Pens Lose, No April Fools Joke Here

i was going to make a comment about the pens winning, then immediately following that up with "april fools!" however, i thought about how much that pisses me off when people (over the age of 14) say something stupid on the 1st of april, then twist your mind around by proclaiming "april fools." so instead, i give you cold, hard "april facts." the pens lost, but it was an acceptable loss. by forcing overtime, the pens gained a point that didnt seem likely at the midpoint in the game, when t-bo was being pulled in favor of maf. t-bo had let 4 goals in, and maf was called in to stop the bleeding. he did just that, playing solid defense and allowing his team to make a remarkable comeback. ryan whitney scored with 4 seconds left in the 3rd, tying the game, and giving pittsburh a critical point in their race against nj for tops in the atlantic division. by way of the overtime loss, the pens move from 5th to 2nd in the division again, with nj having a game in hand and one more win. unfortunately, kaberle scored with a minute five ledt in ot, and the pens left toronto with 1 out of a possible 2 points.

i tip my hat (im not wearing one right now, so i guess i'll tip my scalp...gross) to the pens, because toronto is always filled to the brim, even when the leafs are terrible. however, the leafs are currently on the outside of the playoff bubble, and the crowd knew it. towards the end of the game, and especially overtime, the toronto crowd was electric, hoping to push their team to a much needed win. you can call it whatever you want, playoff intensity, end of the season adrenaline, whatever, the pens were in hostile territory. getting a point out of this game was remarkable.

watching the crowd, my primary thought was, "playoff atmosphere is gonna rule." pittsburgh hasnt seen playoff hockey in quite some time, and toronto's crowd got me pumped up for the start of the playoffs. can you imagine the igloo once the playoffs start?

so far, no one had tried to pull any april fools pranks or shenanigans on me, and heaven help them if they try to.

more later...

(more=mpotd)

Pens Rule, Enough Said

last night, something that was nearly unthinkable a month ago, came to fruition in boston. the pens, aided somewhat by an undevil-like slide by the nj, moved into the top of the atlaintic division, via a win over the now-eliminated bruins. the team looked solid, with a great game by erik christensen and maf, who let a goal passed him in the opening minute, but rebounded to only allow phil kessel's mid-air swat later in the game. crosby was really seing the ice well, and added 3 assists to his league-leading scoring total. colby armstrong scored, before getting speared in the left eye, and malkin also slammed home a crosby dish. my focus over the past few months has been the pens spot in the playoffs standings, and yesterday, i got to see something that was a distant possibility only 2 months ago. nj does have a game in hand which they will play tonight, but the pens tied the devils in the all-important win column. the first tie-breaker in determining playoff seeds is the win column, and the pens accomplished that by adding their 45th win of the season. 45 is an impressive number to those of us who watched ziggy palffy and john leclair (and gonchar and t-bo, last season's other free-agent signing busts) fail to produce last year.

bit off subject, but watch this colby armstrong hit on trevor letowski. at the end of the video, the scrolling sign at the bottom says: "oakland suspends wr joey porter for four games..." it means oakland wr jerry porter, but i just found that amusing.

ill be around later

Watch Your Back, New Jersey

pens beat the bruins 5-0 yesterday. maf earned his 5th shutout of the season, and 7th of his young career. ryan malone extended the pens lead to 4-0 when i was updating some other sports happenings. geno scored, gary roberts shot a laser, gonchar had 2 assists, and crosby tallied 2 goals and an assist. new jersey, with a game in hand, can feel the pressure of these young pens. with the atlantic division all knotted up at the top, the pens are looking at a top 2 seed in the eastern division rather than the see-saw battle for 4th place with ottawa. the pens have been lights out at home, which is probably why home playoff tickets just sold out in 13 minutes.

next game is tomorrow, a washington. new jersey also plays, against a formidable atlantic rival, the new york rick dipietros. a win coupled with a nj loss puts your pittsburgh penguins at the top of the atlantic division, and in 2nd place in the eastern conference with just under 2 weeks to go in the season. before the season started, i told a friend that the only way the pens could sniff the playoffs was if geno made it from russia. even once he surfaced, and made an immediate impact on the club and league, 2nd place in the eastern conference still seemed unattainable. the pens have defied all sorts of odds by playing cosistant hockey with young talent. if the pens can keep their wits about them, it isnt too much of a stretch to allude to the fact that lord stanley could make a stop in the steel city. soon.

nhl.com has a drop-down list of nhl player sites. its not an extensive list, but the collection of players boggles my mind. there are five players' sites listed: sidney crosby, ed belfour, rick nash, raffi torres and kevin weekes. of all the players in the league, i dont think i would ever think of these 5 guys at the same time. ever. also, i can understand nhl-approved fansites for crosby, belfour and nash. torres and weekes? eh...not so much. (sings "one of these things is not like the other" in mind)

Uh...You Sure Ben?

ben roethlisberger doesnt want to blame his injuries from the past offseason (and at the beginning of the season, for those who forget an unblocked adalius thomas), as the reason he struggled to a 7-8 record as a starter in 06. i understand wanting to put the past behind you, and there could be other reasons that ben threw 23 interceptions as compared to only 18 touchdowns. but ive seen the pictures. im sure the accident (among the appendectomy and adalius thomas) had a dramatic effect on why ben was bad all year.

its hard to look at these pictures and not blame them for everything that went wrong last year. i guess bens a better person (and by better, i mean the person with the fakest face).

Roethlisberger also told the newspaper he was able to put last season in
perspective with the help of Hall of Fame quarterbacks Jim Kelly and Dan Marino.

great choices, ben. you officially have more super bowl rings than both men combined. im surprised he didnt look to akili smith and jeff george for advice as well.

devils lost. to the leafs. thats good for the pens, who dont lose any ground to the atlantic-leading devils by way of their loss to the rangers two nights ago. wade belak fought cam janssen, obvious retaliation for janssen's hit on tomas kaberle that has caused the talented maple leaf to miss the past 8 games in a crucial push for the final playoff spot in the east.

pens dont play till tomorrow, when they travel to long island to meet "the rick dipietros."

still waiting for the sweet 16. i know i have the panthers losing in the sweet 16 (those who picked pitt to keep going obviously havent watched pitt basketball for the past 10 years or so,) but it would be cool to actually see them advance to the elite 8.

mpotd later...

got some stuff to do

Big Game for the Pens

pens host ottawa tonite. its a pretty big game, seeing as how the pens are in 5th place in the east, only one point behind the senators. puck drops at 7:30 p.m. new jersey has the night off, so the pens can move within 2 points of the atlantic-leading devils with a win over the sens.

pittsburgh has won 7 of their last 9, with points in 8 of those contests. pretty impressive. a young team like the pens really benefitted from the veteran leadership of mark recchi and gary roberts. crosby and company seem to be peaking at just the right time, and another win versus an eastern conference top-5 team would surely boost player morale and confidence heading into the playoffs. i know teams like the colts and the cardinals (i cant stand mentioning either of those teams) backed their way into the playoffs, and won their respective sports' championships. however, i am a strong believer of playing tough down the stretch, and rolling into the playoffs (i.e. pittsburgh steelers 2005). crosby leads the points race, and is battling brodeur for the hart. malkin will win the calder, and him and staal are 1-2 in rookie goal scoring. therrien could be coach of the year, and gonchar is tied for 3rd in scoring among league defensemen. but you knew all that. i just wanted to document it

Defeated Jersey (Shirt and State)

i got a couple things to get of my chest. (got that stress off my chest like a breast reduction). my inner rage was sweet. and it worked. because that (note picture above) is the face of the man who outdueled one martin brodeur and held the devils scoreless, to post his first shutout of the season and first in three years! t-bo doesnt get enough love on the internet, mainly because hes backing up a former number one overall draft pick, and certainly a young goalie who most teams would want to face off against the mighty brodeur, in marc-andre fleury. im a big supporter of the flower. but ill give credit where credit is due and thank t-bo for calming my rage against the brodeur jersey girl.

"ooh, ill wear a brodeur jersey to a pittsburgh-area college on the same night that the devils host the penguins."

thats a joke. pens won. brodeur jersey girl looked foolish. like a fool. quit being a fake nhl fan. pens are now within 4 points of the devils, and in 4th place in the east. that means a home series at least in the first round of the playoffs. imagine the igloo on those nights! ruutu scored, christensen scored, and staal, who matched his goal total from juniors last year (28), scored to put the game away.

holding the devils scoreless in the 1st period was key to t-bo havin a grrrrreat nite. (sorry, had to do that).

i know gomez hit the post, and it was lucky that he did, but ill take a little bit of luck when playing a good team like the devils. (see, i can give the brodeur bunch credit even though they have been a bitch to win against for quite some time).

beating the top 2 teams in the conference in successive night is not only impressive, but should at least be worthy of mention on espn.com's front page.

wrong.

embrace the nhl, espn. just because you dont carry the games doesnt mean that the only mention of the nhl during the week is when john buccigross listens to some hootie and the blowfish (or tonic or dishwalla or r.e.m. or some other 90s alt/rock/indie group) and decides to write their lyrics alongside a picture of teppo numminen with buccigross's kids or something. dont get me wrong, buccigross isnt bad, but i think the nhl should give a little more love rather than bucci and barry melrose and linda cohn, who promises a gluttony of glove saves in her weekly column!

ok im dun right now. ill be back later

Dont Wear a Brodeur Jersey in Pgh.

so the pens play the devils tonite, 3-14-2007, and i go to a school that is very passionate about pittsburgh sports. this girl was showing off her (what seemed to be new) martin brodeur jersey while i walked past her. i raged on the inside. fiercely.