Jump to content

Portland Pirates News


wildcat48

Recommended Posts

Posted

It’s a lost opportunity for the Pirates

Published on: 13th March, 2011 by Chris Roy

 

Portland, ME – In the battle for first place in the Atlantic Division, the Portland Pirates will be welcoming some much needed time off.

 

The Pirates, who are playing a season-high 15 games in the month of March, including this current stretch of six games in nine nights, simply ran out of gas, falling to the Manchester Monarchs, 4-2, in front of 5,487 at the Cumberland County Civic Center on Sunday afternoon.

 

Link>>>>

Posted

Pirates pull within sight of division lead

Published on: 18th March, 2011 by Chris Roy

 

Derek Whitmore scored in the third period, snapping a 2-2 tie, to give the Portland Pirates a 3-2 victory over the Binghamton Senators before 3,131 at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena on Friday.

 

Link>>>

Posted

Pirates take a bite out of the Bears in Chocolatetown

Published on: 20th March, 2011 by Chris Roy

 

The Portland Pirates scored three unanswered goals to sweep the season series against the Hershey Bears with a 4-3 victory in overtime before a sellout crowd of 10,737 at the Giant Center in Hershey, PA on Saturday night.

 

Forward Mark Parrish proved to be the hero of the night by recording a goal and two assists.

 

Link>>>>

Posted

Pirates overtake Manchester for division lead

Published on: 20th March, 2011 by Chris Roy

 

Thanks to gutsy performance by the Portland Pirates, and a loss by the Manchester Monarchs, the Pirates now sit atop of the AHL’s Atlantic Division standings.

 

Actually, the Pirates can begin to smell a playoff berth after a 5-3 win over the Providence Bruins before 6,747 at the Dunkin Donuts Center on Sunday afternoon.

 

Link>>>>

Posted

Pirates “schooled” by the Sharks

Published on: 22nd March, 2011 by Chris Roy

 

Portland, ME – The Portland Pirates will have to wait another day to punch their ticket to the postseason.

 

John McCarthy scored just 16 seconds into overtime to give the Worcester Sharks a 5-4 victory over the Pirates before an announced crowd of 5,108 in a rare 11am matinee at the Cumberland County Civic Center on Tuesday.

 

Link>>>>

Posted

Luke Adam has a very good set of hands and he combines it with good vision of developing plays on the ice. I wish I could save the streams and show you what I mean. I'm just not good with a computer. But the next game I watch, if it's allowed, I'd like to post the game stream for others to see.

 

Adam's vision on the ice allows him to position himself for some great rebound collection and open passing lanes. But he doesn't do so alot of times on the fly. He tends to hover down low, around the face off circles or in the slot.

 

I will say he has good body size that allows him to maintain control of the puck along the corners and behind the net alot of times. But he has very little speed. And it shows. He's often the 3rd trailer on rush plays. This can be corrected I would imagine, not so much by having him do wind sprints in Portland, but by giving him the opportunity to learn to use what he has to further his production. I'm not advocating he is a bad player by any stretch of the imagination, but he would get back checked heavily in the NHL given the difference in the speed of the game from the AHL. Again, this is merely my opinion based on watching him.

 

His defensive game is very good though. He uses his arm length to clog up the nuetral zone an aweful lot. He reminds me a great deal of a larger version of Guy Carbonneau. He has all the earmarks of a very good shutdown center. The way he covers the point on the PK and how he clogs passing lanes with his size and hands is definitely reminiscent of Carbonneau's abilities.

I honestly believe Luke Adam will be a Frank J. Selke Trophy candidate at some time in his career, and I hope it's a majority of it.

 

He is exciting to watch though and if given just another year down in the AHL, we could really have a solid Center, I'd also like him to improve his faceoff abilities, this is where working with a guy like Goose over the Summer could really bring this kid along.

 

Just my opinion though, and in no way is it set in stone that this kid will only be a 25 goal line 3 shutdown center. He could bust out and become a 40 goal guy a la Lecavalier. It's hard to say while he is this young, but like I said, I'd rather have him gaining that experience and confidence in the AHL, to me in any event, I want him up here when he is ready, not when everyone thinks he's ready.

 

It took me almost a 1/2 hour to type this post. :death:

 

Copying you over here for those who watch this thread. Nice post.

Posted

Pirates, Sound Tigers reverse roles

Published on: 26th March, 2011 by Chris Roy

 

Portland, ME – Bridgeport looked more like a team competing for a playoff spot in the American Hockey League than a team sitting at the bottom of the standings.

 

Rookie Rhett Rakhshani recorded his first career AHL hat trick as the Sound Tigers roughed up the Portland Pirates before 4,376 at the Cumberland County Civic Center on Friday night.

 

Link>>>>

Posted

Pirates’ ship developing a steady leak

Published on: 27th March, 2011 by Chris Roy

 

Portland, ME – The Cumberland County Civic Center has been a fortress for the Portland Pirates this season.

 

The Pirates entered the weekend with the AHL’s best home win percentage, but have hit a snag as of late, dropping their last three contest including a 5-3 loss on Saturday to the Charlotte Checkers before a crowd of 5,420 at the Civic Center.

 

Link>>>

Posted

wildcat, how about a lowdown on the state of the Pirates' D, most likely first callup to Buffalo, is there any NHL playoff quality depth beyond that, etc. Thanks.

Posted

Gragnani recalled to Buffalo

Published on: 28th March, 2011 by Chris Roy

 

The Portland Pirates have lost their top two scorers and may potentially be without their leading rookie when they hit the ice Tuesday night against the Providence Bruins.

 

The Buffalo Sabres recalled forward Mark Mancari and defenseman Marc-Andre Gragnani Sunday evening as the Sabres continue their push for a playoff spot in the NHL.

 

Link>>>>

Posted

Gragnani recalled to Buffalo

Published on: 28th March, 2011 by Chris Roy

 

 

 

Link>>>>

 

It must be absolutely maddening to be a coach of a minor league team. Wake up to find your players are poached without warning..

Posted

It must be absolutely maddening to be a coach of a minor league team. Wake up to find your players are poached without warning..

 

I've once talked to one former AHL/Sabres assistant who claimed to absolutely love the experience. And was happy to go back to the AHL. (we are going a ways back here)

 

I was always skeptical, but if you love the adjustments it forces a coach to make in a hurry, you probably never feel your importance as a coach as much as when you are in those situations.

Posted

Pirates look to refocus on winning

Published on: 29th March, 2011 by Chris Roy

 

When a team is playing well sometimes it’s easy for them to lose focus on what it takes to maintain that edge that got them there in the first place and before they know it they’re mired in a slump.

 

Enter the Portland Pirates.

 

Link>>>>

Posted

Pirates back to their winning ways

Published on: 30th March, 2011 by Chris Roy

 

Portland, ME – The Portland Pirates and Providence Bruins each had their own reasons for playing with a sense of desperation.

 

The Bruins were playing to keep their slim playoff hopes alive, while the Pirates were trying to snap a four-game home-losing streak.

 

Pirates’ goaltender David Leggio rebounded on the heels of a poor outing with a 28-save effort to earn his third shutout of the season, 3-0, over the Bruins before 3,872 at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

 

Link>>>

Posted

Fatigue leads to a sloppy result for the Pirates

Published on: 31st March, 2011 by Chris Roy

 

Portland, ME – Shorthanded, the Portland Pirates were in a prime position to earn their second victory in as many nights, and move one step closer to claiming the Atlantic Division title.

 

Then came the third period.

 

Bridgeport scored twice in the final 10 minutes, completing a third period collapse by the Pirates to give the Sound Tigers a 2-1 win before a weeknight friends and family crowd of 2,572 at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

 

Link>>>>

Posted

Pirates stockpiling AHL awards

Published on: 31st March, 2011 by Chris Roy

 

The postseason awards are starting to roll in and already in the past two days the Portland Pirates have racked up some hardware.

 

On Wednesday, Luke Adam joined a long list of former Pirates by being named to the AHL All-Rookie Team, followed by Thursday’s announcement that Mark Mancari and Marc-Andre Gragnani have been named AHL First Team All-Stars.

 

Link>>>>

Posted

Pirates sign UMaine defenseman to ATO

Published on: 1st April, 2011 by Chris Roy

 

Any time off at this point of the season is considered valuable, but the last two days were especially important to the Pirates as the schedule won’t get any easier from now until the end of the season.

 

Link>>>

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...