Pre-Game Randomness

Tonight the Pens face the Boston Bruins at 7:00pm Eastern. Until then, here are a few things I got from some of my good Friends of The Show to keep you busy. First up, is an article by Eric B. of The Sidney Crosby Spotlight. You'll remember that Sir Sidney won the Lou Marsh award earlier this month. Eric explains what the award is, tells us a little about the man for whom it has been named, and gives us a list of past winners.

Next up I've got something from Loser Chris of Taking One for the Team. He takes an in depth look at how the NHL's biggest names perform during shootouts. Also on the site: this week's fight of the week.

That's not exactly his specialty...

Mike H. sent in this article about the upcoming Winter Classic on January 1. The whole article outlines plans for the game, but the most interesting part is the last paragraph:

Something you might want to watch for: At practice Tuesday morning at Madison Square Garden, Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby was practicing a play where he put his right toe on the puck, skated forward on his left skate and whipped the puck, with his right toe, behind his left leg straight onto teammates' sticks, 10-15 feet away. Crosby said he has never tried the play in a game.

WOW!!! That would be incredible to see. Mike summed it up best in his email:

Your husband plays, right? Ask him what it's like when you accidentally step on a puck while skating... to imagine anyone doing it *on purpose* and getting away with it is pretty mind-blowing!

INDEED! The Kid is constantly reinventing the game of hockey, and I don't think we've even begun to see the best of someone who could do this before he even turned 18 years old:

And finally, here's a little something that my friend Jeff H. sent me. It's an excerpt of a book called [*takes deep breath*] "Andy Roddick Beat Me with a Frying Pan: Taking the Field with Pro Athletes and Olympic Legends to Answer Sports Fans' Burning Questions." WHEW! That's a mouthful! The ridiculous title gives a hint of the humor used in the book. Anyhoo, author Todd Gallagher travels to the NHL offices in Canada and asks the question, "Could a morbidly obese goalie shut out an NHL team?" The answer may (or may not) surprise you. The very fact that I got a few laughs out of it is the only reason I won't make fun of the Wall Street Journal's lack of editing in this article. Can you spot the typo? Here's a hint: it's related to tonight's game. I'll be sure to post the answer in tonight's recap. :)