Craig effingAdams

Yay! He signed a two-year.

"Craig is a steady, reliable, physical player who was an important part of our mix this season,” Shero said. “He plays with a lot of grit, but he also contributed some key goals in the playoffs and was very effective as a penalty-killer. We’re glad to be able to sign him for two more years.”

"There are no guarantees in life but part of my coming back is because we have such a good team," Adams said. "We have a lot of pieces in place and should be competitive for a long time."

I have to find Craig's quote regarding this goal.

He said Scuderi told him to push the puck through and towards the net on the faceoff. So he did and it went in. It was so freaking funny. The look on everybody's faces. hee.

And did I mention he took a paycut to stay here? Excuse me, I'm having a floaty heart moment. *must go make Craig Blingee*

Bill Guerin also signed a one-year deal.

"It was important to stay," Guerin said. "From the day that I got to Pittsburgh after the trade deadline, I felt good there. I felt it was a good spot for me. My family was comfortable there. We're thrilled about it. We had a great experience in the city and we were really hoping this would work out the way it did."

This website is going to keep me alive for a few days.

I want this shirt!

gah! this article

Tough choice for Scuderi


"I know the type of player I am," Scuderi said late last week. "I'm not sure the market will be there like this for me again."

Maybe it's just the quotes that make the article as good as it is.

"I've never been the type to just chase the money," he said. "I've seen too many guys go for the highest contract and end up in a bad situation and be completely upset for three or four years. I don't want that happening to me. It's no fun going somewhere and losing, especially after you've been spoiled playing here. That would be just miserable."

In some ways it makes me feel a lot better about things.

"By far, the best situation for me is staying in Pitt," he said. "I know how I fit in here. I know my role. And I want to be a part of another winner. Just because we won this year doesn't mean I'm going to shut it down. I want to win again. I know they can do that here for a long time. With the young core they have -- especially the centermen -- and the system they have and the way they run the organization, it's hard to imagine them not having long-term success."

He is unreal. This article has given me hope.

"When I first got here and found out he had a one-way contract, I was like, 'Are you kidding me?' " Shero said. "But he just kept improving. Now, I wish I had signed him for three years instead of two."

We'll see what happens on Wednesday...

"We'll see what happens," Scuderi said. "I told Ray in our exit meeting that I'd give Pitt the last shot. I'll take him the offer I'm most comfortable with and say, 'How close can we get?' "

I'd hate to see him leave but I get it. I swear I get it. I will remain a fan no matter what. I'll still cry if he leaves me though.

I do like our draft picks so there's that. And Letang seems to keep getting tongue-bathed so there's that too.

oh. I almost forgot this. Nothing like seeing one of your star players in gossip blogs.

Rob Scuderi Fan Club!

http://www.robscuderi.com/

ha. I love these guys. Wish I'd have known about them before.

Raise

This is for you, Jan

Best picture ever at 0:09.


P.S. I got my Rob Scuderi t-shirt today. It's one of those horrid blue ones but I'll take it. The guy that got it for me told me he gets a 30% discount. That meant the shirt would cost me somewhere in the $18 range. Happy price. So he brings it to me today (we won't discuss when exactly it was that he told me he could get it), telling me how hard it was to find. Then gives me my change and tells me it was only like $10 because it was discounted. That tells me that the merchandising department has very little confidence that he will come back. If you need me between now and July 1st, you'll find me sitting in corner somewhere rocking back and forth and humming to myself.

porn 'stache and nipples

That'd be Hal Gill and Jordan Staal. Thank you cameraperson.

Playoff Rewind

I was reading this article and it made me want to watch it all over again. Every game. Every win. Every loss. Every goal. Every hit. It's been an amazing trip. A crazy, wild ride of emotions. Pride. So much pride. I am proud of our team. I am proud of our city.


Round 1:
Philadelphia Flyers.

Jordan Staal was given the task of shadowing Jeff Carter. Carter scored 46 goals in the regular season (the second most in the NHL). He had one goal in the six game series.


Max Talbot’s fight with Carcillo was only the beginning of Max’s storied playoffs. He shushed the Flyers fans and woke up our offense.


Round 2:
Washington Capitals.

This is all about Letang for me. He was injured in Game 2 and questionable for Game 3. Not only did Kris play in Game 3, he scored the GWG in overtime. That brought the series to a more manageable 2-1 and set our team on fire.


And then in Game 7, he fired that puck right over Varlamov’s head and rattled him right out of the game.

Oh and Captain had that well deserved and hard earned hat trick.

Round 3:
Carolina Hurricanes.

Sweet Sweep Love. Did anything but awesome happen in this series? I mean, other than those hateful men taking out their frustrations on Lelover's and Jordan's gorgeous faces.

Satan sticking up for baby boy and beating the crap out of "that guy"!


Staal vs. Staal.


oh yeah there was that Evgeni Malkin hat trick. His third goal was unreal.


Round 4:
The Stanley Cup Finals
Detroit Red Wings.

MAF was amazing… if we forget about Game 5... which wasn’t his fault anyway. Games 6 and 7 were enough to shut a lot of people up though. Or, at least they should have been. He was brilliant. I’ve always liked Fleury and was an apologist before I even started watching the games again. Because no goalie can stop every puck and every goalie lets one in on occasion that he wishes he could take back. There are few losses that can be blamed entirely on MAF no matter how easy it is to blame him. If he’s having a bad game? The rest of the team needs to step up and help take some of the pressure off of him, period. And please, do not stand an inch in front of him and expect him to stop the pucks. He can’t see them if you are blocking his view. Seriously. Clear the fucking crease.

Rob Scuderi. I’m way too nervous about his UFA status at the moment to talk about him. People can keep making fun of me for tearing up at the mere mention of his name. I was just going to write here about how he saved Game 6 for us. How it’s entirely possible that if not for him, we could have lost that game. Lost the series. Lost the Cup. I would do so many different kinds of things, legal and illegal, to ensure his status with our team. I would sell my soul. I would do things that got me imprisoned. I swear to you, Ray Shero, if you screw this up and we lose him and we play against his new team, I will root for him to shut us out. Yes, I am that stubborn. ugh. Maybe I am exaggerating about that. I'm not lying though. I mean, right now I feel exactly like that. Like I would follow him to the Red Wings if I had to. But I am not lying or exaggerating when I tell you that I almost threw up just now. I remember somebody on ESPN radio saying that Scuderi loosely translated is "the shield".

This team has enough going for it to survive the loss of almost anybody. And by that I mean, almost anybody else. Ohmiscuds, I have to excuse myself to go cry in the ladies’ room.

Jordan Staal. Rob Rossi said that somebody said to him (and I remember hearing this before Rob Rossi said it so whoever told him told all of us) “Jordan Staal wins you championships”. In this seven game series, the Stanley Cup Finals, "for all the marbles", Jordan held Henrik Zetterberg to three points (one goal and two assists). His shorthanded goal in Game 4 lit a spark and won us the game. Then there was that goal in Game 6.

I hope that people understand why we have so much money locked into our third line center. He’s priceless. Our third line really clicked and you should never, under any circumstances, wish for it to change next season... or ever, quite frankly.

We have some scary free agents right now: Rob Scuderi (UFA), Bill Guerin (UFA), Ruslan Fedotenko (UFA), Petr Sykora (UFA), Miroslav Satan (UFA), Hal Gill (UFA), Craig Adams (UFA), Mike Zigomanis (UFA), Philippe Boucher (UFA), Mathieu Garon (UFA), Alex Goligoski (RFA)

I think it’s safe to assume that Sykora, Satan and Garon will not be back. I will miss everything about Petr. I will miss Garon’s reliability. ( “He’s like a spider in there!” ~ Bob Errey) I will miss the Satan jerseys and his ability to shock everybody by getting physical and/or being awesome. The ones I expect to return are Guerin, Adams (who could only come at a better price if that price was free. I mean, for real, he comes cheap and is a master of the penalty kill, can win faceoffs pretty much all the time, can score goals, can block shots, and I could go on and on. This guy does it all. Thank you Chicago!), and GoGo (he just signed a 3-year and ohmygod I'm scared). I won’t be surprised either way with Feds. I know we’d like to keep him for sure but if he gets a better offer, he’d probably take it and we’d probably have to let him. I would love to see Hal Gill and Philippe Boucher return but I can see where that might be too much to ask for. But we know who I would make the number one priority and I do hope that he is quietly Shero's.

When I hear those words... those words that mean I can sleep at night, you will hear me rejoice. Until then, I continue to vomit at random times in random places on random people (mostly I try to catch it in my mouth).

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if our top three lines look exactly the same going into next season. The fourth line would have to be different. I do not wish to speculate on the defensive pairings because I hate that it has to change at all. Our shutdown d-line is in danger and it makes me nervous and extremely sad.


This entry isn't quite complete. It doesn't have everything I've been wanting to say. Not even close. I just wanted to comment on that article and to post some of this stuff while it's still fresh. There's plenty more to come.

NHL Awards are tomorrow on Versus. Draft is next week. Free agency *vomit* starts on July 1st.

Pic Spam

Hello, old friend

This video is amazing.

It's A Great Day For Hockey

On this day in 1990, the Penguins named Badger Bob Johnson as their new head coach. He led his team to the Stanley Cup Championship in his first season. No matter what your beliefs, if you are a Penguins fan, today you know Badger Bob is smiling down on our team tonight. What a comforting feeling. "It's a great day for hockey" indeed.

Somebody on a local radio station said before she fell asleep last night, she thought Geno's going to score first and it's going to be quick. I had a similar thought epiphany but in mine it was Captain. Even though we all know I like to be right, I'd be okay with either one. But this is the 87th game of the playoffs.

We love you, Petr!







I love Bob Errey. He is incredible. It looks kind of random here because I have nothing. No quotes. No video. No audio. Listening to the radio right now, he is just putting it all in perspective and simultaneously calming and firing up the city. It's amazing.
He played for both teams, btw. You'd never know it by listening to him though.
This is from several days ago but I just found it. "Bylsma is cut from that same kind of cloth," Errey said (regarding Scuderi). "One was a forward and one was a defenseman, but they might have the same mind-set. Bylsma appreciates him." Just another reason for me to adore him.

"That has no bearing on us whatsoever. It's not this group of guys, it's not this team. Those are just statistics." ~ Matt Cooke (I want to kiss him right on his face.)

"When we've got the puck, they can't score."~Paul Coffey



It was time to post all the Blingees that hadn't been posted yet. :)

"The inches we need are everywhere around us. They're in every break of the game, every minute, every second. On this team we fight for that inch. On this team we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch. Because we know when we add up all those inches, that's gonna make the fucking difference between winning and losing! Between living and dying! I'll tell you this, in any fight it's the guy whose willing to die whose gonna win that inch. And I know, if I'm gonna have any life anymore it's because I'm still willing to fight and die for that inch, because that's what living is, the six inches in front of your face. Now I can't make you do it. You've got to look at the guy next to you, look into his eyes. Now I think you're going to see a guy who will go that inch with you. You're gonna see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team, because he knows when it comes down to it your gonna do the same for him. That's a team, gentlemen, and either, we heal, now, as a team, or we will die as individuals." ~ Tony D'Amato, Any Given Sunday


"Great moments... are born from great opportunity. And that's what you have here, tonight, boys. That's what you've earned here tonight. One game. If we played 'em ten times, they might win nine. But not this game. Not tonight. Tonight, we skate with them. Tonight, we stay with them. And we shut them down because we can! Tonight, WE are the greatest hockey team in the world. You were born to be hockey players. Every one of you. And you were meant to be here tonight. This is your time. Their time is done. It's over. I'm sick and tired of hearing about what a great hockey team the Soviets have. Screw 'em. This is your time. Now go out there and take it."


I am so happy that I have opened myself up to this sport again. Sidney sucked me in a little bit at a time. I have admired him from the beginning and have always appreciated him. But it's this entire team that has kept me around. This is the most amazing hockey team I have ever watched play. They weren't even going to make the playoffs a few short months ago. Look where they are now. It's incredible. It was a lot of hard work and it took a ton of desire to get here. This team traveled those roads together. It's inspiring.

"Win today and we walk together forever." ~Fred Shero

No matter what the outcome of tonight is, this is the last hockey game of the season. This is the last time you will see a lot of these guys playing together. This is the last time some of these guys will look each other in the eyes on that ice and know that the person next to them is willing to go that extra inch with them. This is for all of it. Who is the better team? Who has the bigger heart? Who has more desire? More will? Who wants it more?

One game.

Any of us who can call ourselves fans, of whichever team that may be, have faith that our team is going to do this. And boy do I feel it today.


Bring Home The Cup!