Just a quick thought...

I'll have a much longer post in the coming days, but I wanted to get this idea out of my head before the possibility of it actually happening. If the Pens don't sign Gonch, I believe the Avs will sign him. Even though they want to build the team from the ground up, they need an experienced D-man. Just remember, you heard it here first.

But does it make toast?

The answer is "Why yes. Yes it does." I finally got this in the mail:



Oh yeah! Now to see if it works. We'll take two slices of bread:



Pop em' in the toaster, and wait impatiently:



And we have awesome, yummy toast!



And then we sing a song:



I feel kind of bad for putting Country Crock and blueberry jam on it. Oh well, it was tasty. Now I'm probably going to end up eating toast every day until I die.

Awards show...

So the awards show was pretty much as I and a lot of other people expected...a lame bit of fluff as always. I only got through about half of it before I shut it off. The presenters, for the most part, were horrible and not funny at all (I'm looking at you Jay Mohr). Here's an idea: get REAL celebrity hockey fans (Denis Leary, Kevin Smith, Vince Vaughn), and some women who know at least SOMETHING about the game to present the awards. I think it would be fun to have a contest for the fans where the winner gets to present an award (and not the Lady Byng...I'm talkin a real award here). The only good part about the ceremony was the skit with Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan.



Funny shit right there.

In other news, the Hawks have begun their Stanley Cup winning liquidation. Dustin Byfuglien, Brent Sopel, and Ben Eager are the first casualties, being traded to Atlanta for Marty Reasoner, prospect Jeremy Morin, the New Jersey Devils' first-round pick (No. 24 overall) and the Devils' second-round pick (No. 54 overall). Honestly, I think this was a win-win situation for both teams. The Hawks got a lot from the deal without having to dole out a lot of money, and have a little bit of wiggle room in the salary cap now. Atlanta got some solid, proven players, and everyone knows they could use it. What's left to be seen is if the Thrashers will trade their new acquisitions for a bag of pucks and a jock strap. Have a good one, and try to stay cool...it's been hot as hell here.

What a happy day!

So I had a particularly horrid day at work, and hopped on the computer, and what do I see? Ben Lovejoy has signed a 3 year contract, and Matt Cooke has signed a 3 year contract as well! What great news to perk up an otherwise shitty day! I hope this means that Lovejoy will be in the starting lineup next season. Now we have to wait and see if Gonch re-signs. Also, in Avs news, Jocelyn Thibault will not be returning as the goaltending coach next year. Someone get Patrick Roy on the phone...wouldn't that be awesome? Anyway, sorry about the short post, I have celebratory beer to consume.

Let the games begin

In the first of what may be many surprises this summer, Halak has been dealt to the Blues. St. Louis is the clear winner of this deal, having only given up two prospects. Even a member of Canada's Parliament wasn't too happy with the deal. (Thanks to EN for the link) In my opinion, he has done WAY more for the Habs than Carey Price.

Old news here, but Mike Yeo is no longer going to be screwing up...er, coaching the Pens power play. I'm just curious about who they are planning on hiring to replace him. Maybe Gonch can play and coach at the same time. Crazier things have happened (see above).

On another note, the Hawks may march in a gay pride parade. I'm personally straight as an arrow, but I'm all for gay rights, and this would be a great thing for everyone involved. Seeing as how Fraser, Versteeg, Ladd, and Brouwer made an appearance at the taping of an Ellen Degeneres special, I could see them showing up at the parade.

It's free agency time!

Now that the season has ended, everyone's minds turn to free agency. Here are my suggestions on what the Pens should do...although they probably won't listen to me.

1. Billy G- Although he started the season strong, he seemed a little worse for wear towards the end of the season. I think that after next year, he won't have anything left in the tank. Should the Pens keep him? I think so, but pay him no more than 1 million, and only sign him for one more year.

2. Fedostanko- Let him walk. He doesn't add anything to the team, and his numbers this year were awful. Some people may argue that he steps it up in the playoffs, but that was more of an argument last year. This year he had no points and was a -3 in 6 games. Absolutely not worth the 1.8 million he got this year. Dump him.

3. Matt Cooke- Re-sign him for 1 million per year for 2 years. The team needs a good agitator, and he is one of the best in the league.

4. Ponikarovsky- Get rid of him. So far, he's been one of the worst trades Ray Shero has made. I can't believe that they traded the Mob Boss (Luca Caputi) for his worthless ass. A 2.5 million dollar contract last year!? You have got to be kidding me.

5. Gonch- This one has been debated the most of all. While, like Billy G, he ran out of steam by the end of the season, there is no arguing that he brought a lot to the power play this year, and the power play needs as much help as it can get. He carries a hefty price tag though, and with his age, might tank out this season. So is he worth the risk? I say no.

6. Mark Eaton- I believe he is one of the most underrated players on the team, along with Craig Adams (one of my favorites). There are simply no statistics that will show how much of a difference his defensive play makes. Is he worth the 2 million per year that he has been getting? To be honest, I'm on the fence about the salary. I am not on the fence, however, on what he brings to the team. Re-sign him, but I'm not sure for how much.

7. Jay McKee- He brings size to the lineup, but I think the Pens would be better off bringing someone up from the minors than re-signing him.

8. Jordan Leopold- I've liked what I've seen from him this year, and I think he's a good fit for the team. Re-sign him for 1.5 million per year for 3 years.

9. Ben Lovejoy- He's an unrestricted free agent IV (as I mentioned in a previous post, I'm not quite sure what that means, and I haven't been able to find any more info on it). Please, please, please re-sign him and bring him up this year. I think he is a fantastic defenseman (which the Pens need badly), and I believe this could be his breakout season. I have high hopes for him. Give him half a million for one year, and if he does a good job (which I'm sure he will), resign him to a longer contract worth more money.

So there you have it. But I'm not a GM, so we'll have to wait and see how things pan out before July 1st.

* All salary information can be found at NHL Numbers.

Day one of withdrawal....

I already feel like I have the DTs. I have some old games on VHS (including Gretzky's last game) that I could watch, and I also have the Stanley Cup Champs DVD from last year. I really hope that NHL Network plans on airing some more vintage games. Watching the games from the 60's and 70's is always a blast. Oh, yesterday I got something pretty cool that I've wanted for a while:



It still needs colored in, but the tattoo dude didn't have the right shade of tannish-gold. That color is turning out to be a bitch to match. I gave him my Pens keychain, and he'll buy the ink next week, and then I can get it finished. I think he did a great job! I was a little worried at first because a lot of the tattoos of sports logos I've seen on people have been pretty bad. I can't even count how many jacked up looking Chief Wahoos I've seen in my life. I still can't believe how well it came out! Anyway, there'll be more pics once it's colored in and not all scabby.

I really hope my hockey withdrawal won't make me see creepy babies on the ceiling ala Trainspotting. They'll probably have the face of Pierre...oh great, I won't be able to sleep tonight with that image in my head...

Chicago Blackhawks...2010 Stanley Cup Champs

Pens fans can all breathe easy now that we know we don't have to see the Flyers lift the Cup. First, let me say that JR's emotional breakdown on network T.V. was one of the most awkward and uncomfortable things I have ever seen, and I've watched the movie "Happiness" three times. This may make me sound like a huge cornball, but how awesome was Milbury's response, "It's O.K., I never won one either."? Anyway, congrats to the Hawks for all they have accomplished. And as much as I hate the Flyers, I have to give them credit. They went through a lot this year, and managed to battle back. Also, Pens fans, please don't be pissed about Hossa being able to lift the Cup this year. Let it go, now everyone can call it even. I will try to continue blogging occasionally during the summer, but the posts obviously won't be as frequent. I'll probably end up posting some non-hockey related crap just for shits and giggles. Well, that's the off-season for ya! Have a nice summer kids, and I'll see more of ya in the fall!

Stanley Cup Finals, Game 5

I would have posted this earlier, but Blogger was having some issues for most of the day. Here's things as I saw them:

1. What was going on with that awkward pregame? I was hoping that Pierre would get snowed by JR or Milbury.

2. Quenneville continued switching the lines around like he did in Game 4, and came up with some great results. Changing things up a bit gave the Hawks their energy back and jump-started the star players.

3. Speak of being jump-started, welcome back to the playoffs Dustin Byfuglien! He was creating some great scoring chances as well as taking down any of the pylons he could find. I could watch highlights of the hit he put on Pronger every day for the rest of my life.

4. Chicago, with the exception of a few short moments of the game, completely dominated Philly. The Flyers' defense looked abysmal. I think Pronger went and kicked some puppies after the game to try to make himself feel better. That was by far one of the worst games I've ever seen him play. I love how the Hawks were able to put him off his game by using some of the same tactics that he himself had used earlier in the series. They really seemed to be getting under his skin.

5. Dave Bolland, Patrick Sharp, and Dustin Byfuglien all played amazing this game. Hopefully they can keep it up next game.

6. Philly has their whole team to blame for this loss. It wasn't just Leighton, it was everybody.

7. Niemi made some key saves after completely fucking up on Philly's first goal. Even if you think you have the puck, you should at least take a very quick look to make sure.

8. Why couldn't the 2nd Philly goal have gone in off of Hartnell's face?

9. Speak of Hartnell, what the hell did he think he was doing when he almost took Kopecky's head off with his elbow? Then again, it's Hartnell, I don't think he's capable of thinking about anything.

10. Some people will look at the penalty that Seabrook took for closing his hand on the puck and think it was a stupid move. It was really the only thing he could do in that situation. He kept the puck out of the net, but wasn't in a good position to just drop it in front of himself.

11. I will never understand why linesmen don't have jurisdiction to call penalties if the blind frickin refs don't see them. They should have been looking right at Campbell when he was high-sticked. Incredible that they missed that one. Stevie Wonder could have made that call.

12. And of course during the 2nd intermission we get to hear JR and Milbury talk about how someone needs to get in a fight.

13. The Hawks need to keep up their physicality on Pronger, not just because it's fun to watch (and it really, really is), but it seems to be very effective.

14. Briere's cut was stitched surprisingly fast. It's like Philly has a surgical pit crew.

Everyone rest up and enjoy the off day tomorrow. Game 6 is going to be huge. Hopefully Ohio is done getting destroyed by storms. I'm getting kind of sick of the rain.

Man up, cupcake.

From one of my favorite sites ever, this is a great one that I thought I should share.

Stanley Cup Finals, Game 4

Hawks 3, Philly 5

I'm just going to go into the key points...no need to drag this one out.

1. With Philly's defense paying so much attention to Kane and Toews, the Hawks need to keep relying on scoring depth to help them win games. I'm surprised that it took this long for Quenneville to break those two up and place them on different lines.

2. Chicago's frustration really showed in this game. They need to keep their emotions in check, and stop taking so many penalties. This is where experience in the Finals is key. The kids just need to keep calm and focus. Philly knows this, and they are doing everything possible to get under the Hawks' skin, including having Pronger steal the pucks.

3. Niemi came out strong, but as the lack of support in front of him grew he started to look more shaky.

4. The Hawks need to shoot the puck quicker. Don't try to make fancy plays, just shoot the puck and go in for the rebound.

5. This game just goes to show how important faceoff wins are. Just look at the faceoff win by Toews that resulted in the Hawks' second goal. There were many other moments in the game that were decided by faceoffs as well.

6. To be a fly on the wall of the Hawks' locker room during the second intermission...I would just love to know what was said to light a fire under their asses.

7. It all ended up being too little too late for the Hawks. If they had played the whole game the way that they played in the third period, this game would have had a much different outcome.

So there ya go. Also, on another note, the Avs have signed Peter Budaj and David Koci to one-year contracts. Budaj should be given more chances to play next season in my opinion. Not that there's anything wrong with Craig Anderson, I just think that Budaj's ability is being written off.

Spoiler Alert

So while I was watching the first few minutes of Game 3, I started to fall asleep (I had just come home from Friendly's and I was full of food). My dumbass self didn't think to record it, but I noticed later that the game was going to be televised again later on NHL Network, so I decided to record it. Well, I went to work today, planning to watch the game tonight when I got home. My boss decided to tell me when he saw me "Well, the Flyers finally stole one from the Hawks." Thanks for the spoiler, ass. I still decided to watch the game when I got home though. That's when, at the very beginning of the game, the score scrolled across the bottom of the screen. This might sound strange, but once I know the score of the game in advance, I just can't bring myself to watch the game. It's like when someone spoils the end of a movie. Oh well, there's always tomorrow I guess.

Happy post to follow the sad post with...

Ok, so to help all of you get over the sadness of my last post, I'll show you something that cheered me up too...



Enjoy!

Sad post...

Exactly one year ago today, my dad passed away after battling cancer at the age of 52. My dad was my best friend, and understood me better than anyone else in the world. Some of my fondest memories are from the many hockey games we went to together.

I still remember my first hockey game. My dad called me from work and told me that a guy he knew had tickets for the game that night that he couldn't attend. He asked if I wanted to go the game, and I said yes. I had never even watched a hockey game before that, and was curious what it was all about. After he got off of work, we took our first of what would be many trips to the Civic Arena. We had seats right behind the goal, just a few rows from the ice. I don't remember the score, but I do remember that the Pens were playing the Sharks. During the game, my dad explained all of the rules to me. On the way home, he asked me if I would like to go to more games. Of course I said yes, and that's how my obsession began. We went to a few more games that season, and next season, my dad bought a partial season ticket plan with his income tax refund, which he would do every year until I graduated high school. Back then, you were sent a schedule for the season, and you picked out the games you wanted to go to. Now I guess they just give you pre-selected games. Every year, we would get the schedule and sit down to decide what games we wanted to go to. Of course we always picked all of the games against Philly. The rest were usually based on what players we wanted to see from opposing teams. Of course we wanted to see Gretzky, Patrick Roy, Dominik Hasek, Brodeur, (a lot of goalies, I know), Pavel Bure, and many, many more. We would also go to every playoff game that we could. We had a pre-game ritual of stopping at the same Sunoco for some pop, parking in the same lot (the Boy Scouts building across from the arena), and getting personal pan pizzas from the Pizza Hut stand. I loved sitting in F15, where you could see the plays form and have a great view of the entire rink. I remember the snow storms we endured. One of my favorite memories was when one of my dad's tires popped on the way to a game. We were about halfway to the arena (we lived about an hour away) when the tire blew. My dad got out of the car and popped a donut tire on. We drove on the freeway all the way to the game and back on that flimsy ass tire, and managed to only miss a few minutes of the game. After we got home, my dad said, "Well Jack, we made it! Didn't think we would." Another time, I fell asleep after school before we were going to a game, and it took a while for my dad to wake me up, which made us run a little late. On the freeway on the way there, traffic was backed up for a while. We listened to the radio, and it turned out that there was a horrible accident. We could see Lifeflight helicopters and ambulances everywhere. We gave each other a frightened look, and both said, "Well, it's a good thing we were running late. That could have been us." I will never forget being able to see Mario's comeback game after he had retired. The Igloo had a big lit up "66" on it, and when Barbaro introduced Mario, the crowd was deafening. My dad and I both had tears in our eyes that night.

After I moved out of my dad's, he moved down to Florida with my stepmom. We still talked on the phone every day, and I missed him like crazy. I'm lucky that I was able to go down and see him a few times. Last year, he called to tell me that he didn't think he was going to last much longer. My aunts and I hopped on a plane to go see him. The Stanley Cup finals were just starting, and I'm so glad that I got to see the first two games with my dad before he passed away. The day of game two, I did some running around with my aunt, and returned to find my dad asleep on the bed in the living room that Hospice had given him. My other aunt, who had stayed with him while I was out said, "He wanted to take a nap so he was sure to have enough energy to watch the game with you later." Unfortunately, the Pens lost that night, but nothing could compare to being able to watch the game with him. My aunts and I returned home, and he passed away the day after we came back... His last words to me were "Let's go Pens! I love ya Jack."

Watching the Pens win the Cup last year was amazing, and I know my dad was watching right along with me. My stepmom said she couldn't even watch game 7 because she could just imagine my dad and I calling each other on the phone back and forth to talk about the game. It was during game 7 that I came up with my ritual of the "extreme high-five"; I high-five the sky every time the Pens score a goal or win, just like I would high-five my dad whenever we would be watching a game together. I miss him more and more everyday, and with Father's Day coming up, it feels like everything dad-related is being jammed down my throat. To those of you lucky enough to still have your dads around, make sure to cherish every moment, because you just never know when it will be someone's time to go.




R.I.P. Dad 4/7/57-6/2/09



This one's for you...I know it's your favorite. :-)

Stanley Cup Finals, Game 2

Philly 1, Hawks 2

Another entertaining game! Here's the key points (and in case you've ever wondered, I tend to write better in list form).

1. After feeling each other out in game 1, both teams looked a lot more comfortable. The goalies looked a lot less shaky, and the defense made less mistakes.

2. Who couldn't love the collision between Carter and Carcillo? I just loved the little side-step by Kopecky. I'm liking him more and more every game. He isn't afraid to shoot the puck and play a physical game.

3. Philly's power play looked very disorganized. No one seemed to be in sync with each other, and everyone just looked like they were out of position.

4. Joel Quenneville has the angriest eyebrows ever.




5. Everyone is mentioning the shitty quality of the ice. It's frickin June people, and the temperatures in Chicago have been a little above average.

6. As I stated before, I really like Kopecky. He reminds me of T.J. Galiardi, and does a great job of getting under people's skin. He also wears the number 82, just like my favorite player when I was growing up, Marty Straka.

7. Has the Hossa curse been lifted? We'll have to wait and see.

8. It was great to see Niemi back to his old self. Everyone has a bad game every once in a while...it happens.

So there you have it. I would also like to give a shout-out to my new followers! Thanks for reading! See ya tomorrow!