End The Curse. Now

I've never really liked the Lightning. I don't know if its Tortorella, Lecavalier, St. Louis, the fact that they play in Florida or the fact that I wanted Calgary to win the Cup in '04. I'd be more content seeing the Lightning lose. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened, especially when the Penguins are the opponent. The P-G's Dave Molinari gives us the nasty details:

[The Penguins] are 1-12-1 in their past 14 games here, and have lost 12 overall in a row (three in overtime or shootouts) to the Lightning the past three seasons.

Disgusting.

However, tonight's game might help us break the streak. I mean, we've won 8 of the last 9 and 16 of the last 21. Tampa Bay has only won 16 games...all season.

Despite the records, I'm going to do my best to jinx Tampa Bay. My jinxing powers unfortunately worked against MAF and the Steelers. The best I can do is try to destroy an opponent for once. Here we go. Remember, these aren't my true feelings, jerks.

Vinny Lecavalier rules, and I hope he scores 15 goals tonight.

Marty St. Louis is so tall and cool.

I hope Tampa Bay wins.

We should score no goals tonight.

I hope Sid and Geno don't show up.

We should probably leave the net empty all night.

Who needs two points?





Jinx set. You're totally going down, Tampa Bay.

Sid Wins Pearson!

The NHL named your Penguins captain, Sidney Crosby, as the youngest recipient of the Lester B. Pearson Award. The award is given to the most valuable player as judged by the NHL's players association.

The last Penguin to receive the Pearson was Jaromir Jagr's mullet, which won in 2000. Jagr's mullet is also the last Penguin player to win the Hart, which Sid is up for as well.

Sid staved off Vinny Lecavalier and Roberto Luongo, the other Pearson finalists. Sid still needs to beat Luongo, as well as goalie Marty Brodeur, if he wants to win the Hart.

PSaMP will be here to let you know how the Hart shakes out.

Penguins Name New Captain

What does Sidney Crosby have in common with Ab McDonald, Ron Schock, Jean Pronovost, Orest Kindrachuk, Randy Carlyle, Mike Bullard, Terry Ruskowski, Dan Frawley, Lemieux, Ron Francis and Jaromir Jagr? The Penguins captaincy.

Crosby is officially the youngest NHLer to ever inherit the C, besting Vincent Lecavalier by a month. He's the first Pens captain since Mario Lemieux retired during the '05-'06 season.

This card is from 1993, after the Pens won back to back Cups. I remember what I was doing in 1993. Feels a little weird.

Congats, Sid. Now get that Hart!

Sid Reveals That He's Much More Of A Badass Than We Already Knew

So I thought I was done talking about the Pens, seeing as how their season is over. But the truth is, I'll never be done talking about the Pens. Its moments like these when we find out how much we've taken for granted, and the level of effort that these professionals put into a "game."

The Kid announced that, for the final 2 1/2 weeks of the regular season and the playofffs, he's been playing with a broken foot. Let me say that again. HE'S BEEN PLAYING WITH A BROKEN FOOT!

This puts the scoring title in a much bigger perspective. Joe Thorton, the only real competition to Sid in the scoring race, really put the pressure on Sid during the last few weeks of the season. Before Joe, it was Vinny Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis. In order to win the title, Sid not only had to fend off some prolific scorers, but also had to do it with one foot!

If I get a paper cut, my finger is out of commission for a few days. My hand will be up in the air when I shower, and I make sure that its clean and not in contact with anything...because those things hurt like a bitch. Sid played hockey during the home stretch of the season and in the playoffs with a broken foot (I can't stress this enough), and even wore minimal padding so as to not tip off the media. Alright, Ted Nolan and Bryan Murray, go ahead and call Sid soft one more time. Honestly, we haven't heard it nearly enough.

Sid plays a game. For a living. How easy would it be to take time off from the "game" and let your broken foot heal? Hell, you kinda need your foot to play hockey. Whether its simple skating or blocking shots, feet are an integral part of the game. The impessive part is that Sid's performance hardly took a hit because of the gimp foot. He believes he broke the foot on a blocked shot against Montreal on March 16th. That equals 11 regular season games and 5 playoff games (none of which he missed) in which Sid put up 19 points (8 goals and 11 assists). 19 points in 16 games...with a broken foot.

Hats off to Sid, the newest badass in Pittsburgh sports. Now knowing what he's capable of with one foot, I can't wait to see his maturity next season when he is able to use both.