The Onion Strikes Again

We established a few weeks ago that someone over at TheOnion.com must like hockey because they've featured some wickedly funny "articles" about the NHL in the past. First there was one from November 2007 that proclaimed that Sid's one-goal, two-assist game saved hockey. Then there was The Onion's take on Siddo's high ankle sprain. More recently, The Onion featured a mockup tabloid report of Detroit Red Wings' goalie Chris Osgood's "alleged affair with the Stanley Cup."

Well, as the title of this post suggests, The Onion has struck again. (Actually, this article is dated May 15, 2008, but I hadn't seen it until now.) Anyhoo, the article itself consists only of this graphic:


Now, I was in stitches pretty much the whole time I read the little captions - especially about the one about not getting recognized on the street - that is, until I saw the caption in the lower right corner:

(enlarged to make a point)

Uncool. Mario's disease and Roberto Clemente's death aren't funny. At all. In any way, shape, or form. PERIOD.

What do you think about it? Do I need to loosen up or did The Onion go too far?

Now for TSCS's Quote of The Day:

"Hockey belongs to the Cartoon Network, where a person can be pancaked by an ACME anvil, then expanded - accordion-style - back to full stature, without any lasting side effect."

~ Steve Rushin

The Saint gets sandwiched between Paul Mara and another Ranger during Game 4 of Round 2.

(Thanks to Friend of The Show Kellee L. for The Onion link!)

I'm the Chairman of the Bored

Thank you so much to all of you for your well wishes on my interview this weekend. :D It went really well, but they're going to interview a few more candidates this week. They're looking for a Jack (or in my case, Jill) of all trades, and the company is willing to send the new hire to school to learn the necessary skills to do the job. So as long as no one they interview has more checks in the "I already know how to do that" column on the required skills list, I think I may have a pretty good shot. :)

Today's obligatory shot of the Saint.

There was one NHL news story this morning that I thought you might find interesting. Over 100 NHLers are using this summer to test out Thermablade's heated skate blades. This is how the $300 skates work:

Thermablade heated blades are designed to maintain a consistent temperature of approximately 5 degrees Celcius using a small battery and a microprocessor stored within each skate blade holder. The warm blade acts to increase the thickness of the water layer, at the molecular level, between the blade and the ice surface, dramatically reducing gliding friction and starting resistance for skaters. The advanced mechanical design of the product also contributes to a 50% reduction in skating vibration, resulting in improved edge-feel.

The inner workings of a Thermablade skate

On-ice performance benefits include improved acceleration, smoother glide, tighter turns, increased speed out of turns and more precise stops, plus significant physiological advantages such as a reduction in heart rate, increased stamina and less fatigue over the course of a hockey game.

(Click here for an in depth explanation if you've never heard of Thermablade skates before.) I already knew how the skates functioned, but I was curious why the new blades actually work, so I looked for and found a quick explanation of The Science Behind Ice Skating by Kohl Linsberg:

Ice is not inherently slippery, it is several scientific facts that cause it to be slippery and allow people to skate upon it.

When skating, one is not actually skating on the solid form of water, ice, but water in its liquid form. The reason for this is that ice will melt when pressure is applied to it, because according to experimental values, is that the greater the pressure on a substance, the lower its freezing point will be.

Oh man, I miss hockey...

...A person's weight is not enough to melt sufficient ice under their own shoes, thus the ice skate was invented. The ice skate puts the weight of the skater on a very small area, thus the sharp skate blade, which causes the ice under the blade to melt because the persons weight is sufficient to melt the ice in that area. This allows the skater to glide on a layer of water between the blade and the ice. Thus, a skater's blade does not cut through ice, but melts through ice to allow a skater to skate.

Interesting stuff, eh? News in Hockey land is slower than Britney's recovery, so here's some more stuff I've been saving. (We may have a problem soon, though... My supply is dwindling - FAST.)

Friend of The Show Lauren H. sent in this article about what Jordan Staal and his NHL brothers have been doing to pass the summer months.

(L to R) Jordan, Jared, and Mark are turning baseball into Staalball.

Earlier this month, Friend of The Show Apple L. shared this photo with us. Good Friend Vanessa D. and her daughter spotted this truck on Easter on the highway in West Virginia:


And now it's time once again for TSCS's Quote of The Day:

"This is the only thing that has seen more parties than us."
~ Steven Tyler, lead singer of Aerosmith, about the Stanley Cup

(Thanks to Lauren and Vanessa for the help with today's post.)

Taking The Easy Way Out

I want to start out with my sincerest apologies for the lameness that is about to be this post, but I've got a job interview tomorrow (I've never had one on a Saturday morning, haha!) for which I must get ready. The economy isn't exactly booming right now, and the company where I work is facing mounting financial difficulties. They've been cutting people left and right, and I figure it's only a matter of time until the owner (who hates computers and thinks they're a nuisance) decides that the IT department is an "unnecessary expense." Longtime readers know I've been casually looking for a new gig for a while now, but about 3 weeks ago, I was given a pretty good reason to start pounding the pavement - my supervisor found another job. I figured that was my cue to get busy and amp up my own search to get out. As always, I'll keep you posted and let you know how I make out tomorrow...

A cool photo of the man - since this is his Show. :)

I haven't really had a lot of time recently (for reasons I just explained, haha!) to surf the usual hockey blogs, but I checked a few out today on my lunch and wanted to pass the links to some good reads along to you. Oh, and there's one random link I wanted to share:

• Since most of you were as pumped about The Dark Knight as I was, I wanted to let you know that some genius made the trailer into a FREE screensaver. It's extremely cool - but there is no sound. Even so, it's pretty sweet to have the actual video playing as your screensaver! (FYI - If it doesn't work, update your video drivers.)
• Seth over at Empty Netters has been working overtime recently. He's written a series that takes an in depth look at the Pens' 2008-09 schedule and analyzes "Why You'll Watch." I have to admit that I haven't made my way through all of them yet, but he's got it all covered: October, November, December, January, February, March, and April. If EN isn't on your list of daily reads before you check this series out, it will be when you're done.

We'll be watching this guy, but not the guy on the right. (Look closely - that's Mark Recchi.)

• PSAMP wonders if the Mellon Arena can be spared from the implosion dynamite once the Pens' new arena is completed. (Sidenote - I love it that author Tecmo refers to the building only as the Civic Arena!)
• PensBurgh's Frank D. has an interesting story about Kris Draper that has forever changed the way I look at Friend of The Show Maria T.'s picture... (Good thing you kept your hand low, Maria!)
• Tony F. of The Confluence of the Three Rivers takes a look at how the current group of Penguins compares to the team we had when we won the Eastern Conference finals.

Now I leave you with TSCS's Quote of The Day:

When Miroslav Satan puts his credit card out to pay bills, he says "They ask me, 'Is this really your name?'" His standard response:

"Only in America."

Satan takes then-Pens goalie Sabastien Caron to school on a shootout.

You Want Fries With That?

It is a question that we hear all of the time: Who's the best player in hockey today? From some of the comments we've gotten here at TSCS over the past years, it's quite obvious that opinions vary on this subject (if you want mine, just shift your eyes up ever so slightly and read the name on the banner). Now we can add one more NHL great to the list of people who are on Team Crosby for this one. Here's an excerpt of an interview Mark Messier just did with NHL.com:

NHL.com: Putting you on the spot now, who do you think is the best player in today's game?


MM: I believe it is Sidney Crosby. Everybody has their own styles and likes and dislikes, but for me the first time I saw him play you could see he was something special. He plays with a lot of courage and in all the tough areas on the ice. He's tremendously skilled and uses the people around him unbelievably well. Not only is he an excellent playmaker, but he scores the goals, too.

Thanks to Friend of The Show David H. for the heads up about that article. :)


Good Friend Pens87Fan71 (formerly known as Lexie101) created this survey to find out what other Pens fans think about the upcoming season. It's only 5 questions, so if you have a second, fill it out and let your opinion be known.

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

The drawing Friend Jan M. sent in last week was such a hit that I asked her if she had any more she was willing to share with us. She did. Here's the original photo of Sidney in his rookie year following a whack in the mouth from the stick of Flyers defenseman Darien Hatcher:

(Click to photo enlarge)

And here's her drawing of our injured title man:

(Click to super-size the drawing)

Here's a shot of the two images side by side:

(Click to enlarge)

Another great job, Jan! Finally today, I found a site full of some funny hockey quotes, so I'm going to use some of them as The Quote of The Day to end posts throughout the rest of this summer. Here is today's:

Ron Francis asked teammate Mario Lemieux what he did to stay in shape in the off season. Lemieux's response: "I don't order fries with my club sandwich."

Thanks to David, Lexie, and Jan for their help with today's post. :)

I Wish My Parents Were This Cool When I Was A Kid

So by now, you all know I like to hold onto some of the stuff you send me during the off-season for a rainy day (← read: when there's no news about the Saint). Well, here's an email I received from Friend of The Show Sarah G. last week:

I'm from Nova Scotia and my little cousin Aidan is a HUGE hockey fan, and a huge Sidney Crosby fan. Aidan is 7 years old and has been playing hockey for three years now (he's a Timbit), he plays hockey in Salmon River N.S. (the original "Hockeyville" Rink), his favourite team is the Habs, he has one uncle in the N.S. Sports Hall of Fame (Sonny MacDonald), another uncle who was drafted by the Blackhawks back in the day (Hughie MacDonald), and his birthday happens to be on August 7th (Crosby's birthday). Needless to say the boy thinks it's a sign about his future hockey career.

Recently Aidan was able to redecorate his bedroom, so he along with his dad decided to make it look like a hockey rink. I thought I would send along the pictures so that you could see the awesomeness that is my little cousins new bedroom. Here's what they did:

Painted the floor white, with centre lines, and painted a red line around the room for the 'boards'...


Sponge painted people in the 'stands'...


His dad asked him to pick 7 of his favourite teams and he would paint their logos for the boarder... Aidan of course chose 14...


Above the closet door it says 'visitor's and above the room door it says 'home'...


There is a Crosby 87 logo above the window...


A goal net in the corner...


Hockey sticks for curtain rods...


And of course several Crosby posters and Aidan's Crosby jersey, oh.. and one of those foose'ball hockey game things.


His new bedroom goes very well with the rink that his dad painted on the basement floor :) P.S. The dryer is well out of the way of the basement rink.

Then today, I got an email from Friends Allison and Randy O. with pictures of their baby son's nursery:

I just wanted to send along some pictures of our son's Winter Classic-themed nursery. His name, by the way, is Benton Crosby-Patrick. We painted the room using the colors from the jersey.


We had our tattoo artist friend (Pat K. at Flesh Mechanics, if you're into tattoos) paint the logo on the wall-- needless to say he did an amazing job!


My husband and I scoured the Internet and area Giant Eagles for pictures from that game.


We also hung a few posters of penguins (the actual animal) and have random stuffed penguins throughout the room.


Along with pictures of the room, I had to send a long a picture of the proud owner of that room as well! I have to say, I REALLY hope he grows up to be a Penguin fan!

Oh my gosh! What a little CUTIE!!! And the black and gold T-shirt was a good wardrobe choice. ;)

Many thanks to Sarah, Aidan, Allison, Randy, and Benny for letting us take a peek into their respective hockey bedrooms. :)

"I'm Not Wearing Hockey Pads."

I went to see The Dark Knight on Saturday afternoon. One word: UNREAL. It was one of those rare films that actually exceeds all expectations - it was THAT good. Confidential to the Friends who have seen it: I will be having nightmares about magic tricks and pencils for the next month, at least! :P My husband worked all weekend, so his best friend and I went to a matinée show. When the film was over, we came out and saw this parked right next to my car:



Now I promise that's the last I'll mention The Dark Knight or anything Batman here on The Show, no matter how many times I go see it. Today I'm going to hit you with some links and then dig into some of the stuff I've been holding onto for a while. First the links:

Head Coach Michel Therrien is staying in town for a little while longer. Therrien, who has a year left on his current contract, signed a new three-year contract on Friday. Congrats to him! He's done a spectacular job so far, taking the team from the bottom to the top in his short time with the Penguins.


In other contract news, it looks like we're going to have to endure a few more seasons of player misidentification on FSN. Paul Steigerwald has been given a new multi-year contract to remain Robin to Bob Errey's Batman (okay THAT is truly the last mention, haha). There had been some conjecture that Mike Lange would have been given his TV job back since Pens fans from all over have been clamoring for it AND the general manager of FSN (who fired Lange in the first place) got a job somewhere else, but for reasons known only to the brass at FSN, Lange was not given back the position that should never have been taken from him in the first place. Tony F. of The Confluence of The Three Rivers has more of the details here. I guess the silver lining is that since Jarkko Ruutu is now a Senator and Georges Laraque is now a Canadien, the only player Steigy can confuse with Sidney is Petr Sykora. [*Sighs*]

Look out, Loretta - Lange's not coming back to TV. :(

Pittsburgh sports fan hating Bob Smizik of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette thinks anyone who boos any former Pittsburgh sports star is a "knucklehead." Specifically, Marian Hossa's move to Detroit prompted Smizik to write the article that repeatedly insults to most of the people that buy the newspaper that pays his salary. Here's a little nugget from the gem he titled "'Knuckleheads' can't wait to boo 'traitor' Hossa:"

In Philadelphia, it has been written and said, the fans are so nasty they boo Santa Claus.

Philadelphia has nothing on Pittsburgh.

In Pittsburgh, they regularly and vociferously boo the second-greatest hockey player to perform for the beloved home team.

Boo to YOU, Smizik.

In Pittsburgh, they boo the kid third baseman who had put up Roberto Clemente-type numbers until he was mysteriously traded.

When it comes to knuckleheads, Pittsburgh has it all over Philadelphia.

(Seriously, how does this guy still have a job?) Evidently Smizik doesn't understand the passion that some people feel for their sports teams. Quite honestly, I don't think anyone who booed when Jaromir Jagr came to town ever forgot that without him, the Pens wouldn't have their back-to-back Stanley Cup wins. But he was a pain in the arse while in the latter years of his tenure in PGH, so give fans a break if all they can think about when they see him right in front of their faces is "I feel like I'm dying alive." Now with Hossa, all fans will think about when they see him is the fact that he jumped ship to join the team that just weeks earlier handed us our first Stanley Cup loss. And yes, he will be booed. There's no doubt about that. NEWSFLASH: From now on, when he is in the Mellon Arena, he's on the other team - what, do you want us to cheer for him? If you think Smizik is a tool, head on over to Steel City Sports Fan and support their Knucklehead Badge of Honor movement.

Finally today, good Friend of The Show Maria T. sent me this email on July 11^th:

Ok so if you had the chance to go and see THE STANLEY CUP..even if the Red Wings had just won it...wouldn't you??

Well assistant captain Kris Draper attended my elementary school, and I was taught by his younger sister in the 3rd grade, 2000. She brought him in that year, and I got a picture with him. Sadly he had broken his wrist or something and could not sign autographs.


Well today was Kris' day with the Stanley Cup, and I got the chance to get a picture with it and Kris, and touch the Cup. I know that I didn't win it, but I could not resist...it was THE ACTUAL CUP!!

Anywho, though I would have preferred our Pens to win the Cup, I got to meet it, and I shook a hand that shook the hands of the whole Pens team.

Don't get me wrong.. I LOVE THE PENS - but come on - hockey fan first and foremost...who doesn't want to meet the REAL Stanley Cup?

Very cool, Maria. :) Not to beat it into the ground or anything, but I think the superstition that warns against touching the Cup applies only to those who hope to win it someday in the future, haha! ;)

Why So Serious?

More from snoopyjode at Myxer

Let the Countdown Begin!

The Penguins released the 2008-09 schedule!!! :) :) :) :) :) They'll open the season with two games in Sweden on October 4^th and 5^th, then make the long journey back across the pond to kick things off in Pittsburgh on October 11^th against the New Jersey Devils.



Also this week, the NHL announced that New Year's Day 2009 will see Winter Classic 2.0. This time the Chicago Blackhawks will play host to Marian Hossa and the Detroit Red Wings at Wrigley Field. (Hmm - I know who I'll be cheering for...)

The home of the Chicago Cubs is going to get iced.

TO ANY FRIENDS WHO LOVE THE BLACKHAWKS OR [*ahem*] THE RED WINGS: Take it from me, you simply MUST at least try to get tickets. I promise you it will be worth every penny you spend on the trip. :D

Sid won the ESPY award for Best NHL Player again this year. I'm sure the Ovechkin camp will cry foul, and well, if Sid's and Alex's situations were reversed, I probably would, too...

ESPN gets it wrong - AGAIN.

Perhaps the Saint was on course to have a better season than Ovechkin up until 01-18-08, but the fact of the matter is that, due to his injury, Sid didn't have an opportunity to actually have that better season. And let's face it, Ovie had one HELLUVA season. He scored sixty-five goals this season. He was the top point scorer. I just don't know how that can go overlooked.

What do you think? Was Alex robbed?

UGH. The-Network-That-Hates-Hockey forced me to champion for Alexander Ovechkin, and now I have to go wash my mouth out with soap. DAMN YOU, ESPN!!!!!!

(Thanks to Ali W. and Allison Y. for the early heads up. The ESPYs air on television this Sunday at 9:00pm.)

We've Got Some New Guys

Here's a quick list of guys from whom the Penguins got signatures in recent days after scoring deals with Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko: they got renewals from forwards Kris Beech, Ryan Stone, and Connor James; and new contracts with forwards Bill Thomas, who happens to be from the great city of Pittsburgh (Take that, Ryan Malone! :P), Matt Cooke, Adam Henrich, and Janne Pesonen, and defensemen T.J. Kemp, Ben Lovejoy, and 6'6", 220-pounder Joey Mormina, about whom we will speak today.

You see, the day the Mormina signing was announced, I got an email from new Friend of The Show Jennifer B. Here's an excerpt:

Hey there-

Just wanted to pop you off a quick note to congratulate (and curse) your team for signing Mormina. He's going to be sorely missed here in Albany [snoop: Just in case you didn't read the article I linked Mormina's name to above, he previously played for the AHL team the Albany River Rats].

Meet one of the new guys, Joey Mormina.

Of course I was intrigued, so I wrote her back asking what was so special about Mormina. She responded - and then some! She sent me some pictures she took of Mormina over this past season (all the photos in today's post are courtesy of Jennifer), some links, and her own opinion about the huge defender:

I like that he's gi-normous and a hard hitter. I've enjoyed watching him play here. I don't, however, like that now (if he stays in Wilkes Barre) he'll be hitting US. ;-)

[...]

As for my own personal observations on Mormina, he was an enormous (no pun intended) part of the Rats' success last season. I've also noticed that, although a formidible presence on the ice, he's not one to just randomly drop the gloves. He seems to have a clear grasp of what's worth it and what's not.

[...]

I don't know if Mormina will end up playing with Sid or if they'll keep him in Wilkes Barre, but he's a well spoken, intelligent player. Either way it's an excellent addition to the Penguins organization.

Mormina takes a break.

She included a set of links to articles written by Phil Janack of the Schenectady Daily Gazette. Two of the articles back up her points, and one has an interesting bit of trivia in it. The first article she sent was a summary of Mormina's contribution to the River Rats' 2007-08 season. The article was written in April, long before he became a Penguin:

When they needed him most, the Albany River Rats' biggest player came up, well, big.

[...]

The 6-foot-6, 220-pound Montreal native, in his third pro season, evolved into a trusted and valued leader down the stretch, dressing as a captain or alternate for 22 of Albany's last 25 games.

Mormina (on the far left) is a giant of a man.

The second article she sent laments Mormina's loss:

I'm not sure how this one happened. The 6-foot-6, 220-pound Mormina, who recently turned 26, was a huge part of Albany's success last season. He played in all but three of 87 regular-season and playoff games, setting a pro career high with four goals and matching another with 13 points.

More important, he was rock solid on the blue line, particularly when the team was ravaged by injury and recall, and logged incredible minutes in the top pairing throughout the first-round series with Philadelphia. He was easy-going, well-liked and respected in the room, even serving as one of Albany's rotating captains toward the end.

[...]

This one is going to hurt not only because the Rats lose a very good player, but lose him to one of their biggest division rivals.

It really seems like signing Mormina was a fantastic acquisition for us and an unexpected exit for the River Rats.

In this shot, Mormina is to the right of goaltender Justin Peters.

Finally today, here's the article with the trivia - he played against the Penguins in his first game in the NHL:

Defenseman Joey Mormina had an eventful night in his NHL debut. He hit the post with a shot in the first period, then broke the nose of Pens' forward Jeff Taffe in a second-period collision.

Big, BIG thanks to Jennifer for the emails, the links, and sharing her photos with us. :)

Sid in Black and White

Here's Sidney at a press conference during the Stanley Cup finals:



And here's Friend of The Show Jan M.'s interpretation of that photo (click for an extremely supersized version):



For comparison, here are the two pictures side by side:



WOW!!! NICE JOB, Jan!!! :) Thanks so much for sharing it with us!

Our Completed TSCS Summer Project

Over the years, the Pittsburgh Penguins have filled each one of us at varying times with joy, uncertainty, delight, dread, elation, disappointment, happiness, rage, thrills, frustration, satisfaction, and pride. Every member of the Penguins organization, past and present, has given us so much - especially Mario - and in return, we wanted to say "Thanks for everything!" to the Penguins. We talked about it at the end of this season and ultimately decided that the best way we could pay tribute to them here on The Show would be to post pictures of ourselves displaying our patriotism to our team and to our homelands so we can show that Pens fans inhabit all corners of the globe.

Thus was born TSCS Summer Project. I spent all day yesterday editing, uploading, and captioning the pictures you sent in. (Just to clarify, the only editing I did to the photos was to enhance the colors where necessary or to make one big image when someone sent in several pictures. I did not alter the integrity of any photograph sent to me.) Click all images below to see all the details in the larger versions.

And now, without further ado, here are all the project entries:

We'll start TSCS Project pictures out with the picture from the Friend who inspired this project in the first place, Dave D. from England!!! :) :) :) :) :)

This is my project! It features all of my favorite guys. :) From left to right we've got Logan sporting Sid's Penguins jersey from his rookie year; Connor is wearing Sid's Winter Classic threads; We put Sid's Rimouski Oceanic jersey (the pride and joy of my collection, by the way) on Link; then to complete the picture, Baylee is wearing my Snoopy jersey (he's got it on backwards, haha!). My husband is sporting his favorite Lemieux jersey and some ridiculous glasses I got him as a gag gift when we were dating, hahahahahahahaha!!!

(BTW, you have NO IDEA how much work it was to get the dogs into those jerseys and then to get them to stand in a way that I was able to see all of their backs, haha! My husband's smile looks pained because he was saying, "Hurry, Logan is getting ready to run!" through his teeth as I snapped this picture.)

My husband really got into it after I took my project picture of him with our boys. He decided to take over our dining room and create one of his own. :) I don't know if you can tell, but that Russian Penguins jersey (the one in the frame surrounded by all the ticket stubs) is signed by Le Magnifique. His signature is located just above the penguin's shoulder on the left side. Needless to say, that is the pride and joy of his collection. Anyhoo, his patriotism came in the form of a Pens shirt that said "American Pride" on it with a flag and the Pens' logo, but it sort of got lost in all the stuff on the table. :P

Vanessa D. flies her favorite flag in Pittsburgh.

Schuyler S. from Hometown, PA said, "These pictures represent me, my Cocker Spaniel, Rupert, Tamaqua/Hometown (the coal-region town where I am from), and my love of the Penguins and my future husband Geno =)."

Terri A. and her friend Sarah from DuBois, PA took their pictures with an amazing American flag quilt that Sarah made.

Marta B. sent this one in all the way from Madrid, Spain!

Michelle G. from Manitoba, Canada sent in a picture of her bedroom wall.

n.jo sent a picture of a furry representative to show love from Ontario, Canada.

ReneeDC holds the flags of Washington (the state where she grew up) and Maryland (the state where she now resides) in front of the Capitol Building in Washington, DC.

Rhonda M. sends her Penguins love from the Saint's hometown in the Cole Harbour/Halifax area of Nova Scotia, Canada.

Julia M. has both flags because she's Canadian but lives in the USA. She said, "I had to represent for both, of course."

Kim K. shows off her loyalty to Sid, Texas, and Nova Scotia.

Maria T. hails from Toronto, Ontario, Canada but spends her summers in Sid's old stomping grounds up in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Elizabeth C. is standing in front of the PA State Capitol Building in Harrisburg, PA.

Jaime from St. Louis, Missouri stands in front of the famous Arch.

Jennifer D. supports the Pens in Ontario, Canada.

Jill E. from Maryland said, "My entire room is covered in Pens pictures so it was hard to find a good place to take the pic!"

Amber H. sent me an email that said this, "I didn't have a Canadian flag, but I had pants. Hopefully it works." Haha, I thought this was great. :)

Clare L. is shown in front of the American side of Niagara Falls. My husband and I honeymooned in Niagara Falls, Canada in 2001. It is beautiful.

We've got a group effort here! Danielle is the one wearing the black, short sleeve Crosby t-shirt with brown hair and pink flip-flops. Micaela is the one with jeans, a plain black t-shirt and sunglasses on; she is also holding the I love 87 sign. Jackie is the one with the white, long-sleeved Crosby t-shirt wearing shorts. And finally, Ashley is wearing the black Penguins sweatshirt with long, curlyish hair. They call themselves the Fabulous Four ♥ and they hail from Terryville, Connecticut. She explains why they chose these locations: "We took a picture in front of our brand new high school, which is the newest in Connecticut and in front of the Terryville Fair Sign. The Terryville Fair is the biggest event all year, and we thought that maybe that would be a good picture."

1wingangel (Kaitlin) from PA and her twin Nicole G. show off their Penguins pride.

Adrienne F. from Marystown, Newfoundland made this Canadian flag collage for her project picture.

(Top row, L to R) Ali W. from Greencastle, PA in front of the second largest oak tree in Pennsylvania. The tree is over 350 years old, 84 feet tall, has a 90 foot crown, and a 16'10'' inch circumference. The second shot is some of her Pens stuff with the American and Pennsylvania flags. (Bottom row, L to R) McCullough's Tavern is now the Greencastle, PA downtown laundromat. It is rumored to have been the dining place of the first President of the USA, George Washington. You can see the original log structure of the above said building in the second picture.

Alyse from Virginia let her picture do the talking.

These pictures came from Alyssa. She said, "The first pic is my two brothers (Andrew and Adam) and my Penguins stuff. Adam gladly donated his stuff for the pic, but Andrew is in NAVY training in Pensacola so I just "borrowed" his stuff. The other picture is of my family's turtle. We named him Jarkko Ruutu so I thought he counts as Pens stuff!" She's from PA.

AustinLovesCrosby hails from Austin, Texas. She said, "Y'all know everything's bigger in Texas and I'm the biggest Sidney Crosby fan!"

Daily Su lives in Woodinville, Washington, which is well known for its wineries. Too bad Sid's still got to wait a few more weeks until he can sample the Crosby Cabernet!!! ;)

Pens87Fan71 (the artist formally known as Lexie101) took her photos at the PA State Capitol Building in Harrisburg, PA. In the first picture, she's standing with one foot on her hometown and the other on Pittsburgh on a big marble map that was near the Capitol Building. She is shown in some of these pictures with her friend Lizzy and her two young cousins in front of a building by the capital that had Pittsburgh on it.

XdancexxforxxmeX and her friend Paige sent in this picture. (LATE EDIT: She just left her details in the comments below: "I'm (me as in Jordan) the one on the right, and we are from Queensbury NY. No you've probably never heard of it, but it's next to Glens Falls, Lake George, and 15 min's north of Saratoga Springs.")

These adorable little kiddies belong to Mike @ Japan.

Stephanie S. from Nashville, TN shares the adventures of Sidney Penguin (she made that whole penguin herself!) with us. You just HAVE to enlarge this one to read the story. It's adorable!!! :)

Lauren H. from Cranberry Township, PA took her Pens gear on tour. About the pictures on the left: (Top) "My sister and I on Main Street U.S.A. in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World – that’s Cinderella’s Castle behind us!" (Bottom) "My siblings and I with Mickey! This was at Chef Mickey’s, a restaurant inside the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World, which explains Mickey’s attire." And those pictures on the right: "I took my Penguins pride all the way to Virginia Beach with me!"

WOW. I just don't even know what to say to close out this post. Yes I do - a thousand thank yous to all the Friends who participated. I hope you all had as much fun with this as I did!!! :D