Siddo v Ballard

Here is the footage of Siddo's valiant effort to defend his fellow superstar and the head-jarring hit on Geno that preceded it. FYI - brace yourself because these are the Florida announcers, and they must be watching a different fight than what this video shows. It's the only explanation I can think of for the "clock cleaned" comment one of them makes:



Immediately following the fisticuffs, I turned to woodstock and said, "I love it that Sid is (finally) so willing to throw down... I just wish he was a little better at it!" ;)

He's young, though, so don't overlook the progress in that area that he's made in his four years in the NHL - especially considering that he only had his first real fight in the last half of the last season. If he continues to defend himself and his teammates (which I have no doubt he will), he'll be taking jerks down in no time.

And in case you haven't gotten your fill, here's a still from the fight that is suitable for use as a wallpaper:

NOBODY up-ends the NHL's top scorer without having to eat a little ice. (Click to supersize.)

Don't forget! Playoff tickets are going on sale tomorrow morning at 10am Eastern. I'm going for a pair. Good luck to those of you who will be joining me in the virtual stampede. Make sure you are already registered with Ticketmaster and signed in before 10am.

Next up: Tomorrow we're playing the Pittsburgh Penguins redux Tampa Bay Lightning. I think only a win by a big margin will help erase the ugliness that was yesterday's Panthers game. ;)

Come on, Boys! Let's DO IT already!!

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

The Ice Brawl

I've gotten SEVERAL e-mail requests to find and post this video. I've done it one better - here are two different clips of the free-for-all that occurred 25 seconds into last Saturday's game against Vancouver. I couldn't decide which one to post, so I figured I would just post them both. Besides, it's so good you'll want to watch it again. ;)

Widescreen:



Fullscreen (this one has slightly better video quality):



I'm aiming to have another installment of The Musings of Mad Max Talbot for tomorrow's post. And I've e-mailed the people at Versus to bug them for the audio of the Engblom conference call - you have NO IDEA how badly I want to tell you all about it. :)

Pens v Habs: Sidney's Got An Attitude

We here at The Sidney Crosby Show are blessed with the best Friends. I'm always getting assists from you guys, and today is no different. Last night, the Penguins faced the Canadiens in a preseason matchup. The Pens lost in overtime with a final score of 2 - 3. (>_<) Here are the first hand accounts of Friends of The Show Lana M. and Lisa-Marie W., who were both lucky enough to attend last night's game.

From Lana:

So they lost in OT but it was great to see them back on the ice. Crosby looked great out there. Just before he scored his first goal, i called it. He was just in his spot and i cheered. So what if i was the only one in my sections or a few sections for that matter, it felt good. He seems to get more emotional when he plays here. At least in my opinion he seems to but Komisarek was on the guy all night, can't blame him for fighting back.

Oooh, and on a side note, it may seem a little lame but Malone flipped me a puck and Malkin was in the press box in front of me and said hi. Go Pens.

No, Lana, that's not lame. That's AWESOME.

The new threads look pretty good.

From Lisa-Marie:

Crosby scored, from the absolute WEIRDEST angle I've ever seen, and he ricocheted it off Komisarek's stick. From the replay--it honestly looks like he did it on purpose. Seriously. He took a few dumb penalties--but that was more the ref's fault. He'd call tripping when Sid was going after the puck and the other guy just tripped. But in fairness, a lot of players got called for penalties on Sidney, too. I was kinda surprised, but happy.

The Croz got into a scuffle with Komisarek late in the third. A dumb thing to do, Komisarek is twice his size and a beast, but I admire Crosby's bravery and take-no-shit attitude. Komisarek cross-checked him, then when Crosby drove the net he tripped him and Crosby went crashing to the ice. The goalie gave him a shot, and a Habs player kneed him. The Kid got back up, took a slash at Komisarek, and a general scuffle of face washing and trash talking ensued. Komisarek and another Hab got a penalty, and Crosby and Recchi took a penalty each, so it was 3 vs 3 in overtime. Crosby and Komisarek were standing up and yelling at each other in the box--is it me, or do you just LOVE it when players trash talk? oh, if I could hear what they said. I mean, I could make ot a few words. "F*CK" and any variation of the word is pretty clear.

I think that "F*CK" might be Sid's favorite verb, Lisa-Marie. Just ask Bryan Murray...

Ladies, thanks for sharing your stories with us!!!

Penguins 6 - Leafs 5 (OT): Jordan Staals Toronto

It was a wild night between the Leafs and the Penguins, and Sidney was almost just a spectator to the night's events.

The Penguins won 6-5, thanks to the hat-trick heroics of young Jordan Staal, who, like Sidney, is also not legal age to drink alky in the US o A.

The wildness was not limited to the scoreboard, as Ronald Petrovicky and Kris Newbury had a fight that will be talked about for some time...
Hockey Rants has more on the fight, including the video clip!

Recap from NHL.com:

Jordan Staal capped a tight game with his first career hat trick in a city he dreamed about playing in.

Staal scored his third goal of the game at 3:54 of overtime to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 6-5 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.

Staal has seven goals in the last five games for the Penguins, who have points in 13 straight games (11-0-2) for the first time since a 14-game run (12-0-2) from Dec. 19, 1996, to Jan. 21, 1997.

The 18-year-old forward - from North Bay, Ontario - said he was nervous playing in front of a national television audience on CBC's "Hockey Night in Canada."

"It's a dream come true to even play in this rink," Staal said. "I remember watching games a couple of years ago. Now that I'm here, it's so amazing. A great game to top it off."

Staal has 23 goals, four behind teammate Evgeni Malkin for the NHL rookie lead.

"It seems like everything is working for me," Staal said. "Hopefully, I'll keep it going and get this team in the playoffs."

Veteran teammate Mark Recchi said Staal has been "unbelievable."

"We've had a lot of guys chip in, but Jordan has been tremendous for us through this stretch," Recchi said. "It's remarkable to me how he's just kept getting better and better from Day 1 of the season. He never played left wing before."

Maple Leafs center Kris Newbury was taken off the ice on a stretcher late in the third period after a fight with Pittsburgh's Ronald Petrovicky. The Toronto forward took several punches to the head before falling to the ice. He stayed motionless for several minutes before taken being off.

The two dropped gloves 33 seconds after Pittsburgh tied it at 5, and the game was delayed for about 6 minutes.

"He's alert and he was on the ice when he left," Toronto coach Paul Maurice said. "He's conscious and talking. We'll test him out tonight and tomorrow."

Maurice said it reminds him how violent the game can be.

"It doesn't matter how tough you are or how many punches you've taken if you get hit in the right spot you're going down," Maurice said. "It's a pretty serious business when they drop those gloves."

As for Sidney, he finished with just a lone assist and EVEN in 21:03. It's nice to see the Penguins can rack up a few points when Sidney isn't always the star of the night.