Tag Archives: Pittsburgh Penguins

Farewell, my sweet prince…

Posted by gruesomegreg on

Last night, I went to bed knowing that Jarome Iginla would be a Boston Bruin when I woke up.  It was pretty much a done deal, with TSN announcing the names of the two prospects, since forgotten, that Boston would be sending Calgary’s way, as well as a conditional first-round pick—if he re-signed with the club in the off-season.  Suffice to say I was somewhat surprised to see a picture of Captain Calgary affixed beneath a Pittsburgh Penguins logo when I walked past a TV screen a couple hours ago.  It turns out the Pens’ first-round pick wasn’t conditional, so I suppose that sweetened the pot.

But there are definitely some mixed feelings after the face of the Flames franchise fled town before free-agency.  Of course, it had become quite obvious that the team would need to trade him in order to get something in return, rather than risk re-signing a soon-to-be 36-year-old.  And just as dealing Joe Nieuwendyk to Dallas netted Iggy in the first place, the hope is that either Kenneth Agostino or Ben Hanowski, a pair of US college boys, will provide the same scoring punch.  Cuz you know that first-round pick is gonna be squandered.  Who’s the last Flames first-rounder to make a big impact?  Probably Dion Phaneuf.  Where does he play now?  I don’t wanna talk about it… :(

Still, it might be a stretch to say that Agostino (37 points in 32 games for Yale) or Hanowski (29 points in 34 games for St. Cloud State) will be able to almost single-handedly carry the team for 15 seasons the way that Iginla has.  If nothing else, it makes me cringe that Calgary’s next top-scorer could possibly be American.  Here’s hoping neither player happens to pay a visit to his alma matter on “Bring a Gun to School Day” or anything…  OK, I must digress.  But suffice to say that the NHL is a huge step up from the NCAA, and these two were fifth- and third-round picks, respectively.  Now, if they had been picked in the middle rounds by the Red Wings, I might have more confidence in them, but the Pens built their franchise with first and second-overall picks (I don’t really need to name them, do I?), not in the late rounds of the draft.

And you can’t expect some college boy to replace the World’s Greatest Edmontonian, who took the torch from the flailing hands of Theo Fleury and tallied no fewer than 28 goals a season from 1998 onwards.  This is a guy who, despite not having an offensively gifted centreman since Marc Savard was shipped to Atlanta for an oversized Russian pylon who preferred to divert traffic in Magnitogorsk, won the Art Ross, the Lester B. Pearson and the Rocket Richard trophy, the latter on two separate occasion.  With just a little help from Martin Gelinas and Miikka Kiprusoff, my favourite black person on the face of the earth (Ice Muthafuckin’ T is number two with a bullet) nearly brought home the Cup in ’04, and man, I would’ve driven up to Edmonton just to see him parade it around his old neighbourhood in his flaming C.  (But alas, twas not to be.  Don’t get me started on “Hockey Bay USA,” either…)

As a matter of fact, last night I cried tears I hadn’t cried since Theo Fleury became an Avalanche, Bret Hart got screwed at Survivor Series, or Doug Flutie was sold to Toronto, of all places.  So this is farewell, my sweet Afro-Canadian prince.  Check Phaneuf into the boards for me, eh? ;)

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The NHL’s alive and well in New York City…

Posted by gruesomegreg on

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“Hockey is Back” proclaims the display in the window at the NHL Store on West 47th and 6th Ave in NYC.  Of course, while Canadian clubs are preaching to the choir (hell, even the flagship store in New York has Habs and Leafs jerseys in the window!), I was curious to see how this contentious lockout would affect the league’s support in other, non-traditional markets.  Now, you could probably argue about whether The Big Apple is a traditional hockey market.  Not too many kids in NYC grew up playing the game–but the Rangers have been in town since 1926.  And while the city offers a myriad of entertainment options, it isn’t exactly unfeasible to draw 17-thousand fans a game in a city of 8.2 million.

Although you won’t see any Double Blue or hear people talking about the Toronto Argonauts, a historical CFL football team in Canada’s largest city, more than 50 feet from their stadium (until they win the Grey Cup, that is), it seems that the Rangers have a bit more of a following in the biggest U.S. market.  I can tell you that I saw several Rangers jerseys around town during the NHL’s opening weekend, from Times Square to Hell’s Kitchen, and overheard heated hockey conversations everywhere from the NJ Transit line heading into Penn Station to the lineup in Brooklyn outside a progressive post-sludge metal concert.  Speaking of lines, the one at the checkout of the store above ran at least 20 people deep–at 11:30 in the morning.  Sadly, they were pitifully short on Calgary Flames merchandise–but don’t get me started on the Flames!

In fact, I didn’t even watch Calgary’s season opener, because I was at the Garden, MSG, for the Rangers home debut against Crosby and the Penguins.  The place was completely packed, with just about everyone sporting relatively new Rangers jerseys.  (Presumably, not all were purchased at the NHL Store that morning.)  And let’s just say they gave visitors a good ol’ Bronx cheer…

Here’s a couple shots I took during warmups, from behind the net, about 12 rows up:

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064The mighty MSG Jumbotron.

Alas, while the team had some impressive player introductions, complete with smoke and highland drummers, this all took place at the other end of the ice.  Thus, this is the best picture I got:

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The opening face-off, moments after the puck dropped:

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As you can see in the photo above, Rangers goon Arron Asham (45) looks like he’s already squaring up to fight.  When they announced his name in the starting lineup, alongside Brad Richards and Rick Nash, a fan next to me hinted that he must be in there to drop the gloves–and sure enough, he was right.  Asham’s tilt with Tanner Glass took place right in front of the home bench, which didn’t make it the most photogenic scrap, but nevertheless…

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While the crowd was pretty pumped up right off the bat, Pittsburgh struck first less than two minutes in.  Though the Rangers got an equalizer from Ryan Callahan on a 5-on-3 powerplay, the Pens ended the first period with a 3-1 lead.  And suddenly, with the score stretched to 4-1 halfway through the second, the Bronx cheers were directed towards the home side…

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Although the Jumbotron displayed several traditional hockey cheers (“Charge!” etc) none of the Rangers fans took part in these induced displays of support.  Instead, they had their own chants, like the patented “Let’s Go Rangers” *clap-clap-clap-clap-clap* in the vein of “Let’s Go Yankees.”  There were but a few scattered Pens fans in the stands, who got their own NYC welcome, although nobody broke out into the “Why Are You Gay?” song–perhaps due to the lack of Village People on the PA.  I will say, though, these two hot blondes a few rows behind me were really giving it to a girl in a Crosby sweater; in fact, I missed the home team’s second goal because I had my head turned.  I was like “Daaaamn girl, you might have a pretty face, but you’ve sure got a dirty mouth!”

Anyways, the Rangers mounted a bit of a comeback in the third, with Rick Nash scoring his first goal as a Blueshirt on a beautiful two-man break.  But not long after, they pulled Biron for the extra skater (having replaced Lundqvist in the second period), and gave up an empty-netter following a bad giveaway.  Final score:  Pens 6, Rangers 3.  The Rangers aren’t starting the season strong, but hey, it’s probably safe to say these die-hard fans have more to cheer for this year than the Leafs faithful.

Mind you, much like at a Leafs game, the MSG gathering didn’t reflect the ethnic diversity of the host city.  This crowd was whiter than a Limp Bizkit concert!  In fact, I only saw two black guys in the stands, and one of them happened to be DMC of Run DMC fame.  No really, they showed him on the Jumbotron and everything.

In any case, I hereby conclude that hockey is safe in New York City.  Unless we’re talking about the Islanders, that is…

FRENCH WORD OF THE DAY: Séquelles

Posted by gruesomegreg on

Séquelles: The aftermath or aftereffects of an incident or an illness.

As seen in: « Le joueur vedette Sidney Crosby des Penguins de Pittsburgh est à l’écart du jeu pour une période indéterminée parce qu’il ressent de nouveau les séquelles de sa commotion cérébrale. »

(Translation: “The star player of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Sidney Crosby, is out of the lineup for an undetermined timeframe because he’s once again feeling the aftereffects of his concussion.”)

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/sports/hockey/201112/12/01-4477108-crosby-victime-dune-rechute.php?utm_categorieinterne=trafficdrivers&utm_contenuinterne=cyberpresse_les-plus-populaires-title_article_ECRAN1POS1

I’ve got a bit of a predicament this evening…

Posted by gruesomegreg on

You could say I’m faced with somewhat of a dilemma at 10 o’clock tonite, as it seems my sporting interests have been double-booked.  Both the Stamps and the Flames are in nationally-televised action tonite–and both games start at the exact same time!

The Flames drop the puck on their 2011-2012 season at the Saddledome tonite with the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins coming to town.  Last year, the two teams met in Pittsburgh, where Sidney Crosby notched a hat trick in a 4-1 win.  Fortunately for us, he’s not in the lineup, still feeling the effects of post-concussion syndrome.  On the other hand, Jarome Iginla, who missed a big chunk of training camp, is penciled in on the Flames’ first line with David Moss and Alex Tanguay.  Yeeeeah Baaaaaby!

Even without their star player, the Penguins still won their season’s opener in Vancouver on Thursday, besting the Canucks in a shootout, 4-3.  Matt Cooke, one of those ex-Canucks that I still can’t stand, scored twice against his former team.  Somebody check him into the boards for me, will ya?

Speaking of Vancouver, that’s where the Stamps find themselves tonite, playing at the brand-new B.C. Place for the first time.  The winner of this game will put themselves in first place in the CFL’s Western Division, where the Stamps currently hold a two-point advantage over the Lions.  And it was B.C. who got the best of us at McMahon a few weeks back, in what was one Calgary’s worst performances of the season–surpassed only by that embarrassing Touchdown Atlantic showdown in their next game.

That said, the Stamps ran roughshod over the Saskatchewan Roughriders last week, putting 40 points on the board, with newly-instated starting RB Jon Cornish doing most of the damage on the ground.  But there’s no hotter team than B.C., winners of six straight, who put their own 37-point whipping on the Riders in Week 13.  I think the forecast in Vancouver calls for lots of offence, with both teams looking to take the third and deciding game of the season series.  Should be a good one…

If anything, my focus will be more on football tonite, though I’ll be frantically flipping back and forth between channels, for sure.  Unfortunately, I can’t go to my local sports bar–or any sports bar, really–to watch the two games simultaneously, since there’s some sorta UFC thing on tonite, and any sports bar that doesn’t want to be completely empty, save for a few expat Calgarians, will be showing that shit.  Man, if McGuinty wanted to balance the budget, he should simply stick a civil servant at every sports bar showing ultimate fighting and charge a 10-dollar “idiot tax” to all who enter.  The provincial coffers would be full in no time! ;)

In the meantime, I must apologize in advance to my neighbours–except for the one whose pile of garbage on the balcony brings the bugs to my window–for the string of bilingual profanity that’ll spew from my mouth should things go awry this evening.  Let’s hope for the best, for their sake.

COMMENT OF THE DAY: Kinda puts Crosby’s concussion into perspective, doesn’t it?

Posted by gruesomegreg on

From http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=375308

Competing for headlines in the hockey world with the tragic Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash, Sidney Crosby and his doctors held a press conference today to announce that Sid the Kid is only at 90 per cent, and won’t be ready for the start of training camp.  Even a few commenters on this Crosby-related story couldn’t help but look at the bigger picture:

By the way, in case you missed it in the other post, Eric Francis of the Calgary Sun wrote a heart-felt tribute to McCrimmon, with quotes from a fistful of former teammates.  Well worth reading for fans of the Flames’ glory years…