Back From Being AWOL

Well, I hope all of you had as wonderful a holiday as I did! :) I honestly didn't intend to go missing for so long, but I had a very full extended weekend of friends, family, and last minute fun to close out the summer. Now I'm relaxed, rested, refreshed, and READY FOR OCTOBER!!!

It looks like I didn't miss too much in the way of Pens news, but you can bet your life I've got tons of stuff from all over to share with you to pass another day until training camp kicks off. First up, Friend of The Show Paula H. found the video of the commercial where Wayne Gretzky counsels Canadian golfer Mike Weir about the playoff beard:


Friend of The Show MichelleInNovaScotia found this item that claims Tim Horton's co-founder Ron Joyce took Le Magnifique and the Saint for a boat ride, during which Mario had to put the kibosh on the daredevil in our Siddo (from The Times & Transcript):

Sleuth is skating all over the place this week, this item relating a tale from a recent sailing trip Mr. Tim Horton's, a.k.a. Ron Joyce took aboard his mutli-million dollar yacht from his Fox Harb'r complex in Nova Scotia to Charlottetown, P.E.I. That trip's already been reported. Now Sleuth's sources tell him that among guests aboard the boat for that jaunt were none other than Pittsburgh Penguins owner Mario Lemieux and his star player and Nova Scotia native Sidney Crosby.

Keep the risk-taking to a minimum, Kid!

But the story only begins there: it seems that some other young and adventurous passengers were having fun by diving off the yacht into the waters of the Northumberland Strait, and Crosby was makin' to do the same when his boss, Lemieux, stepped in and laid down the law: it seems when you have a multi-million dollar investment in a player, you get a little antsy about what many would consider risky behaviour. . . And so young Crosby stayed safe. . . and dry!

Awww, Super Mario's no fun! ;) Although, after the events that occurred between 01-18-08 and 03-27-08, I can TOTALLY understand why Mario's so protective of our young captain.

New Friend of The Show Debra S. sent in some pictures she snapped at the NHL Store in NYC. (Check out Hossa's new number...)




A while ago, Friend of The Show Ali W. mentioned in the comments section of a previous post that she has a Penguins 2008-09 Season Countdown posted on her dormroom door. She sent in some photos of that and her dorm's other Pens adornments for us (her captions tell us all about them):

"Here is the sweet countdown on our door. People who know absolutely nothing about hockey stop in all the time and ask about it. They wonder what the Penguins are... It's really quite sad."

"The 'WALL OF FAME'!!! That's really all I need to say about this one. :)"

"My awesome garbage can. :)"

Sidney Penguin must like the northern New York/Canadian border area. His most recent stop was in Welland, Ontario, Canada...

Click for a closeup view of Welland.

...where he spent a busy couple of days with Friend of The Show Stephanie B. taking road trips to Niagara and Toronto. Once again, I'll let her captions explain each photo:

"This is Sidney P. sitting on a dock of the Welland Recreational Waterway. Until 1970 when the new canal was built, the Recreational Waterway was a main 'highway' between lake Erie and lake Ontario for large ships. Referred to as 'the old canal' by most residents, it is an important part of the city's history, and hence an important place for Sidney P. to visit. (He went in the paddle boat while he was there!)"

"After Sidney visited the old canal, he made about an hour and a half journey to Toronto to the Air Canada Center for a Celine Dion concert!! He can be seen here chillaxin before the show..."

"...and then is shown with another famous Canadian in the background!"

Now it's time to close with TSCS's Quote of The Day:

"A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be."

~ Wayne Gretzky

In this photo taken on January, 18 1997, Gretzky (who played with the New York Rangers at the time) congratulates Mario for a goal scored during the 47th NHL All-Star game at the San Jose Arena in San Jose, California. (The Eastern Conference won.)

Many, many thanks to Friends Paula, MichelleInNovaScotia, Debra, Ali, and Stephanie B. for their contributions to today's post. :)