"I think the most exciting part is coming."

This article gave me chills.

This:
“From an organization standpoint he’s been a really good fit for us,” Penguins general manager Ray Shero said. “We’re fortunate and lucky to have him tied up for the next four years.

“I think he’s one of the better young defensemen in the league. He’s a guy they’re going to continue to build around and he’s going to get better as a defenseman. He’s starting to show his leadership abilities on and off the ice.”

And this:
“It feels great, to sign with a team like this,” Letang said. “I’m going to focus on one thing, and that’s playing hockey. I think the most exciting part is coming. I can’t wait for the playoffs.”

The newly-signed defender was asked if he took any sort of “discount” to remain in Pittsburgh.

“I want to be part of this team. I think it’s something special,” Letang said. “If you put the money aside, you always want to be in a town where you want to play, where every night you want to play. I think I’d rather stay here and have fun. We’re like a family now. We’re all young and growing together.”

It's incredible how excited I am about the future of this team. This kid is going to be amazing. More amazing than he already is. When he said, "I think the most exciting part is coming," it put me on the edge of my seat. A sentence as simple as that has made me anxious to see what he meant by it. Maybe he meant playoffs. Maybe he meant next season. Maybe he meant for him personally. Hell, maybe he meant nothing. Whatever the meaning, it was an effective statement.

::chills::

It's nice to not have this hanging over our heads until July. I am beyond happy that he signed this deal now. People want to say it doesn't necessarily mean anything. We can still trade him. Whitney. blah blah tradebait. I'm allowing myself to ignore all of that talk because I believe this signing does mean something. I believe it's okay to be hopeful and excited because I believe it means a great deal to the future of our team.

Let's Go Pens!!!

That's right, bitches

Four years!

You have no idea the wonders this is going to do with my ability to sleep at night.

I'll take the 1 point

Hey, we took the "best team in the league" (right now) to a shootout without Malkin and Gonchar. If Malkin was there, maybe we get 2 points. We can all say how stupid it was to put Billy G in on the SO as the 3rd, but if he makes it we're talking about how brilliant Bylsma was to put him in. Personally? I'd like to have seen Staal, Fedotenko, Dupuis, Kennedy, Poni before Billy G and Kunitz. When Billy was getting ready to shoot, I said, "What's he going to do? Bore Theodore to sleep?" Not to mention, we shouldn't have needed a 3rd score there. But ::shrug:: I'll take the point.

Brooks Orpik is awesome.
Ruslan Fedotenko is this close.
Craig Adams is one point away from 100. Here's hoping his 100th is a goal. I pee a little bit every time he has the puck.
Jordan Staal is a BEAST. Everybody knows this. Got the 3rd star last night.
Sidney Crosby looked way better than he did against the Devils. His SO was SICK.
Kris Letang is magical. His SO was beautiful.
Tyler Kennedy is a ball of fire.
Max Talbot looks better than he has in a long time.
Jordan Leopold is fine.

The Penguins will not lose another game this regular season. Make note of it.

ummm... huh?

What was with the boos everytime Sid touched the puck and the "Crosby Sucks" chants at the Joe? I don't remember that being a thing in Detroit. Do they have a bunch of bandwagoners now who think that's what they're supposed to do because they learn everything they know from Caps fans? I though Detroit was a more respectful kind of place. ohwellwhatever. I just felt kind of bad because they don't normally do that there.

I'm not going to get all beat up over a loss to Detroit. They're a goooood team. Next time they come here though maybe we should boo Zetterberg because he's a great player and chant "Datsyuk Sucks" because he's freaking amazing. That's how everybody else does it, right? ::eyeroll::

That being said, Sid was pretty bad last night.

I really enjoyed watching Letang and JStaal play against Datsyuk. They were showing the goods. None of them had any points but they were the best part of the game. They were so pretty. (No photographic evidence exists.)

Feds = Beast. *heart* him.

Billy G was kind of awesome most of the game (and that goalie interference penalty he took for getting pushed on top of Howard when he was outside of the crease was LAME). He was our second best defenseman last night. Nice... ish. Nice that he was awesome defensively, not nice that the rest of the defense didn't play as good as he did on defense.

But WHAT WAS GOING ON WITH GONCHAR? He was hard to watch. And that interference penalty he took for Draper interfering on him was LAME. And I'm not going to get started on Goligoski. He has a really nice play every once in a while. There was one point in the game where GoGo and Leo were skating back to the D-zone and they were perfectly positioned and perfectly in sync.

I wonder how Jay McKee is doing. Remember him? He had a pretty great game against Tampa Bay. Was that the last game we won????? (I mean versus a team that actually played in the game, so the Broons don't count)

Why does it feel like we never play at home?

Capitals on Wednesday. Yay. (<-- sarcasm)

well. That was... perfect?

Last night, as my husband and I were settling in to watch the game. You know the one I mean. The Big Bad Bruins vs. Penguins or more like vs. THE DEVIL MATT COOKE. You know. Maybe you don't remember but Cookie ended Marc Savard's season the last time the teams met. Because Campbell didn't suspend Matt Cooke, the Bruins fans wanted him to be killed on the ice. Or even better for them, they wanted Captain or Malkin to be put to death on the Bruins' home ice. Aren't they fun? LOL ::rolls eyes:: During the media scrums before the game, various Bruins explained why they couldn't execute Matt Cooke or any of his teammates. They explained it like their fans needed it explained to them. Like they were five. That would be illegal, folks. Plus, not to mention the two points are important to them right now.



So. As we were settling in to watch the game, I started to feel a little rumbly in my tummy. Fear. I felt like somebody asked me to climb something. Something high. Something scary. Like a 6-foot ladder. I was starting to panic. My brain kept reminding me of Bertuzzi/Moore and I wanted to puke. Eric Godard is dressed for the game. I feel surprisingly not much better. Like, what, so if somebody gets killed on the ice, he'll come out and punch them? Deep breaths. Then the close-up of Cookie on the bench. I'm thinking maybe my panic is due to PMS? Deep breaths. Hold pillow close to face in case it becomes necessary to hide. Then it's Matt Cooke's first shift. (We know this because the fans alert us to it with boos.) Shawn Thornton challenges. Mattie drops the gloves. And then I calm down. Is that CRAZY or what?

Cookie goes down and Thornton continues to hit him even after the refs got involved. I'm okay with that too because I think Matt tried to get back up so he could take his beating like the man that he is. Thornton gets an extra 10-minutes. The fans don't care. They cheer and Shawn gets the 3rd star because he fought the devil and won.

The bench is proud.

TK scored his first in 19 games.

Steigy and Bob repeatedly make me want to change the channel. I love Bob Errey but now he annoys me a lot of times. Steigy challenges my patience constantly. My husband gets annoyed with me getting annoyed with Steigy but really. I mean come on. That man is challenging to deal with.

Kris Lelover scored on a PP. Oh wait. No he didn't because Ponikarovsky decided to steal it from him and it was right after the PP ended. Okaywhatever. Anyway, the PP looks about 400% better with Kris and Kunitz replacing Gogo and Billy G. Just FYI. And maybe it looks better without Malkin? SorryGenoILoveYou. After the goal, Gonchar comes over to Letang. Letang says something to him and then Gonch pats him on the shoulder. I feel a little bit of warm fuzziness about this and say, "awwww. Daddy." Then I rewind it to watch it again. My husband rolls his eyes. And I again wonder if maybe it's PMS. I wish there was a photo of this. I love Kris and Daddy pictures. Guys, one of these beautiful men will likely maybe possibly not be on our team next season. It is SAD to think about if you think about it. *sigh*

I am really starting to believe Billy G is a spy working for another team. He stands around a lot. He is a turnover machine. And sometimes he looks like some crazy old man who snuck into the dressing room and stole a Penguins uniform and somehow is given WAY TOO MUCH ice time.

There is something wrong going on with that whole situation. I don't understand it. He has a nice shot. But if all he can do is shoot and sometimes make it in or around the net? I mean, like if a tree falls in the woods and nobody is around. You know?

On a more pleasing note. MIKE RUPP! ARE YOU KIDDING ME! What a man. There must be something really special about people who were born on January 13th. ::grin::
He fought Chara for Crosby. He lost (duh) but he lived through it.
And then he goes all crazy in the d-zone. Blocks a shot. Shoots the puck up ice. Chases down the puck. Shoots it right past Rask. Awesomeness.

Fleury goes insane (photographic evidence below) because he is minutes away from his first SHUTOUT of the season.

"LOL NO YOU MAY NOT HAVE MY SHUTOUT MR THORNTON LOL oh shit LOL"
And he narrowly escapes having his throat slit by Thornton's skate. And then also Gonchar has to leap over him too. yikesy.

Penguins win. 3-0 Fleury gets his shutout. Rupp gets laid in the dreams of all the ladies. Matt Cooke does exactly what is expected of him. Captain does not get killed. Good times.

Also here is a photo from the TBL game that I saved but never posted.
Is it okay that I find this insanely sexy? Can I plead PMS on that too?

And please. Everybody relax about the Devils. Yes, we can beat them. We just haven't yet. OMG! The Leafs beat them last night. It was a shootout win with no Brodeur but still. OMG! and also during the Devils game, Gogo got boarded and Kris went batshit crazy about it. He took a roughing penalty but it was soooo worth it.

Next up, EStaal and the 'Canes who beat the Capitals in OT last night.

I keep thinking I am not done with this post but I am going to be done with it anyway.

Craig effing Adams

Thanks to Jason Seidling, there was an article linked to on the Penguins home page all about why Craig Adams is amazing and everybody should shut up already.

"He might have just eight assists in 68 games this season, but the gritty forward does so many little things that help add up to victories."

Indeed.

Thank you, Jason!

Skates, Plates, Ducks and Canucks

Last night was the Penguins' Skates and Plates charity dinner. Here are some obligatory photos of cute boys in tuxes.

That man is looking at Kris the way the woman should be.

I wanted to do a post about Alex Ponikarovsky but I got sidetracked again. The last time I wanted to do it, I got distracted by the OMG MATT COOKE IS THE EVIL!!! all over the internet. I think it's adorable that he just got here and is already doing charity things. I'll get more into him at a later date.

Dude. nice looking salad.

Dapper Duper.

I don't know what is happening to the Ducks. I hesitate to say Jonas left something in Vancouver during the Olympics because 1) I always hesitate to place all the blame on goalies and 2) I adore him.
They have lost to Colorado, Phoenix, Montreal and Columbus since the break. Sometimes your goalie can steal one for you and other times, you have to get one back for your goalie.


I watched parts of the Montreal v. Vancouver game last night. I like watching Vancouver. I think I might try to start watching them more.


"She's Out of My League" opens Friday. Here's a little about the movie.

Stars beat Capitals in SO

Turco! hee!


I *heart* the goal cam. Somebody should do a montage of goal cam's greatest moments.

I'll start this off by stating the obvious

I love Matt Cooke. I think he's an important part of our team. He is one of our best penalty killers. He gets in the heads of our opponents. The tape to tape passes between him and Jordan are sick. He does many "little" things that have a lot of us begging for a new contract this summer. He also does a lot of things that make me cringe. His ability to "toe the line" between dirty plays and clean plays are sometimes worrisome because of the blurry NHL rulebook.

His hit on Savard yesterday was a clean hit by definition.

He did not receive a penalty for this hit. He didn't change speed. He didn't change direction. He didn't lift his arm. He just finished his check. I still feel like he had time to pull back because Savard A) had his head lowered and B) didn't know he was coming. The hit was necessary. The hit to the head was not. Which, I guess, is easy for me to say never having played professional hockey. It is important to note that Marc Savard is made of glass.

The hit is being compared to the Richards hit on Booth.

I'll start this part of my post by saying I'm obvioulsy not a Flyers fan. My views on this could be tilted or biased. Mike Richards received a major and a game misconduct for his hit on Booth. Looking at this hit, I see Richards charging Booth. His speed changes. His direction changes. He appears to lift himself up a bit. I see an intent to injure (for which he received the game misconduct). Mike Richards was not suspended.

Do I think Richards should have been suspended? Yes, without question.
Do I think Cooke should be suspended? No. Why? Because Richards wasn't and that hit looked way worse.
Do I think Cooke will be suspended? Probably. His name is Matt Cooke and he is a "repeat offender". Which is funny because if you're a "star" player, you don't get suspended for wrong-doings so you will never have the "repeat offender" tag sewn onto your sweater. Other than Alex Ovechkin, who was suspended earlier in the season. (Which, I believe, was more for his benefit than anybody else's. Nobody wants this guy's career cut short. Or at least nobody should.) So he now wears that "repeat offender" tag, right?

If the league is going to crack down on head shots, the punishment has to be consistent. In a just system, both Richards and Cooke would have been suspended for blows to the head. Intentional or not. They can't continue to suspend certain players. They can't pick and choose who gets a few games off and who doesn't. The suspension should be no different if your name is Cooke or Richards. Or Avery or Crosby. Or Carcillo or Malkin. Not that Crosby or Malkin are known for blurry plays, I'm just sayin'. It's not fair and it has to be addressed. There has to be sustainability no matter what your name is.

I'm not going to blame Savard or Booth for taking blows to the head. But. Isn't there a reason keeping your head up is a lesson taught very early in your hockey career? "Keep your head on a swivel", guys.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Marc Savard.

On a less serious note, if Cookie does get suspended, we solve our too many forwards problem when Billy G gets healthy (or stops being old).

It would help me greatly

if Jordan Staal committed some douchery at some point. My love for him is approaching unhealthy levels.


He was credited with the OT GWG last night and he did this.

"Staal approached members of the Penguin’ communications staff after the game to say he did not touch the puck and should not have been awarded the goal."

What a man. I can't handle him sometimes.

(obligatory Staal v. Staal photo)

I am anxious to see Alex Ponikarovsky this weekend. I know little about him. I know he's a plus player and that he has 19 goals (so far) this season on a bad team (Leafs). I also know that he is a left-winger from Kiev because that is also what Fedotenko is. I hope one of them can play right because they both should be with Geno. I'm not really torn up over losing Caputi and I certainly don't mind that we gave them Skoula (to turnover to the Devils). I wish them both well but I'm hoping for better from Poni.

I don't know if they were doing it on purpose or not, which knowing them probably, but Steigy and Bob kept making horse-related comments in regards to Malkin. I have a feeling they are going to get a lot of use out of Alex Ponikarovsky's nickname. I'm not talking about the "Ukraine Train" one either.

Leopold is fine. I resent that he has that #4 on his back though so I can't really get into specifics about him right now. At one point last night, he backed right into the camera to rub it in my face. I didn't appreciate that at all. Not at all, Mr. Leopold.

I feel bad for McKee being dropped to the 7th Dman position. I was happy to see him get a little playing time last night (5 minutes 40 seconds, yikes)... but, truth be told, I haven't really missed him all that much. Probably because Kris and Brooks and Sergei and Mark and that new guy have been blocking shots all over the place. Sorry, Jay! *kisses* It was pretty cool to see him flip that guy over his back last night though. (I think it was him anyway, I meant to check but forgot.)

I was glad to see Billy Guerin getting scratched last minute because of "back spasms". I think it was because Jay McKee was sad and Billy G is old.

During a face off in the 1st period, Matt Cooke took a 2-minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for... wait for it... GETTING.PUNCHED.IN.THE.FACE. Unreal.

Speaking of Ruslan Fedotenko (you know, from before), he has three points and is a +2 in the two games since Olympic break. Now he is only a -14 which is still really ouch. I stand firm that most of those are not even a little bit his fault. I hate when they do a line switch and the new guys can't get out there fast enough to stop the goaltender's raping. That happens to him a lot. Trust me. I've been paying close attention to that. It feels like is part of my job as a fan. I've done it with Kris since forever and I started doing it with Craig and now with Feds. I have to. It helps my defense when people go all stupid about plus/minus. Craig Adams is and always will be a hero on this team whether he scores or not and no matter what his plus/minus happens to be (-8 in case you are wondering, but you shouldn't be wondering because it matters not in his case because he does soooooo many other things. good things).

One of my favorite parts of watching last night's game was an exchange between Errey and Steigy. Bob goes, "Prospal has quite a tan. I wonder where he was during the Olympic break." And Steigy goes, "he was in Vancouver playing for the Czech Republic." lols

Dubinsky is an awful human.

Avery cracked me up when he mocked Max Talbot. *must look for youtube* He's still an ass, but it was funny. I love that Max laughed about it.

We own the Rangers. If we wouldn't have gotten the two points from that game, it would have been a huge disappointment considering our boys were dominant for about 97 percent of the game.

Fleury let four goals in on like 12 shots. WTF? Johnson let in no goals on like 3. Which, yeah he only faced three shots but if we're going to go all average-y, Fleury would have let one of those 3 in. He threw his stick like a lawn dart while Johnny was all calm and cool skating to the net to stop the madness. There was a scary minute when he didn't have a stick but Leopold (with is body) and Talbot (with his quick stick) helped stop the, what at the time seemed inevitable, molestation of yet another of our goaltenders. MAF was sour looking sitting on the bench because the boys were able to do for Johnny what they seemed unable to do for him. It's hard to place blame because it's a team but 4 goals on 12 shots. Four?

A non-Penguin related hockey news note: I adore Jonas Hiller. He was (mostly) spectacular in the Olympics. I had another dream about him last night. And I didn't even see him or hear mention of him yesterday. Weird. I don't have those kinds of feelings for him. My adoration of him is non-romantic in nature (I think so anyway) but in my dreams, I always have those swoony he's my boyfriend feelings about him (but it's hard to tell sometimes after these OMG! HE IS MY BOYFRIEND kind of dreams). Well, except for that one time when it was about him saying he's a bad singer and then singing and then my husband and I were both like "WHAT?!?! YOU ARE NOT A BAD SINGER! YOU ARE A GREAT SINGER! THAT WAS AMAZING!" See? Weird. Last night's dream was about some minor doesn't even matter play in the basement kind of goalie tournament that he was kicking ass at. Or maybe he was giving lessons I don't remember. It was in some kind of church or school type place in some big cafeteria type room and he kept sending me to his locker and/or his car to get different goalie masks for him. One of them was a plastic frog mask. Like the kind that have the elastic band to hold it on your face. You know like you buy for your kid for Halloween. People were coming at him pretty hard and I was worried that the frog wouldn't protect him but he assured me that he would be fine. Anyway, I felt gooey about him and he had a lot of groupies and I thought they were funny. See again? Weird. I don't know why I sometimes share some of these bizarre things with people.

So anyway. Onto the Stars, boys. Reach for them and bring them down.