With the upcoming Christmas holiday on the minds of players, some got a bit anxious with their impending trips and left the team early. This forced managed to active players on the injured reserved to fill in spots. The combination of rusty players, rusty opponents, and rusty refs lead to a few sparks in the opening minutes.
The Pirates scored off the initial faceoff on a breakaway in the first 9 seconds of the first period. Minutes later, one of their players was ejected from the game from arguing with a ref. Being one player down hampered the Pirates. The Red Liners took advantage and went on a 6 goal scoring rampage. The Matty and Mike Realty Show took the lead with back to back goals off breakaways at the Pirate goal. Paulie would cap the first period scoring off a pinball puck to the net.
The second period continued the domination of the Red Liners. The Matty and Mike Show continued but in the opposite end of the ice but sniping corners and the five hole of the Pirate netminder. The Liners did have to kill two penalties on the backs of the frenetic defense of Druck, Fifty Spence, Bleech, and Seefy. Jimbo in net also made several key saves to keep the Pirates to one goal.
The third period did see some life in the Pirates. They would crawl within 4 goals half way through this period. But Twink would push the lead back to 5 goals by lightning fast rebound shot. The Pirates would score a third goal in the closing minutes. However, the game clock continued to tick. The Liners would claim a 7-3 victory.
With this win, the Johnnys Red Liners move to 4 place with a 7-4-1-0 record (15 points). However, the 3 teams seeded above them have all played 13 or 14 games. Their next game will be a post-New Years celebration on Jan 3rd, 11:10pm at JIH West.