Monday Igloo Update

Yinzers,

Thursday night was a chance for the Pens to make up some ground on their "rivalry" with the Ottawa Senators. The Sens came into the Igloo boasting a 7 game winning streak, mostly due to the play of their rookie goaltender, Brian Elliott. On this night, Elliott would continue to put out just enough effort to give his front men a cushion to sit their behinds on a win. In the end, Elliott turned away 30/31 shots. Geno Malkin put up the only Pittsburgh tally when he scored a quick goal at 1:34 in the first period. After that, Elliot shut the door. Ottawa picked up goals from Mike Fisher and Chris Kelly in the first and Jason Spezza and Nick Foligno (EN) in the third. Ottawa is now 9-1-1 against the Pens in their last 11. It just tastes so bitter.


What is the opposite of bitter? Uh....sweet as sugar. Yesterday afternoon, the rematch of the Stanley Cup Finals took place as the game of the week on NBC. I am still up in the air about NBC's commitment to the NHL. It seems to me they need to fill the void when the NFL ends, so their heart is not in the least bit in hockey. But still, listening to Doc Emrick scream his head off at an offsides call does show that, at least, they have someone who likes hockey doing play-by-play...the same cannot be said about Versus. At any rate, the game proved to be very entertaining. Both teams are in a position where they have to keep winning to regain control of their respective playoff destinies. The Red Wings, after making it to the finals are currently 7th in the Western Conference and the Penguins stood at 4th. In the end of this heavyweight brawl, Detroit snagged one point and the Pens stole a second with the game ending with the Pens on top 2-1 in a shoot out. Goals in regulation were a sparse commodity with cash-ins from Sidney Crosby at 16:46 in the second and Daniel Cleary at 11:10 in the third. The shootout ended with Marc-Andre Fleury turning away Pavel Datsyuk and Jason Williams. Kris Letang failed to put one behind Jimmy Howard, but Sidney Crosby and Geno Malkin both buried backhands and the Pens snatched the extra point.



The Pens next game is tonight at 7:00 on Versus against the Buffalo Banana Slugs...sorry Sabres. The logo is misleading.

There is also a Penn State SHL game tonight at 10:15 when your White team takes on the goons in Gray.

Lets go Pens,
B Brog

A Night Out

Hola Yinz,

I am not in SoCal this week. I am spending time in South Carolina with my fam and the World Famous Wade Nixon! We watched the Pens play the Senators, sad. Nonetheless we celebrated.

We spent some time scouting out fellow Pittsburghers. We met Donny; I have a way of finding others like me.

We chatted about all things Pittsburgh. So for this week, I am making a reccomendation; Check out the Hofbrauhaus in Pittsburgh. It is modeled after the Hofbrauhaus in Munich, Germany; and a great place for food, beer, and most importantly Polka. If your in the area you must eat in the Bier Hall and enjoy a Shotski! It's my new favorite place in the Burgh!

The Pens take on the Red Wings 12:30 tomorrow...LET'S GO PENS!

All Things Pittsburgh,

Labuda on the Left Coast (actually on the Right Coast this week)

Penn State Phriday

Yinzers,

I apologize for the late blog, but I am home in da'Burgh this weekend for a couple of meetings. So without further a-do, here is your Penn State Phriday. Here we go again...how many times to I have to say "Penn State men's basketball continues to lose Big-10 games." That's right, since last week's PSU blog, the Nittwits have dropped two more Big-10 games. This brings their current losing streak to 8, all of which were Big-10 matchups. Last Sunday, the Nittany Lions traveled to the Kohl Center in Madison to take on #19 Wisconsin. Don't get me wrong, them there Nittwits put up a good fight, tying the game up in regulation to force overtime; however, Wisconsin proved to be the better team in the end pulling out a 79-71 victory. Taylor Battle added to his improving stat sheet with 28 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. Chris Babb also banked 16 points and David Jackson bucketed 12 points and grabbed 6 rebounds.


Wednesday night, the Fightin' Illini rolled into the Beej Center looking to bounce back from losing three straight. What a better place to go than Penn State, right? The Nittwits were in dire need of their first Big-10 win if they even want get their NIT hopes to come back. The Illini had other plans. The bottom line "Penn State is still win-less in the Big-10." The Illini defeated the Nittany Lions 77-67 in regulation. Taylor Battle had another 20 points, Chris Babb 18 and David Jackson had 13. The Nittwits are now 8-12 overall and 0-8 in the Big-10.


The Lady Lions have also had two games since last Friday. They, however, split theirs. The Lady Lions defeated the Lady Illini 70-66 on Sunday in the fourth annual WBCA Pink Zone, wherein donations for breast cancer awareness were taken. Penn State also dropped a close one to Purdue last night 80-76. For more on either of these games, check out www.gopsusports.com.

Can't get enough from Penn State and the MSM? Log-on and listen to the Western PA Sports Showdown with my man Geno, the Western PA Sports Guru and friend of the MSM on Wednesday nights from 9-10 at www.comradio.comm.psu.edu. Just click on the headphones in the logo and open up iTunes or whatever music program you run. Call-in, he'd love to hear from you.

For the Glory,
B Brog

Thursday Igloo Update

Yinzers,

There has only been one bout for your Pittsburgh Penguins since Monday's blog post, and that was Monday night against the New York Rangers. Out of the woodwork came the dark horse, Chris Connor (not to be confused with the Dark Horse Tavern, best wings in State College and perhaps the world). Just like every time the Pens and Rangers face-off, it was a tightly contested, defensive battle through the first two periods with a lot of time played in the neutral zone. Chris Connor opened up the scoring at 2:47 in the first period, the only goal in the period. The second period was also characterized by stingy defense, with Artem Anisimov putting one behind Marc-Andre Fleury at 13:04. The scoring opened up in the third period with 4 total goals. Artem Anisimov added his second of the game at 9:15, followed by 3 unanswered Penguin goals coming from Evgeni Malkin on the power play (9:46) followed by Chris Connor's second of the night 60 seconds later (10:46) and an empty net goal by Pascal Dupuis at 19:20. Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Sergei Gonchar all had 2 helpers on the night. The Pens seem to be getting the hitch out of their giddyup headed down this stretch toward the Olympics.


The Pens next game is tonight at 7:00 as Daniel Alfredsson and the Ottawa Senators come to town. The game will be on FSN-Pittsburgh and whatever TSN stands for.

In other hockey news, the SHL continues to go strong as your White team beat up the Green team on Tuesday night, dishing out a 6-3 beat-down. White is now 2-1 on the season.

Let's go Pens,
B Brog

Old Skool

 Nix wins the Oscar for most believable performance.  Manny, best supporting-actor.  

Stone Cold Stunner

Yinzers,

What a night in the Capital City( Columbia SC) where the hometown South Carolina Gamecocks Stunned the Nation and the #1 ranked Kentucky Wildcats. Needless to say it was a one man show- D. Downey took over with 11 minutes left in the second half and never looked back. This is the Gamecocks First win over a #1 Contender ever( 0-7 previous).Congrats Gamecocks my unofficial (final )college team.

Whore Devours

Since the Steelers exited the playoffs around the final minutes of the loss to the K.C. Chiefs my football season ended. Now I am not a sore loser but I will tell you this, I just don't like any other teams. Truck can attest to that. When People Ask Wade what is your second Fav I just answer the Penguins. Needless to say I won't be pulling for Mayton Panning or dude Breeze But instead I would rather what working girls are easier on the eyes come Super Bowl Sunday.

Lets start with the Baby Horses:

Now I will give you this, I think one of my parents neighbors had a pair of chaps like these when I was growing up, I also think this is the same guy that had to be committed when he was found pants less in his front yard singing Christmas carols on Halloween night.

SaintSations:

As for those Bayou Beauties I am going with the lesser of two evils and the Voodoo that you do...I guess I am going for the Saints because they have never been to a Super Bowl before. I also Am really excited for their fans and their city. You can say what a catastrophe Katrina was, but what about the Saints first 42 seasons- bad bad bad( step child bad).

Finally we are just a few weeks away from the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, I am looking Forward needless to say for all the Curling I can handle, and oh yeah some Hockey too!

Have a great Hump...day!

Wade

Too Many Johnsons

I don't know if anyone else has this problem - but now that the Pens have added Nick Johnson for a couple games, and Brent Johnson has been playing a lot lately, there are just too many Johnsons to keep up with.

So who is this extra Johnson?

Nick Johnson is 24 and originally from Calgary. In his NHL debut with the Pens last thursday against the Caps, he scored one point which tied the game at that point. Pr

etty impressive for his first game. Johnson was The Pen

s third round pick in 2004. He played hockey at Dartmouth scoring 125 points in 133 college games. Before College he played for St. Alberts Saints of Alberta Junior Hockey League and he was named Canadian Junior A player of the year in 03-04.

Well he was off to a strong start, I guess we will see if this Johnson sticks around.

And how can you profile one johnson without the other.

Brent Johnson has been playing a lot of games lately with Fleury being hurt. This Johnson is 32 and from Farmington, MI. He is the son for former Penguin goalie Bob Johnson and grandson of NHL Hall of Famer Sid Abel who played for Detroit and the Pittsburgh Hornets in the 30s. So hes got the genes all right - and ties to the burgh, you can't lose with that. Unfortunately he did play for the Caps with the "criminal" for several years. He has also played for the Vancouver Canucks, Phoenix Coyotes, St. Louis Blue & Colorado Avalanche. So this Johnson has been around the block.

One final shout out to my boyfriend, Billy G! According to Steph - who knows more penguins info that you do, I promise - Billy lost at some hockey thing at the beginning of the month so he had to grow a mustache out for the month of January. Only one more week of that deliciousness....

Till Next Tuesday

Truck