SUNDAYS #4 vs. TEAM MICRO:

(vol. 12S, no. 4; newsletter by c.g.)
“The One That Got Away.”

For this past weekend's matchup the Coastal Pirates faced their first opponent from the East (A) Division — Team Micro. You may recall the last time we faced Team Micro was in the Championship game last season, where they put together an impressive 6-1 victory to take the Title.

The Pirates fielded a 10-man team, as Wednesday-regular (and Norris Trophy winner) Keith Richardson filled-in for the missing Dan DiPierro. Dan, along with the injured Russ Nicolosi, were the only two regulars not in attendance. The lines consisted of LeMatty-Ralz-Ferraro and Goione-Wildman-Farkas up front. While Richardson-Scooby and Weiss-Farrell manned the points. Knowing full well that Team Micro was capable of putting up some big numbers, the Pirates went with a defense first approach (figuring if you take care of things in your own end, the chances would come). And the chances did come — as Jimmy Ferraro scored his first of the evening, midway through the 1st, off of a little scrum in front of the net (assist to Mike Farrell). The defense and the backchecking forwards kept the pressure on throughout the 1st period and, with some strong goaltending by Harris, the Pirates were able to take the 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

The 2nd period was more of the same as the Pirates were able to frustrate Team Micro by giving them no opportunities to set up due to the smothering defensive pressure. Both teams successfully killed-off a few powerplays through the first two periods. With some strong play the Pirates were able to keep the Micro off the board for yet another period, and went into the second intermission keeping the 1-0 intact.

The 3rd period started off strongly as the Pirates tallied their second of the night when Scott LeMatty went around a Micro defenseman and stuffed the puck through Steve Carr's legs for the 2-0 lead. But then, with just half the period left to play, the Micro started to make their move. With about 8:00 minutes remaining one of their players beat Harris breaking in from the top of the circle to cut the lead to 2-1. With about 4:00 minutes remaining they tied things up 2-2 when one of their players beautifully tipped a puck past Harris (on a play that was well covered). Then lightning struck as the Micro took the lead for the first time in the game with less than 2:00 minutes to play. When the Pirates were unable to clear the puck, the resulting shot off the turnover bounced off the post and found a wide-open Micro player with the puck and a gaping net and then the 3-2 lead. The Pirates pulled their goalie and quickly surrendered an emptynetter to make the score 4-2, with less than a 1:00 minute left. During the resulting 5-on-5 the Pirates were able to notch a goal to get back within one, as Ferraro again poked a puck past Carr off of a feed from Farrell with just :16 seconds remaining. After a few offsides and a few face-offs time just ran out for the Pirates.