It's Hockey Season!!

“Sorry for him but YEA!!!! He sucks! No fundamentals, can't believe he was a starter. Mario's playing tonight after missing the last game.
last edited: 11/29/05 6:47:41 PM”

“The Devils looked pretty good last night after the first period against Boston. They were able to come back form a two-goal deficit and come up with a third goal with about 30 seconds left on the clock in the third.”

“Tonight: Flutters-Dentals!”

“Flutters 2
Dodos 1”

“Wow. Niittymaki and Kiprusoff battled through regulation and overtime without letting in a single goal. Mike Richards connected in the shootout to win the game.

That was one barn-burner of a game. Haven't seen the likes of it for a long long time. Fantastic saves, great penalty killing, hard hitting, end to end rushes ... wow!”

“LEMIEUX ENTERS HOSPITAL FOR OBSERVATION OF IRREGULAR HEARTBEAT
12/07/2005

Mario Lemieux was admitted to the hospital Wednesday for observation of an irregular heartbeat, it was announced by Penguins General Manager Craig Patrick.

Lemieux, who will be monitored in the hospital overnight, will miss Thursday’s game against the Minnesota Wild at Mellon Arena. His playing status will be day-to-day after that.

“Mario experienced an irregular heartbeat after practice today, and we thought the best precaution was to have him enter the hospital for observation,” Patrick said.

Lemieux, 40, has missed two games in recent weeks because of a stomach virus.

In 25 games this season, he has 7 goals and 14 assists for 21 points”

“MIRACLE MAN: U.S. OLYMPIC HALL OF FAME TO INDUCT HERB BROOKSby Joe Sager
pittsburghpenguins.com
12/06/2005


Herb Brooks coached the 2002 U.S. Olympic team to a silver medal.
When you read about U.S. Olympic history, Herb Brooks is near the top of any story.

His name represents many things, but most of all, Brooks was a winner. Brooks, who died in an automobile accident on Aug. 11, 2003, will be inducted posthumously into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame Thursday at the Harris Theatre in Chicago, Ill.



http://www.pittsburghpenguins.com/team/features/arts/1509.0.php”

“After dropping the game in overtime last night in Chicago, the stRangers went on to Nashville to rout one of the Western Conference's best teams to a 5-1 trump.

Jagr posted a goal and two assists; I can hear my fantasy team cha-chinging already. Oh yeah, and at 42 points, the stRangers are now tied with the Senators for #1 in the whole NHL and 6 points ahead of the Flyers.”

“All I want for Christmas is for the the Pens to start playing up to potential. I think the time has come to say "Goodbye" to Eddie O if it doesn't happen soon!!!!!
HH”

“Oh yeah, and at 42 points, the stRangers are now tied with the Senators for #1 in the whole NHL and 6 points ahead of the Flyers.”
PhantomSoul
1:03:12 AM
12/09/05
ignore this user

Except the Rangers have played 6 more games than the Senators.”

“Woo Hoo Penguins win over the Avelanche!!! Yippee!!!”

“dammit!”

“PSoul always seems to forget games in hand”

“Games at hand mean nothing unless they are won. I, personally, would rather play more games now than in March when half the league is going to be fighting for the last couple of playoff spots. That's going to be a real bad time to have a boat load of back to back games with teams like the Devils, Islanders, and possibly Penguins.

With last night's overtime win at St Louis, the stRangers now have 44 points, tying the Senators (who by the way have dropped 2 in a row now, though both have been in overtime) for 1st place in the entire league.”

“Don't feel bad about the Avalanche; I think they're coming back -- as long as their goalie consistently shows up. They got an overtime win in Jersey.

Sakic, Tanguay, and Hejduk are starting to play real well again (and they're getting me some massive, much-needed pointage for my fantasy team). I think they'll at least be in the playoffs this year.”

“Kansas City Penguins in 2007? Say it aint so!
HH”

“The Flutters have had a flock of injuries to key players, so those games in hand should stand us in good stead. But that's okay Phantom, cackle away.”

“Hey, when you've been out of the playoffs for seven straight seasons, anything above .500 is worth raving about. The rest is just bonus...”

“Mario confirmed that the Waddles could be moving in 2007. I guess Tango will have to choose between the Waddles and being a Pittsburglar.”

“Atlanta 3:07, Bobby Holik 7 (Brad Larsen, J.P. Vigier)
Atlanta 6:05, Slava Kozlov 9 (power play) (Marc Savard, Ilya Kovalchuk)
Atlanta 6:48, Marian Hossa 15 (power play) (Bobby Holik, Slava Kozlov)
Atlanta 8:01, Ronald Petrovicky 6 (power play) (unassisted)

6-2 with 9 minutes gone in the 2nd
last edited: 12/13/05 7:32:47 PM”

“Holy crap! They sure are lighting the lamp on us!”

“6-4 now Tango! Two quick ones in the third!”

“STL just scored on us. It's 1-0 now. Damn! Fleury is making some killer saves they'd be killin' us if not for him.

Shanny is just so cool!
last edited: 12/13/05 8:14:06 PM”

“I'm speechless! 6-6!!!!”

“7-6 YIKES!!”

“One of the wildest games I ever saw. Too bad the Wings came out on the short end.”

“Shoot out for NJ and EDM

Bad news Jason Blake hit the boards hard and was taken off on stretcher. Darn!
last edited: 12/13/05 9:13:13 PM”

“STL scored a short handed goal 2-0 with 4 min to go. Fleury has faced 40 shots! After 30 something last night. He's GREAT!! It's so sad!
last edited: 12/13/05 9:36:22 PM”

“PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Penguins coach Eddie Olczyk was fired Thursday in the midst of one of the most disappointing starts in franchise history and replaced by former Montreal Canadiens coach Michel Therrien...


Penguins assistant coaches Joe Mullen and Randy Hillier also were fired, as were goaltending coach Shane Clifford and strength coach John Welday. Therrien brought his Wilkes-Barre staff with him -- assistant Mike Yeo, strength coach Stephane Dube and goaltending consultant Gilles Lefebvre.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=ap-penguins-olczykfired&prov=ap&type=lgns”

“Sounds like a helluva restructure.”

“It's about DAMN TIME!!!!! Hopefully we haven"t wasted to much of the season
HH”

““I believe that we are going to be able to change things around,” Therrien said. “[Thursday] we started working on our system – I really believe we need some structure. We won’t be able to win many hockey games if we give up over 40 shots and 20 or more scoring chances [per game]. We need to address that to the team. Our first practice, we were focusing on bringing structure.”

Mario Lemieux said he and the rest of the Penguins noticed an immediate impact from Therrien and Yeo.

“Well it has only been an hour and a half, but there is a lot of structure out there,” said Lemieux as he sat in the locker room after practice. “We worked on a neutral-zone trap and a fore-checking system and in the defensive zone. I am sure we’re going to be practicing that every day from now on.””

“The Flutters are now just two points behind the Rankers and have six games in hand. Hmmm, I wonder how many points they'll take in those six games ...”

“Mario Lemieux will be out of the Pittsburgh Penguins' lineup indefinitely and won't practice for 10 days to two weeks as doctors adjust the medication he began taking this month for an irregular heartbeat.

Lemieux's pulse began racing again Friday night during an overtime loss to Buffalo, his first game back after being hospitalized Dec. 7 with atrial fibrillation -- a fluttering in his heart that causes his pulse to dramatically speed at times”

“That does not sound good at all. Maybe it's time for him to hang 'em up. Life is bigger than the game.”

“8-5 Toronto-Islanders 8-5??? still 11 to go in the 3rd! Yikes! AND only 25 ish shots!
last edited: 12/19/05 8:52:56 PM”

“Sounds like a real goalie duel. Hey Tango what do you think of our new head coach?
HH”

“I wanted to hate him, but they need some as_s kickin' and it sounds like he's the guy to do it. Although I don't see him telling Mario to move his butt (when he comes back that is).

I think maybe that Eddie was friends with the guys. I loved what he had to say about what needed to be done when he was the color man. Hope he gets a job he likes.

You?


It's 9-6 Jeez!
last edited: 12/19/05 9:07:39 PM”

“Yeah 9-6 and I have a player in that game that all I got from him was -1 +/-. That happened in the Ottawa game the other night too.”

“Jeez Ox, how is that possible? It almost seems improbable.

Someone scored on Turco. Damn!”

“I heard he is a strict coach which is definately what is needed. Maybe we'll re-learn how to pass to another player-instead of blindly slapping the puck up ice.If we get the basics down we have the talent to make a good team. I always liked Edzo but he's not a head coach that worked for the Pens.
HH”

“I totally agree. I hope we see a whole new team Friday.

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Joe Mullen, fired last week as a Pittsburgh assistant coach, will coach Wilkes-Barre -- the Penguins' AHL affiliate -- for the rest of the season.



Phyllis Gretzky, the mother of hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky, died Monday night, the Phoenix Coyotes said. She was 64.

She was diagnosed with lung cancer late in 2004 and died two nights after her son took an indefinite leave of absence as coach of the Coyotes to return home to Ontario to be with her.
last edited: 12/20/05 7:27:25 AM”

“It isn't often that one sees a guy tear into a packet of PowerGel like it's prime rib or celebrate the delivery of Gatorade like it's ice cold beer on a hot summer day as several of the Penguins players did during Monday's practice.
Then again, it wasn't until yesterday that practice lasted 75 minutes and involved doing sprints, push-ups and physically demanding drills that will probably leave more than a few players sore this morning, just in time to do it all over again.

snip

Practice started at 11 a.m., and at 11:15 players were doing sprints. That gave way to 10 minutes of one-on-one battle drills, pitting a forward against a defenseman going from one end of the rink to the other with the forward trying to get a decent shot on goal.

At the end of each round, the players had to do pushups.

There were no smiling faces. There was also no chatter, no laughing, just the sound of skates hitting ice.

snip

By noon, most players awaiting a turn were no longer upright but bent over at the waist, hands on stick and stick across the lap.

snip

With a nearly unheard of five days off in between games and a new coach, the Penguins players are expecting today's practice to be more of the same, with Wednesday and Thursday focusing more on systems and specific plays before Friday's game against the Philadelphia Flyers.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/sports/penguinslive/s_405658.html”

“Under the agreement announced Wednesday, if Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. lands the license expected to be awarded next year for a Pittsburgh slots parlor, it will build a $290 million arena.
...Columbus-based developer Nationwide Realty Investors would develop the 50-acre site where Mellon Arena now sits with retail stores, residential properties and office buildings.

The partnership represents a change of course for the Penguins, who previously planned to pursue the slots license on their own. Instead, Isle of Capri will seek the license, and the Penguins would receive only a new arena in the deal and no gaming revenues.”

“Tango, I've heard from a very reliable inside source that they Penguins are not meshing at all, and upper management is becoming overly worried.”

“I can't believe they left Crosby off of Team Canada in favor of Bertuzzi(who in my opinion should have never been allowed back on the ice)
HH”

“I think Bertuzzi should play when the guy he hit plays.

Syd the Kyd should be on the team.”

“Coach Michel Therrien put the Penguins through another rugged workout Wednesday, this one lasting roughly 80 minutes at the Island Sports Center. The practice ended with a series of sprints using the blue lines and red line. One of the drills had players diving on their stomachs and jumping to their feet in mid-sprint. "The coach thought we weren't in good shape, so he has us skating, which is understandable," said defenseman Sergei Gonchar. "I didn't expect anything else." Gonchar sustained a gash over his right eye when he collided with center Erik Christensen during one-on-one drills. The cut required "a few" stitches, said Gonchar, who later returned to practice.


A quick check of the NHL statistics yesterday revealed that Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, with a .910 save percentage, has a higher save percentage than goalies such as Martin Brodeur (.898), Marty Turco (.903), Rick DiPietro (.893), Ed Belfour (.891), J.S. Giguere (.903), John Grahame (.890) and Robert Esche (.890). Those players have played more games than Fleury, but he likely has faced a higher percentage of quality shots.
last edited: 12/22/05 7:01:54 PM”

“Watch out Geo!!! Here we come!!!!”

“And there you went!

Merry Christmas Tango.

It was a good game. The kid thought he had it wrapped up. Peter did a little unwrapping.”