You Must...

...head over to the Roaming Penguins blog for a HUGE announcement.

:D

Pens v Rangers

The Blueshirts are coming into town today. YUCK. Any team that willingly allows IFSHA™ wear its sweater not once but twice! needs to get a good pummeling.

All right, here are the numbers as we head into today's matchup:

#	TEAM	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS
6	Pittsburgh Penguins	75	40	27	8	88
7	New York Rangers	75	39	27	9	87

Our Boys will want to put some more distance between these figures today with a win in regulation, but the Rangers will see today as an opportunity to leap-frog over us in the standings. Whatever happens, one thing is certain - make sure you take your heart medicine before you settle into your favorite chair for this one. No doubt this is going to be one intense game.

But I'm not worried. NHL top point scorers Siddo (#3) and Geno (#1) will let them know what's up. I only hope Siddo has a 5 point game so he can move back into the #2 spot. :)

DO IT x 5

I'll leave you with an interesting fact I just discovered. So everyone knows that A-hOle™ is an elite goal scorer, right? Well, I'm not sure how many of you realized that his shot percentage is actually quite low. (Even I might be able to score 50 goals if I took 500 shots on goal. Haha, okay, probably not! But you get my point.) Anyhoo, it wasn't a surprise to see that A-hOle™'s current shot percentage (11.0%) is lower than Geno's (12.3%) and Siddo's (13.4%), but it shocked the HECK out of me to see who's leading the league right now with the best shot percentage: ex-Pen and Pittsburgh native son Ryan Malone (21.4%)!

Way to go, Bugsy!

GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pens v Flames

I've had a LOOOONG day, so I'm going to keep this one short.

I know probably 98% of you have already seen this, but even if you did, it's worth another look - The Penguins Show filmed an episode called Cooking With Geno. It's freaking great!

So check out these standings:

#	Team	GP	W	L	OTL
6	PITTSBURGH	74	39	27	8
7	NY RANGERS	74	39	27	8

Time to put some distance between our Boys and the Blueshirts.

DO IT!

GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ideas To Pass The Off Season

After our Boys of Winter finally raise that Cup in June (← 'cause you KNOW it's gonna happen!), we'll need some things to pass the time until October. Ahhh, such is the life of a hockey fan, right? Well, I'm looking for ideas for projects we can do this summer.

I've already had one idea of my own... So as you know, I've been going through my inbox as I hand over all the Roaming Penguins stuff to Roamer Mama Stephanie. I've gone through about 160 emails, 25 of which were Roamer emails. But I also found just as many Fan Photos emails - and I've still got about 220 more to sort! I always do my best to post every photo that any and all Friends take the time to send me, so I was originally considering doing a Fan Photos post over the weekend, but then it occurred to me - how much better would it be to wait until after the playoffs are over to post them so we could relive these games while we're waiting for the puck to drop on the '09-'10 season?!

Speaking of photos, here's the best one you'll see all night. Can you believe we've got them BOTH?! :) Click to enlarge for supersized superstars.

So if you have some photos that you'd like to share over the summer break, send them to me at snoopyjode@gmail.com. Type "Fan Photos" in the subject line. (Actually, if you click that link, it will automatically open a new email in your default client with my address and the subject line already filled out.) Make sure when you send the pictures you remember to tell me at which game you snapped them and, if you want, write a recap of your experience. :)

If you have any other ideas of ways we can speed up our summer, email it to me or tell us about it in a comment in The Friends' Zone. Tomorrow the Pens host the Flames. Let's shake off that terrible Flyers game and kick some Calgary butt.

GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!

Pens v Flyers

I guess it's going to be one of those days... A few things to discuss during the intermissions:

1. A lot is being said about the non-fight that happened between Siddo and Marc Savard. Puck Daddy wrote a little piece about it saying he had heard from a few people who were at the game and close enough to hear what was going down. I, too, heard from someone that witnessed the events first hand. From Friend of The Show Donna D.:

Re: your pic. of Sid without his shield Sun. 3/15 .....

I was at the game on Sunday sitting near the bench. Crosby & Marc Savard {Bruins} were having words in the 1st period, and Savard motioned with his hand in front of his shield, provoking Crosby to take his off, apparently claiming he {Savard} would then go at it.

Click for a supersized view.

Crosby was JACKED and took off his helmet and ordered the equipt. mgr. to take off the shield ... and he did. Seemed Sid was ready to go after that, agitating Savard several times, but Savard didn't bite.

Based on all the above circumstantial evidence, here's how I have interpreted the incident: Savard most likely referenced the visor to Sid because of how much press the fact that Siddo didn't remove his visor for his first NHL fight against Savard's teammate, Andrew Ference, in an effort to irritate him and throw him off his game. But Savard didn't expect Sid to step up and prepare to throw down. In other words, it's pretty clear that Savard's mouth wrote a check his arse couldn't cash. (Side note - the crap that Siddo took for not removing his visor in the altercation with Ference infuriates me because, well, take a look at the pictures on this post about that incident and notice that Ference did not remove his visor, either.) What are your thoughts?

2. In the final minute of Friday's game against the L.A. Kings, Geno did something controversial. Since FSN Pittsburgh didn't really show a replay, here's one from YouTube:


Now, I love Geno. Anyone who reads this blog should get that impression without a shadow of a doubt. But woodstock and I have had this conversation before - when Geno gets mad, he does stupid things. It has been a non-issue until now because his "tantrums" have usually consisted of slamming his stick on the ice or getting mad and giving up mid-play. A case I can reference from personal experience is the November 15, 2008 game that woodstock and I attended. The Pens were up by three goals, and it was close to the end of the game when a Sabres player did some that gave him control of the puck and got Geno really frustrated. Geno gave chase at first, but then suddenly he just stopped at center ice and slammed his stick down, an action that nearly gave the Sabres a breakaway chance. (I heard more than a few "WTF GENO?!" shouts from my section following that.)

Okay, I know this isn't the same as hitting a guy with his head down, but it all comes from the same cause - Geno gets mad and does something stupid. The difference is that, until now, Geno's temper tantrums have only ever almost cost his team a goal. But on Friday, he could have really hurt Wayne Simmonds. That's not good. There is no place in today's NHL for this kind of behavior, and Geno has already had a disciplinary hearing by phone regarding this incident. (As of this moment, there has been no suspension, but that doesn't mean it won't be announced just before the start of this afternoon's game.)

As much as I hate to say it, I do think Geno should get a one- or two-game suspension from this. I know from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's poll that 78% of participants do not feel the same way I do, but before anyone jumps down my throat, take a second to think about what you would want to happen to Simmonds if the situation had been reversed and it was he who clocked Geno in the head. Think about how we'd all be calling for a suspension and a fine for Simmonds - or at the very least, a few minutes on the ice one-on-one with Eric Godard. What are your thoughts on this one?

Thanks so much to Donna for sending in her account from the Pens v Bruins game. :) The Pens face the Flyers this afternoon.

DO IT.

GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pens v Kings

Sad news today - Penguins and Pirates organist Vince Lascheid died this morning. You may not have known his name, but you most likely have heard his music. He played at Penguins games from 1970-2003 and was inducted into the Penguins Hall of Fame in 2003. He was 85.

NHL.com has a little something you can read while you wait for the puck to drop on tonight's matchup against the L.A. Kings. Staff writer Dan Rosen decided to write a book (well, not literally, haha, but it's a loooong article) about the Pens' remarkable progress under Interim Head Coach Dan Bylsma. Check it out: Penguins Are Writing a Successful Story.

Can you believe there are only ten games are left in the regular season?! I don't know about you, but I'm SO not ready for the season to end. And if I know anything about our Boys, it's that they will NOT be satisfied with a trip to the golf course on April 12^th. So it's a very good thing that they're slowly but surely climbing the up those standings. :)

GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pens v Thrashers (W 6-2)

WOW. I took a ton of photos. I actually can't believe I took this many because it didn't seem like I got that many at the time. But I couldn't decide which ones to share with you, and since Photobucket has made it relatively easy to do, I'd hook you up with a bunch of the best ones.

When we got to Pittsburgh, it was incredible to see how much work has been completed on the new arena. It's ironic, but now that we've FINALLY gotten all the signatures, it's all happening so fast! My husband (who will henceforth be known on The Show as "woodstock" - hahaha!) and I were 16 rows behind the Pens' bench. It was the closest we've ever been to the bench. I got to stand almost at the glass to snap a few shots during the Boys' warmups.

If you couldn't tell by the anniversary date, Is D’Eirinn Mé. Okay, actually my ancestors were of Ireland, but I'm extremely proud of my heritage. The Pens paid tribute to the holiday with shamrocks throughout their graphics and by playing Irish tunes like Mychael Danna's The Blood of Cu Chulain (which is also the theme song to The Boondock Saints) and Drunken Lullabies by Flogging Molly. They combined my two favorite things - Ireland and Penguins hockey. It was like heaven for me!

Siddo pulled off a move that, had he scored, would have been (to quote Steigy) one for the ages. When Geno scored those back-to-back goals, it was almost like none of us knew what hit us. We were like, "Did he just do that - again?!" The rest of the game was spent hoping for a hatty on St. Patty's, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. Then Flower made a save that dazzled us. I immediately said, "I need to see that on the replay when we get home!" and the guy in front of us said, "I know, right?!"

I included one shot of Sidney Penguin that I took while his human counterpart was in the background so you could see the holiday attire I found for him. I will be sending the rest of my Roamer pics to Stephanie. :)

It was nice to see Colby Armstrong again, especially since he was wearing the A and (evidently) took the role of acting captain on behalf of the absent Ilya Kovalchuk. It's a shame that Kovalchuk was out - woodstock wanted to see him play, and I was disappointed that Siddo wouldn't have anyone to point at after he scored. :P

There was a lot tension between the teams practically all night, but when it reached the boiling point towards the end of the third, it was pretty intense. I wasn't sure that the officials were going to be able to separate the teams! When all was said and done, a very, VERY red-with-anger Mad Max was led away followed shortly thereafter by Eric Godard. I got a picture of Godard being led away, but I missed getting a shot of Max because the melee was still happening and I was enthralled.

It was an extremely fun experience for us. In all the games we've attended, we've never seen a penalty shot, so that was really cool. We've never seen a hat trick, either, but there's always next time! I was surprised to see just how many people left before the game was over. Our philosophy is that we pay a lot of money and travel 100 miles, so we always stay behind to watch the three stars be announced. They were Siddo, Gonch, and Geno (in order from 3 to 1).

When we got to my car, the parking lot was still a bit of a mad house, so we just kind of stood and talked. Suddenly, we heard a loud BANG!! followed by a FFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTT sound. Some poor dumb sucker two rows in front of us turned the steering wheel just a wee bit too much and hit one of the light poles. He didn't hurt the body of his car, but he popped his tire something fierce! It was completely flat in about 90 seconds. I felt so bad for him, but he had his friend there to help him out.

It was a fantastic way to celebrate eight blissfully married years. :D A sampling of my photos follows. I was thinking of making the original sized version of the one of Siddo smilin' like a butcher's dog available as a wallpaper, since I imagine that one will be pretty popular. But if there's another shot that you like, tell us in The Friends' Zone and maybe if a bunch of people want it, I'll make it available, too. Enjoy!! :)