Falher Pirates left their skating legs at home on Nov. 20 in a 7 to 2 loss to the High Prairie Regals. The Pirates lacked lustre as they skated to a five-goal defeat to the hometown Regals. Pirates star of the game was without a doubt 16-year-old goaltender Nick Freeman, who stopped 30 shots in an attempt to keep his team in the running for a victory. “There’s no doubt in my mind our goal tender, Nick Freeman, kept us in the game last night,” says Pirates team president David Chapados. “He made an amazing stop with four seconds left in the second period that gave us a chance to come back out in the third to try to win.” High Prairie peppered the net in the first period with 18 shots on goal. The Pirates found their skating legs half way through the second, when High Prairie tallied their fifth goal of the night. Pirates only capitalized on one power play opportunity out of nine, this included two two-man advantages. Regals Stan Auger scored twice and added two assists to lead High Prairie, while Tyler Letendre scored once and added three assists. Josh Halcrow, Rollie Gladue, Lance Gauchier and Neil Laboucan added the other goals for High Prairie. The Pirates lone two markers came from Denis Rochon and Evan Zawacky. “It just seems like they didn’t play with much emotion,” says Chapados. “The guys have to remember if we come out playing our game, no matter who we’re playing, our chances of winning will be better. We need to play a fast skating game, attacking from the outside to be successful.” Shots on goal were even after three periods with 37 on both ends of the rink. “It wasn’t the team (the Pirates) that we’ve become accustomed to watching this year,” says Chapados. “We need to figure out how to play a strong 60 minutes, instead of only coming out to play after the first 20.” A little bit of revenge for the Regals who were outplayed by the Pirates in the first game of the season in a 10 – 3 Pirates win. “It definitely wasn’t the outcome we were expecting going into the game,” he explains. “We’ll have to re-group and find how we can get back on track.” This marks the fourth straight game the Pirates have lost in High Prairie over the last two seasons. Their record in High Prairie since 1989 is 5–20. Currently the Pirates sit in second place in the East Division with a 3–3–0 record behind the High Prairie Regals. High Prairie is the leader in the division with a 4–3–1–0 record. High Prairie holds a three point advantage over the Pirates in the standings, but Falher has two games in hand with a possible four points to acquire. Next game for the Pirates is in Grande Prairie against the hometown Athletics on Nov. 29. Game time will be 8:30 p.m. “I was watching Grande Prairie play last week against High Prairie and I think we can be competitive in the game on Saturday,” says Chapados. “High Prairie was leading the game until the third period. I think if we play our game we will have a shot at winning the game.” Currently leading the team in points is captain Jason Bouchard with 19 points. He is followed closely by forward Dan Aubin who currently has 14 points. “The Pirates have shown this year that we can be very competitive in the league,” says Chapados. “If the effort is there and they are willing to be out there competing we can be a successful, confident squad. Falher Pirates were handed a huge loss on Nov. 15 by the high-flying Fort St. John Flyers. Final score in the game was 9 to 3 for the Flyers, whose home game advantage led them to their victory. The Flyers were led by forward Matt Shuya who had three goals and one assist. “I think we played them as well as we could have that game,” says Pirates captain Jason Bouchard. “We know our team can be better when we have a full healthy line-up.” New goalie to the Pirates Nick Freeman played in the place of star goalie Leslie Montpellier, who fell ill before the game. Freeman is only 16 years old, and has been showing some promising signs of providing a well rounded backup goaltender for the Pirates. “We had some key guys missing including three defence-men, Shawn Gervais, Scott Hicks and James Bazan-Lindsay,” says Bouchard. “Keith Reade and Ryan Hicks were two other regular players we were missing.” A factor in the Pirates loss was their power play which went scoreless through five power play opportunities. “We’re trying to gain respect from other teams in the league,” says Bouchard. “We know we’re improving and we hope we can compete at a high level throughout the season.” Bouchard explains this year the team is more prepared than last year, and they hope they can make the playoffs and be prepared to try to win the division title. Pirates only gave up four power play opportunities to the Flyers, who capitalized on two of the chances. “We are more prepared this year than last and we hope it shows,” says Bouchard, who explains the team is confident in their chances of making a strong effort through the season. “We are all very competitive and are looking forward to making an impact in the league.”