GAMEDAY 62 - PREDATORS
1:00 PM
Mellon Arena
Listen to the game at [WXDX]
That last game before the Olympic break.
We don't think we have to remind anyone what happened one year ago today.
But we will anyway.
Goodbye Michel Therrien.
These were the NHL standings at this point last year, prior to any games being played on the 14th:
Hours Away From Rinkotology Release
Exciting times right now, as we are hours away from the release of this beast.
Whether you like Fantasy games or not, there is a bigger picture here that will become clearer on January 1, 2011.
But before all that, we are just pumped to give away some cash and present someone with the World Championship belt.
The developers have been finishing up.
We might be redirecting the blog straight to Rinkotology starting Sunday night.
John Curry got called up.
Go Pens.
Gretzky Sucks. PENS LOSE.
Late recap today. We've been focusing our efforts on getting Rinkotology out ASAP.
On a night when the world was focused on Vancouver, Sidney Crosby showed why he deserves to be the focus in the Olympics.
Unfortunately, things didn't end up the way we wanted them to.
The Devils won last night, so they are two points ahead of the Pens and they've played one fewer game.
This was one of those games where you'd glad the Pens at least got a point.
One more game before the Olympic break.
GAMEDAY 61 - RANGERS
7:30 PM
Mellon Arena
Listen to the game at [WXDX]
Today was the last day of trading before the Olympic roster freeze and a few things went down.
Among them:
The Sharks traded Jody Shelley to the Rangers for a conditional fifth or sixth round pick.
Shelley will not play tonight against the Pens.
The Blackhawks traded Cam Barker to the Wild for Kim Johnsson and Nick Leddy.
This frees up some cap space in Chicago.
The Senators sent Alexandre Picard and a second round pick to Carolina for Matt Cullen.
The Sens also placed Jonathan Cheechoo on waivers.
The Sens also placed Jonathan Cheechoo on waivers.
Jaime Lundmark and Brad May were also placed on waivers by Calgary and Detroit respectively.
Morning Pensblog: We Smell Sex And Free Candy and a Twitter Contest
The prizes for the rest of the way to the Olympics are free entries into Rinkotology.
For this one, you're guessing the time and period of the first penalty call of the game.
Don't need tiebreakers.
Send your Tweet to @Rinkotology
Example:
@Rinkotology 13:45, 1st per
Free Candy on NHL Live yesterday:
Funny thing is, no one really knows the meaning of Free Candy. All we know is we got this photoshop in on 3/16/08 from a reader named Glenn.
Probably still one of our all time favorties. After that it took off.
And now in song from SteelCityJamz:
No bad.
Go Pens
P.S. Rinko should be out this weekend. Turnaround is tight.
Second Period Disallowed Goals; Who Is Steve Wagner; And Cake
Well, we're officially just like Capital fans. But this isn't our fault. Everywhere you go on the Internet, you see people bitching about this no-goal A.O. thing. From vintage bandwagons at SB NATION to SI columnists, people are flipping out about a second-period goal that was disallowed. Read this piece from SB NATION:
A suggestion for NHL referees: why not take the time to make a correct decision instead of jumping the gun and hoping to make amends later on?
hahahhahahahhahahahhahahhaahaha. First sign of a fanboy is some guy thinking he can understand NHL officials.
Surprised the Mottram brothers are entering the mix this early. We usually don't see them until about April.
From the SI link, Jim Kelley:
I've looked at the replay of the controversial "no goal" that played at least a part in ending the Washington Capitals' win streak at 14 games on Wednesday night. I've read the rule book and the interpretation of the rules that the officials are said to have given to Caps coach Bruce Boudreau.
I think the Caps got jobbed.
Well, shit. If Jim Kelley read the rule book...
If you want to read a simple, logical recap of the play, real Capital bloggers like JAPERS RINK and ON FROZEN BLOG bring the truth. Really liked ON FROZEN'S stuff because they provided some baseline for why the call was bad.
Shero made a move Thursday, trading Nate Guenin to the Blues for some guy named Steve Wagner. [Penguins.com]
Someone has been jobbing Wagner's Wiki page all day, saying some unflattering things.
Wagner and Guenin seem like the same person, so whatev.
From Robin V:
My name is Robin and I'm a big fan of the blog! I decided to send you some pictures. I am no Cake Boss or Ace of Cakes, but I like to play around! The Stanley Cup was for my brother (Nicknamed Woobie) and the Iceburgh for my nephew Sam who is the biggest hockey fan I know. He is 3 and makes up nicknames for all the players like Cooke-ie Monster and Eaton Park and "Hocks" (The action of playing hockey) all day, everyday! He puts himself in the penalty box, throws hats on the floor, and does his own commentary... just don't ask him to stop to eat lunch ("I'M BUSY HOCKIN!") Haha Well I hope you all are staying warm! Thanks for entertaining me, especially while I'm snowed it! :) Have a great day!
Go Pens.
Olympics Around The Corner
The 2010 Vancouver Olympics begin tomorrow with the opening ceremonies.
Several former Penguins will be involved.
Alexei Morozov will carry the Russian flag during the ceremony, Jaromir Jagr will carry the Czech flag and Zigmund Palffy, who left the Pens after playing 42 games for them in 2005, will carry Slovakia's flag.
Jack Johnson of the LA Kings will march with the American team.
Just in time for the Olympics, Stephen S. has created several amazing t-shirts.
The shirts are available in Storeblog [HERE]
CafePress is having a 20% off sale on all t-shirts.
Use the coupon code "TEES4U" at checkout for the discount.
We'll have an Olympic preview up within the next couple of days.
Go Pens.
Suddenly Kunitz. PENS WIN.
If you've seen one Pens-Isles game at the Igloo, you know the script.
But that doesn't lessen the importance of getting a win after a tough weekend.
It also doesn't lessen the impact of a Chris Kunitz. Kunitz had a solid game against Washington, and he was equally as impressive last night. It is clear that during his scoring slump, Kunitz was not 100%. Because when he is healthy, he contributes in a lot of ways that add up.
The Pens now have two games left before the Olympic break.
And lost in everything is the fact tahat the Devils are in full collapse mode.
They lost again last night, and the Pens are closing in.
Another side story developing is the approaching roster freeze.
It seems Shero is going to give himself time to make decisions over the Olympic break.
Per our good friend Brian Metzler, who got a look at the scouts' seating chart on Twitter:
Someone said Mark Madden was talking about some guy from Nashville coming in.
We must have missed that in between Linkin Park songs.
