Sid v Max

Look for this to air during the 2010 Winter Classic. Many thanks to Friends of The Show Cathy F. and Nicole G. for finding the link to the article with the commercial.

I Have To Buy an Olympic 'A'

WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!

Siddo and Flower were named to the Team Canada Olympic roster! :D Not only did Sid make this Olympic team, he was named an Alternate Captain. (Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer was named Captain.) Anyone of you, like me, who already got Sid's Olympic jersey may now have to find and purchase the 'A' for the chest. I was poking around online and saw that some websites are offering the jersey with the 'A' included, but woodstock got my jersey from a local sports apparel store called Shenk & Tittle, and it does not have the 'A' on the chest. So if I find a place to buy it, I'll post a link on The Show for anyone else who may need it.


With Siddo and MAF making Team Canada and Geno and Gonch making Team Russia, the total number of Penguins playing in the Olympics for certain right now is four. Team USA will announce their roster during the 2010 Winter Classic. Perhaps we'll be adding a few more names to the Olympic list!

This is such good news I almost forgot about the blown 3 goal lead from last night... ALMOST. >:( Because of my season series bet with Johnny Sabre, now I have to wear a Sabres jersey. Hopefully my skin doesn't melt. :P

Tonight the Boys are in New Jersey where Flower will be playing against his Team Canada teammate Martin Brodeur. The third goalie named to Team Canada was, of course, Roberto Luongo of the Canucks. The complete Team Canada roster follows:

GOALTENDERS

Martin Brodeur, New Jersey

Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh

Roberto Luongo, Vancouver

DEFENSEMEN

Dan Boyle, Ottawa

Drew Doughty, Los Angeles

Duncan Keith, Chicago

Scott Niedermayer, Anaheim (C)

Chris Pronger, Philadelphia (A)

Brent Seabrook, Chicago

Shea Weber, Nashville

FORWARDS

Patrice Bergeron, Boston

Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh (A)

Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim

Dany Heatley, San Jose

Jarome Iginla, Calgary (A)

Patrick Marleau, San Jose

Brenden Morrow, Dallas

Rich Nash, Columbus

Corey Perry, Anaheim

Michael Richards, Philadelphia

Erc Staal, Carolina

Joe Thornton, San Jose

Jonathan Toews, Chicago

Congratulations, Sid and Marc-Andre!

GO PENS!!!!!!

Pens v Leafs

I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday. My fabulous husband got me Sid's 2010 Winter Olympics jersey! :D It's gorgeous! I did my best to get a shot of all those little graphics in the maple leaf, but since it's kind of shiny, the flash kept reflecting back. So I took a picture on low speed with no flash and then used Photoshop to brighten it a little bit. It didn't turn out as good as I had hoped. It has a slightly eerie glow, but at least you can see the detail (which was the point in the first place):


Speaking of the 2010 Olympics... Congratulations go out to Geno and Gonch! Both made the cut for the Russian Olympic team! I have to say it will be strange to be rooting against them. ;) Tonight the Pens host the Leafs before taking off for back-to-back road games.

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

Seasons Greetings from TSCS

Best. Holiday commercial. EVER.


Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, and Happy Holidays to all of you. You've helped make a very tough year (for me personally) a little easier to get through. Thank you with all sincerity. May you and yours have a safe and joyous holiday. :)

Nollaig Shona Daoibh!!!

Pens v Devils

WOOOOOO!!! I'm going back to work tomorrow! :) I really miss my coworkers. Being sick for a week makes you feel like you've been isolated for months. I only left the house once this week to go a mile and a half to the doctor! I'm WICKEDLY behind on my Christmas preparations, but honestly, I'm just grateful I'm going to be well enough to see my Gram on Christmas day. :) :) :) :) :)

The Devils are in town. The victor of this game (our Boys, of course) will occupy the top spot in both the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference. Eaton is out due to the injury he sustained midway through the Sabres match; Skoula is in. Brodeur broke another record recently, which almost makes me want to respect him... But then I remember that whole sister-in-law incident, and it reminds me why I don't. (He and Tiger Woods - and probably about 100,000 other pro athletes - should start a d-bag cheaters club. Oy.)

I think I'm going to wrap presents while I watch the game. There's snow outside, my kitchen smells like a bakery, there are gifts for under the tree, and there's a great hockey match on the TV. I just LOVE this time of year!

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

Pens v Sabres

The Pens simply MUST win this one for me: I have a bet with my Sabre-loving former boss (who will henceforth be known as Johnny Sabre). We've actually got individual bets for each time the Pens and Sabres meet this season. The loser has to wear the winner's jersey on the following dress down Friday. We haven't finalized what will occur when the regular season meetings are complete, but I don't have to worry about that because the Pens are going to win them all just for me! ;)

Just a random FYI: Penicillin is not the miracle drug I thought it was going to be. Oh sure, I know its discovery changed the course of humankind for the better, but MAN! It is not working fast enough for me. I still feel like mud. Luckily, the Red Baron seems to recognize that I'm not well because he's been EXTREMELY mellow this week. I do have be careful, though - if I give him any indication that I'm feeling even slightly better, he stops whatever he is doing to charge me. Let me tell you, there is nothing in this world more terrifying or more adorable than an Irish Setter puppy running at you full on! :)

I've got another week of treatment to go, but I'm hoping to be a little better and get back into the swing of things in time for the New Jersey game. Until then,

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

One Downside

I love my job. After a year there, I still love it as much as I did that first month. But I realized that there is one major downside to working at a school: I have been sick more times this year than I had been throughout the previous 5 maybe even 10 years put together. I'm really sick again (I'm hoping to get a morning doctor's appointment after failing to beat this on my own), and I just wanted to let you all know so you didn't think I was bailing on TSCS.

Since I'm posting this from my bed with my Droid I can't format the text, but as always...

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

Pens v Canadiens

There are TONS of good stories and videos on the Pens' website right now. Actually, if that's not a regular stop in your daily web travels, you're seriously missing out.

Another piece of the Penguins puzzle is back - Gogo is in tonight's lineup. That means all of our D-men are healthy again [*KNOCKS ON WOOD*] leaving only forward Kuni as the last injured Penguin yet to return.

From Stanley Cup winners to Santa's helpers - this team is amazing. :)

Siddo and Rupp are dominating the team right now; both are playing out of their minds. Tank seems to be struggling a little bit - he's been playing really well and seems to be doing everything right but that goal just keeps eluding him. At this point, it's likely now more of a mental wall that's blocking him, so look for his points total to blow up once he finally breaks it.

Even though we ultimately lost to the Canes on Monday, the way the Boys were able to mount an almost-comeback demonstrates that there really isn't a problem to worry about. Obviously, in an 82 game season we're not going to win them all. That said, I want this particular losing streak to end at 2.

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

Pens v Canes

Three words:


SIDDO IS BACK!!!!!!!


Enough said.

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

Pens v Blackhawks

It figures. :( Just when he's on a hot streak, Siddo gets sidelined by his old groin injury. Unfortunately, groin injuries are nasty. They take forever and a day to heal. So it's better for him to take a night or two off than ignore it and end up missing a big chunk of the season.

I don't have a lot of time tonight because I'm making a big dinner because woodstock and I both have the same day off on a game night (well, that and I want to play with my new DROID!!), but I thought I'd share a few of pictures of Killian experiencing snow for the first time:




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

Pens v Avs

Colorado is coming to the Mellon tonight after losing to the Panthers in a shootout last night. Rupp is having a banner season, Siddo is a machine, the regular roster is returning to normal, and collectively the Boys are playing solid hockey. :)

In the meantime, here is a screen grab of the picture Friend of The Show MouthGuard told us about in The Friends' Zone in the last post. It's a priceless shot of MAF doing to IFHSA™ what I'm sure we all wish we could do to him:

Somehow I bet even that didn't shut him up.

I thought I would share with you how you can grab your own screenshots, since there are a TON of great photos in Flash slideshows. I have an iMac now, and it's super easy with OS X. But there's a neat (FREE!) utility that I use on the Windows 7 side to make my life easier. Instructions for both operating systems follow.

WINDOWS USERS: Click here and download MWSnap. It's a FREE utility that allows you to save snapshots of entire windows or portions of windows in five different image formats (.jpg, .bmp, .gif, .png, and .tif). It's not hard at all to figure out how to use.

MAC OS X USERS: There's a really simple way to do screen capture images already available. All you have to do is press the command + shift + 3 keys simultaneously. You'll hear a camera click, and the image file (a .png file) will be instantly saved to your desktop. This method saves a screenshot of the content visible in the entire display. But if you just want a portion of a certain window, use command + shift + 4. The cursor will change to a + that you can click, hold, and drag over the portion you wish to save. Again, you'll hear the camera click, and the image will be saved to your desktop. With this method, you don't have to crop the image out of the rest of the display. :)

Smack talk time: The Penguins are on fire! They're so hot, they're going to melt the Avalanche!

:-/

Ooooohh...... Not so much good at the smack talk, am I? ;)

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

Instant Karma's Gonna Get You...

Now anyone who has read The Show for any extended period knows I don't like it when ANY player gets hurt - ever. But I couldn't help but see a measure of poetic justice in the following incident involving none other than A-hOle™ himself. Here's the video of the deliberate knee-on-knee hit he put on the Carolina Hurricanes' Tim Gleason:


Thankfully A-hOle™ himself took the worst of that hit while Gleason is okay. This makes the second boneheaded hit A-hOle™ has delivered in three games. (He was previously nailed for boarding Patrick Kaleta of my old boss's beloved Buffalo Sabres.) And now even his own coach is saying that he is irresponsible on the ice:

After two years of essentially letting Ovechkin be Ovechkin, [Head Coach Bruce] Boudreau said it might be time for a heart-to-heart talk.

"He's pretty reckless," he said. "It's hard telling a guy that scores 60 goals a year to change the way he plays. At the same time, I don't want to see him getting hurt. Maybe he has to pick his spots a little better. The open-ice hits, you just look around the league. It's not only the hitter, it's the guy that gets hit. ... It's something that will have to be addressed by us, I guess. ... Not only as a coach, but as somebody who admires him, I just don't want him to put himself in harm's way, so we'll see."

I mostly agree with what Boudreau said, but I really don't care for how easily he glossed over the risk that Ovechkin poses to others when he makes these stupid hits. Just ask Gonch. Well, the NHL (finally!) suspended A-hOle™ for two games for the hit - two games he probably wouldn't be able to play anyways since he's the one who ended up getting injured. He'll also forfeit $98,844.16 of his salary to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund. Remember - the NHL just suspended Cooker this:


By comparison, are these hits equal? No way! Cooker hit with his shoulder as Anisimov was caught with his head down as (for whatever reason) he watched his own pass rather than paying attention to the players on the ice around him. On the other hand, A-hOle™ clearly and intentionally stuck his knee out to make contact with Gleason. So should the punishments have been equal? NO WAY!

Despite the suspension, somehow I doubt this is the last time we'll be talking about a dirty hit from Alexander Ovechkin. Perhaps he might have gotten the message if the NHL would have ordered the suspension to begin once he's been cleared to play. But I guess they'd rather wait until he ends someone's career to get that "harsh."

Share your opinion in The Friends' Zone below - even if you're a Caps fan. But please be mature enough to follow the guidelines listed in The Friends' Zone Policies. Comments that violate them will be deleted.

Pens v Rangers

Here we go again! This is sure to be a crazy rematch.

First things first: SIDDO GOT FIRST STAR OF THE WEEK! :) :) :) :) As if it could have been anyone else after his performance this week!

Gogo (apparently also known as Goose, haha!) is out again. He's got a "lower body injury" which some are interpreting to be an aggravated groin injury. And by now you have probably heard that Cooker is out, too. He was suspended for 2 games for the hit on Anisimov - a punishment that seems like it may have been a little harsher because he is Matt Cooke. I'm no official, but that was not a deliberate head shot. But since he was suspended in January, he's considered a repeat offender. That also means he'll forfeit $29,000 of his salary to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund.

But really, I need someone (anyone!) to explain to me why Cooker was suspended but Avery was not. (Check out this excellent write up about the situation on The Bleacher Report and the lack of consistency from the NHL regarding these punishments or lack thereof.)

This drawing of Super Mario was provided by good Friend of The Show Sid-drawing Jan. I know it's kind of random in relation to the content of this post, but really - who doesn't want to see more Lemieux? :)

I'm sure IFHSA™ will give us even more reasons to hate him. Funny how the big D-bag suffered no further ramifications after he took a run at our Captain's head in the last game (which was the catalyst of the ugliness that ultimately led to the Cooke/Anisimov incident) AND the cowardly unprovoked attack on a completely unsuspecting Fedotenko. (Yeah, I said attack. It's only a fight if the other guy participates.) Fortunately, Siddo saw him coming and ducked out of danger, and Tank wasn't injured. We'll see if he tries anything that stupid again tonight, and more importantly, if he does, whether or not the NHL will do anything about it.

You'll recall that I said I'd share my belated birthday gift from the G twins. 1WingAngel and her sister Nicole G. sent me this email:

Happy Belated Birthday, Jodie!!! [snoop: Thank you! :)]



I'm very happy to let you know that my sister, Nicole, and I recently achieved what we'd like to call our "Roaming Penguin Hat Trick" -- all three of our Roamers are now signed by their respective players! And yes, that means Marc-Andre Penguin (Nov. 3, 2008), Max Penguin (Dec. 1, 2008), AND a certain Sidney Penguin... ;)

Sidney Penguin met his human counterpart today after the Boys' game day skate. Nicole and I arrived at the Igloo at about noon (we cheated because we now live at Duquesne University, less than ten minutes away on foot) and stood along the green fence just outside of Gate 2 alongside a HUUUUUUGE crowd. I was certain that hardly anyone on the roster would approach this unusually large crowd, but I was soon proven wrong.


A young hockey team, the Peterborough Petes (Jordan Staal's team from his younger years), was in town, and some of the guys couldn't resist visiting them. Tyler Kennedy walked right up to the crowd and made his way down the line, then Ruslan Fedotenko followed suit. Jordan Staal and Eric Godard then walked to their cars, but when the young hockey players were escorted into the parking lot, Staalsy paid a visit to his former team... and that's when I noticed Sidney Crosby walking towards the group.


I tapped Nicole (he's her favorite player), and we watched as he signed autographs for the boys and posed for photos. Then he also walked to the long line of fans and proceeded along the fence. I was stunned, because I hadn't thought for a moment that Sid would approach such a sizable group. I put my jersey aside so that I could document Nicole holding out her Sidney Penguin for Sid to sign. Said documentation has been uploaded to my YouTube account, and here's the link.


Notes:
--The woman following him is a Penguins' employee. She set the rules for how long Sid signed for the crowd, and maintained control.

--Sid initially missed Nicole because he was in a conversation with a fan, and Nicole wasn't holding SP over the fence. She didn't want to risk dropping him (although, if she HAD dropped SP over the fence, wouldn't it have been something if Sid picked it up?? :) ).

--The quality is awful because it was recorded by my anxious self using my digital camera...

-- The first two attached photos are of Sid meeting the Peterborough Petes. The third is apparently a look at Sid's thighs... taken by Nicole. The fourth is our RPHT. And last is a screenshot of SC and SP. :)


So there you have it. Sidney Crosby met Sidney Penguin today... and Mama G., Nicole G., and myself have an unofficial "Roaming Penguin Hat Trick!"

GO PENS!!!

Good grief, that is BEYOND AWESOME!!! Siddo finally met his Roaming counterpart! How cool. :D :D :D :D :D Congrats, ladies! Thanks SO MUCH for sharing this with us.

Strap in for what could be a bumpy ride at Madison Square Garden...

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

Pens v Rangers (W 8-3)

What. A. Game. The Pens absolutely decimated the Rangers. Sid was amazing. How freaking awesome was the hat trick on hat night?! :) In all, he earned five points. What a player.

Okay, so I have made a change in the way comments are made. We've been getting hit pretty hard with spam comments about where to buy Viagra and how to use Playstation 3 consoles. (WTF?!) Up until recently, they were only hitting old posts, so I've been spending a good bit of time deleting them by hand. But this is becoming cumbersome, and yesterday they started hitting the current post. So from now on, you'll have to fill in a captcha before your comment will post. Hopefully this will deter the culprits.

Good Friend of The Show Jaime sent me a few pictures to share with everyone. She made a wallpaper using all the best shots of Siddo following the Cup win in response to the NHL's "This is Our Year" campaign:

Click to enlarge

She also cleaned up the scan of the picture of Mario, Sid, and the Cup that I pulled from the Reflections on a Season 2009 book:

Click to enlarge

And she sent us these scans. Jaime's friend Lizzy B. is a talented artist and drew a few pics of the Saint and one stunning picture of Le Magnifique:

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

Amazing work, Lizzy! :) Tomorrow we face the Rangers again, this time at Madison Square Garden. Look for this one to be intense. They'll be looking for revenge after being humiliated in Pittsburgh.

Also tomorrow: I'll share with you a belated birthday present I got from good Friends 1WingAngel and Nicole G... ;)

GO PENS!!!!!!!!

Pens v Isles

I hope everyone's holiday was as nice as mine was. :) It's an early game today. The Pens are braving their way through New York Black Friday traffic to get to the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum to face the Islanders at 2:00pm Eastern.

If you haven't seen this yet, check out the awesomeness that is the Penguins and Paws 2010 calendar.


The Pittsburgh Penguins Wives Association and Met Vet present a calendar full of our Boys with their own furry friends as well as some pets that are currently up for adoption. Proceeds from the calendar benefit Animal Friends and the Animal Rescue League of Western Pennsylvania. What a fabulous Christmas gift idea, right? :) :) :) They'll be selling it at the Mellon Arena beginning this December, or you can buy it online here. I'm going to have to get two - one for home and one for the office. :)


Maybe today Godard will get the goal that was JUST BARELY out of his reach on Wednesday...

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

Pens v Canadiens

I am elbow deep in Thanksgiving dinner prep cooking. This will be my third consecutive year preparing the big feast for woodstock and me; however, it is my first time hosting guests. Originally, it was only going to be my sister, but my father just called to tell me he and my mom may come down for dinner. It's not like there won't be enough food - I got a 20 pound turkey for free this year! The problem is now I'm nervous... If something gets burned or otherwise ruined, it's on me. O_o Here's hoping it all goes off without a hitch!

Since I know I won't have time to do this tomorrow, let me take a minute to wish you all a happy, blessed, fattening, and safe Thanksgiving with your families. :)


Now, COME ON, BOYS! Get that victory and give us all one more thing to be thankful for tomorrow!

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

Pens v Panthers

The Pens are in Florida gearing up to face the Panthers. None of our other injured Boys are scheduled to return. Hopefully our Captain is feeling better (although, how amazing was that performance against the Thrashers from a sicko Siddo??). Speaking of Sid, I'm going with a totally random shot of him today. I found it when I was looking for good pics of him with the Olympic Torch. I can only guess that it comes from an advertisement that was meant to encourage youngsters to eat healthier foods, but it just creeps me the hell out:



I don't know about you, but the detailed view of his internal organs makes me the opposite of hungry for Kellogg's food...

Anyhoo,

GO PENS!!!!!!!!!

Pens v Thrashers

The good news keeps coming: Even though he took a puck to the face resulting in 10 stiches, BROOKSIE IS BACK!!! :) :) :) :) :)

Four down (Geno, Max, Gonch, & Brooks), five to go (TK, Kuni, Tanger, Gogo, & McKee)...

Mad Max will be playing on Siddo's line, so look for something special to happen there. We'll get to see our old friend Colby Armstrong. And don't forget there's definitely no love lost between Kovalchuk and our title man. We all know what happens when Sid gets mad, right? POINTS!

Get ready for a good one.

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

A Personal Update

Hey, I just wanted to let anyone who cares know that late last night, my Gram's doctors finally concluded that the risks of not doing surgery outweighed the risks of going through with it, so this afternoon, she had her gall bladder removed. It was the best we could hope for: she made it through with flying colors!!! :D :D :D :D :D

We kind of have to play it by ear to see if she suffered any long term effects on her mental capacities, but the surgeon and the doctors seem very optimistic. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to any of you who said a prayer or sent out a positive vibe into the universe for my Gram. I cannot even put into words how much that means to me.

Since there isn't a game tonight, I thought you might like to see a little more Killian. Here's a cute shot of the Red Baron (LOVE that nickname, Bill - it's perfect!) on my couch with his blanket:

Pens v Sens

Folks, we've got GREAT news tonight...

MAX IS BACK!!!!!!

AND SO IS GONCH!!!!!

After losing half of the team to injury/illness, the return of these two key players is enormous. Their return is as important as Geno's return. However, all is not well: our honorary backup goalie, Jay McKee (who leads the league in blocked shots) is out for 2 to 4 weeks with an infected finger. Oy. Two steps forward and one step back... :(

Anyhow, you can pass the time until the game begins by checking out a video and some photos of our Captain with the Olympic Torch! :)

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

Sidney Crosby Carries The Olympic Torch

Last night, Sidney Crosby carried the Olympic Torch through his native Nova Scotia. Here are the highlights (there's a Chinese ad before the video, but the report itself is in English):














Congratulations, Sid. It is a well deserved honor. :)

What a Month

As I said before, I'm not deliberately trying to neglect TSCS. I'm still getting accustomed to having a puppy that I have to monitor constantly, and my Gram has been on a health rollercoaster (we're not sure what's happening to her - she keeps getting sick, and doctors think it might be her gallbladder but she can't get surgery because it might kill her). Needless to say, life has been a little hectic around here.

(Greyhounds left to right:) Connor, Logan, Link, and Killian in a rare moment of calm. It's amazing how well behaved they can be when they're waiting for a treat. ;)

We did take a break from it yesterday and headed to Pittsburgh for the game. It was a really good time. I really needed the break. (Parking was insane, though!) The Guerin/Getzlaf brawl was the highlight of the evening for me, second only to meeting Iceburgh in the hall. He is as charming as ever. :) I got a few good pictures for you.

Gronk's shorty:


Siddo:


My first look at the new banner:


The coaches:


Guerin schooling Getzlaf:


The victorious team:


I thought this was weird... The attempt at smack talk fails epically because, um, ducks are birds too:


You have to ignore the grossness of the sidewalk to appreciate this last one:



I apologize for missing most of the beginning of this season. Things will hopefully calm down soon. I so miss doing The Show. :(

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

Pens v Bruins

Okay, I'm so not trying to ignore this blog on purpose. The Red Devil (a.k.a. Killian) is a handful of energy, and we still have to monitor him constantly because he wants to play but the Greyhounds are 8 times his size. In his defense, he's finally beginning to settle in a bit, but because woodstock and I are working the same shift this week, Big K has been spending 8 hours in a small room by himself and is a complete tornado when we get home. I'll post some more pictures of him soon. :)

Anyhow, we're watching this one online because Versus and DirecTV both suck. Even though the picture quality is terrible this time around, I somehow doubt it will be as painful to watch this game as it was to watch Saturday's. O_o

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

Pens v Kings

Tonight our Boys will be facing the Kings, which means we'll be seeing Rob Scuderi skating with the bad guys. No word on whether or not Sid will be in goal. ;) (How amazing was that save? All those summers spent in between the pipes while playing street hockey really paid off! What a player.)

The Pens are still taking names and kickin' arse. L.A. isn't going to know what hit them.

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


[ Posted from my iPod Touch using the BlogPress App ]

Pens v Ducks

Okay, I'm trying this iPod app again. The Boys begin a weeklong tour out West. Siddo has been a man on fire lately and shows no signs of slowing down. There won't be a recap tonight - these late games don't even start until my bedtime, haha!!! ;)

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


[ Posted from my iPod using the BlogPress App ]

Pens v Wild (L 1-2)

Flower will be in net. Syko will be in the bad guys' uni. We will again be missing some key players... But we will still manage to get the job done. Bring it, Minnesota!

---

Oh, boy. Be careful what you wish for, eh? Minnesota (read: Backstrom) certainly brought it tonight.

FIRST PERIOD

• "Count Steigula" welcomed us to the Mellon Arena. O_o
• Gronk beautifully set Bourque up twice. On the second chance, Bourque was hooked by Belanger. The Pens didn't score on their advantage.
• Following a shot from the point by Kobasew, the rebound went out in front for Brodziak. He promptly banged it into the net. [Pens 0, Wild 1]



• Steelers star safety Troy Polamalu was shown wearing a Crosby jersey in Mario's box.
• FSN PGH cut away to show the starting lineup introduce themselves when the Pens won a faceoff to the point to Super Duper for a 1-timer that tied the game. [Pens 1, Wild 1] Backstrom was completely frozen, so Duper basically had an empty net. He's worked so hard this season without reward, so it was nice to see him get one. :)



• The Wild went at the Pens all the way to the end of the period. It paid off - with just 0.6 seconds left in the period, Belanger scored. [Pens 1, Wild 2]

SECOND PERIOD

• A short clip from the warmup was shown: Syko gave a tap to Godard's shin guard to say hi as Siddo was gliding in and tapping Syko's guard for the same reason.
• woodstock was irate as he noticed a woman seated in the row behind the glass behind assistant coach Mike Yeo was knitting.



• Lots of offensive work by the Pens failed to pay off because Backstrom was stopping everything.
• During one shift, Cooker lost his edge on a bad blade and fell then broke his stick.
• Sid was called for slashing. On the ensuing penalty kill, Cooker got away with a trip. The Wild didn't add to their lead.
• Gronk shot wide on a wide open net.
• Then the highlight of the game (at least it was for me) happened. Zidlicky and Siddo got their skates tangled. Zidlicky ended up kicking Sid's left leg out from under him, which sent him hard into the boards. Predictably, Sid wasn't happy about that, so he responded by pushing him. They ended up whacking each other a few times before ultimately deciding to do the man dance. Advantage: Sid. Why? See for yourself.



• Both players were assessed a slashing minor and a fighting major. Sid on the fight: "It's not something I want to make a habit of, but I was a little ticked off." Neither team scored as a result of these penalties.
• With about 1:30 left in the period, Schultz slashed and broke Guerin's stick. The Pens didn't score on the abbreviated power play.

THIRD PERIOD

• The Pens didn't score on the remainder of the power play, either.
• Rupp destroyed Zanon with a big hit. He was slow to get up and even slower to get off the ice. So slow in fact that the Wild ended up taking a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty because of it. Syko served the penalty. On the ensuing power play, Siddo's stick was slashed and broken but the infraction was not called. To make matters worse, while Sid was talking to the ref about it, the puck was dropped for the next faceoff without him. The Pens failed to tie the game with a man advantage.



• Syko and Letang had an incident. They deliberately hit each other. In doing so, Syko brought his stick up and over Letang's face. Shockingly, BOTH men were called for coincidental high sticks. I'm not trying to be biased - I really didn't see why Letang was called. Either way, no one scored on the 4 on 4.
• The Pens threw everything but the kitchen sink at Backstrom, but he just wouldn't budge.



• Rupp and Scott were shown having words with each other. No punches were thrown, but both men were thrown into their respective boxes for unsportsmanlike conduct. (I wonder what they were saying that was that bad???) Again, no one scored on the 4 on 4.
• With less than 2 minutes to go in the game, Adams had an amazing chance. It didn't end with a goal. It created a series of great chances for the Pens that culminated in chaos in front of Backstrom. Unfortunately the puck never crossed the goal line. In the frenzy, Belanger took a stick to the face that left him pouring blood out on to the ice. He left immediately for treatment.



• The Pens pulled Flower in favor of the extra attacker, and even though they put forth a valiant effort, the tying goal remained elusive. The Wild walked away with the win, despite having 20 less shots on goal.

POSTGAME THOUGHTS

• The Pens fought hard and played well, but Backstrom was a brick wall.
• How about the Captain throwing down to try to get his team back into it?! There is one thing that irked me though. Both the Wild announcers (in the video above) and Steigy and Errey said that Sid picked a non-fighter. But think about it - this is only Siddo's 3^rd fight in 5 seasons in the NHL. He's not exactly a professional scrapper either, now is he?!

Next week the Pens go on tour out west. I'll be missing the Tuesday and Thursday game because I have to wake up early for a day job. But I'll make sure I have a post for you to comment on for those games.

Oh, and Happy Halloween!! :)





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