The Daily Bongo

Pens 2005-2006 Season

Thursday, May 25, 2006 -- Morning

The Pens have found a new general manager. Ray Shero is going to be named as the GM at a press conference this afternoon. Shero has been an assistant GM with the Nashville Predators for the past seven years. It seems that the Boston Bruins made an offer to Shero, but he turned it down because it wasn't enough money. I wonder how much the Pens are paying him.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006 -- Afternoon

Sidney Crosby scored a goal today to lead Canada to a 4-1 win over Slovakia in the World Hockey quarterfinals. Crosby is scoring leader with seven goals and six assists in the tournament. I guess this is giving Wayne Gretzky a lesson in picking people for a future Olympic team.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006 -- Evening

The Baby Pens lost last night to the Hershey Bears with a final score of 1-0. That means that the Baby Pens' season is over. After the way that they started the season, it is abit of a let down. However, what else can be expected with Joey Mullen as a coach. Mullen is out of his league, and maybe with a new general manager, we will get rid of the players as coaches, and actually get people who can coach.

Meanwhile, over in the World Championships, Sidney Crosby, who wasn't considered "mature" (meaning geriatric) enough to play in the Olympics this year, has been scoring up a storm. Crosby had a goal in the 2-1 Canadian win over the United States yesterday. The Canadian team is unbeaten in the preliminary round. Makes you wonder if the Canadians would have medaled if Crosby was on the team.

Monday, May 8, 2006 -- Late Afternoon

The Wilkes Barre Pens are sinking fast in the second round of the AHL playoffs. The Hershey Bears are leading the series 3-0 and can move into the next round with a win tomorrow. The Bears beat the Pens yesterday by a score of 4-1. The game tomorrow will be at 5:05 pm.

Sidney Crosby is showing what he is worth by scoring four points yesterday in the World Hockey Championship. He had a goal and three assists, and the goal was described as "spectacular". He led Canada to a 7-1 win over Norway. He started the tournament with two goals against Denmark. There is just no stopping this Kid.

Friday, May 5, 2006 -- Afternoon

Sidney Crosby is one of the three players in consideration for Rookie of the Year honors. Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, and Dion Phaneuf are the three finalist in competition for the Calder Memorial Trophy that goes to the best rookie in the NHL. The winner will be announced on June 22 in Vancouver along with the other post season NHL awards.

Meanwhile Marc-Andre Fleury has been playing with the Wilkes Barre Pens in their post season games to win the Calder Cup. The Baby Pens made it past the first round, and just lost their first game in the second round last night against the Hershey Bears. The hope was that having Fleury down in the minors and possibly winning some high pressure games will give him confidence. Fleury was in the net for yesterday's 5-4 loss against the Bears, but the coaches and management don't think that will get him down.

Friday, April 28, 2006 -- Evening

3rd period

Overtime

Shootout

0 (3)

1 (4)

Final

The Pens played the New York Islanders this evening. It seems that the Pens are doing everything they can to make sure that they don't finish in last place. This game was an exciting one. Andy Hilbert scored a goal for the Pens with less than two minutes left in the game. The Pens had pulled the goalie, Sebastien Caron to tie the game at 4 all. No goals were scored in the overtime so we were treated to a shootout. The Islanders won it in the shootout, scoring four goals to our three. It was quite a shootout with alot of scoring back and forth. The Islanders score one more shootout goal than the Pens do and win the game with a score of 5-4. Sidney Crosby did not score any points in the game and still has only 97 points in total for the year.

Thursday, April 13, 2006 -- Late Evening

Seventy ninth game of the season

Teams

Rangers

Pens

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Final

Daily Bongo Star of the Game: Sidney Crosby

The Pens played the New York Rangers this evening. Sidney Crosby got four points in the game this evening: one goal and three assists. As of at the end of the game this evening, Crosby has 97 points for the season. Colby Armstrong got two goals and one assist. Meanwhile, Jaromir Jagr scored a goal to get a total of 122 points. The Pens are playing very well now, and the little bit that I saw of the game was very exciting. Final score was Pens 5 and Rangers 3.

Thursday, April 13, 2006 -- Evening

Sidney Crosby is going to be playing for Canada in the World Hockey Championships May 5-21 in Riga, Latvia.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006 -- Evening

Seventy eighth game of the season

Teams

Seventy fourth game of the season

Teams

Devils

Pens

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Overtime

Final

Seventieth game of the season

Teams

Islanders

Pens

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Overtime

Final

I went to the Pens game this evening. They were playing the New York Islanders. One of the best goals of the season was in the first 2:20 of the game when Ryan Malone was charging the net short handed. He fell onto his side as he neared the goal, but still managed to get the goal into the net. The Pens were leading by one point. The Islanders pulled ahead to a three to one lead in the second period, The Pens came back to tie the game up and take the game into overtime. Sidney Crosby scored the game winning point in overtime. It was a game with alot of action, and the crowd of 15,210 were really into the game with lots of noise and enthusiasm. Final score was 4-3.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006 -- Evening

Since I didn't watch the Pens game last night, I missed the hit that Sidney Crosby received in the game. He was hit in the knees, knocking him over, and the Pens are sure that the hit was one that was intended to cause injury. What is worse is that the refs called only a two minute tripping penalty instead of a five minute kneeing penalty. I saw the clip on ESPN, and Andrej Meszaros did come down low and catch Crosby at knee level. It that is what kneeing is, then that is what Meszaros did. Meszaros admitted that he hit Crosby in the knee but that it wasn't meant to hurt him. Michel Therrien is sending a request to the leaque to review the hit for possible infraction.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006 -- Evening

Sixty ninth game of the season

Teams

The Pens were allowed to start practices today. Bob O'Connor, the Pittsburgh mayor, has gotten into a war of words with Ken Sawyer, the president of the Pens, over plans to build an arena. After quite a few years of the Pens begging the city and county for an arena, they finally went out on their own, and made a deal with Isle of capri that would remove the city and county from financial obligations to build the arena as long as Isle of Capri gets a slots license. Unfortunately, the fix is in on the slots license, and no one can publicly admit that. So the game begins. O'Connor is now saying that the city wants to come up with Plan B to build an arena, and are trying to blame the Pens for not playing along. The thing is that the Pens have offered the city, county and state a viable option that won't cost the government and people, and will instead bring in money with the casino and the non-hockey and hockey events. However, the city just wants to place blame on the Pens for its own lack of responsibility in the past, and with the inability for anyone to call out the crony filled state government. What will probably happen in the end is that Isle of Capri will not get the slots license and the Pens will leave Pittsburgh. Who is to blame? Not the Pens! The city and state need to take responsibility for this failure. Unfortunately for O'Connor, he has inherited a mess. Unfortunately for the city of Pittsburgh and the Pens' fans, individuals lining their pockets with money is more important than the welfare of the city.

Sunday, February 12, 2006 -- Late Morning

Sidney Crosby is going home for the Olympic break. Some of his other teamsmates are taking a vacation and going to sunny and warmer climates. Colby Armstrong is going to go to Wilkes-Barre because he has a girlfriend and apartment there.

Saturday, February 11, 2006 -- Evening

Fifty ninth game of the season

Teams

Pens

Capitals

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Final

I missed most of the game, but I am now watching the end of the second period of the Pens - Capitals game this evening. The Pens scored on goal in the first period, and then an additional four in the second! I am absolutely shocked. So far, the Capitals have yet to score. I suppose that the Pens want to go into the Olympic break on a winning streak. Scoring so far: a power play goal by Sidney Crosby in the first period with only 1:35 left in the period, John LeClair scored at 1;11 in the second, followed by Sergei Gonchar, Colby Armstrong, and Mark Recchi. It's an impressive difference in the games played yesterday and today. The capitals finally got a goal in the third period at 13:08. It was partly Marc-Andre Fleury's fault for giving away a bad rebound. Poor Fleury misses out on an opportunity to get a shutout. The Pens come right back to score another goal with Eric Boguniecki scoring one. Then the Caps come right back with a goal by Alexander Ovechkin. Score is now 6-2. With 30 seconds left in the game, the Capitals score yet again to make the final score 6-3. The Pens go into the Olympic break with two wins in a row.

Friday, February 10, 2006 -- Late Evening

Fifty eighth game of the season

Teams

Pens

Hurricanes

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Final

The first period of the Pens game against the Carolina Hurricanes was fairly boring and routine. Eric Boguniecki scored a goal for the Pens half way through the first period. The next bit of excitement came when Eric Staal scored with 0.03 seconds left in the period. Official time of the goal is 19:59, even though it was alot closer to 20:00. The second period started with a goal by Mark Recchi at 0:16. Score is now 2-1. The Hurricanes come back to score the tying goal midway through the period. A comeback at 19:16 has John LeClair scoring the go-ahead goal. The second period ends with the Pens ahead by a score of 3-2. Third period starts, and 1:46 into the period, Sidney Crosby scores. Score is now 4-2. Eric Staal scored a goal for the Hurricanes with three minutes left in the game, but the Hurricanes are unable to tie things. The Pens WIN! The final score is 4-3, and it is a win for Sebastien Caron.

Thursday, February 9, 2006 -- Evening

Pens

Maple Leafs

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Overtime

Final

Tonight the Pens are playing the Toronto Maple Leafs. This will be the first time that Sidney Crosby will be playing an NHL game in Canada. The media is expected to be going crazy over Crosby, and the Pens are making as many accommodations for them as possible. Tomorrow the Pens will be playing the Montreal Canadiens so it will a two game Canada setting. In goal tonight for the Pens will be Jocelyn Thibault.
First period: 36 seconds into the game John LeClair got a penalty called against him. It's never good to start with a penalty. After the LeClair penalty was killed, Ric Jackman decided that he wanted to spend some time in the box. We killed that penalty. Then Crosby did this beautiful behind the back pass that Sergei Gonchar put in the net. The Pens score! 1-0. At 6:46, the Pens got a chance at a powerplay with a Leafs penalty. Although they didn't score on it, the Pens are making some nice shots. The Leafs haven't scored in the period, and the Pens go into the first intermission with the lead. this is something that is so refreshingly different.
Second period: Not alot of scoring opportunities going on in the game. The Leafs have a power play and are putting some pressure on Thibault, and he seems to be holding up. I think that Thibault definitely has something to prove. The Pens just got another penalty because there were too many players on the ice. It seems that the players thought they cleared the blue line, didn't, and Shane Endicott got caught on the ice. Ryan Whitney appeared to be taking the blame for it because he should have gotten off the ice and didn't make the change. You could see the f word flowing off of Michel Therrien's lips. Rob Scuderi got hit with the puck on his left wrist, and it seems to have broken the skin because there was blood dripping off his wrist. The Pens did manage to kill the 5-3 disadvantage. Thibault is doing a great job of stopping shots. So far with a few minutes left in the period, he has stopped 25 shots. Eddie Belfour is doing a nice job too with some good saves. Score is still 1-0. Alot of the Pens appear to be getting banged up in this period, and a few of them are sitting on the bench with ice bags. The Leafs are trying to put a big push on to score before the end of the period because they have a man advantage due to a penalty on Gonchar. The period ends with no score on either side, and the Gonchar penalty will continue for another 40 seconds in the third period.
Third period: Darn, 1:15 into the third period, and the Leafs have scored the tieing goal. We have some issues with the team because we are down now to five defensemen based on injuries, and it appears that Scuderi has been taken off to hospital. Unfortunately, instead of getting an answering goal, the Leafs scored again. Chad Kilger scored both goals for the Leafs. As the period was winding down, it was starting to look like we might have a loss. But then Michel Ouellet managed to get a powerplay goal. Game is now tied at 2-2. With less than two minutes left in regulation, Tomas Surovy got called for goalie interference. It looked like Belfour dived though. No score by the Leafs, and we go to overtime!
Overtime: We have killed the penalty, and Surovy just missed making a goal when he came back. Then 1:02 into overtime, the puck ricochetted off the body of the one of the Leafs into the net. The Leafs have won the game. The officials looked at the shot to make sure it didn't come off the glove, and the Leafs are credited with the goal. Darn! At least it is an overtime loss and we get a point for it. Granted, we are still in last place, but every point counts.

Saturday, December 31, 2005 -- Late Afternoon

Thirty seventh game of the season

Teams

Rangers

Pens

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Overtime

Final

Daily Bongo Three Stars of the Game:
1 -- Sidney Crosby
2 -- Tomas Surovy
3 -- Henrik Lundqvist
I am just back from the hockey game, and I am thrilled and excited. For the first time this season, I was able to watch a Pens win! Yep, you read that right! Also for the first time this season, the Pens have managed to put together two wins in a row, and they did it against a team that has been playing well, the New York Rangers. As happened the last time we played the Rangers, folks were booing every time Jaromir Jagr touched the puck. The guy sitting next to me at the game didn't know why that was the case, so i reminded him of the "I feel like I'm dying alive. ... I don't feel comfortable here right now" quote. If there's one thing that Pittsburgh fans have, it's a long memory for the bad moments. Personally, I have always liked Jagr. I digress. The first Pens score came at 1:35 in the first period, and was a score by Tomas Surovy with assists by Sidney Crosby and Ziggy Palffy. Jagr answered with his 25th goal of the season at 17:14 in the first period. Michel Ouellet helped the Pens pull ahead with a 2-1 lead with his 4th goal of the season. The Rangers came back in less than two minutes to tie this up with Jagr assisting on the goal. Third period and Surovy scored his second goal of the game to take the lead, but the Pens squandered that by taking some stupid penalities and the Rangers tied things up 3-3. The Pens were playing well, so I was resigning myself to yet another loss, but giving kudos to the Pens for being better since Michel Therrien took the reins as coach. At the most, I was hoping that the Pens would hold on to the tie into overtime so they would at least get a point. overtime started with an unsportsman like penalty on one of the Rangers. Marek Malik must have said something on the bench during the 1 minute intermission and was caught by the ref. The Pens were putting pressure on, and then the Rangers took yet another penalty. We had a two man advantage. Then the Pens scored BUT the whistle had just been blown so the goal didn't count. I was ready to call for the heads of the refs if we lost, but then Crosby came on to score his 19th goal of the season to give the Pens a overtime win. Score was 4-3! Shots on goal for the game: Pens 37 and Rangers 17. Unbelieveable and such a change from the Eddie O days. It was a great moment and the whole arena went crazy. Finally a win when I was in attendance. The Pens have been playing much better since Eddie O was removed, and I am only hoping for more of the same.

Friday, December 30, 2005 -- Early Evening

I haven't mentioned the Baby Pens game from the middle of the week. They won the game against the Hartford Wolf Pack by a score of 5-0. Maxime Talbot scored two goals in the game, and that might explain why he was brought up yesterday. The next game will be tomorrow evening against the Norfolk Admirals.

The World Junior Hockey championships are going on right now, and both Canada and the United States are doing well. The first round of games will be over tomorrow, and then the playoffs will start on Monday. In fact, the Canadian team has already secured second place in Group A, and is hoping for the top spot if they beat the United States tomorrow. The Russians are also unbeated, and are being led by the Pens own Evgeni Malkin. So far, Malkin has scored a goal in every game. Check out the schedule for the rest of the tournament.

Thursday, December 29, 2005 -- Evening

Thirty sixth game of the season

Teams

Devils

Pens

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Final

Daily Bongo Three Stars of the Game:
1 -- Marc-Andre Fleury
2 -- Sidney Crosby
3 -- Tomas Surovy
Pens versus the New Jersey Devils tonight.
First period: The Pens got a 5-3 power play advantage that was offset with an interference call against Sidney Crosby. With a 4-3, Ric Jackman scored. So far, we aren't getting alot of penalities, and are keeping even with the Devils in that respect. With abit over a minute left in the game and a power play opportunity just finishing, the Pens have scored again! Two goals! It looked like Crosby got the puck on it, but right now, it seems that Dick Tarnstrom is getting the credit. Marc-Andre Fleury has made some really good saves. The period ends with the Pens leading by a score of 2-0. What a difference!
Second period: 17,132 people are in attendance tonight. That's pretty good for a mid-week game without a promotion. Crosby was given credit for the second goal this evening. Another goal for the Pens! This one was by Tomas Surovy. He sent the puck right between the legs of Scott Clemmensen. This is really something! Now part of it could be due to the fact that the Devils played last night. The only thing I know is that I am going to hold my breath until the end of the game because I think that if the Pens break their losing streak, they might go on a winning streak. At least that is what I am hoping for. The announcer at the game is in the stands, and Hines Ward is there watching the game. Ward is wearing a Crosby shirt and said that he actually sent Crosby a letter to get the shirt signed. Ward is a fan of Crosby's and said that The Kid is good for the city. Just as they finished talking to Ward, and less than eight minutes into the period, Mark Recchi scored! The score is now 4-0. The Pens are on fire, and so is Fleury. He seems to be in the zone, and made another good save. To get back to Ward after all that excitement, it was very refreshing to see him in the stands with a Crosby shirt on. They just showed Ward on the jumbotron, and the whole arena went crazy. A very classy move on Ward's part to pay for a seat in the stands and to wear a Crosby shirt. Oh uh, the Devils have a 5-3 powerplay. First was a penalty on Crosby, then another on Tarnstrom. Darn! The Devils just scored. Now it's a 5-4 powerplay that has 44 seconds to kill. The score is now 4-1. Now they are back to full strength and only one goal given up. Darn, there goes Fleury's chance at a shutout. With 1:02 in the period, John LeClair took a stupid hooking penalty. That's one of those penalities that is caused because you have someone who is tired, and as LeClair is sitting in the box, you can see him breathing heavy. There was a real scrum in front of the net, and it looked like there might be another penalty, but fortunately not. The period ends. There will still be abit under a minute of penalty to kill in the third period, but the Devils will have a three goal deficit to make up.
Third period: The Devils almost scored on a puck that ricocheted across the net. They came back a minute later and did score. It's 4-2. Then a penalty was going to be called on the Devils, Surovy was passing the puck to Crosby when the puck was intercepted by Paul Martin's (of the Devils) stick, and into the goal. The Pens now have a score of 5-2. At this point with over 13 minutes left in the game, the Devils have 36 shots on goal while the Pens have 23. Now the Devils have another power play. The Pens take another penalty to give the Devils a 5-3 advantage. Fleury is making some great saves, but there's only so much he can do when the Devils are given 5-3 opportunities. The defensive guys are protecting Fleury very much, and he is really getting attacked by the Devils players. Now it is just 5 on 4 and 40 seconds of that to kill. The Pens killed the penalty. There are 10 minutes left in the game. Can we hold on to the three goal lead?Woo-Hoo! Crosby scored another goal. Assists by Ziggy Palffy and Surovy. You know, I really hope that Team Canada does poorly in the Olympics this year. That's what they would get for leaving one of the best Canadian hockey players playing right now off the team. Whose twisted idea is it that the Olympics are for the old and geriatric players? Score is now 6-2. Palffy has three points from assists this evening. 4:44 left in the game. It looks like a win for the Pens unless something goes horribly wrong. Less than a minute and the Pens are going to win.
An amazing game, and Fleury definitely deserves the first star of the game because he faced 46 shots on goal. They really needed the win. I think that this will help them in a change of attitude. It was a great game.

Thursday, December 29, 2005 -- Afternoon

Tonight's Pens game should be an interesting one. They will be playing the New Jersey Devils. In the past 14 games, the Devils have only won three. This might good news for the Pens, and I am going to be hoping for a win tonight. The Pens have recalled Rob Scuderi, Maxime Talbot and Colby Armstrong from the Baby Pens.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005 -- Late Afternoon

Mario Lemieux might be skating next week, and might be back with the team in two weeks. It seems that so far he has been doing well with his off-ice conditioning, and thinks that he won't be such a geriatric when he returns to the ice. Personally, I think that he should have taken this issue as a sign that he should be retiring.

Last night after the game, Michel Therrien said that he mentioned to the team after the second period that the Pens were acting as if they were the team who had played a game the previous night instead of that being the situation for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The second period was the one in which the Leafs scored twice. It was a more energetic game. The thing is that if the team was out of condition a week ago, not alot could have changed in that time. Unfortunately, it's going to take a bit longer. Last night's game was the sixth straight loss for the Pens. The question is how to snap them out of the losing streak and get them winning again.

Tuesday, December 27, 2005 -- Late Evening

Thirty fifth game of the season

Teams

Maple Leafs

Pens

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Overtime

Final

I may be one of the only folks to say this, but I had a great time at the Penguins game tonight, even though the team ultimately lost in overtime with a final score of 3-2. First the positives. The game was exciting. There were some nice shots and some nice saves by Marc-Andre Fleury. Our seats are directly behind the net in the north end, which is the end that Fleury defends two periods out of three. So we did get to see some nice moves. Another positive was that the number of penalities was much less than usual. There were only four by the Pens in the entire game. Two were by defensive players, one was for too many men on the ice and another was by Shane Endicott. Yet another positive was that we are getting shots on goal. Tonight we had 35 shots and the Toronto Maple Leafs had 33. For the negatives, towards the end of the game, and especially during overtime, it seemed that the team was doing more to prevent a goal then to make one themselves. Also, there was a period in the third period where we had a two man advantage for almost three minutes based on back to back penalties. So there are still items to work on, but the energy and excitement were a huge improvement. There was a time when you actually thought that the players themselves even thought they might win. Attendance at the game was 17,132, and a good percentage of those there were Toronto fans. In all the games that I have gone to so far this season, this is the first time that I saw so many people supporting the opposing teams. There were Maple Leaf flags, shirts, signs. For a minute there, I thought that I had somehow been transported to Toronto for the game. Because of that, I upped my level of creating noise for the Pens, and practically lost my voice by the end of the game. There was no way that I was going to let the Leaf fans drown out the support that I had for my team. All in all, a good game, and a disappointing overtime loss.

I didn't take my camera to the game, and I wish I had for two reasons. First was because Don Cherry was there on the ice, right in front of my section. I was booing him for his comments about Crosby, but I'm sure that was drowned out by the cheers from all those Toronto fans. As I said earlier, it was something to see so many Toronto fans, and so many of them had CBC signs so they could make it on the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast. The theme of most were along the lines of "Crosby Belongs in Canada" and "Crosby Bleeds Canadian". I think that there are a number of people who are irritated by Cherry's remarks and that Crosby didn't get named to Team Canada. The other missed photographic moment was a man who had a serious mullet. He was King Mullet. The back was long, and it was lacquered so that it looked like a hurricane would not blow a hair out of place. It was a mullet helmet. Not only did this gentleman have a mullet, but his son, probably 10 or so, also had a serious mullet. It was a real Polaroid moment, and I am kicking myself for not taking the camera with me this evening.

Tuesday, December 27, 2005 -- Afternoon

The Penguins are playing the Toronto Maple Leafs this evening. It's one of the games for my season ticket plan, so I will be at the game. This game is going to the Hockey Night in Canada game. That means that Don Cherry will be here in Pittsburgh for the game. For some reason, Don Cherry really has it in for Sidney Crosby. Cherry claims that Crosby wanted to get Eddie O fired and that he didn't deserve to be named an alternate captain because of his age. What a goober! Even if Crosby thought that Eddie O was a crap coach, he never went around saying "we need a new coach". I know that I was saying that because, let's be honest, Eddie O should have never been a coach. Cherry has had a history of blasting Crosby, calling him a cherry picker two years ago for a trick goal that Crosby made, a diver earlier this season, and this past weekend just seemed to get on Crosby for a slew of issues. If Cherry would a woman, I'd say he had bitter old maid syndrome. Is there such a thing as "never able to do it when young, and past it now" for men?

I'm going to take along some good luck charms this evening in the hopes that we get a win. Michel Therrien didn't have much opportunity to work on problems with the defense since the last game because of the Christmas break and because Ryan Whitney wound up getting stuck in Boston and Brooks Orpik has some sort of injury from his last game.

The last thing of interest that I read about the Penguins in the past two days was the commentary on the bonus situation with Marc-Andre Fleury. There's alot more to it than Fleury just playing x number of games in the majors. Fleury will get more than $3 million if he mets four of the following: top 10 finish among NHL goalies in goals against and/or save average, 20 victories, save percentage of .890 or higher, playing time of 1,800 minutes or more, goals against average of 3.25 or lower, and four shutouts. Granted, Fleury will get some dollars for whatever of the above he does meet. Fleury is young, and as he has said, really isn't interested in the money, and didn't think much about the financials when the contract was made up. The question is if something can be arranged to save the Pens some money.

The Baby Pens won last night against the Hershey Bears. The final score was 8-1, and seven of the goals were made in the first period. The Baby Pens are still doing well. The season tally is 25-3-2-1.

Monday, December 26, 2005 -- Evening

Michel Therrien gave a nice interview in the Post Gazette. The guy is very passionate about winning, and not just in hockey. As he has said, it's going to be a long, hard road, and it's not like the team is going to suddenly start winning. As Therrien has said, he can work on attitude changes right away, but it is going to take time to instill the system into the guys. Obviously there are deeper problems with the defensive line, and he hasn't said yet how he will address that problem.

Saturday, December 24, 2005 -- Early Afternoon

After the Penguins game last night, Michel Therrien was not very happy with the way the defense was playing in last night's game. As Therrien said, "I'm really disappointed about our defensive group, Those guys have to play a lot better. As long as they're not going to be better, we're not going to win many games. It's not only one thing, But they have to play better. There isn't any hockey team that has a chance to win if their defensemen are not on top of their game. And right now, that defensive group is not on top of their game. That's one of the biggest reasons why we lose games. Is it a lack of concentration? Is it a lack of will? Is it a lack of skill? I don't know. It's tough to answer. But the defensive group has to be more sharp." Obviously the defensive group is not among the warriors.

Meanwhile Sidney Crosby gave a stellar performance yesterday. He said that it wasn't an attempt to send a message to Ken Hitchcock who was part of the decision making group for Team Canada's Olympic hockey team. I think that the message will be sent when Team canada doesn't win the gold medal. Meanwhile, Crosby chartered a plane so he could fly home for Christmas with his family.

Sergei Gonchar has been named to play on the Russian Olympic hockey team. It's funny that the only active Penguin player playing at the Olympics is probably one of the worst and a real non-performer this season. I guess that the Russians don't have anyone better to pick for his position.

Friday, December 23, 2005 -- Evening

Thirty fourth game of the season

Teams

Flyers

Pens

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Final

I missed the first two periods and the beginning of the third period of the Pens -Flyers game tonight because I went out to dinner to one of my favorite restaurants Mediterranean Grill and then went for a drink at the local Barnes and Noble. My boyfriend and I like to go and get some coffee drinks, a cookie and read through the magazines. Needless to say, we missed a good portion of the game. When we got home, the score was 4-3 in the favor of the Pens. However, from looking at the game summary, it looks like the Pens were done by a score of 3-0 into the second period. Sidney Crosby scored two of the four goals, and also had an assist. Erik Christensen and Tomas Surovy scored the other goals. Right now with abit over six minutes left in the game, the Pens really do seem to be playing some exciting hockey, and are putting some nice shots on goal with the power play they are currently on. The thing that has been killing the Pens though are the number of penalities they are taking. Damn, the Flyers just tied up the game with 4:33 left in the game. Peter Forsberg was the scorer for the Flyers. Forsberg has two goals and an assist in the game so far. Damn, Damn! In abit over one minute, the Flyers have scored again, and the score is now 5-4 in favor of the Flyers. We only have 3:15 left to tie it up. 1:44 left in the game, and it is not looking good for a tie. Marc-Andre Fleury was pulled from goal with one minute left in the game. Therrien took a time out with 20 seconds left in the game to go over some strategy and to give Crosby a rest. Crosby has been on the ice for awhile now. Fleury is still on the bench. Crosby won the face-off, and they put a big rush on the net and almost scored. 13 seconds left now! We have some exciting hockey. The Flyers won the game. Fleury was shaking his head on the bench, and smacked his stick against the side of the bench. Things that still need to be worked on are the shots on goal which were still on the meager side with only six shots on goal in the first period, and the number of penalities that the team has taken. One thing to note is that the geriatrics played a big hand in pulling some of the earlier penalities. The analysis by the announcers is that it was a much better effort on the part of the Pens than we have been seeing. However, it should be noted that the Flyers are a decent team this year, fifth over all in the Eastern Conference and second in the Atlantic Division (we are last in both Eastern Conference and Atlantic Division). The next game up for the Pens is also a home game, and I will be at that game. We'll be playing the Toronto Maple Leafs. The post game show just showed a segment on the Pens taking the bus together to practice. It seems that it has been a bonding experience for the team, and Andre Roy was joking about how the guys sing For He's a Jolly Good Fellow on the bus.

Friday, December 23, 2005 -- Afternoon

The Pens will be meeting the Flyers tonight. It seems that the players are optimistic about what they are learning from Michel Therrien's system. One of the key components that Therrien is trying to instill in the players is a sense of positioning. There is a place that each player should be in at every time, and if the players stick to that system, there is hope that they might turn things around and win a game. It will be interesting to see how they do tonight after a week of practices and conditioning with Therrien. Mario Lemieux was observing the practice yesterday, but at this point, he is just doing off ice conditioning.

Thursday, December 22, 2005 -- Afternoon

The Penguins have named Isle of Capri Casino as their partner in the arena building escapade. Yesterday, the Isle of Capri representatives talked about a plan to redevelop in the Hill District where the Mellon Arena currently resides and to build the 18,000 seat arena for the Pens. Lots of folks are getting excited about the plan, but I am reserving my opinion. It all hinges on the Isle of Capri group getting a slots license in Pennsylvania, and rumors are swirling that even though the official decision hasn't been made, the cronies of the current state Governor will be awarded the licenses. Of course, these are just rumors and will either be validated or invalidated by the actual awarding of licenses.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005 -- Morning

The Penguins have found a partner who is willing to finance an arena for the Pens if he gets a slots licence. The Pens themselves will not benefit from the slots, but their partner will. The partner has not been named, but it is some entity that is a gambling operator. I say that because I don't know if it is an individual or a group. Needless to say, this is good news for the city. Basically for awhile now, we have known that it is going to come down to the distribution of the slots licenses. Let's just hope that it goes in the Pens favor.

Everyone has been talking about the changes that have been happening with the Pens since Michel Therrien has been named coach. It has been one of those eye opening experiences for some, not for me. I could see that Eddie O's notions of treating your players as friends was going down a slippery slope to crap, but I suppose that some thought that if you have a coach who treats you like an intelligent equal that you will perform for said coach. Heck no! Let's put it this way, if your boss didn't care what time you showed up for work, or if you did the assigned work for the day, would you do it? Some people might, but as time went by, even they would become slackers. So now we have a coach who is trying to instill teamwork and a system. The players now meet at Mellon Arena, change their clothes, ride out on a bus to Neville Island, they do the prescribed workout, ride back to the Arena together and do their off-ice workout. As Therrien has said, it's not that he is being mean. He is being the parent who offers the support and discipline that the family needs. One of the quotes of Therrien's that I like is: "I don't demand a guy scores two goals or three goals. What I'm demanding is that if you have a dollar in your pocket, I'm expecting that you give me one dollar. If all you have is 50 cents, bring me your 50 cents, and you'll be fine." Eddie O is a nice guy. He's not a bad guy. Who in their right mind would have hired Eddie O as a head coach with no coaching experience? So now the Pens have a system, and a person who will enforce that system. We will see how the players respond. The only comment to be made is that after Therrien took the time out in the game on Saturday and yelled at the players, they scored three goals. Of course, they ultimately lost, but sometimes a firm hand is needed and works.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005 -- Morning

I wish that I could have been at yesterday's Penguins practice. It seems that the 75 minute practice was intense. Some of the players likened it to a college practice because they will have the entire week to practice and not play until Friday which is commonly the case in college. There were one on one practices--forwards against defensemen. If the forwards were able to score three points, the defensemen had to do pushups. If the forwards scored less than three points, they had to do the pushups. The final score was three sets of pushups for the crappy defense and one set for the forwards. Clips were shown on some of the television shows, and it was something to see--players doing pushups while Michel Therrien walked amongst them, gloves on, holding his hockey stick. That stick seems to be glued to his hand during practice time. Although the players haven't wanted to say anything bad about Eddie O, all admitted that they were out of shape, and that they thought the practice was a good workout and not punishing. It was obvious that the players were out of shape because in the film footage on the sports shows, you could see the players standing on the side of the rink at times, bent over and breathing heavily. The goal from now until Friday will be to work on the system. I am looking forward to the games that I will be going to next week.

My question is whether Mario Lemieux can withstand such a practice, especially with his heart issue. The consensus now is that the return of the problem was due to the fact that Lemieux played too soon after the diagnosis and treatment of his issue. The goal now is to just have Lemieux do some off ice conditioning. Once he is given the go ahead by his doctor, then he will resume ice work. It seems in the past that the problem has been that Lemieux has been making the decisions on whether he is capable of playing as opposed to the medical professional who knows better. This brings up the question of whether Lemieux should retire. We have all seen Lemieux's level of play since the beginning of the season. He is one of the geriatrics to whom I have been referring who don't have the vim and vigor to skate at high speed around the ice, who have been leaving the puck in the middle of the ice, and who have gotten high minus ratings on the ice. Lemieux is a -16 which means really bad things happen when he is on the ice. He should retire for the benefit of the team. He is not playing at his former level. He has health problems. Jiri Fischer had an irregular heartbeat discovered in practice a few years ago, and recently had the incident that scared all the fans watching the game, when he collapsed and almost died on the bench. Lemieux needs to retire. He has had a great career. What Lemieux needs to realize now is that it's time to say good-bye. It's hard, but it's something that should be done.

Monday, December 19, 2005 -- Evening

Joey Mullen was named the head coach of the Baby Pens today. I gave some misinformation earlier about the situation this weekend. Rick Kehoe was the person assisting Joey Mullen this weekend. The Baby Pens did not do too poorly this past weekend. They had two wins and a loss. Last night, they beat the Hershey Bears with a score of 3-0.

Monday, December 19, 2005 -- Late Afternoon

It seems that Mario Lemieux will be out for an indefinite time period that will be at the minimum two weeks. The concern is that Lemieux came back from his atrial fibrilation abit too early last time and that caused a reoccurence of the problem. The goal this time is to be more careful and not to have Lemieux stress himself over coming back to play. Also, I'm not sure what sort of physical condition he will be in. Lemieux might be in Eddie O shape and not Michel Therrien shape, and I don't know if the grueling Therrien shape will be good for his heart.

Monday, December 19, 2005 -- Afternoon

The Penguins should have a rough week ahead with full practices that will detail Michel Therrien's philosophy on the game and teach the team the system that he believes will help them to win. Also, the team has to get into better shape. Therrien was saying after one of the games that the team gets the hooking and holding penalties that are killing us because they can't skate. The reason the team is having skating issues is because the team is basically out of shape. So there should be alot of aerobic and strength conditioning going on this week. The next game for the Pens is this coming Friday against the Philadelphia Flyers.

It seems that Michel Therrien is using Michel Ouellet for more than scoring. Ouellet is being used in penalty kills also which is not what Ouellet thought was his strength. So far, in the two games that Ouellet has played, he has done a good job with two goals and making his presence felt on the ice. Also the line of Ouellet and Erik Christensen will be one that we will be seeing alot of because the players have a chemistry together.

Sunday, December 18, 2005 -- Late Morning

I have been wondering who lost the A that was given to Sidney Crosby. After all, it stands to reason that if Crosby was named an alternate captain that someone was demoted from that position since there are only three alternate captains on a hockey team. Well, I found out today who it was. It was John LeClair. He is not taking it personally, and he shouldn't. It makes sense because LeClair has been injured of late with hip and groin problems. Also, the point was not to take it from LeClair, but to give it to Crosby so one of the younger players would have representation as an alternate. Also as Michel Therrien said at the time, it is to help Crosby take some responsibiilty because eventually the team will be his.

Saturday, December 17, 2005 -- Evening

Thirty third game of the season

Teams

Pens

Sabres

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Final

Because I was at the game, I missed most of the first two periods of the Pens game. I don't think I missed much because when I turned on the game with seven minutes left in the second period, the score was 3-1 in favor of the Buffalo Sabres, and then Buffalo scored another to make it 4-1. It was at that point that I noticed that Jocelyn Thibault is in goal. Sidney Crosby scored the first goal for the Pens. The third period started with Michel Ouellet making a goal in 24 seconds. There was another almost goal by him a few minutes later. That's obviously why Michel Therrien brought Ouellet up from the minors. The Pens do seem to have some tiredness issues, and that's not something that Therrien can change in 48 hours. You can't give your players stamina just by willing it. It's going to take some hard work on the part of the strength and conditioning coach. Ouellet, Tomas Surovy, Eric Christensen and Ryan Whitney were putting intense pressure on the goal, and it wound up with a score by Surovy. Note that those four are guys who have come up from Baby Pens and have plenty of experience under Therrien. It was amazing to watch their effort--and the result of a goal. I think that in a few weeks we are going to see some great hockey coming out of the Pens. Right now, the score is 4-3 and the Pens seem to have some momentum in their favor. The younger Pens put on a valiant fight to get the tieing goal with no luck, but it was great hockey. I really have high hopes for the future. Shots on goal were up and that is a big improvement over the Eddie O era. Final score was 4-3.

It seems that Mario Lemieux has had some additional problems with the irregular heartbeat in the third period of yesterday's game. He didn't travel to Buffalo, and there is concern about the condition. No other details at this point. Obviously, it is too early to make any decisions about future play. I think that it's going to be one of those wait and see things.

Saturday, December 17, 2005 -- Morning

I noticed last night that Ric Jackman was not playing last night, and it seems that he was a healthy scratch. It really isn't understandable since Jackman is the Pens highest scoring defenseman. It seems that Eddie O has some sort of falling out with Jackman, and that has carried over to the new coach. Michel Therrien has said that he has had to make room for other players who were coming in off of the injury list like Mario Lemieux, and this is the explanation for the Wilkes-Barre moves and Jackman as a scratch. Therrien said that Jackman could be playing today, and that Maxime Talbot might be coming back.
s

Friday, December 16, 2005 -- Late Evening

Thirty second game of the season

Teams

Sabres

Pens

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Final

I am back from the Pens game this evening. It wasn't a win, but it was one of the better games that I saw this season. In fact, a young boy was saying to his mother that it was the best game he had seen. Yes, it was a loss, but the team seemed to have more energy, especially in the first period. There were any goals until the second period when the Buffalo Sabres scored, and surprises of surprises, Michel Ouellet who just came up from the Baby Pens scored the first game for the Pens to tie the game at 1-1. The Sabres scored again, and that was followed by another goal by Ryan Malone with assists by Tomas Surovy and Ryan Whitney. The Bruins pulled ahead 3-2, and in the last three minutes of the game, the Pens tied it up with a reviewed goal by Ziggy Palffy with assists by Crosby and Mario Lemieux. The game went into overtime. And after another bad penalty by Josef Melichar, the team lost--4-3. There were positives in the game. Crosby saw actiion on the penalty kill, and the lines were consistent. When Palffy was on the ice, you would also see Crosby and Lemieux. With the Eddie O regime, it would be helter skelter. There was more action in the game, and although they did lose, I thought that it was an enjoyable game and the fans were really into it.
Shane Endicott had three penalties in the game, and after the game, Michel Therrien said that the team was taking some bad penalities, at least he considered them bad, and he especially named Endicott as a person who was taking bad penalities. Therrien also mentioned that the team didn't seem to be in very good condition and that needs to be remedied. It seems that in general, the players haven't been working out alot or eating well, and it seems that the whip is finally being cracked. As Therrien says, there are problems with the team, and they could not be addressed completely in less than 24 hours. It's going to take awhile, but even Crosby admitted that things were being worked on that should help the team in the end. The Pens will be playing against Buffalo again tomorrow at 5:00 pm.

Back in Wilkes-Barre, the Baby Pens lost tonight. Of course, that doesn't mean that it is a trend, but Joey Mullen and Randy Hillier aren't very good coaches. The Baby Pens were playing the Syracuse Crunch. The Baby Pens are now 21-2-2-1. Just as Therrien can't get the Pens to win immediately, the Baby Pens might take a while to get the full losing effect of Hillier and Mullen. Now they could make their losing ways known right away, so I'll be keeping my eyes on their progress. The Baby Pens' next game will be tomorrow against the Norfolk Admirals.

Friday, December 16, 2005 -- Late Afternoon

Surprising news this afternoon. It seems that Michel Therrien has made Sidney Crosby an alternative captain this afternoon. That's actually a big deal because usually the A is reserved from players that are in the league longer then Crosby has been. Crosby said that he is honored, and Therrien said that his goal is to impress a good winning attitude into Crosby because one day "this will be Sidney's team". Things are sounding encouraging.

Friday, December 16, 2005 -- Afternoon

The talk all around town today is still about the new Penguins coach. It seem that Michel Therrien was signed to a new three year contract with the team as head coach. The consensus is that he is a tough, demanding coach who isn't afraid to get in the face of some of his players. It's not that he needed to get the job as the Pens coach either because with Michel Therrien's previous NHL experience and the fact that he has been doing so well with the Baby Pens he was sure to be picked up by some team next season. It is going to be curious now to see how both the Pens and the Baby Pens do with the coaching change. Right now, the Baby Pens have the best start in AHL history. Will they keep such a record with Joey Mullen and Randy Hillier as coaches? It seems that Craig Patrick is going to give Therrien full rein to do as he wants which will be good. However, some people blame Craig Patrick because he is the one who hired Eddie O as a head coach with no coaching experience, and he is the one who put together this team that isn't jiving. To fix the problem now, the only reasonable solution was to get rid of the coach. The team has to start winning. I will be at the Pens-Buffalo Sabres game this evening, and will give a game synopsis later this evening.

Thursday, December 15, 2005 -- Evening

Today has been a big day for Pens news. In addition to the major coaching changes, there were also some changes in the roster. Michel Ouellet was brought up from the Baby Pens and Maxime Talbot and Lasse Pirjeta was sent down. For now the coaches of the Baby Pens will be a combination of Rick Kehoe and Joey Mullen.

On the local sports show, Sportsbeat there were several segments on the coaching changes with the Pens. First up were some comments that Craig Patrick made. He called Michel Therrien a very good coach, and that he has done a great job with the young guys in Wilkes Barre. Then as Patrick said, "alot of the young guys are here now, so it makes sense to bring him (Therrien) here." Patrick said that Therrien is straight, forward, blunt and hard--a no nonsense guy. You do it Therrien's way or you don't play. As Patrick said, the Pens look pretty on paper, but what are they? I don't expect Therrien to make a difference immediately. Stan Savran had an interview with Therrien, and here are some of the things that Therrien said: He heard the news last night, and was excited but had mixed feelings. As he said, there was excitement this summer, and he just concentrated on the young kids in Wilkes-Barre and bought a house there. He is sad to leave the kids, but is excited to be back in the NHL. He said they need hard work starting today. The first thing he wants to get across is a foundation of a system. (Finally!). As he said you can't let the goals get made. In the first practice, they started work on the system, and will have more time next week to work on the detail. They have to concentrate on defense, and it seems in the first practice today, Therrien concentrated on defense. Therrien was told that the report was that the system was the same in both here in Wilkes Barren and he agreed, but said that the players have to have the will to perform the system. Therrien said that he doesn't like cheaters who aren't working, and he wants everyone on the same page. He also said that it will help to have the players from the Baby Pens because they know his expectations. He said he is close to his players, but there is a fine line you shouldn't cross. He said that he would do anything for his players, but they in return have to give a hell of an effort. He said the players should be warriors on the ice and that means to work hard and to do whatever it takes to win a hockey game, such as blocking shots. Therrien said that it's tough to win hockey games and it is easier to lose. As he said you don't have to pay a price to lose hockey games, but there is a price to be paid to win the games. And he wants to establish that the players will have to pay a price to win hockey games. Savran asked about the geriatrics. Therrien replied that any hockey player has pride and wants to be recognized for working hard. Therrien said that he will be strict and help the players to be recognized for working hard. He also said that he won't hide anyone, it's not his style. He said that when they need the pat on the back, he will give that to them, and when they need to have their fingers snapped, he will do that too. Therrien said that he wants the team to think of itself as a family, and when the father is tough on his kid it doesn't mean that he doesn't like them. He said it is the same in hockey, and he has to change the attitude of the team. He is expecting good things. Therrien said that he just arrived an hour before practice, and hasn't talked yet to Mario Lemieux, but he will talk to Mario. As he said he has so much respect for Mario, and the players do, not only on the team but in the NHL. Therrien expects Mario to be a true leader, and he is going to play Mario with Sidney Crosby because he thinks the two will do some damage. Therrien said that there is no time frame in getting the players acclimated to his system and his discipline. He said that he won't be able to change things around in 24 hours regarding how they play, but that they should quickly change the attitude and mentality and think of themselves as winners. As Therrien said, this is a good hockey team, and it is not achieving and that's why he is there. He said that he loves Eddie O and that Eddie O is a good friend of his, but the mentality of the hockey team has to change right now.

They also talked to some of the players about the firing and hiring. They showed Therrien in the practice. As Mark Recchi said, "the right attitude wasn't there, the right work ethic wasn't there. We would do it for a game and then take a couple off. And it's not acceptable. We didn't play hard enough and that's why we are here." Brooks Orpik agreed that things had to change. Matt Murley said that Therrien isn't afraid to tell the players and the papers that someone is not playing well. He said that Therrien got into their heads and made them believe that they had to win every little battle--you can't lose anything. Crosby said that sometimes when someone hollars you have to make certain that you got that message. Marc-Andre Fleury said that they know what to expect and they know how they are, and it makes the transition easier. The commentator talked about the change in practice today that got some Pens thinking that things could change quickly. Crosby said that they were working on defense and that was stressed alot. Orpik said that it comes down to how they play on the ice.

Thursday, December 15, 2005 -- Late Morning

There is going to be a Save the Pens rally at Mellon Arena tomorrow, Friday, Dec. 16, at 6 pm. The rally is to show support for keeping the team in the Pittsburgh area. The gathering will be held on Mario Lemieux Boulevard outside the box office gate and the Pens Station store. If you are going to attend the event, send email to savethepens@hotmail.com. Let's go out and show the political leaders and the Pens management that we want the team to stay in Pittsburgh.

Thursday, December 15, 2005 -- Morning

2nd period

3rd period

Final

Thursday, December 8, 2005 -- Evening

Damned disgusting. 1:04 into the first period, and Minnesota Wild scored an easy goal against Jocelyn Thibault. It looks like one of those types of games. while watching Survivor, the first period ended with 18 shots on goal by the Wild and 3 by the Pens. Yep, definitely one of those games! Score is 1-0.

Back to the Pens game where the team is losing and playing miserably. The score is 3-0, and shots on goal for the game so far are 30 for the Wild and 11 for the Pens. It is a pitiful display, and it is heartwrenching to see the team's management do nothing to put the team out of its misery. It seems that Eddie O is playing musical lines again and just making up new line matchs. That has been a problem in the past, but obviously Eddie O is unable to learn from his numerous mistakes. With the start of the third period, the Wild score again to make it 4-0. I suppose that the only question for the Pens is whether they will score at all in this game. Watching the third period of this game, I am reminded of the last season that the Pens played and Eddie O's first season as coach. Some of those games were so bad that I stopped watching the Pens for awhile. It's hard to get excited about such poor quality of play. In fact, this game is so boring that I am doing a suduko puzzle. Another goal by the Wild because Thibault thought it would be a good idea to come out of the net and just laze about in front of it. Easy goal because the defense guy was the only one there to try to block the goal. Score is now 5-0. I'm not even paying attention at this point because only 4:21 is left in the game. It is a slow moving one, and the seats look empty. There were only abit over 14,000 there, and most are leaving because the game sucks and the snow is coming down hard. We are expected to have perhaps as much as 8 inches by morning. Painful loss and we are shutout. Final score is 5-0.

Thursday, December 8, 2005 -- Afternoon

Mario Lemieux was released from hospital this morning with a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation which is a common problem that can be controlled with medication. It seems that he has been having problems since summertime, but the doctors were unable to figure out what was going on until he was admitted to the hospital yesterday. He should be practicing again in a few days and returning to play sometime after that. I think that they are just taking it a day at a time.

Jocelyn Thibault is going to be in goal tonight against the Minnesota Wild because Marc-Andre Fleury has a stomach flu. I'm not expecting a win tonight, but you can never tell. Miracles can happen, or so I hear.

Wednesday, December 7, 2005 -- Mid-Evening

Official word has been released about Mario Lemieux going to the hospital. At this time, it is just a precautionary measure, and Lemieux will definitely not be playing tomorrow against the Minnesota Wild. I won't be going to the game tomorrow because I have my final fiction writing class, but I will give a synopsis later in the evening.

Wednesday, December 7, 2005 -- Evening

Breaking news here in Pittsburgh is that Mario Lemieux has been admitted to hospital for an irregular heartbeat. It seems that Lemieux is under observation and the irregularity could be addressed with medicine. Perhaps Lemieux might realize that it's time to retire and concentrate on being an owner as opposed to owner/player. It also seems that he probably won't be playing in the Olympics this coming winter. Now this isn't anything that Lemieux is saying, just my thoughts on the matter.

Eddie Olczyk is not very concerned about Mark Recchi's plus/minus rating. Recchi has the worst rating of anyone in hockey, but Eddie O claims that the low rating is due to Recchi doing things for the betterment of the team. What? Sometimes I wonder if Eddie O lives in some sort of Wonderland where he is Alice and the Pens, the Cheshire Cat. I do know that some of my friends are starting to jump on the Fire Eddie O bandwagon, and all I have to say is "about time". Eddie O may be the nicest guy personally, but a coach he ain't.

Tuesday, December 6, 2005 -- Morning

Ziggy Palffy and John LeClair are expected to be back at practice today. Their injuries are healing nice, and they should be playing in the next Pens game. Meanwhile Craig Patrick is taking responsibility for the team's failure to perform so far this season. He says that the problem is that he was trying to put together a club that would make it to the playoffs and he failed. However, he still thinks that the team in its current form can succeed and just needs some fine tuning. Hmm. We shall see.

Monday, December 5, 2005 -- Morning

The Baby Pens lost yesterday to the Hershey Bears. They managed to tie the game in the third period, but lost in a shootout with a final score of 3-2. The record for the team is now 20-0-2-1 (with the one being a shoot out loss).

Sunday, December 4, 2005 -- Afternoon

The Baby Pens are doing great. They won again last night with the winning goal occuring in the last two minutes of the game for a final score of 3-2 over the Norfolk Admirals. It's the 15th consecutive road win for the the Baby Pens, and their record for the season is 20-0-2. The Baby Pens have another game today against the Hershey Bears.

Saturday, December 3, 2005 -- Evening

The Pens are playing the Calgary Flames tonight. Sebastien Caron went on waivers yesterday, and no one picked him up so he was reassigned to the Baby Pens. That's sort of sad because if any goalie deserves to be in the minors based on the quality of his play, that's Jocelyn Thibault. I suppose the reason that Caron was sent is because Thibault refused to go. They should have just let Thibault go then because that would have been permissible if he refused to go down to the Baby Pens. John LeClair and Ziggy Palffy won't be playing tonight because of injuries.

Speaking of the Baby Pens, they won again last night and now have a 19-0-2 record. The Baby Pens have set an AHL record for consecutive road victories which now total 14 victories. They are playing the Norfolk Admirals again tonight. The game last night was an overtime win for the Baby Pens with a final score of 3-2.

Twenty seventh game of the season

Teams

Surprising news from the Pens. Jocelyn Thibault has been placed on waivers today. If he isn't picked up by another team by noon tomorrow, Thibault will go down to the Baby Pens. The question is whether anyone will want him with the record he has this season of 1-7-2. Thibault could refuse to go to the minors, but Eddie O and Craig Patrick don't believe that will be the case. I will be going to the Pens game tonight against the Buffalo Sabres tonight, and I am hoping for a win. Don't worry, I'm not holding my breath. Report on the game later this evening.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005 -- Morning

It seems that Mario Lemieux may be playing tonight after all. It seems that he was unable to practice yesterday because he was sick, but within hours was all of a sudden feeling better and might actually play. I think this stomach complaint is weird; I'm just not sure what is going on. Is it stress related, or is it just an excuse for something else?

Monday, November 28, 2005 -- Early Evening

3rd period

Final

Daily Bongo Star of the Game: Sidney Crosby

The Pens are playing the Washington Capitals tonight, and the big story is the showdown between Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin. Since both are in their rookie years this year, there has been alot of comparison between them and questions about who will wind up the Rookie of the Year.
First period: I was busy baking the first fifteen minutes of the game, and had to keep on running into the living room because the Pens were being a lean, mean scoring machine. The first goal was scored by Ziggy Palffy at 5:08. It was followed by another goal at 8:02 by Rik Jackman (who had an assist on the first goal). The third goal was scored by Crosby at 11:53, and the fourth goal, yep, you heard me right, the fourth goal was scored by Lasse Pirjeta. The Pens are leading 4-0!
Second period: Not to worry the old Pens are back, or at least the poor goalie situation is back. Sebastien Caron let in two weak goals by the Capitals. The first happened at 5:31 when Chris Clark got a wrap-around because Caron didn't have the posts covered properly. The second happened 14 seconds later, when Caron had left the net to assist with the puck. I always hate it when the goalies leave their post. So now the score is 4-2. The Pens have scored again. This time Crosby brought the puck down the ice, and then passed it to Palffy who Crosby saw getting over right by the net. Palffy and Crosby are excellent on the same line. Mario Lemieux is looking like a lost little old lady. I know it is sacrilege to say in this city, but the guy needs to consider a second retirement. The score is now 5-2 and Palffy has two goals and Crosby has two points.
Third period: The Capitals have scored again. This time we had the power play, but there were issues with Lemieux's puck handling. Ovechkin got the puck and ran it down to pass off for a goal. The score is now 5-3. Even my boyfriend is now saying that Lemieux should be sitting down and watching the game as opposed to playing it. Again the Capitals are short handed, and they just scored again at 6:30. So, do we think that the Pens can hold off the onslaught and keep the one point lead? The Pens have just gotten a penalty with nine minutes left in the game. The last thing that the Capitals need is a power play at this point in the game. So the penalty just got over, and even the announcers remarked on how Lemieux was there to clear the puck, and gave it away to one of the Capitals. With a minute left, the Capitals have pulled the goalie. The Pens managed to do it. This was the most eye-opening in the fact that we could see the age of Lemieux, and boy was it evident. The final score was Pens 5, Capitals 4.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005 -- Afternoon

Konstantin Koltsov , Rico Fata, and Rob Scuderi have all cleared waivers and are being sent down to the Baby Pens. Two players are being brought up from Wilkes Barre. They are Michel Ouellet and Matt Hussey. Hopefully, this move will make a difference, but I'm not alone in being surprised at the move. I don't think it's going to get the Pens what they want because the problem is a deeper one. The players such as Hussey and Ouellet are doing well with the Baby Pens because the system and the coaching work there. With the Pittsburgh team, it's just a hodge podge of misdirection that isn't conducive to winning. Hussey and Ouellet will be playing tonight when the Pens play the Washington Capitals at 7:30. We'll have to see how the team does with this minor changes.

Monday, November 21, 2005 -- Evening

It looks like Mario Lemieux might not be playing for Canada in the next Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Lemieux didn't show up for the orientation camp in August, and has said that he thinks that the person who is playing well when the team is announced in December, whoever that person is, should be named to the team. Lemieux also said that he would give up his spot for Sidney Crosby. I think that Mario knows that he's not at the top of his game now. After all, he is 40 years old, and he probably thinks that it would be a good idea to let the younger players have the experience.

Possible news from the Pittsburgh Penguins. There are reports that the Pens have put Konstantin Koltsov , Rico Fata, and Rob Scuderi on waivers. Teams will have until Tuesday to pick the players up if they want them. If the players aren't picked up then they will go down to the Baby Pens. So far, there hasn't been any official word of the waivers, but I'll be keeping my eyes and ears open. One of the local sports writers was suggesting just this morning that the Pens might put some players on waivers and bring up some others from the Baby Pens. I'm thinking that Tomas Surovy is probably going to be coming up since he has been doing such a good job in the minors. The thing that I was also suprised to learn is that the Pens have too many players right now, and have been doing alot of healthy scratches because of it. So my boyfriend was telling me that he thinks that all three (Koltsov, Fata, and Scuderi) might go down to the minors with only one coming up, which I think will be Surovy. It will be interesting to see what happens on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the Pens seem unwilling to commit to Marc-Andre Fleury for financial reasons. Fleury should be up here instead of in the minors. One of the local sports announcers was suggesting that the Pens didn't think that Fleury would be very good this year based on his performance in the playoffs last year. That was abit on the silly side because that's the thing with young people. They don't let poor performances get in the way because they have arrogance.

Sunday, November 20, 2005 -- Evening

The Baby Pens won against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers this afternoon. The final score was 5-2. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 28 of 30 shots, and Tomas Surovy had a hat trick. The Baby Pens season record is 16-0-1 with 33 points. Four of the top 20 scorers in the AHL are from the Wilkes Barres Penguins. The next game will be against the Providence Bruins on Wednesday. Go Baby Pens!

Saturday, November 19, 2005 -- Evening

Twenty first game of the season

Teams

Flyers

Pens

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Final

Another extremely disappointing evening watching a Pens. You would have thought that the Pens played last night instead of three nights ago with the lack of energy that the team had on the ice especially in the third period. Meanwhile it was the Philadelphia Flyer who had the energy in the third period. Shots on goal in the third period were 12 for the Flyers and 5 for the Pens. That's probably because the Flyers got rid of their geriatrics, John LeClair and Mark Recchi to us because for some reason, the Pens want to start a senior citizen farm, and wanted to give LeClair and Recchi a nice retirement home. Jocelyn Thibault sucked in goal, and let in two easy goals in the third period. It was a pitiful performance in the third period, and the Pens wound up losing 6-3. So Thibault let in two soft goals, one goal was an empty net at the end of the game, and two others were goals that happened because our defense broke down. Mario Lemieux played like he had poor eye/hand coordination, and it showed with some poor puck moves. There were moments of good play by the Pens, but it was just overwhelmed with poor performances all around. The question becomes when will the Pens do something to improve their game. It is glaringly obvious that the team's management is not interested in winning since they sent down Marc-Andre Fleury down to the minors when he is the best goalie in the Pens organization. Instead we are stuck with Thibault who used to play with Eddie Olczyk a few years back when both played for the Chicago Blackhawks. That relationship might explain why we got a goalie who has played in two years (first year due to injury and second due to lockout). Something has to change if the Pens want to win, and more people are now talking about a coaching change.

Meanwhile the Baby Pens won tonight in overtime. The final score was 3-2. The season total so far is 15-0-1. I wonder if the Pens are watching and comparing the teams because something is right in Wilkes Barres and horribly wrong here in Pittsburgh.

Saturday, November 19, 2005 -- Afternoon

The Baby Pens won again last night for a record of 14-0-1. It seems that Marc-Andre Fleury did an excellent job, stopping 34 shots. This comes after his game with the Pens where he blocked 45 shots. At least Fleury is being philosophical about being sent back down to the minors when he is probably the best goalie that the Pens have right now. I don't understand it. The kid is good and deserves a shot to play since he is showing that he is capable of it. Obviously the Pens are more interested in losing games than to make the proper moves that would have them winning games. Last night, the Baby Pens beat the Norfolk Admirals by a score of 3-1, and will be facing the Admirals again tonight at Norfolk. Tomorrow, the Baby Pens will be playing the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

The Pens are playing the Philadelphia Flyer tonight. The game should be an exciting one, especially based on the game last Wednesday. It will be interesting to see how Sidney Crosby handles the game especially since in the last game, he had some teeth chipped by Derian Hatcher. I have tickets for the game tonight, so I will be commenting on the game when I get home. Poor Sidney's mother was not very happy with him for not wearing a mouth guard, but I guess that's the manly, hockey player responce.

Thursday, November 17, 2005 -- Afternoon

Marc-Andre Fleury has been sent back down to the minors. It seems that Sebastien Caron is now recovered from his leg injury and will be taking over the starting goalie duties.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005 -- Evening

Twentieth game of the season

Teams

Pens

Flyers

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Overtime

Final

Daily Bongo Star of the Game: Sidney Crosby

Another hockey game tonight. This time it is the Pens against the Philadelphia Flyers. Jocelyn Thibault was injured in the pregame practice so Marc-Andre Fleury is the starting goal tender. Fleury is doing a good job so far in the first period. The Pens as a whole are still sucking. So far, in the first period, the Pens have only shot the puck at the net four times. The Flyers had 11 shots on goal. Pitiful! It looks like another one of those games. First period ends with not much to say other than it's 0-0. In the second period, we found out that Thibault was taken to the hospital for further investigation of his injury. It looked like he might have gotten hit in the chest area with the puck during the pregame practice. Third period. Sidney Crosby tried to make a play after getting a penalty at the end of the second period for unsportsmanlike conduct for yelling at the referee. The problem is that there isn't anyone else on the team who is putting in the same effort as Crosby. Crosby made a pass to Ryan Malone during a power play that resulted in a goal for Pittsburgh. A minute later, there was a scrum in front of the Philadelphia net that resulted in a goal. So now, the score is 2-0 for Pittsburgh! The Flyers then got a power play in their favor, and came back to score a goal to make it 2-1. Peter Forsberg had an assist on the goal. The Pens gave up another penalty and the Flyers scored again. For the second time, the scorer was Joni Pitkanen with an assist by Forsberg. The Score is now tied, and all of this happened in just the first seven minutes of the period. Eddie O. is looking upset and frustrated because both the Pens and Flyers got called for a roughing penalty. The culprits were Ryan VandenBussche and Donald Brashear. Some good action is going on but nobody is actually following through with any goals. Regulation ends in a tie. We are now going to overtime. The Pens are having extreme trouble in clearing the action from their end of the ice. Fleury is doing a great acrobatic job. Crosby got the puck on a breakaway, and managed to get the puck by the goalie. The overtime was soemthing else. The Flyers were totally dominating, and were making all the shots on goal, with a total of six. The Pens had only one shot which was Crosby's breakaway. He had some help from Malone. Hmmm. Eddie O. doesn't seem to really appreciate the skills of either, and always gives preference to the geriatrics who did nothing to help with the win. At least they have another win for six in the season. Total shots on goal: 44 for the Flyers and 26 for the Pens. Pitiful performance over all, but at least a win.

CBS Sportsline does an excellent job with hockey game casts and statistical information. It is my favorite sports web site. Excellent job with the game cast for tonight's game.

I disagree with the article written by Dave Molinari. He says, and for some reason manages to get Eddie Olczyk and Ryan Malone to give his hypothesis some validation, that the Pens start out slow because they think they have the talent to just win games, and then rally at the end. That doesn't jive with what I have seen in the games where the legs of the playes seem to give out on them in the third period. I think that I would say that the second period usually seems to be better than the others, but with the way these players have been playing, that's not saying much.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005 -- Evening

Eddie Olczyk's daughter has been ill lately. It seems that she has been having stomach pains for over a month, and her mother took her to Children's Hospital here in Pittsburgh right before the New York Rangers game last week. Even after exploratory surgery, the doctors don't know why the girl has been having the stomach problems. Regardless, I hope that she is feeling better soon. I like Eddie O. In fact, I really loved him as a sports announcer. A coach he ain't. But that does not mean that he's a bad person. He is a caring father, and in general a nice guy. He just shouldn't be a coach.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005 -- Afternoon

Someone up there is listening to me. Mario Lemieux will be sitting out tomorrow's game because of stomach flu. Lemieux will sit out the game with the Philadelphia Flyers. So let's see how the team does without Lemieux. One of the things that I was discussing with my boyfriend at lunchtime is that we need to get the geriatrics off the ice who are not performing and see if some of the younger players have the legs to play 60 minutes of hockey. At this point the geriatrics, those older plyers like Lemieux, don't seem to have the oomph. It was funny because at yesterday's game, Ryan Whitney was talking to Brooks Orpik. Whitney was saying that he's afraid that he's going to hit Lemieux with the puck one of these days and be sent down. That might not be a bad thing because at least the Baby Pens are winning.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005 -- Morning

Ryan Malone was a healthy scratch in yesterday's game. Why? Because Eddie Olczyk didn't like the way that Malone was skating. Yeah, Eddie O. didn't think that Malone was moving his feet efficiently. Interesting! The non-productive geriatrics on the team who slow down the plays and can't make a goal in an empty net aren't scratches. Oh, I get it! It's because the geriatrics have a storied past, and they just deserve to be on the ice because of who they are, not on how well they play. That's another reason why we are losing. Eddie O. doesn't have what it takes to stand up to the geriatrics.

Meanwhile the quality of play in the first two periods of the game was unexceptionally bad. I've seen better games with kids on the ice. The team was slow moving and lethargic and couldn't seem to get its act together. Now that is a problem, and guess what, taking Ryan Malone, a guy with energy, didn't fix it. It was torture to sit through most of the game, and the little bit of quality play didn't erase the memory of a team wallowing in lethargy and geriatric play. Maybe we should be sitting out some of the older non-producers and letting the young kids get on the ice.

Monday, November 14, 2005 -- Evening

Nineteenth game of the season

Teams

Islanders

Pens

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Overtime

Shootout

3-9

2-9

Final

It's a hockey night in Pittsburgh! The Penguins are playing the New York Islanders. The first period started with the usual slow action on the part of the Pens. In fact, it was a pretty boring period with no highlights and no low lights. No score in the period. In fact, lackluster and boring would be very apt descriptions of the action. The second period isn't much better. Neither team seems to want to score. The Pens have very few shots on goal, only five in the first period and the Islanders had 12. The Islanders are the first to score. They were attacking the net for two minutes, and the Pens just couldn't seem to clear it. Somehow the Islanders were making line changes during the time. The puck went over Jocelyn Thibault's shoulder. Score is now 1-0. The level of play by the Pens is abismal. This is so pitiful. The Pens can't seem to get over to the Islanders net, and the Islanders just scored another goal. There is only 2:28 left in the period. I think my dead grandmother could do a better job on the ice than the Pens. As you can tell, I am so throughly disgusted with the level of play by the Pens. In two period, TWO PERIODS, the Pens have only had twelve shots on goal. Yep, you read that right. Pitiful, painful, and pathetic! Let's Fire Eddie O! Let's Fire Eddie O! Third period. After some more lackluster play, Sidney Crosby scored a beautiful goal. The score with 13 minutes to play is 2-1 with the Islanders leading. My gosh, what a shock! Erik Christensen just scored. The game is now tied with just a bit over a minute left in the game. It definitely looks like the game will go into overtime now. The overtime was alot more fast paced than any other time during the game. Unfortunately, it didn't result in any score. We are now having a shootout. The choices for the Pens are Crosby, Lemieux and Christensen. Alexei Yashin, Trent Hunter and Shawn Bates are going for the Islanders. Yashin misses the goal. Now it is Crosby's turn. Crosby scores. The Pens have a 1-0 lead in the shootout. Hunter scored in his attempt. It is now tied in the shootout 1-1. Lemieux is stopped like a bug squashed on the floor. Bates scored. So now it is 2-1. Christensen must score or the Islanders win. Christensen scored and the shootout is now tied. Miroslav Satan is now up for the Islanders, and he can't score. Now it is up to Mark Recchi. There was a review of the Christensen goal because the net was off its moorings. Recchi couldn't score. As my boyfriend said, the rookies for the Pens score, but not the geriatrics. Mark Parrish lost control of the puck and didn't score. Next up is Ziggy Palffy. He gave a sorry ass attempt at a shot. Robert Nilsson misses for the Islanders. Then Konstantin Kolstov missed. John LeClair took off his shield and he tried for the Pens and missed. Jason Blake scored for the Islanders. Ryan Whitney, the ninth shooter in the shootout, misses. The Islanders score 3 goals and the Pens 2 in the shootout so the Islanders win in overtime.

Monday, November 14, 2005 -- Afternoon

The Baby Pens won again yesterday against the Hartford Wolf Pack. The final score was 5-4 with the winning goal scored in the last 2:33 of regulation time. The Baby Pens record is now 13-0-1. Now if only the Pittsburgh Penguins could have some of that consistency. The team is having difficulty understanding why they can't put their performances together because if you look at the members of the team, they should be beating everyone. The problem as I keep on saying is coaching, and everyone skirts around the issue and tries to blame everyone else. There is a reason why our powerplay sucks and why we can't score goals. I think that a shake up in the coaching might work wonders for the team. The question is when will the Penguins management wake up to that reality?

To listen to Mario Lemieux, you might think that the problem was his stick. Lemieux hasn't like the way the composite sticks were handling the puck, so he is using a hybrid that has a wooden blade and a composite shaft. So far, Lemieux likes the stick. The question is if that will improve his level of play.

Sunday, November 13, 2005 -- Afternoon

There really was no good reason for the Penguins last night. They should not have been tired because they just had a day off and there aren't any real illness that the team can claim laid waste to them. The team was claiming that the lackluster performances of late have been because of the fact that they had a tiring road trip. According to Rico Fata, "I think we just had to match their work ethic. If we matched anywhere near their work ethic, I think we would have been fine." My question is why doesn't the team match the New York Rangers work ethic? General laziness of the individual players or a coach who is wallowing in incompetence and is able to command the respect of the team so they do put in the effort? It is glaringly obvious, and has been since the 2003/2004 season, that Eddie Olczyk is in over his head, and no one is realizing that it is in the best interests of the team to get a coach who has a clue of what to do. Yes is it frustrating at Eddie O. admits. It must be exceptionally frustrating for a person who has no coaching experience to suddenly be expected to be able to turn in a good performance. Let's put Eddie O out of his misery. Fire Eddie O, and put in a competent coach.

Speaking of competent coaches, the Wilkes Barre Pens soundly beat their opposition last night. The score against the Portland Pirates was 6-0. In thirteen games, the Baby Pens are 12-0-1. This record should be sending a message to the Pens. I think the only signal that they are receiving is that they should bring up random players in the hopes to make the situation better instead of realizing that coaching is everything. Perhaps the Baby Pens coach, Michel Therrien, doesn't want to come to the Pens and to take a backseat to unofficial coach, Mario Lemieux. In fact, that might explain Lemieux's support of Eddie O. Eddie O. probably lets Lemieux make all the decisions which is obviously a problem. The Baby Pens will be playing the Hartford Wolf Pack this afternoon at 4 pm.

Maxime Talbot broke his nose in the hit that he received on Thursday from Montreal's Steve Begin. Talbot doesn't blame Begin though because it was one of those hits that gets made on a player with the puck. The problem was that Talbot was low on the ice which put in face in a vulnerable position.

Saturday, November 12, 2005 -- Late Evening

Eighteenth game of the season

Teams

Rangers

Pens

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Final

Daily Bongo No Star of the Game: Eddie Olczyk -- Let's Fire Eddie O!

Daily Bongo Star of the Game: Jaromir Jagr

The Penguins have a serious problem, and it is still not being addressed by the current management/coaching team. This evening, we played the New York Rangers and the Rangers played an excellent game. Since Jaromir Jagr left the Pens a few years ago, fans have been hostile towards him. For me, I really liked him then, and still do. Whenever Jagr would have the puck, the audience would boo him. Jagr put on a show for everyone though, and achieved a hat trick (3 goals) in the game. I did notice that whenever the Rangers had a powerplay that Jagr would be out on the ice for the entire two minutes. The Penguins did an awful job during their powerplays, and frequently, the Rangers would be shooting at our goal when they were shorthanded. Line changes were not smooth, and at one point, only two players were on the ice while the other three were slow in getting onto the ice. Probably because Eddie Olczyk was having issues. The team was lackluster even though we just won our last game, and we had some rest at home. Shots on goal were low with only 24 from the Pens while the Rangers had 41. Sergei Gonchar had problems with turning over the puck to the other side, and that should be addressed somehow, either by sending him to the minors or something. I know that the minors seems harsh, but his quality of play is not worth what he is making, and he needs a wake up call. In the end, the Pens lost 6-1. It was a sad and pitiful game, and most of the 17,132 fans had left by the time that Ryan Whitney got a five minute major for checking behind and game misconduct at 15:05. At that point, the Pens were behind by a score of 5-1, and there was no hope. Some people in my section started yelling out for Eddie O to be fired, and I have to admit that even though I have been a proponent of his removal, I seemed to be a lone voice. People are now becoming more vocal and agreeing with me that some of these problems must come from the top, and when you see crappy line changes, it does come down to the coach.

Saturday, November 12, 2005 -- Late Afternoon

I'll be going to the Penguins game tonight. I'm looking forward to the game more than usual because they will be playing the New York Rangers. Because of the location of our seats, I should have a good opportunity to see any goals scored by Jaromir Jagr. I'll have my comments on the game later on tonight.

Friday, November 11, 2005 -- Early Evening

Everyone has been talking about the great ending to the Penguins game last night. Sidney Crosby is quiet a hero, and he has been doing an exceptional job. Yesterday's game was also a good one for Jocelyn Thibault. He didn't play last year because of the lockout, and only played 14 games in the previous season with 5 wins. So it was good for Thibault to get a win under his belt. Meanwhile John LeClair was back on the ice last night with a plastic shield over his face to protect the multiple fractures over his right eye. LeClair said that there were some visual problems with the shield which I don't understand because it is clear. Yeah, I don't like a hat with a brim on my forehead, but if it were made of clear plastic I wouldn't say that it blocked my vision.

A Kansas City group is trying to lure the Penguins out of the city. It's well known that the team is having financial issues in the city, and that there is a need for a new arena. As the Kansas City group said, if the Pens don't have a deal by next year, they are prime targets for becoming the Kansas city Penguins. Let's hope that the Penguins work out a deal so they can stay in the city.

Thursday, November 10, 2005 -- Later Evening

Seventeenth game of the season

Teams

Canadiens

Pens

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Overtime

Shootout

0-3

1-3

Final

Daily Bongo Star of the Game: Sidney Crosby

The Pens are playing the Montreal Canadiens. The Pens took an early lead and scored two goals in the first period. Mario Lemieux scored the second goal shortly after getting whacked with a stick close to the eye. It was one of the accidental things where a guy was trying to clear the puck from the Canadiens side, and Lemieux skated into the stick. Of course, he wanted the other guy called for a penalty but that didn't happen. The Canadiens came back to score a goal in the second period, and we are now in the third period with no really good scoring attempts. Both teams look abit lazy again. Maxime Talbot got a pretty good hit, and had to be helped from the ice. The question is whether it was a fair hit, and it looks like it was. Talbot was low to the ice and was playing the puck when he got checked and hit Steve Begin's shoulder. Right after killing the five minute penalty that Begin got for the hit, the Canadiens scored to tie the game. There's only 3:31 left in the game so we are probably going to head for overtime. Yep, overtime. The Canadiens have been putting alot of pressure on Jocelyn Thibault. As Mike Lange said, the Canadiens were like bees around a hive. Overtime is over and we are on to a shoot out. Let's see how this go. Michael Ryder is up first. He doesn't score. Next up is Mark Recchi and he doesn't get a goal either. Next is Alexei Kovalev. He doesn't score. Next up is Lemieux. He can't score either. I missed the name of the third Canadien, but he can't score. It's all down to Sidney Crosby who went to the top of the next and scored. The Pens win in a shoot out, thanks to Crosby. The Kid is something else and obviously even has Lemieux beat so far this season.

Thursday, November 10, 2005 -- Afternoon

Marc-Andre Fleury has been recalled to replace Sebastien Caron. Flery was named the AHL Goalie of the month last month because of his 6 wins and 0 losses for the month of October. Tonight the Pens will be playing the Montreal Canadiens.

Wednesday, November 9, 2005 -- Evening

Sixteenth game of the season

Teams

Pens

Thrashers

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Final

Wednesday, November 9, 2005 -- Evening

The Pens were playing the Atlanta Thrashers tonight. I missed the first period of the game. The rest of the game has been a sorry display. The Pens seem lack luster and out of shape. I suppose that is understandable considering the age of some of the players. However, we do have some young players and at least they should have some energy. The first period was scoreless, but the Thrashers turned it around to score four goals. As the game is slowly winding down, the Pens look like they are going to be shut out. With 2:45 left in the game, Sebastien Caron hurt his hip and had to be pulled. Jocelyn Thibault was put in, and the Thrashers scored a goal on the first play. So after five seconds of play with Thibault, the Thrashers have scored. It's now 5-0. With 2:11 left in the game, Ric Jackman got a penalty. Just what we needed to end the game--a powerplay for the other team. The Pens are pitiful, and it is painful to watch most times. The Pens are shut out and lose yet again.

Tuesday, November 8, 2005 -- Morning

I'm not the only person in Pittsburgh who questions Eddie Olczyk's coaching ability or lack thereof. Even though the Penguins won last night, it wasn't from lack of trying to blow a well earned lead. It seemed that even though it was the third period and the Pens were ahead 3-0, Eddie O. called the team over to give them some suggestions that lead to the Rangers coming to within one point of tying the game. I guess that Eddie O doesn't know when to keep his mitts out when the team is doing well. Probably because as a coach, Eddie O is the pits.

Sidney Crosby is a bright spot on the team. He's always there to make a play or to put pressure on the other team. Jaromir Jagr managed to keep all the hype about Crosby in perspective however by saying that the kid may be good, but that he would wait to make that assessment because it's not fair to those who have been great for years to say that Crosby is the "Next One" based on one month's worth of play. He's right. Of course, being Jagr, some of the sarcastic bite comes out, such as when Jagr was asked about Crosby's performance against the Rangers. Jagr's reply was: "I didn't really pay attention to him. I was just concentrating on myself. Of course, he scored a goal and he had some good plays."

Monday, November 7, 2005 -- Evening

Fifteenth game of the season

Teams

Pens

Rangers

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Final

Daily Bongo Star of the Game: Sebastien Caron

Monday, November 7, 2005 -- Evening

The game between the Pens and the New York Rangers. The first period started out well. The Pens have been playing well so far. One of the prettiest moves happened in the first five minutes of the period when Sidney Crosby had the puck, and was between three Rangers. Crosby leaped over the sticks of two of the players, landed on his knees, but still made a shot at the goal. It was truly beautiful. That kid does indeed have talent. It's funny because watching the game is like watching the old Pens play the new Pens. The Rangers have Jaromir Jagr, Marty Straka, and Darius Kasparaitis. At 15:20, Mario Lemieux scored a goal to give us the first score and lead of the evening. I really don't like the announcers that they have on OLN. They mispronounce players names and seem to be generally ignorant of the sport. There some stupid woman who does color bits who informed us that Lemieux is already in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Obviously they think that idiots who know nothing of hockey are watching. Score at the end of the period is Pens 1, Rangers 0.
Second period: The Rangers are back on the ice and really don't seem to have much of anything going on. Theh team just doesn't seem to be playing on all cylinders. I was hoping to see some good scoring opportunities by Jagr. There's not alot of scoring going on which I thought would be the case. With 1:57 left in the second period, Crosby scored a goal. Boy, maybe the Pens might actually win tonight which I didn't think was possible. And so far, nothing from Jagr. The period ends with the Pens still in the lead with a score of 2-0. The Rangers have more shots on goal than we do, but Sebastien Caron has been doing a great job in goal.
Third period: Wow! Another goal at 3:42 into the period for the Pens. This time it was Ziggy Palffy. Score is now 3-0. I'm waiting for the Pens to totally fall apart in the third as they usually do. Palffy was going for a breakaway and got shoved, and he gets a penalty shot. Kevin Weekes, the Ranger goalie, blocked it. Score is still 3-0. The Rangers have just scored. Ryan Hollweg scored his first NHL goal. The Rangers are putting on the pressure. At 13:36, the Rangers scored another goal. The lead is now down to one goal. Goal was scored by Marian Hossa. The last few minutes of the game were hard playing, but the Pens managed to hold on to win in the end with a score of 3-2. Jagr did not score at all in the game.

Monday, November 7, 2005 -- Morning

I am really looking forward to the Penguins game tonight because they will be playing the New York Rangers. Jaromir Jagr has been one of my favorite players for awhile now, and he has made a goal in almost every game that he has played this season. The goal is to see if he can score 50 in 50. Yes, Jagr can be a pain with his personality, but that's one of the things that I like about him too. He doesn't try to please. Jagr is Jagr, and with a talent like that, you just accept him as he is. Jagr is happy with the New York Rangers, and that's something that he hasn't been in a long time. It's obvious from his successful play that things are going well for him psychologically and physically. I'm just looking forward to the show tonight, and not expecting much from the Pens.

Mario Lemieux is hoping to put in a full year of play this season. In the past, he has been plagued with back problems and other health issues. This year though, he is hoping to prevent it from happening. The question is whether this is a realistic hope since Lemieux is 40 and has never played a full season in the NHL in his entire career.

Meanwhile, the Baby Pens are still winning. They beat the Philadelphia Phantoms again yesterday. The Baby Pens record for the season is 11-0-1. Not bad at all.

Sunday, November 6, 2005 -- Evening

Good news from the Baby Pens. They won their game yesterday against the Philadelphia Phantoms and now have 10 wins and 1 loss for the year. They beat the Phantoms with a score of 4-1. They played again this afternoon, so I should have those results either later tonight or tomorrow depending on the update on the page. We don't get alot of news about the Baby Pens even though they are doing much better than our Pens. What needs to happen is that we need to bring the coach of the Baby Pens, Michel Therrien here to coach the Pens. It's not like he hasn't had head coaching experience in the NHL. Believe me, no one could be worse than Eddie O.

Saturday, November 5, 2005 -- Evening

Fourteenth game of the season

Teams

Pens

Bruins

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Final

Daily Bongo No Star of the Game: Eddie Olczyk -- Let's Fire Eddie O!

Daily Bongo Star of the Game: Jiri Slegr

Another Pens game tonight. We are playing the Boston Bruins. Some folks are getting excited here in Pittsburgh because the Pens won the last two games and think that all the problems are solved. They aren't though because in one of the wins, we easily gave up a two point lead late in the game, and in the other, the New York Islanders didn't show up to play. First period: John LeClair is going to be out for an indefinite time after suffering a puck to the face in practice that resulted in multiple cheekbone fractures. Poor LeClair! In the first 28 seconds of the game, Nick Boynton scored for the Bruins. They look like they have come to play. The Pens, however, seem to want to lose this game. Sidney Crosby got one of the first penalities, closely followed by Brooks Orpik, and then Mario Lemieux decided that he had to add on an interference call (the type he wanted called because people do it to him all the time), and then threw in an unsportsmanlike conduct for a total of four minutes by mouthing off to the ref for calling it. You can't have it both ways, Mario! So of course, the Bruins scored, and then scored again 35 seconds later because we were still in the box with penalities. Jiri Slegr, the former Pen and a defenseman, scored both goals. Score is 3-0 Bruins favor. Fortunately, Crosby was working some miracles and got the puck at the net, but he wound up not getting credit for the goal. That went to Mark Recchi with assists from Lemieux and Ryan Whitney. Right now with seconds left in the first period, we have a two man advantage, which will carry over into the second period. Score after the first period is Bruins 3, Pens 1. Our goal was a power play goal, as was two of the Bruins three goals.
Second period: more of the same old losing Pens. We managed to somehow not be able to get the puck into the Bruins end of the ice even though we had a two man advantage. I am not seeing anything going on with this team in this game that leads me to believe that the situation has changed much because of the two wins. It seems that problems are still abounding. We had a power play, but weren't able to do anything with it. The Bruins, however, score again, and the score is now 5-1 in favor of the Bruins. At that point (9:37), Sebastien Caron was pulled and Jocelyn Thibault was put in his place. At 12:01, we had some excitement when a fight broke out between Rico Fata and Slegr. Slegr elbowed Fata and got called for the penalty, and then Fata decided to do some shoving and Slegr dropped his gloves and pummeled Fata. I always did like Slegr, and I don't care for which team he plays.
Third period: Almost eight minutes into the period, and Boston has scored again. It seems that this is going to a blowout loss. Score is now 6-1. The Pens seem to be exceptional at blowing a two man advantage. It wasn't until the power play ended that Lemieux managed to shoot the puck over so Lasse Pirjeta could make a goal. Score is now 6-2. Another fight at with 4:42 left in the game. This time it was Ryan Malone getting pummeled. He got five minutes for fighting. Then play just started and another Pen was getting pummeled. Yes, we were on the losing side of all three fights this evening. This time it was Ryan VandenBussche. Eddie Olczyk looks worried, and obviously isn't good at the coaching bit because he just sent 6 offensive players off on the ice. What an idiot! Crosby was set to take the penalty. Let's fire Eddie O! We just got another penalty with less than two minutes left in the game, and this time Pirjeta actually hurt the Boston player and he had to be helped off the ice with a knee injury. I am thoroughly disgusted with the play of the Pens tonight and their unsportsmanlike performance. With three seconds left, and the Bruins not even playing, Recchi scored a goal. Final is 6-3.

Thursday, November 3, 2005 -- Evening

Thirteenth game of the season

Teams

Pens

Islanders

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Final

Daily Bongo Three Stars of the Game:
1 -- Sidney Crosby
2 -- Mario Lemieux
3 -- Ryan Whitney

Meanwhile the Pens had a very good game today. Sidney Crosby scored two goals and one assist. Surprisingly, the Pens actually won today, and in something of a blowout. Erik Christensen got his first NHL goal in the game too. This is the type of game that we should be playing all the time. The part of the third period that I saw was pretty much puck passing in the middle of the ice. It wasn't very thrilling or exciting, and it didn't look like the Islands had much going for them. It appears that was the story for the majority of the game. The final score was Pens 5, Islanders 1.

Thursday, November 3, 2005 -- Afternoon

Sidney Crosby has been named the NHL's rookie of the month for October. This is impressive considering how poorly the team has done on the whole and based on the rookie competition. Crosby has the right attitude about the award. He says that it's nice to get, but that he is more concerned with winning games at this point.

Tuesday, November 1, 2005 -- Evening

Twelfth game of the season

Teams

Pens

Devils

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Overtime

Final

The Pens is up first. Sebastien Caron is starting in goal for the Pens, and Erik Christensen and Ryan Whitney were starters. We are playing the New Jersey Devils and the good thing is that Martin Brodeur is not playing tonight due to a knee injury. The difficulty in watching hockey on television is that it is really difficult to get a feel for how the team is performing as a unit or what energy it has. So far, things don't seem that energizer, but we'll have to see if it picks up. Not much of anything really happened in the first period, and it ends without a score on either side. We had eight shots on goal compared to the Devils five. As you can tell from those stats there was just alot of puck passing and not much else. This was the most boring period of hockey that I have seen in awhile. The second period starts. 6:26 into the period New Jersey scores with a goal by Jamie Langenbrunner. The score is 1-0. Again another situation in which the Pens aren't the first to score. So the Pens got a 5 on 3 power play and the new kid Ryan Whitney thought that he had a goal, and it went up to the box. The Pens were hoping for another one of those bogus calls like they got on Saturday where the goalie's glove went into the net with the puck in it and that counted as a goal. I called it bogus then, and I call it bogus now. This one doesn't look like the glove is even in the net. No goal. A few seconds later, Sidney Crosby shot one on net and it went in. The game is now tied. Unbelieveable! A little over a minute later, Lasse Pirjeta scored for the Pens and we now have the lead 2-1. The periods in abit over three minutes without any additional scoring. I am really amazed at how empty the arena looks. There is no word yet on the attendance, but it looks abismal. The third period is starting and we find out that Mark Recchi is getting credit for the second Pens goal. The Pens have a penalty from Christensen, and Maxime Talbot scored a short-handed goal. The score is now 3-1. Of course, we usually fall apart in the last 8 minutes or so of the game, and this time Sergei Gonchar got a penalty, and New Jersey capitalized on it, by shooting the puck at the net and having it kicked in by one of our players. The score is now 3-2. Four minutes are left in the game now. with 2:12 left in the game, the Devils score again. Score is now tied. This is shaping up as another sorry-assed Pen loss. The Devils are like sharks circling in a bloody pool. Another lead blown. We are now in overtime. We can only hope for a win now and not a repeat of our past history. My Gosh! I don't believe it! Gonchar just scored and the Pens won. We still aren't looking good, and we have a long way to go for improvements.

Tuesday, November 1, 2005 -- Morning

Eddie Olczyk says that he understands that his job is on the line if the Pens don't start winning soon. We aren't talking about one win followed by several losses, but moving onto the track of several wins. Tonight will be another game, and we will have to see how the team does. Ryan Whitney and Erik Christensen should be getting some playing time this evening, so we will have to see how they do.

Monday, October 31, 2005 -- Afternoon

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 -- Morning

Mario Lemieux is sticking up for Eddie O. According to Lemieux, the problem is that the players just aren't playing well. That explains it all. Every player has a problem, not the single coach. It's Crosby's fault that he's not on the power play, not the coach for not sending him out on the ice. If Lemieux can explain to me how all the players on the ice are deficient, but not the person who oversees them all, I might consider the possibility. Lemieux doesn't do that however. He just says that the system works, the players aren't doing their job. Even if that is the case, the reason all the players aren't doing their job is because they are not being molded properly by the coach. However you look at it, it always comes back to the fish rotting from the head. We are playing the Florida Panthers tonight. Let's hope that we have a win by the end of the evening.

Monday, October 24, 2005 -- Evening

There was a very interesting discussion about the Penguins on the KDKA Sports Showdown. The Showdown brings together some of the local sports reporters (both print and broadcast), and they discuss various aspects of Pittsburgh sports. As can be imagined, the main topic of conversation was why are the Pens losing and what can be done to get the Pens winning again. My favorite reporter, Dejan Kovacevic, who used to be on the hockey beat full time before the lockout, is of my opinion that the problem lies in a lack of a system. The team gets the system from the coaching staff, and that's where the changes need to be made. As Dejan was saying, other teams in the NHL that had a system and had a coach that provided discipline and structure are the teams that are winning now. The others agreed that the Pens are just out there hoping that anarchy will reign, and it isn't. Ellis Cannon said that he thinks that the problem is in the mind of the players, that they aren't focusing on the job. Again, a coaching problem if you ask me. The other thing that Dejan brought up that I have mentioned also is that Sidney Crosby isn't being given a chance to make a difference on the team. When you have a player like Crosby, who is scoring and making a positive difference when he appears on the ice, you give him ice team, you put him on the power play. Again another coaching issue. It's demoralizing to the offense to spend so much time in their own end defending the goal because the defense is more concerned about making offensive moves. Let's hope that something changes with the team soon because I want to see a number other than a zero in the win column.

Sunday, October 23, 2005 -- Evening

I'm not alone in asking this question: Why isn't Sidney Crosby getting more ice time? So far, he is fifth on the team with amount of ice, and he has two minutes less than Mario Lemieux. Lemieux is on the ice for 20:14 minutes while Crosby is only on for 18:30. There's something seriously wrong with having someone who is 40, even if he is Lemieux, on the ice more than someone who is 18. There's also a problem when the 18 year old has more points than anyone else on the team. The first thing that you have to think is that there is a problem with the coaching staff because they are ultimately responsible for overall direction in which the team goes. There will always be standouts on a team that do what they do regardless of the coach. However, when a team has the personalities that the Pens do then more is expected from it. If the team doesn't perform, it has to be the coaching staff. I have been ready to overhaul the coaching staff for a week now, but others are not as hasty. Even so, most people are expecting something to happen if the Pens don't start winning consistently, and based on Eddie O's performance in the full year that he coached, it's obvious that coaching ain't his forte.

Saturday, October 22, 2005 -- Evening

Eighth game of the season

Teams

Bruins

Pens

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Final

Daily Bongo No Star of the Game: Eddie Olczyk -- Let's Fire Eddie O!

Another Penguins game this evening, and another loss. I went out to watch the game so I could see it on a larger screen than at home, and I was sorely disappointed by the performance of the Pens. Sidney Crosby managed to get two points, but the final score was a win for the Boston Bruins with a final score of 6-3. The Pens had a lackluster performance, and can't seem to understand that you have to shoot the puck at the net to get a goal. By the end of the second period we had 11 shots on goal compared to 38 from the Bruins. The final was 47 shots on goal for the Bruins and 21 for the Pens. That is really unacceptable. Another problem was the number of penalities, 14 by the Pens, 11 of which were handed out by the middle of the second period. I really hate to sound like a broken record, but the only solution I see is to fire Eddie O. The guy has no system of any kind. What we need to do is to beg Kevin Constantine to come back to be our coach. All the people that I talk to have been willing to give Eddie O time to really get us into the basement, but the last season that he coached was equally bad. I think that he's had his chance. Eddie O's incompetance as a coach is glaringly obvious, and I hope that the Penguins management wakes up to see it before the season is lost. Also as a season ticket holder, I'm going to have to start asking for a reduction on my ticket cost for the team sucking so much. The Pens need to stop this notion of "let's hire a former Pens player to be a coach".

Thursday, October 20, 2005 -- Evening

Seventh game of the season

Teams

Devils

Pens

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Final

I was in class this evening until 8:30 and missed the first period of the Penguins game. The New Jersey Devils scored two goals in the first period. Just as I turned on the television, two quick goals were made by the Pens, one of them by Mario Lemieux. The Devils came right back with two quick goals to make the score Devils 4, Pens 2. All of the spunk seems to be out of the Pens right now, and I would imagine that a win ain't going to happen tonight. The announcer is commenting on how the Pens matched the mood of the crowd in the first period which was flat, then the crowd and the Pens perked up abit and two goals were scored, then it went right back to flat. It really does seem as if the Pens are just accepting their loss to tell you the truth. The period is over, and we are on to the third period. Two minutes into the third period, and the Devils have scored twice. The score now is 6-2. it's 2:08 into the period, and Eddie O pulled Jocelyn Thibault and put in Sebastien Caron. For the first time in the game, Eddie O has put Lemieux and Crosby on the same line. The team and crowd really seem lackluster now. The Pens had some activity going on, and Crosby got hit with a stick that brought some blood to his lip. Crosby did a great job of falling to the ground and flinging his glove feet into the air. At 8:43 Ric Jackman scored a goal with an assist by Lemieux and Mark Recchi. Martin Brodeur was collided into by John LeClair. I don't believe that it was intentional. LeClair just sort of backed into Brodeur. Of course, being an expert in the field, LeClair should probably be aware of his location at all times. Brodeur's helmet was knocked off, and LeClair was quickly shoved to the ground by another New Jersey player. Game is over, and the Pens have lost.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005 -- Evening

On the Pens front, Jocelyn Thibault will be back in goal tomorrow. The Pens will be playing the New Jersey Devils again. This could be a tough game. The Pens did have a lengthy session studying video tape of past games. I think that the team needs to actually practice its defensive moves more than it has been because that is the area that they are not very strong. Tomorrow should be an interesting night, and will hopefully be our first win.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005 -- Morning

Two local folks are fighting hard to get a slots license for the Pittsburgh Penguins. They have a website called Slots for Mario and are going to attend the Pittsburgh Gaming Task Force meeting tomorrow night to put in a word for the Pens. Let's wish them luck! Meanwhile, the Pens are trying to work on their problems with the defensive line. The team has been doing some practicing on 5 on 5 situations in the hopes that they can improve and win a game sometime soon.

Monday, October 17, 2005 -- Morning

On to the Pittsburgh Penguins. They have much more serious problems than the Steelers do. I'm not the only one who is noticing that our defense sucks. The offense can only get us so far if the defense still lets preventable goals into the net. I don't know how we can remedy the situation with the lineup that we currently have, and the sorry thing is that I don't think our coaching staff has a clue either. We do know that Eddie O doesn't have any plan to pair up Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby on the same line. Of course not. If you have the opportunity to put two people together who might actually be able to put more pucks in the net, why pair them together? At least that is the world according to Eddie O. I think that Crosby needs someone who can play with him, and not do as Mark Recchi did the other night. Crosby passes Recchi the puck to make a shot on net, and instead of doing that, Recchi passes it back. Meanwhile Crosby was waiting to get the rebound and wasn't in position to just get a meandering back pass. Eddie O is like Maddox thought. As Eddie O says, he sees alot of good in the team when he looks at the tapes. Maybe Eddie O should get some new glasses and take a closer look. When you have a player like Crosby who already has nine points for the season and is in second place in the points race, and you only have him on the ice for 23 seconds during a power play, you have a problem. I think that it is a coaching problem because who else is responsible for the lines that are sent out?

Saturday, October 15, 2005 -- Evening

Sixth game of the season

Teams

Flyers

Pens

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Final

Daily Bongo No Star of the Game: Eddie Olczyk -- this non-coach has got to go!

It was another very disappointing Pittsburgh Penguins game. Marc-Andre Fleury started in goal, and he did the best that he could with lack of support from the defensive line. Donnie Iris sang the national anthem. The only comment that I have to make about the game is that we are sorely in need of someone who has coaching experience. I don't know where in the world some people get the idea that just because you were a half way decent player that you can coach. In Eddie Olczyk's case, he doesn't seem to have a clue of how to coach, and it really shows because the team as a whole sorely lacks the cohesiveness that a good team should have. I don't think that his assistant coaches are much better. Until the coaching system is fixed, I think that regardless of the quality of players on the ice, the team will be in the pits. The other thing that is becoming noticeable is that some of the older players did not benefit from the league not playing last year. John LeClair seems incapable of making plays, and even though he is only 36, he seems to need an injection of monkey glands to get him back into the competitive game. The only person who makes plays is Sidney Crosby. He had another assist today. So do we play Crosby during the power plays? Nope, because Eddie O doesn't have a clue. In this game, he only had 23 seconds of power play time. What a waste of a player. I am going to start the chant of "let's fire Eddie O" and hopefully someone in a position of power will act upon it. There was a bright moment in the game. In the last two minutes of the game, Fleury made a huge leap in to the air to save a score. He was being pulled from the goal to put an extra man on the ice, and the crowd got on its feet to cheer Fleury. Shots on goal sucked with the Pens only making three in the second period, for a total 21 shots in the whole game. Ziggy Palffy made the only Pens goal with an assist from Crosby. The final score was Lighting 3 - Pens 1.

Saturday, October 15, 2005 -- Afternoon

I am heading to the Pittsburgh Penguins game tonight. We are playing the Tampa Bay Lighting, and I am hoping for the first win of the season. Knowing the Pens though, and the poor coaching of Eddie O., it will probably be another overtime loss. I will comment on the game when I get home.

Friday, October 14, 2005 -- Evening

Fifth game of the season

Teams

Pens

Flyers

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Overtime

Final

Daily Bongo No Star of the Game: the Penguins defense which is MIA

Daily Bongo Three Stars of the Game:
1 -- Sebastien Caron
2 -- Sidney Crosby
3 -- Peter Forsberg

Friday, October 14, 2005 -- Evening

I went to dinner this evening, and came home to the recorded Penguins game. First period: Philadelphia Flyers scored first with a goal at 3:45 from Keith Primeau. Score 1-0 Flyers. Mario Lemieux got into a bit of a discussion with Joni Pitkanen for some extra bumping that Pitkanen did. When play restarted Mario gave Primeau abit more extra bumping that did not get called by the officials. I think that Mario was sending a message and let's hope that Pitkanen gets it. It was a real scrum and Pitkanen scored. I think that the goal should have been called off because Peter Forsberg was in the net (he also got an assist on the goal). There is alot of tension between the Pens and Flyers. It's amazing because the makeup of the team has changed over the past couple of years, and yet there is still the interstate animosity between the teams. The Pens score with three second left in the period. John LeClair scored the goal, and Sidney Crosby got the assist. The score is 2-1. Marc-Andre Fleury had 13 shots while Antero Niittymaki had only 5 shots.

Second period: 1:37 into the second period Simon Gagne scored. It's now 3-1 for the Flyers. Gagne just scored again with another assist by Forsberg! It's now 4:07 into the period. Now this sucks! They pulled Fleury! I think that is so unfair because it really wasn't Fleury's fault. Maybe if our defense was better we wouldn't have everyone and their aged mother shooting at the net! Brooks Orpik was the person responsible for giving up the puck which lead to the goal. Let's pull him and leave Fleury in the game. Score is 4-1 Flyers. So then the Flyers at 10:44 make a short handed goal. Goal was scored by Derian Hatcher. The defense sucks. No one was even attempting to take out the passing lane on a two on one situation. We really need to do something about how the defense sucks. So far in the period, the Pens have had only 1 shot on net. Finally at 12:11, Ryan Malone scored with an assist by Lemieux. Score is 5-2. At 13:08, Crosby got the credit for a goal that was made on the face-off. The score is now 5-3. Period is over. There were a total of 15 shots against Pens goalies and only 7 against the Flyers. Total for the game so far is 28 against the Pens and 12 against the Flyers.

Third period: The period starts when there was controversy over whether the Pens scored or not at 2:55. We didn't. The net had come off its moorings so that meant that no goal was scored. Dick Tarnstrom scored a power play goal with an assist by Lemieux at 5:20. The score is now 5-4. At 11:52, Maxime Talbot scored on the face-off. He was just trying to ice the puck and flung it toward the goalie and it went in! The Pens have tied the game: 5-5. The Flyers almost got the winning goal at 18:49, but it was actually a great save by Sebastien Caron. The puck richocheted off the pipe, crossing behind the net, and then someone tried to rebound it in, and Caron whipped around and grabbed the puck before it could cross the line into the net. It was a beautiful goal, and was the play of the game. It was beautiful. The Pens are headed to another overtime--will it be yet another loss? Crosby got a penalty for holding at 19:47.

Overtime: We got another penalty in overtime, so it should be a five on three situation in the Flyers favor. Penalty is on Sergei Gonchar for tripping. Caron is making some nice saves in the overtime. There were two broken sticks in the overtime by the Pens. Mike Rathje scored for the Flyers at 3:17 into the overtime. Final score 6-5. Total shots on goal against the Pens is 41 as opposed to 20 on the Flyers. That tells a story. We get 5 goals off of 20 shots while the Flyers get 6 goals out of 41. Our goalies are doing a great job, but the defense sucks and they are the ones that are allowing all of these shots on goals by the other teams. The Pens are the only team in the NHL who have not one a game.

Friday, October 14, 2005 -- Afternoon

The Penguins are playing the Philadelphia Flyers this evening. I'm hoping for the first win of the season. If not tonight, then tomorrow against the Tampa Bay Lighting tomorrow. I have tickets for tomorrow's game, and it will be nice to have a win.

Thursday, October 13, 2005 -- Early Evening

The Pittsburgh Penguins are the only team in the NHL which has yet to win a game. What's fun though is that we are one point ahead of the Flyers who actually won a game. We have been lucky enough to have three overtime loses that garned the team a point for each loss. Meanwhile, Jocelyn Thibault is expecting to return to playing this coming Saturday. He seems to be feeling well, and thinks that he will be able to return this weekend.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005 -- Morning

Now this is interesting. Even though the Penguins haven't won a game, they are still just a point shy of .500 because of the scoring rules. A team now gets one point for making it to overtime and losing. So since three of our four losses are in overtime, we have three points. The Penguins have a problem. I wonder if the brunt of the issue lies with the coaching system and Eddie Olczyk. Yeah, so Eddie O was a player. That doesn't make him a good coach. I think that the Pens need to move away for the mentality that players are the type that can plot out a good game. So what if someone is a good player? That means that there was probably a good coach behind him molding him into that player. The Pens need a coach like that, and I don't think that is Eddie O. He should go back to color commentating during the games.

Monday, October 10, 2005 -- Evening

Fourth game of the season

Teams

Pens

Sabres

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Overtime

Final

Daily Bongo Three Stars of the Game:
1 -- Marc-Andre Fleury
2 -- Ryan Miller
3 -- Sidney Crosby

First period: The Pens are playing the Buffalo Sabres. The game is on OLN, and in the first 13 seconds, the Pens had a penalty called on them. Dick Tarnstrom was called for tripping. Sidney Crosby started the game, and is miked. The Sabres were the first to score with a goal by Rory Fitzpatrick at 3;21. The score is 1-0. Right after a faceoff near the Bruins goal, Ziggy Palffy scored. Game is tied 1-1. Crosby had a huge hand in this play because he won the face off and then shot it off to Palffy. The assists though go to Mark Recchi and Sergei Gonchar. Crosby got called for an interference penalty at 13:24. It was one of those things where Crosby moved in such a way that in the past would have fine, but now it "interfers" with the progress of another player. After one of the commercial breaks, we found out that Crosby and Recchi are roommates on the road. After the period, the analysts on OLN were talking about how Brooks Orpik gave up the puck twice and how the poor defense on our team is going to be the downfall of the team. As the one analyst said, someone will be calling for the head of Eddie Olczyk if this continues.

One of the things that the analysts talked about during the intermission was whether players should wear visors on their helmets. It seems that the question came about because Mats Sundin took a puck to the eye on the Toronto Maple Leafs opening night. Sundin wound up with a fractured left lower orbital bone. It looked really bad from what I saw, and it seems that they are still trying to decide whether to operate on it or not. They are going to wait for the swelling to recede and then work on it. You have to feel for poor Sundin, but if he had a visor on, this particular injury could have been prevented. Granted there are times when something will come up under the visor, but I would wear the visor. I can understand the claim by some players that they feel that the visor obstructs their line of sight and peripheral vision. I hate wearing hats or anything on my forehead because I just feel that it gets in the way of me seeing. Alot of that is psychological though, and if I forced myself to wear hats, I would adjust. Being an eye glass wearer, I know that others will agree on is that at first the frame of the glasses really is obvious, and always seems to be in the way. Over time, usually in a few days, an adjustment happens, and you don't know that it's there. Of course, you can't force someone to do something for their own safety. I do think that the manufacturers of the equipment should work on making something that it less obtrusive for those who think that the visors affect their vision.

Second period: Crosby won the opening face-off. The Pens had two penalties called in short order and it was a 5 on 3 situation for almost two whole minutes. Marc-Andre Fleury did a fantastic job of blocking a slew of shots. I see a Daily Bongo number one star of the game here. The announcers were commenting on how it was like a morning practice where the Pens were sending pucks flying at Fleury and oooing and ahhing over his saves. It was really something to watch. It's hard to believe that he is so young. Boy, he is going to be a joy to watch in a few years--and in fact, it was a joy to watch him just now. The Sabres just scored with a goal by Paul Gaustad. It was just off the face off. Score is now 2-1. It really sucks that we don't have the defensive abilities to support and aid Fleury because he is doing a great job. Even the announcers are commenting on how Fleury is alone on his end and that the only thing that is preventing the goals is Fleury and the posts. Finally! The Penguins tied the score by attaching the goal. Recchi got the goal. Crosby got the primary assist on the goal. The score is now tied. It was a very good period for Fleury. He had 16 saves in the period.

Third period: This part is in competition with the Steelers game. The Pens aren't doing anything to score. Crosby had a few bright moments in the game, but it came to naught, and in fact is coming quickly to a tie ending. with two minutes left, Crosby and Recchi were going two on one at the other goal, and Crosby passed it to Recchi who instead of shooting, passed the puck back to Crosby, who wasn't able to get a good shot at net. Tied game and we are heading to a four on four overtime. There were 35 shots on the Pens goal.

Overtime: Both teams are flying back and forth across the ice, but the Pens aren't putting the pressure on the Sabres that they should. Damn! The Sabres won. The damn poor defense of the Pens lost the game. The puck was stuck by Fleury's foot, and Jochen Hecht kept on hitting on the puck and got it in for a goal. After all that hard work of Fleury's, the game is lost. What a disappointment!

Monday, October 10, 2005 -- Afternoon

Tonight is going to be a busy night. Both the Penguins and the Steelers will be playing tonight. Fortunately the Pens game starts at 7 pm so hopefully I will be able to watch a couple of periods before the game starts. News for the Penguins: Brooks Orpik has been having a disagreement with coach, Eddie Olczyk. It seems that Eddie O thinks that Orpik may be out of condition because Orpik took time off during the lockout to take classes at Boston College. Orpik thinks that his conditioining is just fine and that he has been working out and doing well in practices. Eddie O thinks that Orpik isn't as sharp because of a puck stealing incident in the season opening game. Now from what I have been seeing of the team, it looks like alot of them are having synching issues, and I know that some of them were playing during the lockout. Another thing that Orpik has commented on is that the new rules that the NHL has implemented is making it more difficult for the Pens defensive players. It's hard for some of them because if you have been playing under a certain set of rule for awhile, it's hard to switch to a new set--especially if those rules make your job harder.

Sidney Crosby is in a multiperson tie for fourth place in the total points scored for the year. He has five points with one goal and four assists.

As for the Baby Pens, they have been doing much better than the Pens, and so far this season are undefeated AND won a shootout this weekend. All I have to say is that maybe we should bring some of them up here because we aren't winning, and really suck at shootouts.

Sunday, October 9, 2005 -- Evening

News from the Penguins. Marc-Andre Fleury has been called up to replace Jocelyn Thibault. Thibault hurt his knee at a practice skate earlier in the day yesterday when he was hit by a slap shot from Rico Fata. The knee is bruised, and I haven't heard anything about how long Thibault will be out. The interesting thing is that they initially called up Andy Chiodo to backup Sebastien Caron yesterday, but they are going to send Chiodo back down to the minors. I wonder why they didn't bring up Fleury from the beginning unless they thought that the injury wasn't as serious at first. Also, Chiodo was in West Virginia at the time which might have been closer than Fleury. Anyway, Fleury will be starting in the game tomorrow against the Buffalo Sabres.

Saturday, October 8, 2005 -- Late Evening

Third game of the season -- Home opener

Teams

Bruins

Pens

1st period

2nd period

3rd period

Overtime

Final

Daily Bongo Three Stars of the Game:
1 -- Sidney Crosby
2 -- Mario Lemieux
3 -- Ric Jackman

Now on to the game. The Mellon Arena was packed with 17,132 fans, and the game was an exciting one. We got to the game around an hour before the start time, and that was a good thing because it gave us an opportunity to see the Stanley Cup which was on display just a few yards from the section where we were sitting. It was gorgeous, and the guy who usually accompanies the Cup was there. The pregame ceremony was very nice. A film clip started the ceremonies with a recap of the history of the Penguins. Then the players were brought out onto the ice. The first thing that I noticed was that Jocelyn Thibault was not on the ice. It seemed that he hurt his knee with a shot from Rico Fata in a practice earlier in the day. That meant that Sebastien Caron was in goal. Everyone was very excited to when Sidney Crosby came on the ice. Another surprise for the evening was that Christina Aguilera sang the national anthem, and she did a great job. I took pictures of the activities.

First period: The first goal was scored at 3:31 by Ziggy Palffy with assists by Steve POapst and Dick Tarnstrom. After the goal, the former Pen Jiri Slegr got a penalty for hooking, and I noticed something that became a recurring theme through the game. Then Pens couldn't get the puck out of their section during power plays. A minute after we scored, the Bruins came back and scored during a power play. The score was tied at 1-1. Finally, a goal for the Pens from Mario Lemieux with assists from John LeClair and Ric Jackman. The score is 2-1. At 15:41, the Bruins scored again during a power play. That's the problem with the Pens. We get penalties and then can't protect the goal and wind up giving away points. Score is now 2-2. Fortunately, Jackman came right back with a goal at 16:01 with assists from Crosby and Mark Recchi. Score is 3-2. The shots on goal for the period were 10 for the Pens and 14 for the Bruins.

Second period: The second period started out well with Brooks Orpik scoring with assists by Crosby and Recchi. The score is 4-2. The Bruins came back to score at 8:57 to make the score 4-3. They weren't done. Another Bruins goal at 10:30 tied the game at 4-4, but then abit over a minute later, Mario scored an unassisted goal at 11:44. The score was now 5-4. Then came the big moment which I almost captured in pictures. I just snapped the picture right before Crosby made his first NHL career goal. He was assisted by Recchi and Palffy, and the arena just went wild. The time of the goal was 18:47, and folks were calling out to Crosby until the period ended, and resumed when the third period started. Shots on goal for the period 12 for the Pens and 16 for the Bruins. I think you can note a trend. The Bruins are making more shots on goal than the Pens.

Third period: The period started with the Pens leading with a score of 6-4, but ended in a tie of 6-6. The Bruins scored twice in the third period with the Pens just making 7 shots on goal while the Bruins made 10. The shot total for regulation was Pens 29, Bruins 40. You can see a definite trend here. We aren't stopping the Bruins from making shots while we make no shots. Folks in the stands were crying out for someone to just shoot the puck. That is a constant refrain at Pens games because the players seem to look for the perfect shot and won't make an attempt at something not perfect. This results in the team probably missing out on scores. I was not looking forward to an overtime because I know that the Pens have been really bad in the shootouts so far this season.

Overtime: 1:23 into overtime, the Bruins scored to win the game 7-6. The Pens had no shots on goal in overtime because it was all Bruins, and they even had one shot on goal that resulted in the score. The items of note were that Mario had two goals, Crosby had three points (including the goal), and Jackman had two points with a goal and assist. The three stars of the game by the local media were number 1: Glenn Murray, number 2: Crosby, and number 3: Mario. I choose a different lineup for my stars of the game. As I was leaving the arena, folks were asking if the Pens would win anything this season. The problem is that everyone had such high expectations and the team just doesn't appear to be jelling just yet, especially in defending the goal, making shots and the shootout.

Saturday, October 8, 2005 -- Afternoon

Tonight is the Pittsburgh Penguins home opener game. We will be playing the Boston Bruins. Some of the local sportscasters were saying that it would be fun if the game ended in a shootout because it is exciting for the fans. I'm not as excited about the idea because the Pens seem to have real shootout issues. I noticed that on the game on Sunday, the Pens weren't doing well in the shootout, and yesterday no one scored. So I'm hoping for a clear cut win. I will have my impressions of the game later on tonight.

Friday, October 7, 2005 -- Evening

Second game of the season

Teams

The Pittsburgh Penguins have their final selection of players for the regular season. The biggest surprise in a way was that Marc Andre Fleury was sent to the minor leagues. Fleury was one of the better players during the pre-season, but he would be making alot of money in bonuses if he played for the Pens. So the thought is that he was sent to Wilkes Barre because the team can pay him less, and that it might be to Fleury's benefit to be the main goalie as opposed to a backup.

Saturday, October 1, 2005 -- Afternoon

If you are in the Pittsburgh area, and you want to see the Penguins games in high definition, you have to hope that you have Armstrong Cable. A deal should be announced next week about the deal between Armstrong and FSN Pittsburgh to have a high definition sports channel that will play the games.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are going to have to decide today which players they are going to keep for the team, and who will be headed to the minor league. It's going to be a hard decision, especially for the backup goalie. It will be interesting to see what the final result will be.

Thursday, September 29, 2005 -- Late Evening

It seems that Ryan Malone has been doing a good job on the same line as Mario Lemieux. It seems that line is really clicking as was evident from that line's performance in the preseason game the other day.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005 -- Afternoon

The Penguins won the first home preseason game last night. The score was 7-2. The big star of the evening was Mario Lemieux with one goal and three assists. Poor Sidney only had one assist. He's young and should get better. Of course, the Pens might not have had alot of competition from the Blue Jackets because half of them were out with a stomach flu. They probably had the nachos at the Arena.

If you are a student in the Pittsburgh area, you can go to some of the Pens games with the student rush program. Students with a valid ID can purchase tickets for the Pens games one hour before the start of the game for $20. That's $20 regardless of which seat is available. The only issue may be that there won't be seats that are together, so if you go with friends, you might not get to sit together, but you will see the game.

Tuesday, September 27, 2005 -- Afternoon

Sid the Kid will be making his home debut tonight in the Penguins game tonight. The game is a preseason game against the Columbus Blue Jackets and will be our sixth preseason game. So far, the first five have been loses, so everyone is hoping for a win. This is not a good sign, but I'm hoping that it is just because we are playing around with the lines and don't have things firmed up yet.

Monday, September 26, 2005 -- Evening

The Penguins have reduced their roster to 35. 12 players were sent to the Wilkes Barre Penguins. There are going to be more cuts tomorrow.

Sunday, September 25, 2005 -- Early Afternoon

Big news from the Penguins is that Mario Lemieux has been moved from the left wing position to center. It seems that the line will be Lemieux with Ziggy Palffy and Ryan Malone. what is just great is that this is our second line! When you look at the depth that the Pens have this year, it is really exciting. My boyfriend and I received our tickets to the home opener which is scheduled for Oct. 8.

Thursday, September 22, 2005 -- Afternoon

Sidney Crosby garnered an assist in his debut as an NHL player. It was a preseason game, and the Penguins actually lost in overtime with a score of 5-4. The nice thing is that Crosby didn't seem to be out of place playing against older, more experienced players. It's going to be a good season, and I am excited that I have my partial season tickets!

Saturday, September 17, 2005 -- Early Afternoon

The Penguins practice continued at Mellon Arena yesterday. The big news was that a defenseman outscored Sidney Crosby in the scrimmage. Everyone will be analyzing and over analyzing the poor kid's moves all during camp. I don't think that a defenseman who hasn't scored much in his career outscoring Sid the Kid means very much. I would like to go to some of the practices, and used to in the past. However, visiting the practice at Mellon Arena isn't as nice as going to Southpointe. At Southpointe (the old practice area), you could sit in a restaurant overlooking the ice and actually have some lunch or breakfast while watching the team. Granted the arena was meant for junior hockey, and had those awful medal benches that required a blanket for comfortable sitting, but you could see the players upclose. Afterwards, if you had your skates, you could even go out for a public skate on the ice. I miss Southpointe practices.

Friday, September 16, 2005 -- Morning

On the Pittsburgh Penguins front, Sidney Crosby had a really good practice yesterday, and of course, folks are getting an image of the Stanley Cup in their minds. We just all need to take a chill pill and remember that it is only one practice and that the kid is young and still has a lot to learn about playing NHL level hockey. After all, even Crosby himself has admitted that the guys are alot bigger, stronger and faster than the kids that he is used to playing. I'm not saying that he won't catch up and be able to contribute. I'm just saying that we should be taking deep breaths and calming ourselves down!

On the goalie front, we have a wealth of options, and right now the battle for second place is being faught by three players. Marc Andre Fleury is my favorite right now, just because I like him. He is the youth option since he is only 20 years old. I think that he needs more seasoning though because he can be abit inconsistent with his play, but I would be willing to give him a chance. It's a wonderful feeling to be sitting back and watching so many good players battling for positions on the Pens. I remember back just a couple of years when we didn't have any big name players because we had to trade them all away for financial reasons. It's wonderful to be able to have a competitive team, and I think that it will be good for all of NHL hockey because I imagine that alot of teams can be in our situation.

Thursday, September 15, 2005 -- Morning

I'm not the only one who would like to see a reality tv show centered on the Lemieux house in Sewickly. A local sports columnist, Gene Collier, would like to see the dynamics and interactions also. It seems that Sidney Crosby has the run of the second floor of the house (I would love to know how this house is laid out). It seems that a typical day sees Mario and Sidney getting up around the same time, breakfasting together and then heading off to practice. Mario has said that Sidney is a different person than Mario was when he came to Pittsburgh as an 18 year old in the 1980s. Mario really didn't speak English and was quieter and more reserved. Sidney is a native English speaker and is also fluent in French. It also seems that Sidney is outgoing and chatting up the other players. Mario has said that there will be no female sleepovers in his house, and I thought that was funny. As Collier says, it seems that it is a father son type relationship with Mario keeping his eye out for Sidney's well-being.

Wednesday, September 14, 2005 -- Late Morning

There are some things that Mario Lemieux is not sure of. He's not sure if the Penguins will make it to the playoffs this year, although he is feeling pretty good about their chances. He's not sure if they will make it to the Stanley Cup, but again, there is a possibility. The one thing that Lemieux is sure of is that the Pens are going to lose money this year, even if the season is all home games are sold out. If the Pens make it to the second round of the playoffs, the team will have lost $7 million. This topic is being brought up again because some are thinking that just because tickets are being sold that the Pens' financial woes are over. The Pens still want and need a slots license to secure the funding that is needed to keep and maintain a hockey team in this town. Let's hope that they get it because if they don't, we will probably lose the team in 2007. The lease that the team has with Mellon Arena will expire in 2007, and the team will then be free to go to another city.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005 -- Afternoon

News on the Penguins front. Brooks Orpik decided to take that take it or leave it deal. There is no word on what the terms of the contract are. The rumor is that it is a one year deal for $600,000. I would take that deal. Of course, it's not enough to live on for a lifetime, but with good investment and a few more years of work, Orpik should be a-okay.

The big news in my mind is that Mike Lange has been signed by FSN Pittsburgh, the local sports channel, to announce the Penguins games. I love Mike Lange's commentaries. He's the guy who came up with the quotes "scratch my back with a hacksaw" and "Elvis has left the building". Okay, I don't know if he is the originator, but he uses those sorts of comments all the time when announcing the games. He's a nice guy and very knowledgeable about hockey. It will be nice to have him in his usual seat during the games.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005 -- Morning

Brooks Orpik still hasn't signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins yet and isn't sure just what he will do. Eventually, he is sure that he will re-sign with the Pens, but isn't really happy with the "take it or leave it" deal that was offered to him last week. I would imagine that if the deal is a true "take it or leave it" one that there really isn't much choice. Perhaps Orpik (or more likely his agent) doesn't believe that the offer really is a final one. That could be a tricky game to play.

Monday, September 12, 2005 -- Late Morning

Rico Fata is happy to be in training camp for the Pittsburgh Penguins this year. He had a bout with testicular cancer earlier in the year, but seems to have recovered nicely. Everyone is hoping this will be a great year for the Pens, and there are some stories that are up for consideration. Who will be the second goaltender? Who will be the second center? It is already assumed that Sidney Crosby will be the center on the first line. Of course, this is all depending on how the training camp goes. How will the young defensemen on the team do, and will any make the official starting lineup? What will the third and fourth lines look like? It will be interesting to see how these story lines play out over the season. My biggest concern is Eddie Olczyk because I'm not as sure of his coaching abilities. The team was getting much better at the end of the last regular season, and I think that was a result of both the players and coach gaining experience and confidence.

Friday, September 9, 2005 -- Evening

Sidney Crosby signed a contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins today. The deal is for three years and will garner Crosby $850,000 a year with the possibility of making double that amount based on performance based bonuses. Those are the bonuses for thinging like the number of goals scored, time on ice, awards won, etc. The signing was broadcast live on one of the local sports channels and crosby said that the process was an easy one. He is living with Mario Lemieux for now, and said in one of the interviews that was telecast that Mario has been driving him around town showing him how to get to places and Crosby has been asking alot of questions. The kid, he is no more than that at 18, comes across as a well-mannered and professional player. I wish a bright future for him, not just because he is playing for my home team, but also because he just seems like one of those good guys that you want to have the best.

In other Penguins news, the team has traded Kris Beech to the Nashville Predators for a conditional draft choice. What this means is that the Penguins are saying that Beech is worth us receiving a higher draft pick, and Nashville says that Beech ain't all that, and want to give us a lower pick. So based on his performance with the team, Nashville will give the Pens an equivalent pick.

Thursday, September 8, 2005 -- Morning

It's time for Sidney Crosby to negotiate a contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins, but it isn't expected to be much of a problem. Because of the new labor agreement with the NHL, the most that Crosby can make salary-wise is $850,000. However, that's not the limit. He can also get bonuses that are tied to performance. If Crosby would be lucky enough to win all the awards available, he could make up to $4 million. What sort of awards are we talking about? Bonuses would be available for winning end of season trophies like the Calder for best rookie or the Art Ross for scoring champion. Also, he could win bonuses for amount of time on ice per game and for the season, scoring, assists, you get the picture.

Mario Lemieux has been spending some of his money for a good cause. Yesterday Mario's foundation gave $2 million dollars to the Children's Home of Pittsburgh. The money will be used to build a facility that will be used to house the services that the Children's Home offers under one roof. The Children's Home offers both adoption and medical services.

Tuesday, September 6, 2005 -- Morning

There is some talk that Mario Lemieux might take on the role of center when the Penguins start the regular season. Since Lemieux came back from his retirement, he has been playing mostly left wing. It will be interesting to see what the line up will be when the season starts because the Pens have really gotten some good players. It's a nice problem to have a wealth of players from which to choose.

Thursday, September 1, 2005 -- Afternoon

On the lighter side, the Penguins have signed Ryan Malone. The details have not been released, but he will be staying with the Pens for now.

Wednesday, August 31, 2005 -- Morning

Negotiations are still ongoing between Ryan Malone and the Pittsburgh Penguins. At this point, Ryan Malone doesn't know what is going to happen. Will he be signed by the Pens, will he be traded? Malone would just like to know what is going to happen so he can decide where to buy the home that he and his fiancee hope to purchase.

Monday, August 29, 2005 -- Afternoon

The Penguins have decided to keep Dick Tarnstrom. Tarnstrom was saying that he wanted to stay in the city, and I suppose that he was able to convince the Penguins management that he should stay. With Tarnstrom, we would have four offensive defense players.

Sunday, August 28, 2005 -- Afternoon

Although the fans are nervous about the Steelers offensive line, and the fact that the first string offense hasn't scored a goal, the players themselves are confident and optimistic. They would have to be. We have another preseason game this coming Thursday at 8 pm. and we can only hope that the first string offense will final score some points.

Friday, August 26, 2005 -- Late Morning

Evgeni Malkin will not be playing for the Penguins this season. It seems that the team will have to give up on bringing Malkin over for this season, and will concentrate on having here for the next season 2006/2007. The word has come from Malkin's agent who says that Malkin is going to have to play in Russia for the upcoming season. The agent, Pat Brisson, thinks that Malkin could work out a deal with the Russian team for a release next year if he gives them one more season. At this point, there is nothing in Malkin's Russian contract that would allow for this deal, but Brisson thinks that it will happen. The general manager of the Russian team, Gennady Velichkin, said that he thinks that Malkin will benefit from another year in Russia. Malkin played a hand in the decision, and hopes that the Penguins will respect his decision. It seems that Malkin thinks the Russian team is a strong one and that will be good for him. Also Malkin wants to go to the Olympics and thinks he stands a better chance of doing that if he does not work for the NHL.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005 -- Late Morning

It looks like Aleksey Morozov will not be playing for the Pens any more. There really isn't a slot for him on the team. Also, it's not sure if he will be picked up by any other NHL team. Morozov is a restricted free agent, so the only option for the Pens will be to see if they can trade him elsewhere. It is not looking good for Morozov. It's a good thing that at least for now he does have an agreement with the Russian league, so he may still be playing, just not in the US.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005 -- Morning

There was a rumor that Dick Tarnstrom would be coming to the Pittsburgh Penguins, but it doesn't seem that will be likely. It seems that the talks between the Pens and Tarnstrom's agent got abit contentious yesterday so the talks might be off. Tarnstrom is an offensive defensemen which means he's someone who can actually score which alot of defensemen don't do.

Saturday, August 20, 2005 -- Afternoon

Good news for Pens fan. The Pens have actually managed to pay off almost all of their creditors from their 1998 bankruptcy claim. It seems that usually creditors can only expect to get back 50% of what they are owed, so this is really an amazing feat. It seems that most of the credit probably should go to Mario Lemieux because he's done alot to turn around the team financially, and also gave up claim on $7.5 million dollars that was owed to him. Meanwhile the campaign to get a slots license for the Penguins continues. The guys who run Slots for Mario want people to take action and to go to board meetings and City Council meetings to make sure that the licenses don't go to cronies or those who contribute money to political campaigns.

Friday, August 19, 2005 -- Morning

Penguins tickets are selling like hotcakes. I put off getting tickets until today, and wasn't able to get anything in the south end. I did manage to get tickets in the North End. Now there were tickets still left in the south end (where the Pens shoot twice), but they were underneath the overhang. I've had seats there before, and the seats sucked because it was difficult to see the scoreboard, and you felt like you were in a tunnel. So I went for the north end. Whatcha gonna do when you wait too long?

Tuesday, August 16, 2005 -- Afternoon

Konstantin Koltsov resigned with the Pens today.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005 -- Morning

The Penguins have been signing up a storm. The latest storm though has been with older players. Some may say, myself included, that the players might be past it. However, maybe Craig Patrick knows what he is doing, and I shouldn't be second guessing him, but I do wonder what the goal is. John LeClair has been dropping off in the past few years and is 36 years old, so I'm not very hopefully that after a year off he will have a restoration of his playing prowess from a few years earlier. The other player that we signed yesterday was Steve Poapst. He's also 36 years of age, and plays defense. The interesting thing about Poapst is that he only had a full NHL season starting in 2001-2002. The previous years were spent going back and forth between the AHL and the NHL. Meanwhile, it doesn't look very promising for the Pens to get Evgeni Malkin. There have been problems with the Russian Federation signing an agreement that will allow the Pens to bring Malkin over to the US. I am going to wait for the season to see how these players work together. After all, it might be a matter of synergy. The individual parts might not be too exciting, but together they might spell Stanley Cup!

Monday, August 15, 2005 -- Afternoon

The Pittsburgh Penguins signed John LeClair today. There isn't any word on just what the deal entails. I'm not sure what the point was in getting LeClair. Do we need another winger whose stats have been falling over the past few years? I think that LeClair might be abit past it, but I could be wrong. We also resigned Josef Melichar.

Friday, August 12, 2005 -- Early Morning

Sidney Crosby made an impression on his fellow rookies with his poise and maturity. It seems that he has been a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers in his youth, and was impressed with the sight of Pittsburgh as he came through the Fort Pitt tunnel.

Thursday, August 11, 2005 -- Morning

Sidney Crosby arrived in Pittsburgh last night to some fanfare. It appears that some fans were able to figure out when and where he might be arriving, and were there to greet Sidney along with a gathering of sports journalists. It seems The Kid was late because of some problems with immigration and a flight delay in Chicago. I have to admit that as I watched his arrival on the late night news last night, he was a cutie, and there were a bevy of young girls there to greet him. I'm sure that he will be a babe magnet while he is here.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005 --Afternoon

It seems to be official. The Pens have a goaltender. Today the goalie in question is Jocelyn Thibault. It seems that the Pens traded a fourth round draft pick to get Thiabault from the Chicago Blackhawks. Now we still have to sign Thibault because he is a restricted free agent.

Tuesday, August 9, 2005 -- Evening

Leave it to the Canadians to make you look bad. It seems that Sean Burke did NOT sign with the Pens. Instead he wound up turning down their offer and going with the Tampa Bay Lightening. It shows what happens when you listen to unoffical news reports. From now on, I am waiting for the Pens to announce their signings before I believe anything.

Tuesday, August 9, 2005 -- Afternoon

Hallelujah! The Pens have finally gotten a goalie. That means that we don't have to rely on young, unreliable goal tending. We signed Sean Burke to a two year $3 million deal. Maybe the team is shaping up okay. I do know that I am looking forward to the coming season.

Saturday, August 6, 2005 -- Evening

The Pittsburgh Penguins signed Ziggy Palffy today. I'm really trying to figure out what is going on with the folks that are being picked by the Pens. I'm not sure that I see what the bigger picture is, but I am really wondering if they have been making the best choices. I think that what will happen is that we will see what happens when the season progresses.

Saturday, August 6, 2005 -- Morning

It seems that Mario Lemieux will still be a majority owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins. A few months ago, William DelBiaggio was going to get to purchase a majority share of the Pens, and there was some concern that the Pens might wind up moving from Pittsburgh. However, winning the lottery and getting Sidney Crosby changed everything. It seems season ticket sales have been so good that the current Pen ownership feels more comfortable letting DelBiaggio in with only a minority share.

Friday, August 5, 2005 -- Morning

Sidney Crosby was on the Tonight Show last night. He was only on for a few minutes, and some of the highlights were watching some old video of Crosby playing hockey when he was a kid. One of the scenes showed him skating into an adult referee and knocking him over. We also got to see a picture of the Crosby family dryer. It appears that Crosby used to go into the basement as a kid and he used it as a training rink. The dryer was the goal, so he would shoot the puck at the dryer. It was really banged up, and all the buttons were knocked off. As Crosby said, his mum was abit upset at first, but she just learned to live with Crosby banging up her dryer. It seems that the family has been using the dryer all along, and just replaced it recently. So Jay Leno brought out a dryer and had Crosby shoot some pucks at it with the door open. Well, the first three veered to the right of the machine. The fourth one hit the open door, the fifth hit right below the dryer opening, and the sixth went in for a goal.

Thursday, August 4, 2005 -- Afternoon

The Pens have signed Andre Roy. I'm not understanding the logic that the Pens are using in their selections. Maybe they can't get anyone better, but I am disappointed in this signing. Hopefully there are others that are waiting in the wings for a signing that will inspire me with more confidence.

Wednesday, August 3, 2005 -- Afternoon

Some exciting news on the Pittsburgh Penguins front. We signed Sergei Gonchar. The deal is for $25 million dollars over five years. Gonchar is a pretty good player and has played in three All-Star games.

Wednesday, August 3, 2005 -- Morning

The Pittsburgh Penguins didn't signed any free agents yesterday. This doesn't mean that we aren't going to sign anyone, just that matters are still in the negotiation stage. In the meantime, Marty Straka has signed with the NY Rangers. I am not disappointed over not signing Straka. Ever since he broke his leg a few seasons ago, he has been injury prone, and hasn't had the stats that he had prior to the leg break.

Monday, August 1, 2005 -- Morning

The Pittsburgh Penguins are going to start making some offers for the plethora of free agents that are available. With the new changes in the collective bargaining agreement, we might actually be able to get some quality players for a reasonable cost. Last night on the local call-in sports show, there was the usual talk about Kovalev, and some new talk about Marty Straka. It will be interesting to see who we do get.

Sunday, July 31, 2005 -- Afternoon

Not only do we have high expectations for the Steelers, but we are also hoping for alot from the Penguins this coming season. There are rumors about Alexei Kovalev and Johan Hedberg returning to the Pens. Nothing has been said about either officially, but the sportscasters in Pittsburgh have been talking about the possibility. Also we have Sidney Crosby coming to town and possibly playing immediately.

Speaking of Sidney Crosby, it seems that the kid was born to play hockey. Both is father, and his uncles on his mother's side were hockey players. When Sidney was a kid and first picked up a hockey stick, he took to it like a duck to water, and held it properly, even at the age of 2. His skating abilities were such that folks thought that he was older than he was because a kid his age couldn't possible skate that well. Our second round selection, Michael Gergen, will be heading to college first to do some maturing before he plays in the NHL. Sidney may be staying with the Lemieux family for abit here in Pittsburgh. Because of his age, his parents would prefer that he bunk with a more experienced player instead of being on his own. Who better to bunk with than someone who was in Sidney's position twenty one years ago?

Saturday, July 30, 2005 -- Afternoon

I am waiting for the NHL draft to start. It should happen in the next few minutes. It will be exciting to see the formal and official offer from the Pens to Sidney Crosby. Crosby has been creating quite a stir. They are "choosing" now. I guess that they can't immediately say that they are taking Crosby. Craig Patrick and Mario Lemieux are there. They are now all heading to the stage. It was only a minute or so. Craig Patrick is making the announcement. They select Sidney Crosby. Surprising, isn't it? He looks small next to Mario, and stocky. There are pictures of Mario and Crosby holding the number 87 Penquins shirt, and right now, he has the jersy on and pictures are being taken with Craig Patrick and Mario on either side of him. The sportscaster there talked to Crosby. Crosby says he is happy right now, and it is amazing. The interviewer asked about the heavy expectations, and Crosby says that is not on his mind now. I was really amazed because Crosby was very soft spoken and polite. The folks who are commenting on the draft said that they see aspects where Crosby is mimicking Lemieux in the way he talks and stands. Mario is being interviewed and says that it will be a huge step for Crosby because it will be an adjustment because of the size and difference in players. Lemieux says that Crosby has the tools so it would just be a matter of giving Crosby the time to adjust. Lemieux has also said that there might be a room for Crosby to bunk in with the Lemieux family for a year or so. When Mario came to Pittsburgh, he stayed with a family here because Mario was also just 18 years old when he was drafted.

Friday, July 29, 2005 -- Morning

Tomorrow is the NHL draft. That means that we will officially be selecting Sidney Crosby. It seems that the Pens have been impressed with Crosby both on and off the ice. Now the question is how much money will it take to seal the deal.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005 -- Afternoon

The NHL has released the schedule for the coming season. For the Pens schedule, the first game will be an away game on Oct. 5 against the New Jersy Devils, and the home opener will be on Oct. 8 against the Boston Bruins.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005 -- Morning

Sidney Crosby has already had a positive effect on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Since it was announced that the Pens had won the lottery draft, the season ticket sales have increased dramatically. Although the Pens have not officially released any figures, rumors are that the number of tickets sold is estimated to be 150,000. The only thing that the Pens have released is that they are getting phone calls from ten states for tickets. That is good news for the Pens because in the last season that we had hockey, ticket sales were down. I went to a few games because I got some free tickets, but I have to admit that I wasn't too excited about paying $50 for obstructed viewing seats while the Pens were playing so poorly. Since ticket prices have dropped, I am looking at some partial season ticket plans myself.

Saturday, July 23, 2005 -- Morning

The sports fans in Pittsburgh are really excited over the Penguins winning the lottery yesterday. This is just the boost that the team needs. Now if Ed Rendell gets off his butt and makes sure that the some assistance goes towards an arena for the Pens, either with some funding or a slots license, we would be able to keep the team here in Pittsburgh. Rendell is supposedly trying to buy votes in the area because he is not as well liked in this region because for most of his term of office he has pored money into the eastern half of the state.

Friday, July 22, 2005 -- Late Afternoon

The NHL draft lottery was just televised live on ESPN's news channel. Believe it or not, the Pittsburgh Penguins won the number one pick in the lottery. I am still trying to calm down from my emotional exhiliaration. As they were counting down from the number 30 pick to the number 1, it came down to the final two--the Penguins and the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Next week is the actual draft. Wow! It's just hard to get over the fact that we will be getting Sidney Crosby!

Thursday, July 21, 2005 -- Afternoon

The NHLPA has ratified the agreement with the NHL. The only part that is left is for the owners to agree to it. The owners will be signing the agreement tomorrow at 3 pm, and that will be streamed on the NHL website. The draft lottery will also be streamed on the same website at 4 pm. That will be on interest to Pittsburgh Penguin fans because the team has a shot at the number one draft pick.

Tuesday, July 19, 2005 -- Morning

It seems that Rico Fata had testicular cancer. He has received treatment for it, and is currently undergoing routine blood tests and CT-Scans to make certain that he remains cancer free. Best wishes to Rico!

Sunday, July 17, 2005 -- Morning

The Pittsburgh Penguins are going to have to go on a spending spree to get to the league minimium of salaries for the team. It seems the team has $17.5 million dollars to spend. This means that we might be able to get some good players back on the team for the upcoming season, and could possibly be a viable contender for the Stanley Cup.

Friday, July 15, 2005 -- Morning

The NHL draft is scheduled for July 30, and the guy that everyone is out to get is Sidney Crosby. Because of the Penguins poor record the last time we had a hockey season, we have a good shot at getting Crosby. The NHL draft runs on a lottery principle to prevent a team from intially having a bad season just so they can get the top pick in the draft. You think that sounds funny, but that's exactly what the Penguins did in 1983-84 so they could get Mario Lemieux in the draft. For this years draft, we will be one of four teams that will have three balls in the pot that could allow us to get the first draft pick. The other three teams are Buffalo, Columbus, and the New York Rangers. That means that our chance of getting the first round pick is 6.25%.

Thursday, July 14, 2005 -- Morning

Here are some of the details for the NHL agreement. The one that I think the most interesting is that the top ten revenue gathering teams will be sharing that money with the bottom ten teams. There's also a salary cap for the team ranging from $21 to $39 million and a player cap that won't allow one player to make more than 20% of the total team payroll.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005 -- Afternoon

It seems that the NHL and the players union have finally come to an agreement. This doesn't mean that it is final because the agreement has to be approved by the players and the owners. This is great news, and finally for the first time in months I am feeling hopeful about a season this year. I'm just hoping that the tickets will be a bit more reasonably priced! I don't like the idea of paying close to $50 a ticket to sit in nosebleed seats where I can barely make out the players let alone the puck, and have this feeling that I am going to pitch head over heels onto the ice because of the steepness of the seating!

Monday, July 4, 2005 -- Morning

When the deal is finalized by the NHL and the NHLPA, there will still be alot of work for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Players will have to be signed under the rules of the salary cap. Employees for marketing, managing, and coaching will need to be hired. The issue of an arena will need to be addressed. It will be interesting to see how the next few months pan out.

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