The Red Baron got "fixed" yesterday. We're supposed to keep him calm for the next two weeks, if possible. At the very least, the doc wants him to be relaxed and inactive for 5 days. So last night, less than 8 hours after the surgery, Killian got his lambie and proceeded to throw it and run around the house as if nothing surgical at all had happened. :-O
The Boys are hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight. Geno is still nursing his foot, and Gonch is still fighting strep throat. By now you've heard that Tanger signed an extension. It's good news that helps ease the mind about our defense's future (OY! Killian just got his lambie again...) in the event that Gonch, who is set to become a UFA, decides the grass may be greener elsewhere. Hopefully, Shero can work his magic again and keep Gonch on the roster.
There are just SIX games remaining in the regular season. I am going to make a serious effort have to recap the remaining 5 games to get back in form for the playoffs, but for now I have to go try to control my dog. It's going to be a tough set of days... :-/
Short post today - I just got home and the game is about to begin. Can you believe there only 7 games left in the season??? It's quickly coming to a close. Come on, Boys!!! You've earned a guaranteed spot in the playoffs, but let's end this season with a bang! You can start this evening by blowing the Leafs away. :)
The Boys are once again without the services of Geno and Gonch (most likely). Geno's foot is still giving him hell, and Head Coach Dan Bylsma said Gonch and goalie Johnson are "ill" - but Johnson is expected to be our backup today. For the Flyers, goalie Johan Backlund will make his NHL debut at Mellon Arena. Bylsma tried to get the scoop on Backlund from the WB/S Baby Pens, but they only faced Backlund once this year. It should be interesting to watch this unfold.
On 3-14-10, the Pens squared off against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Florida. Friend of The Show Amanda N. was there:
I'm a Pens fan (born and raised in Pittsburgh) and a Sid fan. :-) I wanted to let you know I was at the game on Sunday. I currently live in Orlando and don't get home to Pittsburgh much, so I see the Pens in Florida when I can. I was right beside the bench and managed to get some great shots of the guys, particularly Sid. ... The slew-footing by Downie? [A reminder:]
So much worse in person! There was a collective holding of breath by all the Pens fans in the arena when he went down.
Amanda sent me 7 great pics of Siddo and the Boys. Click them all for supersized versions:
If the standings don't change, the Pens (#2) will face the Flyers (#7) in Round 1. If the standings do change, this could very well be the last time the Pens meet the Flyers in the Mellon. Something tells me today's game is going to be a doozy.
Here are some reasons why, no matter if Siddo never wins another trophy in his NHL career, he will always and forever be a better player/leader/captain/human being than A-hOle™:
(Before you ask: no, I did not create this video montage or add the comments.)
This "You Suck!" chant was aimed at our title man. It occurred during Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on May 4th, 2009, when the Penguins visited the Verizon Center. The Pens sucked so much they eliminated the Caps in 7 games in this series and then went on to win the Stanley Cup. WOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
It boggles the mind that - even after all of these examples of typical Ovechkin douchebaggery and the fact that Sid is both a Stanley Cup and an Olympic Gold medal winner - there is still an active debate about who is better, Sid or A-hOle™. YouTube user mosmorg4n put it best: "The blinders that every diehard Ovie fan wears must be incredible."
GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PS: I got behind a bus on my drive home from work. Bus #87. DO IT.
First the good news: Android users rejoice!! We are the first to get the OFFICIAL Pittsburgh Penguins App! :D :D :D :D :D
Fear not - I know it's coming soon for iPhone and Blackberry users, too. I'm sure because the Motorola Droid (the model I have) is the shining star of the Verizon Wireless smartphone collection and the fact that Verizon is a major sponsor of the Pens (and I think the entire NHL as well) is what prompted them to release it to us first. I installed it this morning, and it's AWESOME. It gives you instant access to scores, stats, videos, and much more. The only thing missing is a real-time score widget. I plan to let them know about that since they are requesting feedback. ;) To get it, just go to the Apps Market and type in "Pittsburgh Penguins Mobile." Oh, and did I mention it's FREE??? :D
I suppose I could create a screenshot of my own, but instead I hijacked this one directly from the Pens' Facebook page out of pure laziness. Why reinvent the wheel, right? :-P
Now for the bad news: Geno is out. It is said that he aggravated his foot injury in overtime in Saturday's Canes match. :( He left practice after only a few minutes. Also not at practice was Matt Cooke. Head Coach Dan Bylsma called it a "maintenance day."
Tonight the Pens are in Detroit to take on the Red Wings. You may recall what happened the last time the Boys paid a visit to the Joe Louis Arena:
It's officially the first day of Spring 2010!!! What better way to welcome the season than with an early afternoon hockey game? I've got a few things from two longtime Friends of The Show for you before it gets underway.
First up, wallpaper maker extraordinaire Jaime B. created this celebration of Siddo's two finest achievements for your desktop:
(Click to enlarge)
Remember a few weeks ago I mentioned that I still hadn't found a picture of Brooksie with his Silver medal? Well, good Friend Eighty-Two found these elusive photos for us. They're great quality (click them to enlarge), but the first thing you'll likely notice is that Brooks and the rest of Team USA aren't exactly smiling. Oh, and for good measure, Eighty-Two included a nice shot of Brooksie's monster hit on Dany Heatley that nearly sent the Canadian onto the laps of the Team USA players on the bench:
Cheer up, guys. How many people in this world can say they have earned an Olympic Silver medal? It's still one hell of an impressive achievement! :)
Many, many thank yous go out to Jaime and Eighty-Two for sharing these pics with us. :)
This is guaranteed to be an intense game. It's the first time the two teams will meet since a hit from Cooker ended (probably) Marc Savard's season. It's hard to predict whether or not Savard's teammates will go vigilante on Cooker or not. Technically, because the hit was deemed on the ice and in the NHL boardroom to be legal, the Bruins have no just cause for beef. HOWEVER, if one of them had taken out Siddo, I'm thinking we'd all be calling for that guy's head.
Conveniently, Eric Godard is back just in time to regulate if necessary. Wise is the man who does NOT tangle with him. Geno is still out with a sore foot. The Bruins are in 8th place right now with only 3 points separating them and the 9th place team, the Rangers. Passions and tempers will be running hot tonight.
(That's Gaelic for ♣ St. Patrick's Day blessing upon you!!! ♣)
It's also my 9th wedding anniversary, so tonight I'll be enjoying the game with my FAVORITE hockey player of all time. You know him as woodstock, but to me he is my husband - the most wonderful man on Earth. ♥ I'll leave you tonight with a little something from Killian:
A pair of sickening cheap shots occurred in the NHL yesterday...
I personally have no desire to watch this again (it literally turns my stomach), but here is the video of Steve Downie's vicious take down of our title man:
... I don't think there's a need for his leg to go behind my knee like that... it's a little questionable," he said. "I was just lucky my toe wasn't actually caught on the ice. It was able to kind of get along and slide... (because) it was fresh ice."
Miraculously, Siddo was unhurt. In fact, he came out swinging... figuratively, of course! He was, for the remainder of the game, a man possessed. His beastliness continues to amaze me. Downie was assessed only a roughing minor for the granddaddy of all slew foots. Evidently because Siddo wasn't seriously hurt, Downie isn't being taken to task for deliberately trying to inflict a perilous injury on someone.
What. A. Player.
Downie is a guy that has been suspended more times than I can remember for incidents ranging from dangerous hits on fellow players to slashing a freaking linesman in the AHL. Once he even was ordered to get professional counseling after attacking a teammate during practice in juniors, but for some reason that defies logic, he keeps getting 3rd, 4th, etc. chances in all the hockey leagues, including the NHL. It's painfully clear that Downie has psychological and/or anger issues. It seems like the NHL is waiting until he ends someone's career (or worse...) until Colin Campbell finally says "Enough is enough" and expels him from the league. He's a real danger and the fact that he is still allowed to be in the NHL after all those incidents in his past is pathetic.
Siddo congratulates Flower on the win as Lecavalier skates away.
As if what happened to Sid was not bad enough, take a look at this hit from behind involving - wait for it - A-hOle™ on the Blackhawks' Brian Campbell. It resulted in the third game misconduct this year for the Capitals' reckless captain. Campbell's season is likely over; he suffered a broken collarbone and broken ribs after the vicious boarding. A major suspension should but probably won't be issued. Watch the video below and you'll see that Ovechkin clearly and deliberately shoves Campbell from behind as the two race towards the boards. It's a disgrace that THIS is who the Capitals deemed worthy of their captaincy:
The NHL is "reviewing" the incident. ← Click and read that article. A-hOle's™ comments about respect will make you literally laugh out loud. Anyone else would be suspended with no questions asked, but this is "Alex the Great" [*chokes*] we're talking about. I'll keep you posted.
Geno, unfortunately, sustained an injury in yesterday's match after his foot ended up being on the wrong end of a shot by Tanger. He's listed as day-to-day. Hopefully nothing is broken and he heals quickly. Fortunately he'll have today and tomorrow to rest up; the Pens don't play again until St. Patrick's Day (this Wednesday which also happens to be my wedding anniversary!) when they face the Devils again.
The Lightning could, with a victory today, move 2 points closer to the last spot on the playoffs list in the Eastern Conference. (Currently they're 4 points out.) This means they will be a team hungry for a win. Hopefully the memories of the last match against the Devils are still fresh in the Boys' minds, making them even hungrier.
The Pens are going up against New Joi-sey tonight. If Marty Brodeur plays the way he did during his appearance in the Olympics, then we'll be winning by a landslide... ;)
Oh, boy. That was pretty infuriating. Some cheating (I'm looking at you, Zajac), some penalties (okay, LOTS of penalties), and one pretty goal from our title man. I had every intention of recapping this game, but I think I'm going to skip it. The outcome of the game + woodstock is on his last few days of vacation + he surprised me with The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day BluRay DVD (SQUEE!!!!!!) = I think I'm just going to chill with my husband, watch a (hopefully) good movie, and forget ALL about this match.
The Pens face the Tampa Bay Lightning - who just beat the Caps :) with a 3-2 final score - on Sunday early evening at 5:00pm Eastern.
And some morons are offended that Siddo turned down an offer to read the Top Ten list on the Late Show with David Letterman. (← REALLY?! Why would anyone care? Besides, Letterman hasn't been funny for years now.)
Johnson in goal tonight. Guerin's back. Staal v Staal. DO IT.
I wanted to do this post yesterday, but woodstock and I went to look at a silver 2007 Honda Element. I'm pretty sure we're buying it. :) Anyhoo, I took all of the following photos. Click the photos to enlarge them.
The Boys hit the ice:
The anthem was sung by the always solid Jeff Jimerson:
Our view was slightly obstructed:
The benches (notice the new guys - Poni's just left of center and Leopold is on the right):
Sid takes a few faceoffs:
Siddo next to the GINORMOUS Zedno Chara:
Geno going into the sin bin:
The Bruins strike first during the ensuing power play:
Sid takes another faceoff:
This is my favorite shot - Super Duper stuffs one in for the even up goal!!!
Siddo and the Boys hanging out at the bench during a TV timeout:
Geno scores the GWG!!!
Another faceoff for Sid:
Another TV timeout:
Okay, so I realize that you can't even begin to talk about this game without mentioning the Matt Cooke hit on Marc Savard. The hit happened at the end of the arena where our seats were. In the moment when it happened, I can tell you that no one in the immediate vicinity of our seats saw the hit. The general consensus was that we all were watching the puck and, as you know, this hit occurred after Savard released the puck. In fact, when I took the following two shots, I truly was expecting him to get up and skate (assisted) off to the locker room:
But then the stretcher came out. As he lay there, I said to woodstock, "I won't feel better until I see his legs move." The lady in front of us turned around and said, "How about it! This is scary!" He finally did move his legs, and as we rose for a standing ovation for him, Savard waved at us as he was carted off on the stretcher. I don't know if it came across on TV, but I can tell you the remaining 5½ minutes of the match were much quieter.
After seeing the replay, I honestly don't know how to prevent something like this from happening. It's easy to police elbow shots to the head - it's pretty cut and dry. But shoulder hits to the head are another story. Height differences contribute to this problem. Using my own height compared to woodstock's as an example, a 5'6" player's head should be right about even with a 6'4" player's shoulder. If woodstock came at me for a legal shoulder hit, he'd knock my block off.
Another issue is that this game is played at a pace so fast that if, as was the case with Savard, a player is releasing the puck and changing the position of his body as a guy (Cooke) is coming in to finish a check, there is almost NO time to change direction or slow down. I believe on XM Radio they estimated that players coming in for a legal hit on average are traveling at least 16 miles per hour - which doesn't sound too fast on paper, but that doesn't give you a lot of time to do much to stop or change direction. At 16 MPH, a player travels 23.5 feet in just one second. How did I figure that out? The math: 1 mile = 5,280 feet. So at 16 MPH, that's 84,480 feet per hour (5,280 x 16). Since we're talking about a hit that happens literally in one second, so I divided 84,480 feet by 3,600 seconds (60 minutes in an hour times 60 seconds in a minute = 3,600 seconds) = 23.467 feet per second. That's nowhere NEAR enough time to make a change in direction.
So what's the solution? It's hard to say. No doubt we'll be hearing more about this since the GMs are meeting in Florida right now.
It was difficult to celebrate the win as enthusiastically as we normally would because there was no word about Savard's condition. But the Boys held the Bruins off and earned a solid two points.
It was the first time in YEARS that we went to an afternoon game. It was strange coming out after the game to daylight. It allowed us to see that the new Consol Energy Center is looking more like an arena now:
And just at that moment it occurred to me that, if I don't score playoff tickets this year, this was woodstock's and my last trip to the Mellon Arena:
I'd like to hear your thoughts about the Cooke/Savard incident. What (if anything) do you think should happen to Cooker? Leave a comment in The Friends' Zone below. All opinions are welcome. (Please, however, be respectful! No swearing or name calling. I hate deleting comments, but I will.)
The Pens don't play again until they go south to face Carolina on Thursday at 7pm Eastern.
I am in my (obstructed view) seat! Despite a very traffic-y drive, we are here in time for the drop of the puck. We were also able to snag copies of Sports Illustrated magazines featuring Siddo and Team Canada. Scans to come, of course. :-)
Unless I've missed something on their website, Team USA has yet to offer an Olympic wallpaper. For that matter, I have yet to find a photo of Brooks Orpik with his Silver medal. If anyone finds one before I do, please share!
The Pens face the Rangers tonight 7:00pm Eastern. Displaced Pittsburghers and long distance Pens fans can watch online at either ATDHE.net or a site recommended by Friend of The Show Chris B. (who hails all the way from Austria!) LiveTV.ru. The latter is in Russian, but the link I provided runs through Google's web page translator to make it easier for you to navigate.
The Boys will take on the Stars at 1:00pm Saturday, and on Sunday afternoon, woodstock and I will be at the Mellon watching them battle the Bruins in person.
So far I've downloaded more than 220 photos from Team Canada's Gold medal victory. Here are 30 of my favorites. Since there are so many, I've left most of the previews small. Click all of the images to enlarge to full size - especially the one of Team Canada and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper with their medals in the locker room. All I can say is "There's one in every crowd!" (Look closely to the left and you'll see what I mean...)
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