Midway Point

Well, It's 2010. The Pens have fallen once again into a 4 game losing streak with losses to the mediocre Toronto Maple Leafs, Buffalo Sabres, and Tampa Bay Lightning. The only credible loss came to the New Jersey Devils where Martin Brodeur once again blanked the Penguins for his 104th career shutout. The record-tying shutout, of course, came against the Penguins previously.

The only issue with this losing streak, besides the mediocrity, is that only Sergei Gonchar is out. Last time they had a losing streak like this, almost the entire team was injured. Malkin, Talbot, Gonchar, Letang, McKee, Goligoski, Kennedy, Kunitz, and multiple others were out. Maybe they need to change the lines. The line most would expect not to change is the "Sesame Street" line consisting of Matt Cooke, Tyler Kennedy, and Jordan Staal. They are quite a group of workhorses. Jordan Staal with his size and ability to score shorthanded goals, Matt Cooke with his grit and roughness, and Tyler Kennedy with his speed and ability to crash the net.

Some may call for a trade, or even a coaching change. The Pens' Power Play, which remains 30th in the league out of 30 teams, is run by coach Mike Yeo. I know Gonchar is out, yes, but even with Sarge, it was still awful. Is it Yeo? We may not find out. It is up to Ray Shero to figure out what is wrong and decide how to deal with it. He may trade someone, move players down to/up from Wilkes-Barre Scranton, or change coaches other than Dan Bylsma. One thing can be said, we know it is not Disco Dan's fault. Without him, there would be no Stanley Cup and we would still have Michel Therrien, the Defensive Dictator.

Long Time Coming

Max Talbot finally practiced today with the team, wearing a red no-contact sweater (no touchie the Maxie). Where the Pens are having pretty much no trouble without Talbot, their record being currently 7-1-0, he really is a team morale booster. Who doesn't love Max?
This afternoon, he said,

"You miss the boys, that’s what you miss the most. You miss being there in the room getting dressed, getting ready. Being out there and joking around when you miss a shot – guys laughing at you. That’s definitely the hardest part – being on the sideline and watching the guys."

Aw now isn't that heartwarming?

In other news,

Alex Goligoski is growing a moustache having lost a type of shootout bet in practice. Dan Bylsma lost the latest one and now has to wash Jay McKee's car, which apparently is monstrous. But anyway, Goligoski is supposed to grow the moustache for just a month, then he can shave it off. But it's good practice for when he becomes a key player in the Stanley Cup Playoffs this year.

I'm definitely impressed with Alex so far. And for that matter, I'm pretty impressed with the whole team. Sure, Malkin and Crosby aren't quite at Ovechkin's level of playing this season yet, but it's still early. Promising players to me appear to be Jay McKee, the super shot-blocker, Mike Rupp, who already has 2 goals, and, well, Fleury is just on a roll. He's 6-0-0, our only loss this season coming against the crumbling Coyotes with Brent Johnson in goal.

Needless to say, I'm not worried about the 'Guins Stanley Cup hangover. There is none. Let's just hope they don't fall into a hole like last season. (Cue flashback) Although, I must say Dan Bylsma's system: It's beautiful. A round of applause for Danny B.

(Images and quote from http://penguins.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=502723)

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hOcKeY!

Is it me, or is hockey season too far off?

What with prospect training camp this upcoming Monday, I feel hockey season is close. But, sadly, it is not. The season begins October 2nd as you may know. The good news is, there's a game on my birthday, November 21 (yes just 2 days after Sykkie and merely a week before Fleury's!) against recently- married former Pen Colby Armstrong (Army)! Now that's exciting! I'm expecting big fights, Feds!

WELL,
I got to meet THE STANLEY CUP!
Here's how it goes:
My dad had neck surgery on a wednesday not too long ago (I was unable to post due to freaking business) and the nurse is like well i don't know if you guys are hockey fans, but the stanley cup is on the fifth floor! we were on the sixth. so, naturally, i started hyperventilating! i touched it, got pics which i shall post later but were taken with my cell so they are crappy. i touched the 91 pens but not the 92, and i forgot to check for the canes and the staal misspelling and also i forgot to look for gretzky.
anyways, here's who's coming to prospect camp (don't forget ulfie's son is going to college)----------
FORWARDS
Andy Bathgate
Luca Caputi
Joey Haddad
Ben Hanowski
Dustin Jeffrey
Nick Johnson
Nathan Longpre
Nathan Moon
Nicholas Petersen
Casey Pierro-Zabotel
Zack Sill
Eric Tangradi
Keven Veilleux
Joe Vitale
DEFENSEMEN
Robert Bortuzzo
Lane Caffaro
Nicholas D'Agostino
Jonathan D'Aversa
Simon Despres
Alex Grant
Carl Sneep
Brian Strait
Denny Urban
Alex Velischek
GOALTENDERS
Patrick Killeen
Brad Thiessen

I'm SO PUMPED FOR OCTOBER!
also, go Stillers. July 31, be ready boys!

Guerin, Adams, Feds, and my new favorite Samuelsson

I already love Philip Samuelsson!

True, he's playing for college next year, but his dad is legendary! How can you not love his son? I found this good pic on the pens website- (I search it for signs of Tangers everyday)

Hmm, he's no Kris, but he's pretty cute.

So, my whole family is VERY happy, but also a little sad.

Why, you may ask? Well, unless you take residence under a rock, the Pens finally signed The Master, Billy G (is for Gangsta!). But, they signed Craig Adams. And see, my family (except my sister who hates hockey) loves all of the Pens. Except Adams. And Gill. One of the only ones we don't really love (we truly love TK the most; how could we not? He's awesome and he's got the same last name as us!).

Plus, they didn't sign Fedotenko or Sykora! I love them two almost as much as I love Guerin! Now, they're going to test out Free-agency, thanks to ADAMS! I suppose I should trust Ray, though. Gotta have faith. Gotta get an XBOX 360 so I can get the game with Patrick Kane on it instead of the game with Ovi's ugly-ass face on it. Sigh. Life is tough.

NHL Awards tonight!

Was too excited to post.

6-12-09:
Had obsessive hockey friends over. We screeched and shrieked for the entire last minute, then went outside, group-hugged, screamed, and jumped up and down.

<-------------Much like this. (I would be Tangers. He's rockin' that hair. <3)
6-15-09:

parade, complete with 23-year-old bitch ON HER DAD'S SHOULDERS!

her excuse: "I'm friends with them!"

then why is she in the middle of a crazy- fan crowd?!?!?

wtf!

anyway, I want malkin for hart (duh)

thomas for vezina

chara for norris

ryan for calder

kesler for selke

st. louis for lady bing.

great pictures!--

Sid, Petr, and Geno, BFFs! (Don't leave us, Sykie!)

I love kunitz, eaton, godard, cooke, and petr's expressions. Are those not wonderful looks?!

Next stop: Hart Trophy. Then back to Russia with Mama and Papa Malkin.

NHL Awards tonight at 7:30 on Versus. Let's watch Geno pwn Ovi once more!