirates 5 at Toronto Blades 0

It seemed last Monday night as the Mighty Pirates (4-0-0) were dressing for their showdown with the Toronto Blades (1-3-0) that the entire team was either out with knee injuries, on tour with a rock band or working. It fell to Captain Vito Mola to piece together two lines from those brave souls who did show up and motivate them to put a 100% effort into the game. They were helped tremendously by the fact that the Blades themselves were even more personnel-challenged, being able to ice only two forward lines with three D.

The Pirates, with Matthew Lella back in net, John Mutch was assigned to center Mark Sager and Dave Turner, and Mike Sousa was center for Vito Mola and Allan Phillips. Defensemen were Jim Jezioranski and Gio Tassone and Evan Mintz and Les Klein. A thin black and yellow line indeed!

With both clubs readying themselves to cough up a lung if necessary for the W, the Pirates and the Blades locked horns and battled through a goal-free first period, with the Blades goalie securing player-of-the-game honours by standing on his head to keep his team in the game. Indeed, there were numerous occasions when the Pirates were sure they had finally broken through, only to be turned away by a well-placed pad or acrobatic sprawl across the net. The Pirates were left shaking their heads, wondering what it would take to bend the twine at last.

The answer finally came with 6:33 left in the second period — nearly halfway through the game! — when John Mutch took the puck from Klein down the ice and at the last minute dished it off to Evan Mintz, who parked the puck above the goalie's left shoulder to break the ice. Once the ice was broken, the Blades short bench finally started to take its toll. Four minutes later saw Giovanni Tassone streak through the entire Blades line to fire a classic GT blast past the goal keep, and then the floodgates really opened. A minute after that, Evan Mintz once again dipsidoodled his way through the entire Blades line and ended up behind the Blades net. Allan Phillips snuck silently to the left of the goalie, and when Evan pushed the puck to the front, AP did not miss with the one-timer and made it 3-0. And the beat went on — with just 4:49 left in the third period, Dave Turner and Evan Mintz executed a perfect give-and-go and Evan buried another one. And a little over a minute later, it was the Johnny Mutch and Evan Mintz show all over again, assisted by Doc Sager, with the Mutchman delivering the coup-de-grace this time. But by this time, with the clock running, it was appropriate to play out the game and enjoy the ice time, rather than rack up the score. Give the Blades their due, however, as they did not give up until the very end, and they were true gentlemen throughout. With just one penalty on each side, it was a good clean game, with twenty-one very tired but uninjured skaters leaving the ice at the end.

With the fifth game of the preseason another convincing W for the Pirates, it was inevitable that they would be moved up to the next division, and it is now official. So while they are artificially on top of the Day Division with their preseason record, they will also be the targets of every other team, and only the best efforts will do. It will be up to Captain Mola to strategize, motivate and direct his troops to give their utmost for 32 minutes every game in order to maximize the chances to stay competitive.

Next up will be the Silver Blades (2-1-1), at 9:20 on Rinx 1 next Monday, October 27. The Captain will have to decide about call-ups, since Klein and Gallivan are away for sure. Lella will also be away, and the Sturgeonator has already offered to step in between the pipes for the game. And the knee-hobbled line of Kwinter, Mandell and Bingham continues to be iffy. Can Zsirai be convinced to don the black and yellow, and will Besant show up at the last moment? Questions, questions...

Be there at RINX next Monday and find out if the Pirates have what it takes to play in the Day!

GO PIRATES!!! VIVA LOS PIRATAS!!!

Howie