Falher Pirates entered the holiday season with hope of pulling ahead of Peace River to top the East Division of the North Peace Hockey League (NPHL). Unfortunately, shortly after New Year’s Day and four games later, the Pirates managed to walk away with only two points out of a possible eight. Pirates started their stretch of games on Dec. 20, against the high-flying Fort St. John Flyers in Falher. The first period proved to be even for both teams, with each team marking one goal on net and nine shots on goal for both teams. The Flyers came out in vengeance in the second taking a commanding 6-2 lead. Final score of the game was 8-3, with 23 shots on goal for the Flyers and 28 for the Pirates. A home and home, back-to-back series against the Peace River Stampeders finished in a split decision. The first game played in Peace River was won by the Pirates with an astonishing 9-4 decision. The almost healthy Pirates line-up had fire under their feet in the first, scoring four goals to the Stamps one. Peace River came back in the second with two goals on Pirates goaltender Leslie Montpellier. Pirates recognized their potentially dire situation, and came back in the third with four even strength goals. Many injuries in the game left the Pirates with a meek looking line-up. Game winning goal was scored by Neil Maisonneuve, who was added to the line-up for the Christmas season. Sore Pirates started the second game of the back-to-back games in Falher. The close game finished in a 6 to 5 victory for the Peace River Stampeders. First period was close, with two goals scored by the Pirates and one by the Stampeders. The second period was a runaway with a total of seven goals scored in the 20 minutes. Both teams went into the third period even with five goals-a-piece. Peace River scored a short handed goal in the third at 11:07. This proved to be the game winning goal, with the Pirates unable to answer in the dying minutes of the game. The final game of the four game stint was played on Jan. 3 against the Spirit River Rangers. With only 11 players and two goalies dressed for the game, the Pirates saw the better stacked Rangers win with a score of 14-1. Spirit River dominated the game, allowing the Pirates to score only one goal in the third period, with a power play goal from captain Jason Bouchard. Pirates currently sit in third place in the East division, successfully winning six games.