Sports Blog Movement NHL Preview: Metropolitan Division

Go ahead..get it out of your system.

“In honor of Bettman’s contributions to the NHL, I propose division names be: Lockout, Bad TV Deal, Inconsistent Discipline, and Metropolitan.”random blog poster.

“For a minute there, I thought I was reading The Onion.”ashamed hockey fan.

“i really f*cking hate gary bettman.“every hockey fan, ever.

All joking aside (if that’s possible when Gary Bettman is involved) the newly formed…Metropolitan Divi…

..you know what, screw it I’m just going to call it ‘the Metro’. OK? Metropolitan sounds too stupid. Anyways…

Shero knows best. And more.

When Penguins General Manager Ray Shero sat down to eulogize yet another hockey season no one was really sure what to expect. Rumors were rampant, speculation was wild and the anticipation was high.

It didn’t disappoint.

Well…sort of…

A large chunk of the media and fans were immediately disappointed when the very first thing Shero announced was that he had extended Coach Dan Bylsma and his staff for another two years. It got worse when he simultaneously praised Tomas Vokoun but reiterated Dan Bylsma’s stance from days earlier that Marc-Andre Fleury would be their #1 to start next season.

This about the same time twitter exploded with 1,239,387 tweets that pretty much said “ARHRGH M#(THER F$!@ING C@#%(@NG”. Continue reading →

The Green Mile

Let’s not kid ourselves about how this turns out. The Penguins season ended Wednesday night when Patrice Bergeron deftly took a feed from Brad Marchand and tucked it inside the far post behind Tomas Vokoun.

No iron this time, nothing but net.

League rules require the Penguins and Bruins to play until Boston wins its fourth game, but that’s really a formality at this point. The eternal optimists in Pittsburgh will point out the Bruins blew a 3-0 lead in a series as recently as 2010, but that actually makes them less likely to do it again, not more-so. If anything the historic collapse against the Flyers taught them exactly how to avoid it. Continue reading →

And then there were 4.

Well I missed Ottawa in the first round, and I missed LA in the second round. But I’m not the first person to underestimate the Kings the last few years. But what a semifinal round it was.

This is just a sampling. Mike Rice getting fired from Rutgers didn’t stir up this kind of emotion from ex-players…and he threw stuff at people.

The dissection of Ottawa at the hands of Pittsburgh was cold and surgical. After pouring in 23 goals in 5 games behind the best defense in the Eastern conference they emphatically put everyone else on notice.

The Bruins pounding the hapless Rangers cost John Tortorella his job, and no one was surprised. No one seemed to miss him either. In fact I’ve never seen so many players and ex-players publicly applaud a coach being fired before.

LA and San Jose played the greatest series of roller derby ever played on ice. Take that statement however you like. Continue reading →

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Boston Bruins preview

I came to terms with the Penguins place in the NHL a few years ago.

They are the Yankees, LA Lakers and the Patriots.

They are the team that die-hard fans outside of Pittsburgh loathe with a visceral hatred usually reserved for Nazi’s,  root canals and tofu. Continue reading →

8

In the end it was simply to much for the Senators.

To much Neal. To much Crosby. To much Malkin. Iginla. Letang. Hell, even to much Tyler Kennedy and Matt Cooke.

The Senators didn’t just crack, they shattered. In an elimination game and down by 3 Sergei Gonchar, their most seasoned and accomplished defensemen, had a terrible giveaway to James Neal.And just like that they were down by 4. It was that kind of game for the only remaining Canadian team in these playoffs. Continue reading →

9

Admit it Penguins fans: You were worried.

For a moment.

For 20 or so minutes you were wringing your hands and washing down Thursday’s Xanax with a Coors light. After Kyle Turris jumped on a ugly Vokoun rebound and buried his fifth of the playoffs with nary a Penguin in sight, you were worried.

For 20 minutes you mentally cursed the names of Martin….Fluery….Letang…Malkin….all of the usual suspects we hang the collar on after a disappointing loss.

But barely 2 minutes into the 2nd period Kunitz and Iginla reminded us why Las Vegas pegged the Penguins as the odds on favorite to win the Stanley Cup. And it isn’t because Mr. Burkle has a diamond studded player’s club card from the Bellagio and a 7 figure bar tab. Continue reading →

The Rules: Addendum 7

Addendum to the Rules for being a Pittsburgh sports fan:

Rule #7- This past weekend I made the trip to see the Pirates play the Astros at PNC Park. It was a wonderful spring night in Pittsburgh: low 80’s at first pitch and cooled to a perfect 73 by game’s end. AJ Burnett pitched well, giving up only one run over 7 innings. It was even AJ bobble head night, and around here those are like free Christmas presents. They lost 4-2 in 11 innings, but other than the final score it was a perfect night for baseball.

Except for one small problem:

In the 8^th inning, with the score tied at 2 runs apiece and the Pirates within a half game of the Reds for first place in the division, flocks of Pittsburgh “fans” were seen headed for the parking lot. Continue reading →

Lack of focus

About a month ago I got a speeding ticket. Anyone who knows me that I am no stranger to the occasional traffic citation.

Not because I wasn’t aware that here were laws governing the allowable speed on Pennsylvania highways. This was not the first time I have ever received a speeding ticket.

Not because I wasn’t aware of what the speed limit was. It was clearly posted.

I just wasn’t paying attention. Or perhaps more importantly, I was hoping nobody else was paying attention as I blew down the turnpike at 78 mph. As it turns out there was someone paying attention and he very politely and professionally charged me $176 for my lack of focus. Continue reading →

10

For the first time in these playoffs the Pittsburgh Penguins played back-to-back hockey games befitting their talent.

To be fair, the Senators hardly played their best hockey. Their Vezina trophy goalie was chased before the second period was 3 minutes old after giving up his second bad angle goal of the night. Their Norris trophy winning, all-world defensemen Erik Karlsson was seen shaking his head and talking to himself on numerous occasion. Usually after a Penguins forward turned him inside out on their way to the net. I don’t know much about Karlsson beyond his stats, and I haven’t seen him enough to pass judgement, but my gut tells me his conditioning isn’t where it needs to be after his injury layoff. Continue reading →