We may be down, but we're not out.

That statement from Max Talbot during last years SCF is a statement that has stuck with me.

Penguins are down 2-0 to the beast known as the Detroit Red Wings.

Don't get me wrong, the Wings are a good hockey team.

But so are the Penguins.

To be the best, you have to beat the best.
The Penguins are fully capable of doing that.

Unlike last year we've skated with them shift for shift, controlled the play for long stretches of time, and outshot them. A few missed chances, lucky bounces, and blatantly missed calls have all worked against the Pens. But we haven't been outplayed by any means. Dan Byslma has made the adjustments and the players have as well.

The refs have shoved their whistles so far up Bettman's ass I'm not sure they will ever come out. But that's the way the SCF are going to be, and the Penguins will work around it. No sense in complaining about it. If interference isn't going to be called, interfere. If covering the puck in the crease is now legal, do it. Beat the Red Wings at their own game. Sure we've gotten away with some stuff. But I will take those few penalties being called, if the Pens can get the 6 P.P.'s a game they have deserved.

Honestly if you are throwing the Penguins under the bus, take the first flight to Montreal and meet your new favorite team, The Canadiens. You'll fit in great there.

Coming back last year they were a team that didn't know what it took to come back in a series. They flew through the Eastern Conference with 2 speed bumps along the way.

They went down 2-0 and pushed for a game 6.

Pens Fans Don't Stop Believin'

This year with more experience, leadership, and skill, how can anyone possibly think this series is over?

This year we know what it takes and Sidney Crosby does not want to be in that photograph again.

Does anyone remember December through February 14th? The Pens were a team that couldn't even beat Tampa Bay, with all due respect. Now 4 months later the Pens are competing for the Stanley Cup, and not being out played, merely out lucked.

But still people are throwing them out the window. Ready and willing to let the Wings raise the cup again.

Not this year.

This is our year.

The Penguins didn't get this far out of luck. They got here out of hard work and determination. No team has reached the finals after losing the year before since the Oilers. The boys overcame that. Who is to say they can't overcome this?

I'm sick and tired of hearing how the Wings supporting cast out plays and is better the Penguins supporting cast. Unreal. If you believe this, have you ever watched hockey? Everyone is severly underrating the Penguins defense. If you hear people saying this, simply ignore them. Let the boys prove it for you, because they will.

The next 2 games are in our house.

17,182+ Penguins fans will be standing tall behind our team, not backing down or being intimidated by the Red Wings.

Pens fans remember who you are, and who the captain of this team is. He won't let this go without a fight to the end, with the entire team behind him.

The Penguins are relentless, resislant, and determined.

This is our year.

This is war.

No one touches my Russian and gets away with it. I hardly like any Russian that much. Gonchar and Letang are my favorite point men in the entire NHL. Even though Gonchar has pulled the typical disappearing Russian this post season, and the PP has been struggling with him on it, this is not okay. Even though our PP is bad enough with Gonch on it, it looked like the boys had taken LSD and were trying to run it.

You don't touch Sergei Gonchar in that manner and get away with it, especially if your name is Alexander Ovechkin. That right there just adds insult to injury.

Dear Ovechkin,

Stop acting like you care that you hurt your fellow countryman Gonch. You don't even deserve to call him Gonch. You had an off game, don't even blame it on the fact that you feel bad. You don't even know what you have just done, or what is coming to you. If the NHL doesn't get you, which they probably won't, one of the boys will get you. I hope to god Brooks Orpik channels Dion Phaneuf and Milan Lucic at center ice with a hit that makes you wish you were never born.

Love,

LeTude

Like I said, this is war. As if it wasn't before.

Do it boys.

It's Miller time...Aftermath Sabres- 5 - Leafs-3

It's probably considered a sin in Pittsburgh to be happy that Ryan Miller is back, but I am, so whatever.

This is going to be a shit re-cap as Henrik and I were being bad and sharking around the internet for bad pictures of hockey boys...

I was reading a Buffalo blog today and they kept saying "The team played like they cared, and they actually protected Miller. Where was this team a month ago?"

I'll tell you where, out to lunch because they know Lalime is a joke. It didn't matter if the boys scored, Lalime was letting everything in, with a few lucky saves in between.

I was telling my friend (a Leaf's fan) yesterday how to not count Buffalo as an easy win because the boys were going to be battling hard in front of Miller. They did just that.

I was hoping Miller would channel Broduer and get a shut out his first game back. It was looking that way through 2 periods, but hey, they got the 2 points either way.



I think before the puck even drop Hecht made the game 1-0. Cujo didn't even know what had happened. I'm not quite sure how the puck even went in either. But it did, duh.



Minutes later 2-on-1 with Connolly and MacArthur makes it 2-0 Buffalo. I bet the Sabres are breathing a sigh of relief after they signed him to his sort of ridiculous contract that 1. he's scoring and 2. he hasn't shattered into a million peices like the fragile man he is.

The Leafs attempt to score and Miller says "What do you think I am, a skank like Lalime? This is how a real goalie plays." Or something along those lines.

It was all Sabres through the second as Paille scores a ridiculous top shelf goal and Connolly finds the back of the net again. Right as I was mentioning to Henrik that Cujo was probably getting pulled, exit stage right Cujo, enter Pogge. I have to give Pogge credit, he stood on his head and kept the Leafs in it.

Intermissions involved watching other games and feeding my dog saltine crackers as Henrik and I measure our boobs to make sure we can fit into little boy jerseys. By the way, we can. $74 customized jerseys, here we come.

I waited on the third period Buffalo meltdown, and sure enough it happened. An unlucky bounce off of Miller brought them with in 2. Then Kulemin scored, or something. Goose had something to say about that though, and got the cushion goal.

Sabres win. Rock.

Random...

Staffy and Ruff apparently aren't seeing eye to eye right now and Ruff considered benching Staffy. He told him he had to play hard last night or he would. He's probably too busy scheduling his summer with ETID or something, whatev's, Drew is metal.



Dom had a nice little first game against former team. Him and Schenner decided to mix it up a little. Whoa. Lukey is quite big compared to Dom, and we love both of them. Luckily nothing really happened.


Patrick Kaleta is adorable. We decided that Jason Spezza, Kevin Bieksa, and Zach Parise had some crazy love triangle, and the outcome was Patrick Kaleta.

Things I've noticed while observing moron Penguins fans that I really don't care about.

Everyone and their mothers, fathers, Grandmothers, okay you get the point, hates the Senators & Buffalo. Why? Some people say it's the fans, the players, I say it's because they hear everyone else say it and it's the cool thing to do.

If the reason is the fans, then everyone would hate every other team because most fans for any team are douchebags towards people in the opponents jersey. If it's the players, then there is really no reason to hate Buffalo or the Sens (this year). I will agree in the past the Sens have been douchebags, but this year they have softened up and are quietly making their way towards 8th. Mathematically they aren't out of it and Clouston has them completely re-vamped.

A little 4-1-1 on the Sens since most people are too big of idiots to do their own research...

Ryan Shannon is making his presence known. He has scored some big goals for them and backchecks like he means business. He's an adorable little man, and I personally love him. You can thank him for his goal that beat the Rangers, yeah Shannon says "You're welcome Pittsburgh". Plus he wears a brown members only leather jacket from 1987. Did I mention he won the Cup with Anaheim? Not a big deal, really.


The boyfriends Spezza and Heatley, as always score most of the goals. You can't deny Heatley's talent. He is really good, as is Spezza. TheHockeyJunkies and I secretly think that Heatley promises Spezza a beaver tail per goal he scores. But hey, that's just a theory.

Jarkko Ruutu, sigh, as we know he went there in the off season. All I really have to say is Pen's fans booed him when he was here. Apparently they forgot that he actually wanted to stay here, but in the end Daddy Shero and Ruutu's ideas of contracts didn't see eye to eye. Oh yeah if you ever see this girl at the arena, snip her between the eyes. The 13 year old braces wearing girl doesn't even know what she just got herself into.



Brian Elliott whose past 5 starts have all been wins. Whatever.

As for Buffalo...

Really people think Pominville and Miller are jokes? Have you ever watched a Buffalo game? Probably not, because you're too busy with you're head stuck to far up your ass.

Right now the Sabres are struggling because Lalime is a joke. Hm weird. Miller in net, Sabres win. Miller out of net, Sabres lose. Not a joke.


Jason Pominville whom which Noodles loves, and will tell anyone why he is not a joke, go ahead, ask her.

Drew Stafford, which I've figured out most Pittsburgh fans don't even know he's alive, let alone play for the Sabres. He's having a pretty steady year and can score some amazing goals.


Derek Roy, leads them in points, is very Metro, and a skilled player.



Mike Card watch out for him, he's an up and coming defensemen, currently in the AHL.



Pens fans need to stay classy. This isn't Philly or Montreal. We don't boo our team, or jobbed our own players.

We're off the see the wizard.

The past few weeks have been like a dream come true for Penguin's fans after reliving horrifying nightmares night after night, and Therrien was apparently playing the part of the monster in our closest, who knew?

Things are looking up, but I as well as I believe everyone, is hesitant to get too far ahead of ourselves. The 14 game road ahead of us isn't an easy one, and even if it was the Penguins have proven that doesn't matter. But hey, that's the fun of it all. With games coming up against the Panthers (ugh, again?), Pittsburgh South, Rangers, Senators, and tonight with the Bluejackets, it's going to be a bumpy trip with a few St. Louis sized pot holes ahead.

This is the re-newed Penguins. The ones we remember from the playoffs. The ones that believed in themselves, and overcome adversities. As fans all we can do is, sit, watch, hold our breath, yell, throw things, and wait. And we wouldn't have it any other way.

As you may have read in TheHockeyJunkies blog, we recently have traveled to Wheeling and Columbus for some games. People may ask, why Wheeling? For one, ECHL games are hardcore, apparently helmets get thrown and for the first period almost no penalties are called. Awesome. Oh and a little fellow named Luca Caputi may have been there. A $20 ticket to see my prospect was a no brainer, and I dragged Noodles along for the ride. I apologized to her for embarrasing her in the parking lot. As I recieved the Sabres text after their game and jumped up and down in 4 inch heels yelling "DREW STAFFORD SCORED! DREW STAFFORD SCORED!" Woops. I forgot everyone and their mother hates Buffalo for no reason, and I wasn't exactly being discrete. Again Noodles, my apologies, haha.

And Columbus, no not for the Penguins, but for the Bruins, WHAT!? Well we decided to show up but the Bruins apparently took the night off, & I think Mason was slipped a couple hundred extra if he got a shut out, because he was waiving his glove hand around like Beyonce in Single Ladies. Good thing we love Stevie. To no surprise we got a ton of heckling as we pranced around the arena in heels eating cotton candy, and screaming things about the Bruins, Playoffs, and of course the Pens.

Tonight Noodles and I are being held hostage by Barnes and Noble Cafe, and Henrik by class. So none of us get to watch the game until later. Good thing we're used to this as we were held hostage every night of a Pen's game for about a month straight.

Saturday Noodles was gracious enough to give me her ticket to go to the Senators game, so I can see Ruutu (!!!) and many of the other Sens players, such as Shannon, Heatley, Spezza, I so guitifully love. Luckily Henrik loves a bunch of their players too, so I am not alone. It goes without saying that we want to Pens to win, just a bonus to see some other cuties. We plan on partaking in the St. Patty's day parade & festival shenanigans and then go to the game. Should be an interesting one.




Yesterday Noodles was telling me about how they were talking about the Sens and how none of them are single now that Mike Fisher is dating Carrie Underwood, and I immediately asked "What Ruutu isn't single?!" and her response was "They were talking about all the good-looking ones." Woops. I forgot I'm like the only female to find him attractive.

On that note he hasn't played in the Igloo since Game 6 of the finals. Damn.

In defense.

With trade deadline a little under 24 hours away players, fans, coaches, hell anyone in the hockey league is nervous and excited all at once.

Clouston mentioned how his guys have had many restless nights, and it's definitely apparent in the locker room. It's a topic of discussion among his guys, and I'm sure he's not just speaking for the Senators. It's probably apparent in almost ever locker room.

With the trade coming up so soon, I really wished more people would read this blog so maybe they could have a chance to becoming a little less retarded. People have been saying "trade Sidney Crosby" or that the team doesn't need them. That without him Malkin and the rest of the boys are so much better. And as if that's not bad enough, everyone and their mother has jumped on the Ovechkin is the best player in the world bandwagon, and has given Sid the cold shoulder.

Can I just say that this is absolutely f-ing ridiculous. At one point I almost said "You know what? Trade Sid. Then I can't wait to hear everyone bitch about how we gave up the best player in the NHL, when we figure out that the Pens, in fact, do need him. Everyone forgets all the differences in the playing style and general personality between all three players. Malkin and Ovechkin are both older then Sid, therefore automatically have more experience then him. Malkin and Ovechkin and both bigger and more physical then Sid, it's their playing style, not Sids. The entire future of the NHL was basically put on Sid's shoulders after the lockout. That he would be the new face of the NHL. So much was expected from him that both Malkin and Ovechkin could both just sort of fly under the radar.

Now Sid isn't meeting "expectations", like he's a factory worker or something, so everyone has been putting him down, and raising Ovie to the heavens. Not that I don't respect Ovie, he is a good player, not exactly an all around player like Sid and Geno, but a good player. But honestly I'm getting sick of everyone putting Sid down. He's 21 years old, and he led his team to the Stanley Cup Finals, only 2 wins away from the Cup. Now suddenly he's washed up and not impressive.

I really wish people would get off his back and chill the fuck out. The boys do need Sid. Just because they have won without him doesn't mean the team doesn't need him. I've heard people from other cities talk about how much we take Sid for granted, and this season I really see it. When the Pens played in Chicago, all you heard was how excited they were to see Sidney Crosby. In Pittsburgh we're ready to ship him out with a big red bow and a "Do Not Return to Sender" tag. Pretty ridiculous if you ask me.

Whatever.

Miro was put on waivers to make more room. So obviously it looks as if their could be more trading to come. No one in my eyes is safe, and it looks like Jordan Staal is the guy everyone is going to be calling about. I personally don't want to trade Jordan Staal, but I am not Ray Shero. The next 24 hours are about to get interesting.

Tampa tonight. 18 games left, and anything can happen.

Norah is impressed. Penguins v. Stars 4-1 W

Norah, my newly acquired foster child, er, puppy, loves the Pens. It's true. She took Henrik's Pens fleece off of her so she could lay on it.
That's right, puppyface knows whats up.

& apparently the Pens did too.

Jordan Staal pretty much just said "Hey Pens fans that want to see me get traded. Screw you, bitches."



You know if Jordy doesn't go in the trade he's buying everyone shots and pitchers of Miller High Life. Because he's classy like that.

Our 3rd star Kris (!), once again channeled Sid for his goal. It was beautiful. Unfortunately since FSN was blacked out at this point, I missed it. Yeah. Thank you FSN, for semi-ruining my day. Oh and this marks his NHL career high points. 20. & Hopefully more where that came from. Like I said beautiful.





Miro scores. Again? Apparently someone else doesn't want to get traded. His goal was real nice too. Applause Miro, for showing us why we signed you. Now do that every game, and we can talk.

Malkin's goal was pure luck and good timing. Then again Malkin is probably top 3 people you don't want to give a lucky bounce to. A little cute, but Kris wouldn't let go of Malkin's arm until he hugged him.



Stars scored, eh, whatever. I actually wasn't hyperventalating for once this season just because we let one in.

Our Tim-Tim is back. Jdkjhlasdjkhasfahdadhahjd. This makes me so happy. It's pathetic but I'm honestly in love with just about half the Baby Pens.



I would really like the following to happen. We switch places with Florida, and then Buffalo can switch places with Florida. Whatevs.

Trade deadline is creeping just around the corner. Noodles and I plan on holding each other, and our dogs hostage starting 8am Wednesday.



We are nervous for the days before because as Shero showed us, hockey's a bitch and he blindsided everyone with a trade that big out of nowhere.