Happy New Year!

I want to get all mushy for a second and reflect on the absolutely amazing year we have witnessed. 2009 brought all kinds of excitement to the Pittburgh fan's heart. Steelers brought home Super Bowl number 6 from Tampa, the only organization to do so in the entire NFL, while the Penguins brought home the Stanley Cup from the coldest parts of the D after being out of playoff contention. They won all their game sevens on the road, and it was not an easy road at all. The Flyers proved to be a tough competitor in the first round, but Max Talbot shushed them all. The Caps series was a long one, going seven games. It was brother pitted against brother, Staal versus Staal, which Jordan swept in four. And we all know that MAF made an epic save in the final seconds of game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. 2009 was a year of epic proportions and it deserves to be remembered.

This commercial is to die for. I love Max and Sid. They are adorable. It is a great way to tip your hat to what has been a fantastic year for the Pittsburgh fan. We brought home a Lombardi Trophy and a Stanley Cup. We got to host two parades for our champions. I was lucky enough to be in Tampa at Super Bowl XLIII to witness Stantonio's catch and I watched Max score both goals on tv. Words cannot describe how happy I was to watch these wins. Pittsburgh, I salute you. You have the most amazing fans ever and I am so glad to be able to count myself as one of them. Enjoy. Happy new year! Here's to 2010 and another championship or two.

<3

Oh Canada...

Team Canada released their 2010 Olympic roster this morning and two of our Penguins have made it: Sidney Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury.

It doesn't come as a surprise that Sid would be on this team, in fact, it was a given. Sid has been made one of the alternate captains, as Scott Niedermayer will wear the C.

Martin Brodeur will be the number one goalie in net with MAF as number two and Roberto Luongo as number three. Brodeur stops everything and is bigger than Marc-Andre so it really wasn't a surprise to see Marty get the start. The man has 104 shutouts for goodness' sake! It is nice to see Fleury get the credit he deserves, though, after his last few years in the NHL, with a roster spot.

Eric Staal made the roster which is kind of surprising. He was injured earlier this season and I didn't think he was anything ridiculously special with all of the other talent Steve Yzerman and company had to choose from. Is he good in the faceoff circle, yes. Does he score goals, yes. But younger brother and my fav Penguin, Jordan, is a fantastic two-way player and that is where I think Jordan deserved a roster spot over Eric. If anything, put them together and see some Staal brother magic explode. I knew it would be iffy that Jordan would make it, but really, they are going to have Mike Richards (leadership???) and Patrice Bergeron over JStaal? Hmmm. We all know Staalsy is amazing on the penalty kill. He's got eleven goals so far this season and two were short-handed. I know Eric was injured, but I still like Jordan has proved he has had the better season thus far. Jordan hasn't missed a game in forever. He works through his pain and fights his way to the net hard, every game. He gives 110% and I love it. Everyone wishes both Eric and Jordan could be on the team together juast so that we can have a totally epic Staal Brothers Drinking Game - Olympic Style. It would be amazing, especially if both Staals were out on the ice together. It's a dream... Jordan could be a fine winger to Eric.

Anyways, enough of my complaining. Congrats to both Sid and MAF. Now, we have a division game to win tonight. Devils. Penguins. It's on!

Let's go Pens!

Merry Christmas, à la Russian style

What more could we ask for during the holidays other than a huge Penguins win? Wednesday's game against the Ottawa Senators couldn't have gone better. Last time the Pens and Sens met, it ended in a 6-2 win for Ottawa. Not this time! This game was full of energy as the Pens took away any momentum the Senators were able to create. The Penguins got another puck for their board with this 8-2 victory. What's great is they had 5 goals alone in the 2nd period!

Here is the rundown of the goals scored:

Malkin

Volchenkov. meh. Right off the faceoff. It happens.

Guerin

Fedotenko, from a beautifully orchestrated tic-tac-toe play that was totally created by Staalsy. "It was all Staal" Hellll yeah it was! wooo!

Kunitz

Guerin

Beautiful goal. I love it!

Malkin

Geno was fired up! Yeah!

Gonchar, with the sneak shot in there! One second you think the puck is in the corner and the next it's in the net! =)

Malkin, hat trick! So sweet from Crosby. The puck went from Malks to Sid and then back to Malks for the goal wooo!

Kelly. blah. Whatever, you already lost the game.

Just some notes:

Craig Adams' hit on Alfredsson... all I could think was how much Craig Adams is a beast!

Malkin and Guerin were total beasts as well; the whole game they were just driving to the net.

After getting pulled during the game versus the devils earlier in the week, MAF comes back and has a great game against the senators.

Geno smiling =)

Guerin was close to a hatty too, several times that night... hearing "let's go Guerin" chants from the crowd was so, so special. I love our fans and our team <3

I wanted Billy G to get a hatty too.. more than anyone! Speaking of, Billy's toothy grin = adorable

Cheers every time Guerin even touches the puck = makes me so happy

Billy Guerin was the Mickey D's player of the game and rightfully so =) Loveeee him

"Thunder Bay, Ontario, it's almost like going to Sibera" hahahahaha

Think it was Steigy who said that in regards to the Pens going home for the holidays

Here are all of the wonderful highlights from this game

I think part of the reason we were so successful is because HCDB changed up the lines.

It seemed to work. I really like the change. Our second line had a huge night. Kunitz wasn't getting too many points on Crosby's line as of late (with exception to the time he spent injured, of course), but then you pair him with Malkin and suddenly he's got four points in one game, racking up a goal and several assists. I've always liked Guerin with Crosby, but he really has seemed to have lit the spark with Malkin. As I said before, Guerin almost had a hatty too and had several chances for a third goal. It's amazing that he didn't get a hat trick.

Amazing Malkin quote before this game:

"I know my play is not good. I'm going to try next game. I'm working today, tomorrow. I know it's a tough situation, but it will be ok."

It's more than ok, Geno. Thank you.

Both Gonchar and Malkin scored against the Senators and they'll have a chance to score some big goals for the Motherland in Vancouver as they were selected to play for Team Russia in the 2010 Olympics. You can read more about Russia's lineup here.

And finally, a most precious video about Christmastime and giving. Max has some unreal quotes. He's a funny guy, but that's nothing we didn't know already.

"I didn't even go to college..."
haha I love it.

Happy holidays, everyone.

Broken records, cheese, and sexytime

The Devils came to our house and they won fair and square 4-0. Ouch. That hurts. I never like to see a shutout, but this particular one really stings because Marty Brodeur broke the record for most shutouts in a goalie's career with 104 against the Penguins. He has been around a long time, though. I will give him credit where credit's due. Brodeur is a fantastic goalie and he played a fantastic game against us. We couldn't get anything past him. I think it helps, though, when you're a fatty goaltender.

Hey, just sayin'...

I'm sorry, but Martin Brodeur is fat.

All kidding (sort of) aside, congrats to Martin Brodeur on his record-breaking shutouts. That is impressive. Fatty Osgood is in second with a meager 50.

HA.

You know what, we lost to the guys who are not only number one within our division, but in the entire Eastern Conference. It happens sometimes. Marc-Andre didn't play the best game and the Devils got a lot of power plays thanks to us. We didn't convert the ones we were lucky enough to draw.

One thing I love is that our team still puts up a good fight usually, even when they lose. Jordan Staal is one of our guys who never slows down. He always gives 110%. TK does too. It is sexytime. I am going to talk about Jordan's face and how it totally got smashed during the Devils game on Monday.

Basically, Jordan went for the puck and it deflected off his stick and got him in the nose. He went down and there was a lot of blood. Matt Cooke and (I think) one of the equipment managers helped him off the ice. It's never good when the towel you're using to stop the bleeding is dripping blood... We were hearing reports that Staalsy wasn't going to return to the game and that his nose could potentially be broken and then, miraculously, he returned for the third period sporting a full face shield.

Work it, Staalsy. You are a sexy bitch.

Here is the video of Jordan getting hit with the puck

And finally, Max Talbot has found a way to make even more cheesy commercials. This time it's for Valley Pool & Spa:

Who wouldn't want Superstar as their pool boy? ;)

So, final note: Devils, you take your win, and go back to Georgia!

(Or Jersey)

'Cause we've got sexy face shields and cheesy commercials.

Philadelphia massacre

What a great home and home series this past week has been! I love it! Flyers come to Pittsburgh only to be totally manhandled by Sid and Staalsy and then the Penguins go to Philly and embarrass them some more in front of their home crowd at the Wachovia Center just like they did seventeen years ago.

Tuesday's 6-1 win will definitely be a game I will save on my DVR. It will join Game 7 of the SCF.

Tuesday's game:

Sid, PPG! off a gonchar SOG rebound

Then we have 3 fights in 16 seconds. That is epic.
Rupp fought Asham, Godard fought Cote, and Adams fought Carcillo (whose stashe wishes it was as awesome as TK's). That is amazing!
The Associated Press says they were all within the first 5 minutes, 33 seconds of the game.

Guerin scores. Damn, I love you, Billy G!

Carcillo ruins the party, but it continues...

because Staalsy scores a shorthanded goal putting the pens up 3-1. That's HUGE!

precious

Staal scores again!!!

Fedotenko scores

precious

Malkin ends his not-scoring streak and scores a shorthanded goal, the Pens' second of the night!

stunned

LOLLLLLLLL
Philadelphia's new head coach, Peter Laviolette, isn't doin' too well...

Thursday's game:


Jeff carter scores first. vom.

Guerin scores off of a sweet rebound from a Geno SOG and it's a PPG! He ties the game 1-1

Giroux scores. blah.

Sid scores to tie the game 2-2 and it's also a PPG!

We go to a shootout...

Letang scores and then Sid takes care of business and finishes it.

GAME

Notes:

Carcillo had a goal taken away after it was reviewed and showed he had kicked it in with his skate.

Fluery played a great game both nights.

PP has improved drastically since HCDB moved Malkin to the point with Gonch.

Highlights from Tuesday's 6-1 win

Highlights from Thursday's 3-2 SO win

December adorableness

Just in time for the holidays, here are some adorable pictures and videos of penguins players that I've been meaning to post for some time now. Some are old, some are new. This is just another reason why I love the Penguins' organization so much. I feel like our team is special and it shows. Look for yourself.

About half of the team visited the Children's Hospital a week or so ago and then three more players (TK, Staal, and Eric Godard) went again this week!

Here's the video

Pretty much everyone has already seen this precious picture be circulated around the internet of Eric Godard and Bill Guerin doning tiaras, but it's worth it to post for those that have yet to witness this event. There are no words, just lots of adorable-ness.

You can view the rest of the pictures taken by wpxi here.

One of my favorite Pens prospects is Eric Tangradi. He's been hanging out in Wilkes-Barre with the Baby Pens as of late. This video is really cheesey, but that's why it's cute.

"how low can you go?"

The players seem like a tight-knit group and are always pulling practical jokes on each other. Sometimes we're lucky enough to be blessed with pictures of such events. Today, Empty Netters had this little jem for us.

The guys always seem to have fun practices too, or at least HCDB always finds a way to make sure they end on a positive note.

As always, a big thanks to Ghostwalker40 for making all of these fantastic videos accessible to us.

Lastly, I have to admit, I am not a fan of Christmas music, but I enjoy this song, sung by our own PensTv correspondant, Alyonka Larionov, and Diana Larionov. A portion of the proceeds from the single will go to Hockey Fights Cancer. You can donate here.

Whenever I'm having a bad day, the Penguins' organization always knows how to make it better. That is truly the best gift of all.

Eye candy galore: Pens-Blackhawks Photo Expo

Hey guys, I know this is a bit late, but I had a lot of pictures to sort through from my time in Pittsburgh. I've selected the best to share with you all here. These are my personal pictures from the game that I am willing to post so please credit me with them if you take them. I'm not good at adding watermarks, etc. to pictures nor do I feel like spending time doing so, as it would take me forever to figure it out. Thank you. Shall we get to it then? I am going to borrow a feature from Empty Netters and do this the Seth Rorabaugh-way.

Coming to you from Pittsburgh, PA

At one point I was lucky enough to be 3.5 miles from Sid's house.

omg omg fangirl moment omg

Now that that's out of our system...

Greetings from Mellon Arena!As if we needed a reminder: It's the Pengiuns vs. the Blackhawks. Yes, Hossa is now with the Hawks organization. I know some people feel like we've given up our right to boo him to Detroit, but I still don't feel that way. Crosby is out because of a nagging groin injury. This greatly upsets me because I flew all the way out here to see a game and cappy isn't going to play. Mark Letestu was called up from WBS to fill the open forward spot.

This is my view from my seat, first row up against the glass

WIN

In case you wondered....

Please note the number of the glass pane.
66 <3

Here's a shot taken by Seth from Empty Netters. You can see me.

We're kind of awesome if you didn't know already:

That is beautiful.

I'm going to give a big plug to Seth from Empty Netters right now because he took the time to walk over to my section and meet me. Thank you so much, Seth, that totally made my night. I really look up to you and love your blog. I really appreciate you taking the time to come and say hi. That was awesome.

PS- Seth started off saying, "This is kind of an awkward question, but are you Caitlin?" Trust me, it wasn't awkward at all. You want awkward, just ask Troy Crosby.

I love it when the boys stretch directly in front of me:

Oh Godard and that hair!

Fleury warming up

Johnson warming up

Notice the new mask

Tanger <3

Oh hey there, Superstar ;)

I love TK. I don't know where it came from exactly or when it started but I think it was around the start of this blog when I discovered the use of Mr. Kennedy on the jumbotron.

There is just all kinds of adorable going on right here:

Fleury! Whoa! Put your mask back on! What are you doing?!

This has got to be one of those heaven and hell things...

Two greats.... Mike Rupp and Martin Skoula I'd like to think Cupcake was pointing me out to Kris:

After Matt Cooke took a nasty blow to the head:

That was ridiculous. If the League is going to suspend Cooke two games for a dirty head shot then Keith should have been as well. It looked like it hurt. All he got was a penalty. Ridiculous.

Here is a video of the cheap shot, thanks to Ghostwalker40.

Brooksie is one of the best-looking things on the ice, I swear. I've never been close enough to notice the nice curvature of his nose before... I had to back away from the glass in order to take his picture... my camera wasn't even zoomed in and I was still too close to even get his whole face in the shot.

Damn you, Hossa. You ruined my picture of Mike Rupp!

We need to look at something pretty now so we can clear that hideousness from our mind

That'll work. Brooksie wearing the "A"
You can look deeply into that man's soul through his eyes...

Every time there was a break, Niemi would come skate exactly to where I was sitting and this is what I had to endure. Constantly! At one point I started shouting for him to stop sticking his ass in my face. I know, I'm classy. If it had been oh, I don't know, cappy, I would have been ok with that.

I love Billy G.

This guy was funny, just the stuff he kept shouting at the Blackhawks. I was cracking up.

Staal love

Feds totally looking at me.

Look who I spy...

There is always a girl holding a picture of Pensblog Charlie's face:

No home game is complete without the cotton candy man and Pensblog Charlie.

I hope you enjoyed this eye candy. I know I did as they were all skating by me. I swear Max kept looking at me every time he came around. I made sure to smile at him. Cupcake was also always around me, but he wouldn't make eye contact. I'm pretty sure Letang and Staal also made eye contact with me. So much win. I'm disappointed we lost the game, but I think it hurt us having Crosby sit out as a precaution. It's kind of BS that he only sat out one game and was back playing against Carolina on Monday night. I think we could have won against the Blackhawks if Sid had been playing. Hossa's goal was lucky. I didn't even get to see Staal's goal because it was scored at the other end of the ice. It was a low scoring game that we should have won.

COC, are you ready for me?

City of Champions, I am coming... I leave in about 4 hours for the airport. Maybe I should be finishing packing, or maybe I was too busy making a sign to take to the Pens game on Saturday night...

I've decided that it looks like a 9-year-old made this sign, but you know what, I am damn proud of it at the same time.

If you stick the new theme for this year ("Defy Ordinary") in there, there's a chance you can get on tv. Hey, it's worth a shot, right?

We'll see if I have any posts while I am in the Burgh. I cannot promise anything- there is no downtime in the schedule. I will probably be tweeting, though, so make sure you are following me on twitter.

If I do make it on tv with my sign, if anyone grabs a screencap for me, you automatically get to be my new bff.

Superstar strikes again

Our fav Superstar is back to give us more cheesy commercials and I love it.

Personally, I think MaxTal totally beats Hines Ward when it comes to selling a product. Hines can flash that big smile of his, but just because cereal is fulling, doesn't mean it's going to be good. I'm just sayin'... Max uses his natural charm and finesse to sway kids to pour with his side of the box facing them by saying it tastes great. Think about it. It really can work only one way-- if it tastes great then it doesn't have to be filling. You'll eat a ton until you feel sick because it was so damn delicious. Is this point totally ridiculous? Yes. But I enjoy debating even the finest of details... Plus watching Max drop the gloves over cereal is funny.

You can buy City of Champions cereal at Giant Eagle or order online here.

It's selling for $7.00 for a 2-pack because it is in high demand, unlike Terrell Owens' cereal, which is being sold at a lousy $5.00 for a 2-pack. They're even going to throw another one in there for free if you bother to buy TO's cereal at all:

"Limited Time Only...with the Purchase of 2 Boxes of TO's You Will Receive 1 FREE!!"

haha

Saturated in desperation...

I just might have to buy a box or two of COC (as they're calling it these days) when I invade town on Friday. I will try to give a good update on the Penguins-Blackhawks game and the Steelers-Raiders game when I get back. I'm super stoked to be going to the 'burgh. I haven't been in over two years. This will be my actual first live home Pens game. I look forward to discovering all the wonders Mellon Arena has to offer before they move to Consol Energy Center next season.

Avs in our house tomorrow night. Wooo!

We like scoring hat tricks against the Rangers

I didn't get to watch the game tonight. I was at work til late, but I did get to listen to Mike Lange while trying to get things wrapped up for the night. From what I could tell, it sounded like the Rangers came out and played a much better game against us. Also, maybe it had to do with Lundqvist being back in goal. Gogo was out of this game with what I assume to be a re-injury, but luckily we had Cupcake McKee back!

The Rupp-Staal-Kennedy line sounded amazing. Just the fact that it was in existence is amazing! Of course we know Cooke is serving his two-game suspension so he was out. Clearly Rupp fit in quite well as he scored his first career hat trick. Congrats. You are a beast, Mike Rupp! At one point I thought he was going to be injured when he left the ice and headed straight to the locker room. So glad he is ok and what a presence on the ice tonight! The third goal scored by Rupp was an empty netter and Seth over at (appropriately named) Empty Netters had this to say about Sidney's pass to Rupp for the HT:

"Someone tell us when Sidney Crosby is a selfish whiny brat as so many of his critics claim. Because we're still waiting for confirmation of that claim. He was on the ice late with the possibility of a hat trick as well. He could've had [a] hat trick in back-to-back games, a pretty rare feat. But he was aware of Rupp's situation and [got] the puck to his teammate and set him up to get his first career hat trick. So many question why Crosby has a "C" on his chest. Displays like his pass to Rupp are one of the many reasons he is this team's captain."

Nicely said, Seth. Major kudos. That is just another reason why I love our team and respect Crosby so much.

Pens win 5-2.

Crosby had two goals and Rupp had the hatty.

That is beautiful.

Pens dominate Rangers. Jordan still > Marc

So I was going to have this whole elaborate post today about last night's Penguins game, but I am le tired so it's not going to happen. I'm just going to highlight why it was such an awesome game to watch.

Pens beat the Rangers 8-3. Wow. Letang, Goligoski, and the best gift of all, TK, were all back! We found out before the game started that we would have two of our blueliners back so it really wasn't that much of a shock, but last any of us had heard about Tyler was that he was still out. The Pens have been so hush-hush with his groin injury and they never really gave us much indication that he was ready to return to the ice so soon. We got tipped off on twitter when several fans in attendance noticed that the President was out for warm-ups. That really got all of us excited and all we could do was hope that he would get to play. So nice to have him back! I was thrilled to have our 3rd line reunited.

Oh Staalsssss. Yes, yes, the Staals are brothers, but the wrong one scored: Marc. Btw, I've been meaning to say this for a while, I am changing my opinion on the subject of Staal brother hottness. I no longer think Marc is the best-looking one. Jordan takes the cake. I don't know what I was thinking, but I stand by my view that Eric is in last place in that family. Sorry. And what a fail by Steigy and Errey all night. They barely mentioned the Staals. There was one glorious moment when Hank Staal was brought up, but still. I drank anyways, but its not often I get to play the Staal Brothers Drinking Game. It was very disappointing. I won't get to play on Monday night because I will still be at work. For shame!

I believe the order of all the Penguins goals was something like this:

Malkin, ties the game 1-1

Sid, off a pass from Gogo- see how important he is? We needed him back, big time.

Talbot, off a nice pass from Sid

Eaton, with like a sec left in the 2nd per. You're kind of like, really? Sweet!

Sid, unreal how that puck found its way into the net.

Dupuis, such a sweet slapper. OMG. Was not expecting that. Love it!

Sid, gives us the hat trick everyone was waiting for because it was hat giveaway night. Awesome! "It's fuckin' hat night" - Matt Cooke

Kennedy, scores off of a sweet slapshot by Letang!

See how important all of our guys are? TK and Tanger return the same night and combine their magic rings to get a goal. Captain Planet style. Sweetness.

I only wish Staalsy could have scored, too.

Matt Cooke had a big night, racking up a ton of penalty mins. He had two fights and the hit on Anisimov got him suspended for two games. Great. He shouldn't be doing that, especially not when he has a prior. Dumb. And now our glorious 3rd line is going to be disabled again. Thank God there are exactly two games before the Penguins-Blackhawks game that I am attending.

Here are all of the highlights

Let's not forget that MAF played a good game tonight, too.

Great game, boys, let's go to NY and do the same against the Rangers again!

Hallelujah!

So we lost to the Islanders... they are kind of good this year with Tavares and all... you've got to give them credit, they played well. We couldn't score on a 5-4 and then a 5-3... However, (and I've been meaning to bring this up for a while now), I don't think you can put this loss on Brent Johnson. I was never a big fan of his until a couple weeks ago. He had to prove himself to me that he was worthy of my love. You know what, after watching him in goal for the last several games, I am impressed. At least twice, including last night, I can say that our loss was not because of him. At least one of the Islanders' goals really wasn't his fault, it just happened.n He made some unreal saves in yesterday's game.

Fleury will probably get the start tonight against the Rangers since BJ was in yesterday.

Oh heyyyyyyy, want to wish MAF a very happy 25th birthday today! Let's hope we can get a win for him.

We should be getting two of our best offensive defensemen back tonight with the return of Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski! I am estatic about this! Hallelujah!

I want to give props to Deryk Engelland and Ben Lovejoy who really stepped up their game while our D-men were out. Engelland has made a seamless transition to playing in the NHL and if we didn't have so much depth there, I think he would be called up more often. Great effort by him and how awesome was his fight against Tim Jackman? 13 seconds into the game and they are going at it! Deryk kinda lost, but still. Way to go!

Both Engelland and Lovejoy were reassigned back down to Wilkes/Barre-Scranton probably because Tanger and Gogo are now back.

Tyler Kennedy, Chris Kunitz, and Jay McKee are still out.

I was very pleased that Matt Cooke was able to bang one in yesterday off of a Jordan Staal shot on goal rebound. Staal gets the assist. More points for our third line... oh I cannot wait for the day that TK is back. It's going to be amazing. The amount of energy he brings to the team is just unheard of.

Speaking of Staal... he totally went balls out against Nate Thompson. #11 versus #11.

It. Was. Awesome.

Staal really isn't a fighter, but it was really nice to see him stick up for Skoula. That hit sent shivers down my spine and Jordan stood up for him. That is just another reason why I love this team so much. Jordan went into the fight knowing that he'd probably lose and said, "Fuck it, let's go" anyways. Respect.

Just found this article about Staal's fight. Read it for a more in-depth look.

We're playing the Rangers tonight which means... STAAL vs. STAAL!!!!!!!!!!

It's my favorite thing ever :)

I will be playing the ever so popular Staal Brothers Drinking Game so look out for random blog posts/tweets during the game tonight.

In Steelers news, the Post-Gazette is reporting that Ben started to have headaches following practices on Wednesday and Thursday and that Dennis Dixon will get the start at QB. He took most of the snaps during Friday's practice. Also, the Steelers signed former Pitt QB Tyler Palko to their practice squad. If Dixon does start Sunday night, Palko will be moved up to the No. 2 spot as Batch is out with a pesky broken wrist. I've already stated that I am kind of excited to see what Dixon is made of. Maybe Ben needs to get some R&R and figure stuff out like how not to get sacked and, therefore, injured.

Penguins versus Rangers tonight.

Jordan versus Marc.

Offense versus defense.

Only one Staal will win.