10 Year Old Kids Bowl Better Than The Penguins

Feel-good stories rule.

Yesterday, the Pens joined up with the Make-A-Wish Foundation for the inaugural Pens and Pins tournament. This is the type of thing where you can actually smile when a local athlete sucks.

The players who helped out served as a celebrity captain for each team. The newly-formed Penguins Wives Association set up the event, which included bowling, a bake sale and silent auction.

Potash (yes!) was there, as were a slew of Penguins players and their WAGs. However I have to cut up on a certain Pen, who obviously hasn't been watching his Lebowski or Kingpin. MAF, you may make me feel old and unaccomplished in life by being a successful athlete, but dammit, I could probably beat you at bowling. And I suck at bowling.


"I’m terrible,” Fleury noted. “I finished last in my group. These kids beat me. I didn’t expect that out of me, being so bad. I’ve got to work on that."


To top that off, here's what some kid had to say about MAF, emphasis mine:


"I already beat him, I don’t know if he’s that good at bowling,” Bryce Cunningham, 10, said. “It’s pretty fun because you just all get together and bowl."


BURN! Here's some more cool photos of the event.

Um...nice...form?


Sergei's looking healthy. Get that guy on the ice if he's well enough to hit the alleys.


Geno does NOT get Munsoned.

Kris Letang Will Be An All Star This Season. Write That Down

I find it fun to make random predictions about the teams I love so much, so let's go after the Penguins, especially with what's been going on with our defense in the offseason.

First off, how good does Ray Shero look for holding on to Darryl Sydor? When free agency began, there was much talk of packaging Sydor in a deal to get a scoring winger. Now, with Ryan Whitney shelved until December or January and Sergei out indefinitely, the retaining of Sydor alleviates some major problems. Our blue line depth would've been much more questionable had Sydor left.

But let's talk predictions. I've always been a massive Kris Letang fan, and with current injuries, Letang has a chance to shine instead of just being a role player. With our top two offensive-minded defensemen out, Letang is thrust into the spotlight, and we're in need of healthy point production from Kris. So my prediction is...All Star.

In the past, we were lucky to watch Paul Coffey come flying up from his defensive position to bury a ton of Mario passes and rebounds. Letang has that same gift, and he'll have a lot of time to work with Sid. Plus, he'll most likely be paired with defensive-minded defenseman (and pride of Wilmington, DE) Mark Eaton. This should allow him to put more shots on net while not worrying about giving up defensive position. Eaton's got his back (or Orpik, another bruising, defensive-minded guy).

I'm too lazy to look right now, but Sergei had something like 99 points in the past two seasons. Is it absurd to think Letang could top 50 this year? Of course, he'll need a strong start to the season, before Whit and Gonch come back and take their spots on the top line. Coming out strong early would give Ray Shero the same happy problem as he has with the forwards, so many scoring threats that there aren't #1 and #2 lines, just two #1s. Point production could be through the roof if Letang could hold his own until his injured teammates return.

Couple this thought with the fact that we own 2 of the top 10 hitters in the conference (Cooke on offense, Orpik on defense), and those hits could create some loose puck opportunities and scoring chances for Letang.

So yeah, ridicule me all you want, but I'm expecting big things from this team going into the season. What originally seemed like a crushing blow to our blue line now seems to be a prime opportunity for Letang to have an All Star season.

You read that here first.

This Is The Reason That Text Messaging Was Invented

If you aren't excited about the upcoming Pens season, you should check your pulse.

Mad love goes to Michael Holovak at the Duquesne Duke for digging up this scoop.

Have trouble finding student rush tickets last season? You probably weren't alone. The quick success of Sid and Co. caused many a sellout at the 'Gloo, and ice-popped kids struggled to get their hands on the $20 Student Rush tix.

Because of this problem, the Pens have created a new lottery-style Student Rush program. Holovak, via Penguins.com, says:

...games on pace to sell out will have a lottery for 200 Student Rush tickets via text message within 48 hours of the game and 100 lottery winners will then be given a password to purchase up to two student rush tickets on ticketmaster.com.

Texting “RUSH” to 32623 will sign you up for the alerts.

So why are tickets being distributed this way? To borrow a tagline from the Penguins, it’s an evolution.

"We had to adjust for the times,” said Tom McMillan, Vice President of Communications for the Penguins. “Last year we just alerted students if we had a high, medium or low inventory of Student Rush tickets. As attendance grew it became difficult to slot tickets for students.”

Word.

I know most of you probably thought text messaging was only good for goofy one-liners sent to friends, scam ringtone subscriptions or making your voice heard on the flavor of the month reality show.

Turns out, the Penguins have turned text messaging into a necessity for all hopeful young Pens-watchers.

If games aren't going to sell out (doubtful), standard student rush procedures stay in place. Go to the 'Gloo with your student I.D. and your Andrew Jackson.



UPDATE: One final notice, Sid's Alternative Captains were named. Sergei Gonchar, Mark Recchi and Gary Roberts will all don the A. Perfect trio.

Pens Forget To Play 2nd Period, Lose Game 3

Remember yesterday's game? Despite taking place merely a day ago, the Pens forgot everything they learned in game 2, and instead played like it was game 1 all over again. The Senators won 4-2, and take a 2 to 1 lead in the series.

Sergei Gonchar struggled mightily, and his -1 rating told only half of the story. He couldn't take any passes, couldn't hold the puck in the zone and was taking shots that were easily blocked by Ottawa. I think I pulled out a great deal of my hair watching Gonchar play like it was the 2005 season (yeah, despite having a great past season, it is easy to forget how big of a bust Sergei was in his first year with the Pens after signing a 5 year/$25 million contract).

The Power Play, which the Pens have lived on all season, has been rather shaky. It takes the Pens at least a minute to gain the zone, and finally set up some sort of cycle. In comparison, the Senators have had no trouble gaining the offensive zone, their passes are crisper and their Power Play cycle starts almost immediately. That spells disaster and a possible series loss for Pittsburgh.

However, Crosby added his 3rd goal in as many playoff games in his young career, and his tally reminded me of the fantastic goal he scored against Tampa Bay earlier in the season. After game 1 got out of hand, the Pens were able to score a few goals in the 3rd, which might have helped in game 2. After the game got out of hand tonight, Crosby was able to score, which could end up helping the Pens in game 4.

All in all, the Pens picked the wrong game to emulate tonight. Rather than building on the successes in game 2, the Pens reverted to game 1 status, which is something that doesn't bode well for the remainder of the series. Before game 4 on Tuesday, Coach Therrien better fix the "Jekyll and Hyde" Pens, before the team is unfortunately eliminated from Cup-contention.

Fleury, Rest Of Pens, Have Rough Playoff Debut

wow. that was a tough game to watch. the pens got dominated in every aspect of the game, and fell to ottawa 6-3. that score doesnt even do the senators any justice. ottawa did lead 6-1, before gonchar and crosby added "confidence-booster" goals in the waning moments. therrien and the team had been quick to brush off the teams youth and inexperience, but had to face the music after this one was over. therrien accepted that his team was tight, and crosby felt the team was watching rather than setting the early tone. both were understatements. the senators clearly came out with more passion, and were able to leave their mark on the game from the drop of the puck. andrej meszaros scored 1:37 into the game, and chris kelly added a goal only 5 minutes later.

despite giving up 6 goals, i cant place the blame solely on maf. mark eaton tipped a shot that was easily picked up by ottawa for an easy goal. laraque's intended drop pass to ruutu lead to a senators breakaway that resulted in an easy goal. the defense couldnt get the puck out of their own zone. the ottawa forwards were more physical than the pittsburgh defense. the pens couldnt handle simple passes and stick-handling maneuvers. daniel alfredsson was allowed to take hack after hack at the net, and the score would have been 10-3 if the ottawa captain quit missing the cage. ryan whitney struggled to a -2 rating. in case you dont get the point, i can keep going on about why the pens lost. maf looked nervous at the beginning, settled down for a bit, then imploded upon himself. as frustrated as i was, though, there were plenty more reasons for this loss rather than just the poor play of maf.

"apparent kicking motion." remember those words. any chance of the penguins swinging game momentum last night was crushed by the "war room" in toronto, who disallowed sidney crosby's goal in the opening moments of the 2nd period, which would have closed the ottawa lead to 4-2, after dany heatley scored only 15 seconds prior. colby armstrong crashed the net, and sid put the rebound past emery, thus revitalizing the pittsburgh bench. after talking to the "war room," the refs disallowed the goal, because crosby's sliding foot touched the puck before it scooted past emery. crosby took a legitimate shot with his stick, and was falling to his knees like he has done in the past. however, last night, crosby was right in front of emery, and wasnt trying to break his body in half as he crashed the net. he went from his knee to his butt, and the puck tipped the heel of his stick, hit his sliding foot, and went in. the thing that gets me, is we dont know if the "war room" has any bias against the kid. sid is legendary in the league for his lower body strength, and has been known to use his skates like 2 additional sticks. ive never seen a player protect a puck like crosby can, by passing the puck between his skates and his stick with such ease. if anyone in the "war room" (i cant stand that they call it that) has watched any of crosby in his first 2 seasons, they would know the kid's abilities. i seriously hope that the geniuses in toronto didnt hold this against crosby while making their decision to disallow the goal. i understand "apparent kicking motion," but sid actually took the shot with his stick, and as he was falling into the cage, his eyes were still focused on where the shot from his stick was supposed to go. "apparent kicking motion" is supposed to deter players from kicking pucks into the goal, not for overanalyzing a guy falling down while trying to make a legitimate shot. the pens beat the sens back in march after falling down 4-1, and crosby's goal could have sparked the turnaround in this 4-1 game. instead, any momentum was gone once the ref waved the goal off (to steigy and errey's surprise), and maf allowed 2 more goals before being benched for t-bo.

this is, in no way, critical of ottawa. they clearly won the game. they exerted their influence, and flat-out beat sid and company. hopefully the team can build off of the failures in game 1, and come out with more purpose on saturday.