LEWISTON – Andy Miele is still leading the Portland Pirates in points so far this season, even after a four-game stint in Phoenix with the Coyotes. Miele was reassigned to Lewiston after only missing two games with the Pirates.
Well on my way back to Portland… I mean Lewiston, wait that's not right either, I mean Saco.
— Andy Miele (@Andy_Miele) November 7, 2013
The 25-year-old Michigan native has clocked 9 points in 8 games played with Portland so far this season, including 5 goals and 4 assists.Players following his lead are right-wingers Chris Brown with 8 points in 10 games played, and Brandon Yip with 6 points in 6 games played.
Miele finished the 2011-2012 regular season, and his first season with the Pirates, as the second top point scorer, with 16 goals and 38 assists for a total of 54 points. Miele finished the 2012-2013 regular season as the top point leader, scoring 19 goals and 34 assists in 70 games to finish with a total of 53 points and a +/- of 3. Six of Miele’s 19 goals were scored while the Pirates had a one man advantage, and he ended the regular season with a total of 158 shots on goal. He was a key piece in this year’s Calder Cup Playoffs, and while the Pirates were knocked out of the first round by the Syracuse Crunch, Miele had one goal and two assists in the three games the Pirates played.
It’s obvious why Andy Miele got called up to the big leagues. He’s been a leading point scorer for the Pirates since he signed with the Phoenix Coyotes in April of 2011 as a free agent. On October 27th, it was announced that Miele would be called up by the Phoenix Coyotes for a run that lasted four games. While playing for the Coyotes, he registered 0-2-2, and earned himself a five minute major after getting in a scrap with Anaheim’s Kyle Palmieri on November 6th, the day before it was announced that he would be returning to Portland on reassignment. The Coyotes fell 5-2 against the Pacific division-leading Ducks on the 6th, and remain second in the division.
In Miele’s two-game absence from the Pirates, no player was able to surpass his standing as the top point and goal scorer so far this season.The 5’9″, 175-pound center returned to the starting line-up in Lewiston with the Pirates Friday night, November 7th, against the Worcester Sharks. The Pirates held their annual Military Appreciation Night against the Sharks at the Androscoggin Bank Colisée on Friday, and were able to drown the Sharks with a 5-1 win, earning their first home win of the season.
The Pirates took on the Sharks again today, and were able to defeat them in a narrow 4-3 win. The Pirates, formerly the worst team in the Eastern Conference, now sit comfortably at the 14th (out of 15th) place in the conference.