SUNDAYS #10 vs. BRUINS:

(vol. 17S, no. 10; newsletter by b.n.)
I hate to repeat myself, so before you read this newsletter, read the following:
Finals vs. Micro: Vol. 1S, No. 10
Finals vs. Phantoms: Vol. 10W, No. 10
Finals vs. Jaguars: Vol. 13W, No. 10

Well, they say “time heals all wounds,” but they never say how much time. Let's face it, for those of you that weren't there for the Finals between the Coastal Pirates and the Bruins, you just can't imagine – and if you were present for all three games referenced above then maybe you are just jinxed. Believe it or not, after reading all the previous newsletters, you would have thought the Coastal Pirates had pulled-off just about every way possible to lose a Championship. Well, not to get ahead of myself, but you would be wrong.

Just for posterity, it went something like this: The Bruins would jump out to an early powerplay after Wildman took a penalty for driving one of the Bruins into Harris' net and, therefore, Harris (The refs blew the chance to even-up the teams when they ignored the Bruin player who broke his stick in the crease and skated all the way to the corner before finally discarding it). Did I mention that late in the 3rd period Russ took a crosscheck to the head? Well, the refs missed that too, but they didn't miss Russ' retaliation, of course, that cost us another 2:00 minutes on the penalty kill). But I'm not blaming the refs — I'm blaming Fate. Or maybe Destiny. Whatever it is, there is no denying it is out there.

As Fate & Destiny would have it, the Bruins capitalized on Wildman's penalty and scored a powerplay goal. Wildman, however, would even things up later in the 1st period when he scored (assist to LeMatty). At the first buzzer, the teams were gridlocked at 1-1.

In the 2nd period, Farkas made himself a nuisance around the crease and took advantage of Casey LeCompte's overzealous pokecheck, giving the the Pirates the 2-1 lead. It really looked like it was going to be the Pirates' night, but then Fate/Destiny made its first appearance of the evening: the Pirates were on a rare powerplay with time dwindling down in the 2nd period, and Kevin was about to tee-off on a puck that was coming back to him at the point; unfortunately, Glenn decided to try to help the puck back even more, and just like that the Bruins had a 2-on-0 break going the other way. They scored with :10 on the clock and the period ended tied – once again – this time at 2-2.

Still, it really seemed like the Pirates were going to pull it out. We outhustled them early in the 3rd and then held the Bruins off as they stormed our zone late in the period (and, of course, managed to kill-off the Russ' penalty mentioned above). During the final moments of the period, we continued to hold them off – including some pointblank opportunities. And so the Pirates — accompanied by our close pals Fate & Destiny — went into overtime.

Fast forward to end of overtime: With about :12 seconds remaining it seemed like the tide would finally turn in the Pirates favor; we had a face-off deep in the Bruins' end and the puck was won back to Kevin who blasted a shot on net. Unfortunately, that puck didn't go in. It really would have been wonderful if that puck had gone in. Because, if that puck had gone in the Pirates would be able to forget so many of those previous disappointments. But alas, the world does not work that way. Perhaps the entire world is conspiring against the Coastal Pirates, or perhaps not, but instead of the Pirates celebrating, it was the Bruins taking the puck the other way and converting on a picture perfect 2-on-1 play with :02 seconds remaining in overtime. Ouch.

You've heard it said before, but after our disappointing 2-6-0 season, if you asked any of the Pirates if they would be happy to be playing in overtime in the Championship game, they would most certainly say: “Not if it means were going to lose it in overtime with just :02 seconds left.”