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.

Math is hard

Have you ever seen that t-shirt? It's great. Anyways, here is an awesome video. Just watch it, I don't want to give away the ending if you haven't seen it yet. Just trust me on its awesome-ness :)

Pure genius, right there. Thanks to Empty Netters for the find.

Our boys looked good tonight, from what I saw of the game. The game looked fast-paced and Eric Goddard had, like, 5 shots on goal. You'll get one eventually. With your God-like hair whisping in the wind as you skate down the ice, you will score, Hand of Goddard. Really good effort tonight. MAF played a great game and had some crazy unreal save. Check out the highlights, courtesy of GhostWalker40. MAF's save comes at 4:58 into the video.

WHAT A SAVE!

Unreal

Crosby's goal was sick too. Burried it!

B illy G's goal wasn't pretty, but I'll take it. Love it when he scores, yeah!

And then Gonch's goal. Wow. I don't care if Crosby's pass was unintentional or not, IT. WAS. BEAUTIFUL!

And that's why Sid is our captain, ladies and gentlemen!

Good news finally! Kris Letang was back at practice today without a red-contact jersey. I have high hopes that he will be back in the lineup by the December 5th game against the Blackhawks. Oh, God, I hope he is back. TK practiced today as well. Neither one is scheduled to return yet. Letang is seen as day-to-day right now.

Dennis Dixon & pool skimmers

Everyone has heard the bad news about Charlie Batch and his broken wrist by now. Looks like he is going to be out for six weeks. Ben left the game late during OT when he suffered a blow to the head from some KC linebacker's knee. Was it intentional? I don't know. Anyways, Batch goes in and has all of 3 plays. He mananged to get injured during one of them- unbelievable... So, since I am no longer in love with Big Ben (don't get me wrong, I still like him as our QB, I am just not biased anymore when it comes to critiquing him), it's been kind of exciting thinking that maybe Dixon will get the start he deserves. From what I understand, he was a beast at OSU and "runs like a gazelle." Ok. Awesome. We could use that. I vaguely remember him doing an ok job during the preseason games back in August. I say, why not? Let's give him the start if Ben can't play. One problem: he's only thrown one professional NFL career pass. Dixon's lack of experience will hurt him. Also, word is that Ben is ok and did not suffer another concussion so he is expected to play Sunday against the Ravens. While I don't wish injury on anyone, this disappoints me because Ben has not been himself the past few weeks and maybe it is time for a relief QB- you know- like a relief pitcher. Just sayin'...

Onto hockey

Pens beat the Panthers for the second time this season 3-2 in OT. Malkin had a sweet SOG and Sid was there to bury the rebound in behind Vokoun for the win.

Panthers unveiled their third jerseys last night and they look suspiciously familiar:

That's ok though. Imitation is the biggest form of flattery, or so I hear... I actually like them because of how similar it is to the Pens' third jersey. I like our third jersey. Our baby blues are cute. Some people think the FLA and sun logo on the sleeve and pants of the Panthers' jersey is dumb. I actually think it's really cute. What do you think?

We've got Montreal tomorrow night. How many times do you think Errey and Steigy are going to give us this:

Hal Gill used to be a Penguin

Do it.

AFC North = Fail. Hockey > Football

Wow. What happened today in our division? We all know that the Steelers should have won today. It was against Kansas City who were 2-7 going into this game. Just pathetic. How is it that our defense is great at stopping the run and then completely falls apart when it comes to stopping the pass? I just don't get it. Our special teams needs to get their shit together because this is not ok. You are in the NFL. You are not playing like it. And maybe it isn't all the players' fault. Maybe it is the coaching, but still. There is no excuse for allowing that kind of points in multiple games. And hey, Jeff Reed, I used to really like you. How about you pretend like you're going to at least try and tackle someone, ok? Nothing. Mendenhall is our best player at the moment. He ran 95 yards just to tackle the guy who picked off Ben in the end zone and was for sure going to run it back for a touchdown. Mendy decided he wasn't going to put up with that bullshit and tackled him close to the end zone at the other end of the field. It was a 4pt difference. Way to not completely give up, Mendy. You get major points for that one in my book. Hines had a good game with 10 catches for 128 yards with 1 TD, but he also had a fumble. Heath had a good game too. He caught 7 passes for a total of 95 yards and 1 TD. I think I'll be picking up a Miller jersey when I am in Pittsburgh. Always like that he tries for the down, every time. He pushes for it. He doesn't just catch the ball and fall over. I don't even really want to talk abaout Ben. He hasn't looked himself in a while and potentially getting another concussion today isn't going to help. You know what's the sad thing about Ben's performance today is that he threw for 398 yards, the 3rd-highest total of his career. And we still lost. In OT. What a joke. There's no way KC should have even been close to us in points in this game. There's no way KC should have been able to tie the game. And it is ridiculous that we lost to them. Now they are 3-7. That is just sad. Our team is not so different from the exquisite Super Bowl-winning team that played last year. So why are we sucking so bad this year? I don't get it. Was that a long rant? Yes. It felt good. I am still a fan, though. I hate bandwagoners. I am not one of them. I may bitch and moan about the Steelers when they don't live up to my expectations, but I'll be a fan for life, win or lose. And here's a related note: watch the entire game, please. I hate people who leave early from games. Whether they are in attendance or watching it at a bar. I am not leaving until the clock has run out and the score is final. Win or lose. Pittsburgh has the greatest fans on the face of the earth, don't give us a bad rep now.

Turns out the Cleveland-Detroit game was the game of the day to watch. The sad thing is that both were 1-8 going into today and that Detroit emerged victorious. Eric Mangini needs to go away. Just leave and never come back, please. Now, I hate the Browns and love to see them lose, but that is just way more pathetic than anything else in existence. Baltimore lost to the Colts. That I was glad to see because I hate the Ravens and enjoy Peyton's funny commercials. The biggest joke of the AFC North today has got to be Cincy though. THEY ARE WINNING THE DIVISION AND THEY LOST TO THE RAIDERS! Really? Really! Amazing. AFC North = FAIL. Now, like I've said. I hate everyone in our division. Sometimes it's really tough to decide who to hate more one week and then the next, but Cincinnati is actually good this year somehow and that is just pathetic that they lost to Oakland today.

Pony-up boys. We play the Ravens next Sunday. Thank god there's hockey in the meantime.

Our Penguins play the Florida Panthers tomorrow night. Last time we played them back in October we had to go to a Shootout to decide the winner. We won. Let's hope that with some of our fallen heroes back we can win again. There's also some talk that Mr. President could play tomorrow night. I don't know about that. No one will give us any information regarding what is assumed to be his groin injury. All we know is that it is nagging and that they don't know when he'll be ready to return, yet he was at practice in Atlanta which gives us all hope. If our 3rd line could be reunited, that would be spectacular. We need Staalsy, Cookie, and TK on a line again. It's been so long.

Steelers, you disappoint me. Penguins, thank you for giving me something to look forward to three times a week.

Hockey > football

Pens-Thrashers recap

Thoughts from tonight's game:

PS- none of these are in order, I'm just remembering things from all 3 periods jumbled together. Yeah, my memory sucks.

Skoula is getting paid.... 2 goals. Sweeeeet. Cookie and Staalsy with the assists on the 2nd goal. Everyone stop hating on JStaal because he isn't converting on all his scoring chances. He plays like a beast every game.

I started out watching the FSN feed, then it cut out at the beginning of the 1st intermission and the bar I was at could only get Atlanta's feed after that on their crappy DirecTV. Fail.

Talbot had a nice scoring chance at some point with a sweet backhander but Hedberg made the save.

Afinogenov totally dives and at first Orpik gets called for tripping then Bourque is in the box serving the penalty. What?

Fight between Evander Kane and Deryk Engelland- no contest. Kane is a baby. Engelland only got about 2 punches in before the refs came- prob cuz they knew Kane would be murdered. Lame.

Talbot's penalty shot. Fail. Sigh.

There was definitely a slash on Malkin that didn't get called. Broke his stick, come on refs.

MAF played like a beast tonight. Well done, sir. Some crazy saves. Hoping to see a highlight reel soon. Pen's website didn't have the awesome save where Fluery is flailing around the goal like a crazy person. Would like to see that again.

There is this, however. Fleury's great save on Afinogenov in the 2nd period:

Cookie and Kovalchuk's fight was bad ass. Way to go, Cookie! Kovalchuk gets sent away for like 2 instigator penalties or some shit like that.

Staal's fight at the end of the game: hott.

The boys played well tonight. 3-2 win, but remember that for a while it was 3-0 Pens. I like what I'm seeing. We finally win on the road since forever ago. It's about time. Would have been sweet to see Skoula get the hat trick, especially since he's a defenseman. Oh well. Good game, boys.

Oh hey, and in 13 days I will be in Pittsburgh. Yes. Going to tons of games that weekend. Being dragged to Pitt basketball and football games by dad who's an alum. Going to the Penguins game, sitting first row up against the glass! Going to the Steelers game. Going to drop so much money on Pens and Steelers gear, it's going to be ridiculous. Going to eat at Primanti Bros. because I missed out the last time I was in the 'Burgh two years ago. If anyone wants to meet up after the Pens game that Saturday night, DM me your cell number on Twitter and we can coordinate. That's the weekend of December 4-6.

"Ottawa couldn't find the net even if they were in the ocean"

Again, Mike Lange. I bow to you. The man is a god when it comes to speaking, I swear. Mike said this about Ottawa before we played them earlier this season. How true his statement is, I guess we'll find out tomorrow night. We did beat them 4-1 on October 12th.

Highlight of the day: Crosby carried the Olympic Torch for Canada tonight which is pretty awesome. He's kind of a big deal... I'm so proud to have him as our captain. 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, who's ready? Check out some video footage of Sidney and the torch.

In other news, Cupcake McKee is out for 2-4 weeks with an infected finger. Really? 2-4 weeks? It's amazing we have any defensemen left! Mark Eaton is the only original D-man left standing. I guess Skoula was around, waiting to be used, but still. In related news, Sergei Gonchar could return tomorrow night against the Sens which would certainly help us out. We've all been missing him very much and especially at the point on the power play. Gonch is clutch, ok. He wears an "A"! Also, I wanted to mention that Nate Guenin has been doing a good job stepping up. Alwyas liked him, especially what I saw from him in the preseason. Hopefully Max Talbot will be back tomorrow as well. Having the two of those guys back will really change the game I think- for the better- of course.

And now for the most adorable thing to grace your computer screen in a while...

The Salvation Army's "Project Bundle-Up"

The Pens and Dick's Sporting Goods helped kids pick out new winter garbs and there are glorious pictures available. This is a great idea and is so exciting for the kids. It's a great event.

Bill Guerin looks kinda hott in that picture, not gonna lie!

Sid looks so natural with the kids. Love it.

It's nice to see some faces that have been missed this season, like TK.

Here's the video from the event.

"And yes, there is such a thing as a power play goal!"

Oh Mike Lange, you have the best goal calls ever.... but we already knew that. It's true we hadn't scored on a PP in like forev ago. Sorry I've been MIA for a bit. I really didn't feel like recapping all those losses... I never know what to say. We really needed the win on Saturday against Boston and that was awesome. I missed that game so I couldn't really write about it, but it sounded like it was a really good game. So glad to have Malkin back; what a difference he makes to this team! He had 3 assists that night. Clutch for sure. Bill Guerin scored for the first time in 12 games that night with 0.4 seconds left on the clock in the 3rd period to tie the game at 5-5! Damn, that is a long streak. Glad to see it broken. Speaking of things broken, almost like a third of our team (and mostly our D men) are injured. Thankfully we just got Malkin back and word on the street is that Talbot will be ready for Thursday's game against Ottawa. Sweeet! Too bad Gonch, Letang, Orpik, TK, Kuni, and now Gogo are all out. I guess I'll take what I can get. Having Malks and Crosby on a top line with Feds is magical. Poor Staalsy has to play on a line with Chris Bourque. Oh well. He's still awesome! Anyways, our Pens got a big W tonight at home against the Ducks so let's get to the recap!

Cookie comes out strong right at the start of the 1st period. BAM! Goal. 1-0 Pens whattttt? Crazay.

Not long thereafter, Billy G!!!!!! I love it when he scores! :) Some people criticize him for not scoring as often as he should and blame it on him being old, but I don't think that at all. Would I love to see him score more, sure, I'd love our whole team to score a ton of goals, but that's not realistic. I just want the win. If all Billy G does is help get the puck down the ice, then ok, that is all I can hope for. Give the puck to Sidney to score. Bill Guerin is a clutch veteran player and he is there because of his rich experience in the league. He is not flashy. He also had a fight tonight which he totes won. What was Getzlaf thinking? It was a pretty even matchup with Getzlaf being 6'4" and Billy G being 6'2" and them both weighing in at 220 lbs, but ummm, no excuse Ryan, that was a pathetic attempt at a fight. You're 24, Billy G is 39 and he totally trounced you. Fail. It was short and sweet.

Staalsy with a shorthanded goal. Ah, brings back sweet, sweet memories of the SCF.

"Jordan Staal with a twirly move to the goal" - Mike Lange

hahahaha

Gold.

I love it! 1 goal and 1 assist for JStaal tonight. Just awesome.

Go, Staalsy, go!

Skoula with his first goal as a Penguin. Sweet shot from the blue line.

And Cookie again, empty netter. Way to end the game. He gets the first goal and the last goal. That is great.

Need to mention that MAF had a great game tonight. He has been kinda off on some of these road games so it's realllly nice to see him get back into the groove of things because he is that good and he deserves to be called a champion. Everyone always wants to take that away from him the first chance they get. He has 1 bad game and everyone is criticizing him for being inconsistant. Whatev. MAF is back and really proved it with his performance tonight. Bravo Marc-Andre.

Pens win 5-2

It's a good night in Pittsburgh.

(And in SoCal.)

Oh mama

This is pretty awesome. Ever wondered how they started playing Styx's "Renegade" at Steelers games? Well, now you know. It's all thanks to Mike Marchinsky.

The Pens have now lost three games in a row, with two being shutouts. At least the Steelers picked up their game and freakin' rocked on defense when they came out for the second half of the game in Denver. On Monday night our D looked more like the one that played in the Super Bowl than it has all season long. Good to have you back, boys. And we had a running game! Yay. So enjoy this video. Big game against Cincy this week- short week, but that's ok. Maybe they can use "Renegade" to get fired up.

Jersey tomorrow night. Do it.

Bill Guerin is a pimp

The picture speaks for itself, really.

I love Billy G. The man is awesome. Happy birthday champ.

In random news... does anyone think that there might be something wrong with Sid? I think it was during the Kings game that he was handling the puck and he just lost it between his legs and gave it up. It was really weird to see. Sid is the best puck handler in the NHL, or one of the best anyways, and it just didn't look right to me. I hope he's ok and not nursing an injury or something. I wouldn't be surprised if he was and didn't want anyone to know while Malkin is still out. Goddddd we need Geno back so bad right now. Our PP has been murdered by these injuries and the PK isn't much better off. I'm not blaming our injuries as the reason why we lost two in a row, but it certainly is a factor. We need healthy guys to step up and be great at times like these. People like Mark Eaton, Billy G, and Staalsy- I'm talking to you. I don't think Jordan has had a bad game, he's just not converting his chances into goals as often as I'd like. I'm not forgetting that he had one of the two goals scored against the Kings on Thursday night.

Steelers play tonight against the Broncos and it's at Denver. Blah. Ryan Clark is going to miss this game because of his Sickle Cell Anemia that almost killed him last year. I agree he shouldn't play. It's one game- not worth your life. He will be missed though. Santonio Holmes apparently has Sickle Cell too, but as far as I know he will be playing tonight.

San Jose: Vom City

I think I spent most of the game curled up in a little ball in my seat with my head burried into my hands. Pens were suckage Saturday night. I wore my Letang jersey and now he's injured. FML.

5-0 that one is going to sting... I won't forget it. Officially hate the Sharks and their fans after that game. Some fans were leaving when it was still 4-0. Dude, if I paid for a seat to watch live hockey, I'm not leaving before the clock winds down to 0:00. You just don't do that. Then, after we got our asses handed to us, their fans decided to be classless jerks and rub it in as we were leaving. A simple, "and how many cups do you have?" took care of them. That shut them up real quick. The "go back to Pittsburgh" comments were unnecessary. I'm from San Diego, bitch.

I will say this, the fact that they skate out of a giant shark head is kinda cool. Then it became not cool when it didn't go away completely, but lingered around the top of the arena instead, emitting smoke whenever the Sharks scored. Wtf? That makes no sense. PS, the San Jose has a terrible goal horn. Don't get me started on the stupid chomping the fans do with their hands.... wow. As for the mascot, I wanted to kill Sharkie. I want to kill the lion from the Kings more, but Sharkie had an effing drum that was really loud, so loud that I thought I was going to go deaf. That damn shark was banging that drum right next to me in the aisle of our section and the sound was deafening. I seriously wanted to grab the drum and beat him senseless with it. The only cool thing Sharkie did was be suspended from the ceiling by a rope and get lowered down to the ice. Iceburgh, take notes dear.

TK was out for this game. Gogo was tired, but played anyways. Kris went out midway through the second period. The only thing we were good at was racking up penalties. Rupp, McKee, and Goddard did a good job of that.

Speaking of Cupcake, have you seen this? It's awesome, especially the part where he runs over Heatley.

Thanks to GhostWalker40 for the video.

Whatever. Shake it off boys. You're going home. I'm sorry this West coast leg didn't work out better for both you and I. At least I was in good company this weekend. I'm spoiled for going to three live hockey games in a row- all in one week! Now I have to get used to watching on tv again. It's just not the same...

Boston Tuesday.

On a happier note, I want to wish Billy G a very happy birthday tomorrow. He'll be 39 years old. He is in great shape for how old he is, I think. Billy G still can be very effective, we just need to get our shit together and get some momentum back. It just so happens to be my birthday tomorrow too. Woooooo for sharing the same birthday as Guerin! I love you and I hope you score lots of goals for me <3

Pens-Kings recap

Greetings from San Jose! This post is a bit late because I didn't get home from LA until 4 in the morning on Friday, slept 3 hours, then went straight to work. As soon as I got home (took off early, too) I packed for San Jose and was on the road for 10 hours.


I don't have any pictures from the game to post right now because I am not on my own laptop. I'll post any good ones later in the week- if I even have any good pictures from that game...


The day didn't go exactly as planned. Got off to a late start by not getting picked up until 3:30 PM and got stuck in typical LA traffic. Got to the game a little late, but ended up sitting in box seats. Meh. I think I'd rather be on the lower level general admission. I don't have the greatest eyesight so really, the box did nothing for me. I ended up walking down to visit friends sitting in general admission at the end of the 1st period, but by the time I managed to get down there and find them the 2nd period had started. So I basically missed that whole period because I was standing outside of the section trying to watch on the jumbotron. I missed almost every goal scored in the game. By the time I got into the arena it was already 1-1. So happy that Staalsy was the one to put points on the board for us! Love you, Jordy. The only goals I saw where the last 2 scored by the Kings because they were down by my side of the ice. Lame.


I will tell you this though... I deserve an award for what went down as I was trying to find my friends.


AWARD FOR MOST AWKWARD HELLO EVER


My friend who gave me a ride to the game has some connections. He got to go into the locker room on Tuesday night at Anaheim and meet basically 3/4 of the team. So jealous. Anyways, he supposedly met everyone from Sidney to MaxTal, Kris, Ruslan, Kuni, Billy G, Gonch, TK, Disco Dan, Ray Shero, and Sidney's dad and agent. This story does have a point to it, I'm getting there. So, if this is true, then maybe there could be a slight chance that one of the guys he met would remember him right? Maybe, but probably not. Those guys meet new people all the time.


We're practically running down the hallway outside of the suites because I'm trying to get to the other side of the arena and go downstairs to meet my friends when my friend stops short all of a sudden, goes over to some big guy in a suit and shakes his hand saying, "Hi, remember me? We met Tuesday night." The guy doesn't really say anything, but shakes his hand. I'm standing there looking around thinking this is just some random guy or security for someone or something like that. Me = worst fan ever. I wasn't even paying attention. My friend then points at me and goes, "This is my friend, Caitlin." So I immediately turn towards him then look at the guy I'm being introduced to. I go to shake his hand and I say, "Nice to meet you." I have no clue who this guy is! I don't really know what happened in those few seconds. We did some awkward dance where we didn't shake hands and I don't remember him speaking to me but my friend claims he said "Nice to meet you" back to me. I don't know why we ended up not shaking hands. I wish we had. It was SO awkward. We walk away because this guy is with two other suits and as we're walking my friend goes, "You know who that was, right?" And I just give him a blank stare. "Troy Crosby. That was Sidney's dad!" I proceeded to give him the biggest punch in the arm ever. I hope it left a bruise. You never want to have an awkward introductioon with any person, it could be Joey bag of donuts and I wouldn't want it to go down like that. And of course it ends up being Troy Crosby. So WOW. FAIL. I don't even feel like I really met him. So awkward. He's so quiet. I don't remember him responding to anything or speaking in general. I would have still been cool and chill if I had recognized him, but probably would have actually paid more attention to what was going on, I think. I would have looked at him more than I did. I had no idea he was such a big guy. Sorry guys, I don't stalk Sidney and know what his parents look like. I feel pretty dumb after that, though. Let me tell you that I was wearing my Crosby jersey too that night because my Letang hadn't been delivered yet. So yeah, epic fail by me. But, I think I have to share this award with Troy because I could not have done it alone. Thank you.


Sharks tonight. Dany Heatley better watch out. I think I'm gonna rep Letang tonight. Just love that boy. So happy to be here in San Jose. Oh, and what's even better is that I am staying with a friend, a Pens fan who I just met Tuesday night at the Ducks game. I bond with people so well. After spending 10 hours in a car with someone though, they are no longer a new friend. Feels like I've known this guy my whole life, especially the way we argue. haha. You gotta love it. Excited for the game tonight!


Let's go Pens!

Pens-Kings tonight

Hey guys, I'm on my way to the Staples Center for the Pens-Kings game! I'm so excited to see Bobby Scuds! I miss him, have no resentment towards him for leaving for more money, just saddened by it. Currently I am sitting in the car while my friend is in the Honda Center getting his debit card that he left here on Tuesday night. Oye vey! Ihope he gets it. We have to still pay for our tickets to the game tonight! We haven't even picked those up yet and I am concerned that we won't get to considering the girl we ordered them from left her office at 5 PM and it is now 5:25. We still have to drive to LA also from Anaheim. Pray for us that we get our tickets and make it to the game on time, please.

I was disappointed earlier today. I had ordered a Letang jersey and I have been tracking it all week long. UPS said the truck was "out for delivery" today but it didn't come before I left my house at 3:30 PM for the game. Sadness. I really wanted my Letang for the game tonight, but oh well. I be rockin' my Cappy tonight again :)

It's going to be an epic matchup tonight with Crosby, TK, Staalsy and everyone else on the Pens trying to get past Scuderi on defense to score.

Let's go Pens!

Pens-Ducks recap

Ok, so I appologize, but this is not going to be a good recap at all, more like a picture expo. Take it or leave it. These late nights are killing me. Enjoy.

Arrived at the Honda Center and there were a ton of Pens fans walking in. I was surprised. There wasn't a Ducks jersey in sight! Not until I walked in the doors did I spot any. I immediately felt like I had died and gone to Pitt heaven. It's not often you get to see so many Pens jerseys out here in SoCal. It was a glorious sight, much like when Staalsy scores a goal.

Sights around the arena:

There was a guy wearing a jersey that had "NOTRE DAME" across the back and I was like, "really dude, really?" Is there something I'm missing here? If so, please do tell cuz I was sure it was a jersey foul of some kind. I tried to take a picture of him, but it came out all blurry.

View from my seat which was actually really good. Plus it was seat number 11. Yeahhh Staalsy :)

This guy knew exactly what he was doing when he put on this old Mighty Ducks Sykie jersey.

I was not happy when I watched him hi-five some Ducks fan after they scored a goal.

This was floating around prior to the puck drop. Wtf? Giant creepy sheep.

Yeahhh Zambonis.

Btw, the Rubios at the Honda Center was selling fish tacos for freakin' $4.50 apiece! Rip-off! It was a Tuesday too, hello- Taco Tuesday. They had a shitty beer selection too. I opted for water and they gave me a giant cup full of ice to go get water from the drinking fountain. Really? Fail.

Oh, hey there, Mr. President

Good to have you back.

Puck drop

For Candy Man Fan

God, I love seeing Brooksie wearing an "A"

Pens bench

Danny Balls looking BAMF

Some notes:

- Letang got a goal yeahhhhhh! I immediately yelled, "That's my boy!"

- Gogo's goal was so sweet.

- There was at least one time there was a total slash not called by the refs when Crosby's stick broke. I watched it happen. Such BS.

- There was definitely at least two high-stickings that didn't get called either. Tanger got one really bad up against the boards and Matt Cooke did too!

- Sid had a crazy save! There were bodies all flailing around the net. I couldn't see anything as it was down at the other end of the ice. People were cheering and I feared that the Ducks had scored even though there hadn't been a goal horn yet.

- Speaking of unreal saves, MAF had some last night as well. Champion goalie fer sher.

- Staalsy was the third star. Yay.

- Kris was the second star!!!!

It was a fun night. I am supposed to be going to LA tomorrow, but I don't know if my friend is going to pull through with tickets and my ride or not yet. I will be pissed if he falls through. I want to see Bobby Scuds! I can't NOT go! I will be devastated if I don't. I need to say hi to Courtney too. Also, I do actually have real friends going to this game who I haven't seen in years and if I don't get to see them I will be pissed. Working on San Jose next.

Let's go Pens!

Chris Kunitz used to play for the Ducks

For reals? I didn't know that. Wow. Please keep reminding me all night. (Alright guys, please sense my deep-seeded sarcasm.)

It was actually pretty cool of the Ducks to acknowledge Kuni on the scoreboard for his time spent in Anaheim and when they won the cup in 2007. They flashed a nice pic of him raising the cup from that year.

Um, it's late. I just got home. I have to be at work in a few hours. Totally worth it, but not enough time for me to charge my dead camera, download all the pictures I took, and sort through them to put together a somewhat decent post tonight. I know this is going to post with the 4th as the date. If I knew how to backdate these, I would. I know this is a sucky post. I'm sorry. I just want to give you a quality one, but that is not going to happen tonight.

Pens win 4-3.

Letang got a goal. I was too busy trying to take a picture of him that I missed it. Ugh, fail. I saw Gogo's sweet slapshot down at my end of the ice though. It was beautiful. Pictures to come tomorrow (later today?)

I leave you with this:

Did you need me to kiss it, Tanger? Gladly ;)

Road trip!

The Penguins have arrived in California. They are in SoCal. They play Anaheim tomorrow and I'm going to the game. Technically, this will be my first live Pens game. So naturally I'm all giddy (yes, giddy, like a damn schoolgirl) about representing the 'burgh out here. I will try to post some pics/recap after the game, but realistically, I will have to go to work in the morning so count on it being Wednesday instead. Oh yeah, and in case you cared, I'll be sitting in section 225, row P. Come say hi.

Mr. President practiced today. I really hope he is good enough to return to the ice tomorrow night. Really want to see him play considering I won't get to see Gonch, Geno, or Superstar. HC Danny Balls said Tyler "looks pretty good for tomorrow."

This isn't new, but I like it enough to post for those who have been living under a rock for the past several weeks. Remember, I've been playing catch-up myself.

Not like you needed another reminder that Malkin is a total BAMF, but here it is.

"I stick needles in my Sidney Crosby bobblehead"

Malkin is not amused. Geno will stalk you and kill you in the night.