3-1-99. The Pilots Seat is commentary, written from a fan's perspective, about the Pensacola Ice Pilots
by Scott Gregory
Hey, look: Jacksonville goalie Ray LeBlanc just whipped his stick into the corner after the Pilots scored the game-tying goal.
He's going to get it, he's back at the net and ... crack ... he just busted the stick in half over the crossbar! And there it goes into the corner again, in two pieces this time.
Temper, temper, Ray. Act like that and you might lose your focus on the game.
Here comes Mark Polak three minutes later, slapshot from the center point, the puck's off and over LeBlanc, dribbling ... just over the goal line past a diving LeBlanc. Pilots lead with 4:43 to go. This isn't going to do anything for Ray's blood pressure.
The Pilots sending an opposing player into a frenzied tantrum? Getting themselves into a dandy of a brawl in the second period? Coming back to win in the third period for the first time in 30 tries this season? Checking the Lizard Kings -- hard and often? Four goals from Pilot defensemen?
Who were these guys who showed up at The Hangar on Saturday?
"Our minds take these little vacations once in a while," Coach Al Pedersen said of a few missed wide-open nets, and defensive lapses that allowed Jacksonville the lead twice less than a minute after the Pilots had tied the game. "There were a few boneheaded plays."
Hey, easy Beach, you won. And your voice is gone. Was that you I saw screaming at your defensemen on the bench?
The difference, as has been the case often this year, was Darrin Madeley. But not for the usual reasons.
On Friday, Madeley looked as if he wanted to break his stick in half over the heads of a few of his teammates for their sloppy offensive play. During whistles, his head was shaking like a pine tree in a hurricane.
On Saturday, Madeley took matters into his own gloved hands. A minute after Jacksonville took a 3-2 second-period lead, he made a save and noticed Jacksonville enforcer Joel Theriault coming his way. Theriault bumped Madeley as the goalie was getting up, and Madeley went sprawling.
Several people have disagreed with me on this, but from my close viewpoint, I say the crafty Madeley took a well-timed dive. If he did, it was a genius move. There was no way his teammates -- often criticized for not standing up for him -- could ignore this one. And a nice five-on-five wrestling match ensued -- fewer blows than the crowd would have liked but enough to entertain all and light a fire under the Pilots
for the comeback.
"This was not a coach's dream," Pedersen said. "There were a lot of mistakes, but it was definitely entertaining."
Entertaining it was. Missed nets and defensive lapses aside, good things happen when you are playing aggressively and keeping bodies in front of the net on offense.
It's March 1, and time is ticking away for the Pilots. They're 10 points out of the final playoff slot with 13 games to go, and faced with the reality all teams ahead of them have more games to play.
All they can do is work toward more games like Saturday and hope for the best. Saturday's game might not have been pretty, but I'll take a few more ugly wins and entertaining losses down the stretch than a string of boring defeats any day.
© Scott Gregory. All Rights Reserved. Gregory is a Pilots season
ticket holder from Navarre. He is a former Florida Gators football beat writer and sports editor for Copley Newspapers. He can be reached at scott@thefivehole.com. Comments are always welcome.
