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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.

The "Howie-Les" Report: UB8!
2015-01-12: Mighty Pirates 1 vs. Benchwarmers 1

As predicted by the pre-game report, the Pirates (7-6-3) faced the danger of complacency going into the game, presumably because there are no post game video replays of their previous games this season against the Toronto Benchwarmers (1-11-4).

The warning was timely as they faced a completely different Benchwarmer squad than expected. They were aggressive on the forecheck, yet got everyone back when the Pirates attacked in the offensive zone. The Bucs mounted a decent offensive attack, but it didn't seem to translate into many shots as the Benched Ones were clogging up all the shooting lanes effectively all game. With first string 'keeps Sturgeon and Lella both unavailable, call-up goalie "Joey" did a stellar job in net holding the 'Warmers to just one goal, and keeping 'their stickhandling whiz "00" from breaking the game wide-open. Perhaps a contract is in order?

The Pirates took a 1-0 lead midway through the game, having several chances to increase it, but both teams were lacking finish on the night. Your heroes held the lead until midway thru the third when the Warmers poured on the forecheck once again and the Pirates starting getting hemmed into their half of the rink. Yes, they eventually broke down and surrendered a goal.

Some standouts on the night included not just Joey: but also Butler, who was a force on defence; J. Sager, whose stickhandlng was tying the other side in knots; Sousa who, a couple of times, loaded the team on his back as he rushed up the ice; and Weber, who led several counter-attacks when the Pirates were under pressure.

On the whole, the defensive pairings of Besant, Butler, Jezioranski, S. Klein, Sousa and T. Turner had a very strong night in their own zone, but struggled on the break-out as a lot of long passes were intercepted.

The forwards: "Grind Line" plus Mutch (playing in his 300th career game!), Leggett, Mandell, M. Sager, Rosenberg and Weber had great puck control down low in their zone, but just couldn't close the deal.

So, a slightly ragged, frustrating game... but, hats off to the Benchwarmers, who played strong in both ends, and to the Pirates... who kept the streak alive!

Report by the Number Nine News Network