Excuse me, where is Sweden?

There was a press release the other day, no surprise, about the Penguins being invited to the White House to be congratulated by President Obama on the 10th of September. This has become routine with all major sporting events. Oh hey, didn't Pittsburgh send some other boys to be congratulated earlier this year? ;) Stairway to seven, boys...

Let's hope when our Pens show up, Obama remembers to praise them instead of Alexander Ovechkin.

gag

Seriously, did anyone find that joke amusing at all? I didn't.

Anyways, they will be holding a "Hockey Is For Everyone" clinic in which I can only assume some of our most capable champions will be helping out. In attendance will be Sid, Geno, MAF, Free Candy, Billy G, and Staalsy. That is a great attendance sheet, if you want my opinion. Love to them all. Those kids are very lucky to have the chance to be taught by the best in the business.

In other news, I'm sure everyone has heard already, Philippe Boucher has decided to hang up his skates and retire. This is somewhat disappointing as he is only 36 years old. I think there were still some good years in him, but he wanted to retire a champion and you can't argue with that decision. Boucher was just traded to the Pens earlier in the season- in November of 2008. I thank him for his veteran contributions to this team. This leaves us with an open defenseman spot. I figured Philippe would be our 7th man on defense, but now I wonder if Danny Bylsma will replace him with another defenseman or an offensive guy in the lineup. I say we should plug in another denfenseman. I think it worked out pretty well for us this year, wouldn't you agree? It's important to have depth there and we already have a lot of young talent as far as forwards go so why not stick to the idea that defense wins championships? Do I really need to remind you of Scuderi and Fleury's game-winning saves? Didn't think so.

And if you're wondering what that title is all about, I figured, since it's slow, I'd include one of my favorite videos from the beginning of last season. Here's some footage of the boys in Sweden set to the Beach Boys' "I Get Around." I love that song. Beach Boys + Pens = unbeatable combination.