THE CHAMPS: Pearl River Pirates

"KROK ROCKS" Ray and Dillon

It Was 'Bad News' for the Bears

I had a thrilling weekend watching Dillon attain another wonderful goal (pun intended) that he had set for himself. Saturday morning was the championship game of the Hudson Valley Youth Hockey League (Mite Division). The Pearl River Pirates who had come in first place in the league faced the second place Bedford Bears in a one-game, winner-take-all playoff for the title. Both teams had easily eliminated lesser opponents in their respective first rounds to set up this, their third meeting of the year. An in-season win and a tie did not give me a high level of confidence. Especially after the stirring performance that had come at Madison Square Garden two days earlier. Would this be anticlimatic to a bunch of 8 year olds? So I got myself out of bed early on Saturday morning to make my way over to Coach Krok's (my son, Dillon's dad) house so that I would not have to make the one hour drive to Newburgh by myself. Pop Tom couldn't make it, and I couldn't miss it! And how I would have hated myself if I had!! In a great game which saw the Pirates rally from a two goal deficit, my little #22, Dillon Raymond Krok, Mr Fiesty himself, managed to net the winner with one of his booming drives late in the third period to lift the Pirates to a 4-3 victory. Congratulations to the Pirates and their coaches on attaining their season's objective. Well done guys!

Speaking of anticlamatic, well let's describe the (tired group of) Pirates drubbing by the NJ Devils (2-6) as being a minor glitch in what was a wonderful day.