A Championship Effort

'This can't be beat' reflected Nana Lucy aloud as the plastic covering the window vibrated deafeningly as she and the (not so) 'grumpy geriatric' trundled down I95 from their glorious weekend in crime ridden Smithfield, Rhode Island. "Lu, you got that wrong 'THEY can't be beat, and they proved it!' bellowed the 'hooting heckler.' For the second consecutive tournament our beloved Pearl River Pirates rose to the occasion by sweeping the entire field, capturing both the New York State and now, New England Regional title for Squirt III players. A ten game winning streak against the top opposition in their age group. Their title winning effort this afternoon against Darien Connecticut was indeed championship calibre. The (4-0) blanking was richly deserved. The Pirates stormed out of the gate and dominated the Blues for most of the period. Yet it was the spectacular net minding of Sean Gordon who preserved the 1-0 lead the Bucs took into the first intermission on the strength of a Ryan McLinskey highlight goal. 'Rushin' Ryan' picked up an errant pass in the neutral zone, and as his team was on a change, released a rocket from 45 feet that whistled by the unprepared goalie. Then, Gordon came up big on two breakaway opportunities as he turned aside uncontested screamers. Ninety seconds into the second session Dolan Ocasal lit the lamp for the Pirates, to be followed three minutes later by a CJ Greco goal. Luke Myers netted the final goal of the game (and season) at the seven minute mark of period two. Yeoman efforts by Anthony Margiotta, Ciran McEnroe, Liam McCullough, Dillon Krok, Michael Ruthberg were cheered by the rabid Pirate Fanatics during the waning minutes of the game as these kids went hard to the net and mucked the corners. On the back line Brian 'Double 8's Quinn led the attack out of the zone and quarterbacked the power play as never before. The tandem on 'd' of Owen McGee and 'Cuz' CJ McGee are impenetrable with their poke checking and ability to force attackers wide. As the Hooter left the parking lot he yelled to Coaches Tom McEnroe, Larry and Chris McGee "You guys have an extra GPS? I know you have a Great Pirate System... and don't forget to call your buddy Drury, he's from the Darien area!"