Holy H -E -Double Hockey Sticks!!!!

We witnessed one of the greatest displays of epic sports battles and competitive will tonight. It was the third longest game in Penguins history and arguably one of the greatest Stanley Cup Finals game ever. The Penguins defeated the Detroit Red Wings in game four 4-3. Ryan Malone played nearly an hour just himself leading his home town team to a heroic Hollywoodesque victory. Just as the Detroit fans began to count down the third period and the NHL big wigs began polishing the Stanley Cup the Pens sent a message loud and clear that they were not going anywhere and that this series is far from over. After discreetly being out shot, out hit, and out numbered (Pens lost Gonchar) the Pens managed to muster that inner Ironman like a Gladiator in a Roman Colosseum or Jens Pulver hanging in there during the fifth round of his fight against Uriah Faber to somehow gain the upper hand in a third overtime to take the win and keep their head above water. The Pens took an early lead in the first period with a Hossa goal followed by  Hull (which was really credited to the Red Wings who actually knocked the puck in). The Red Wings tied and took the lead in the third period. The Pens pulled Fleury (who BTW stopped 58 shots 24 of which were in the overtime- Holy Cannoli!!) with 40 seconds left in the game. The Red Wing fans began cheering and counting down. What they didn't know was that they were counting down to one of the best last minute season saving goals and sudden death overtime wins for the Pens not the Red Wings. Maxine Talbot squeezed the puck past Osgood with half a minute left, silencing all of Detroit and bringing to life most of Pittsburgh. This was without a doubt one of the most euphoric feelings that I have experienced in my life. The game was all tied up beginning the a 300 style sudden death overtime that showed the grit, guts, and gull of athletes at their best. Tired, bloody, beat up, and bruised both teams fought and continued to fight through two overtime periods leading to the third and final overtime. The first overtime was dominated by the Red Wings, but by the second overtime the youth of the Pittsburgh team showed through completely reversing the situation with Pittsburgh dominating making the Red Wings look like they were down by two games in the series. Like the Battle of Kruger, the Penguins continued to fight literally dragging each other back and forth down the ice. After approaching the Versus commentators and proclaiming that he was going to score and win the game, Peter Sykora did exactly that scoring his third career game winning sudden death goal and the 32nd shot on Osgood of the night. This game had everything that a Hockey fans and Sports fans love. This is why people play sports. This is akin to the million dollar jackpot that convinces people to keep gambling. This will be a game that every Pittsburgh sports fan will talk about for years to come. Win or lose the cup, the Penguins have shown their true colors and athletic will as a team. Even if they lose the next game, they still won this one showing Detroit and the world what kind of warriors they are. The Pens come home Wednesday to play game 6. Hopefully the Red Wings are tired and somewhat frustrated. The Pens may be able capitalize on this win and take this momentum all the way through game seven. This may be the turning point that will allow David to slay the Goliath. Incredible!!

Penguins are Playing The Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals.

After having a scare with the Dallas Stars making a two game come back, the Detroit Red Wings finished off the Stars and secured their place in the Stanley Cup finals with a 4-1 victory early today. Detroit will try to win their fourth championship in 11 years. The first two games will be at Joe Louis Arena. The series opens Saturday, with the schedule following a Saturday-Monday-Wednesday pattern. Detroit will be the home team because it had more regular-season points — most in the league, in fact. The Red Wings are the first recipient of the Presidents' Trophy to play for the Cup since they did so in 2002. That also was the last time they were in the finals. The Red Wings and Penguins did not meet this season. They did the two previous years and Detroit won both. This will be the first Detroit-Pittsburgh finals, and it will also be the first all-American finals since 2003, when New Jersey faced Anaheim. This final will also be a battle of the washed up shadow of their great self cities. Burnt out Detroit and Pittsburgh left their economic success in the 70's. Pittsburgh and Detroit will both be desperate to bring the cup home to their respective cities. It could be the only chance to see people in downtown past six o'clock who aren't there to commit some sort of crime. Remember, only I am allowed to be hard on Pittsburgh because I live here. Such words on another website are a cause for gang warfare. Oh, and by the way the civil trial for that 1997 limo crash that killed two Red Wings defensemen celebrating Detroit's Stanley Cup victory proceeded today with the testimony of the limo driver. You can read about it here.

Don't Touch The Trophy Crosby!!!!

The Penguins are going to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1992. It is the 16th time that a professional sports team from Pittsburgh has made it to a Championship game.  Wud up 412!!! The Pens became the Eastern Conference Champions and possessor of the Prince of Whales Trophy by defeating the Flyers 6 nothing. Yes 6-0. The Pens lost game four against the Flyers just like they did against the Rangers, but bounced back on home ice embarrassing Philadelphia. The Pens are undefeated in the play offs at Mellon Arena demolishing their opponents on the soft ice. Most fitting about this win was Pittsburgh's own Ryan Malone scoring two goals leading the team's stomping of Philly. Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Sydney Crosby, and Pascal Dupuis also scored for the Penguins making this game a basic pro Penguins promotional highlight reel. They should show this game to the winner of Dallas and Detroit just to let them know what they will be getting into at the Stanley Cup Finals. The Pens have an underrated defense, and incredible goalie, arguably the MVP, and Sydney Crosby. They also know have Keven Veilleux, which they signed yesterday. Well what do you know? They will not lose. The Stanley Cup is coming back to Pittsburgh. Thank you Crobsy for not making contact with that Prince of Whales Trophy because the Stanley Cup is what we want. Its been sixteen years and Pittsburgh is gonna be ready for a fight. The City, the fans, and the team are all ready to give Pittsburgh another professional sports team Championship. Its a new day in Pittsburgh with a new Dynasty forming. (Am I getting ahead of myself? Well I wouldn't be a Pittsburgh sports fan if I didn't ). Here are highlights.

Penguins With Game Three 4-1

Penguins take game three showing how well coached they are (with those defensive plays of genius) and crippling Philly's energy on their home turf.  I really don't see any chance at that the Flyers have to come back and win this series. The Pens are just too good, Philadelphia had nothing even against the Pens fourth line. The Flyers have been down pretty much most of the play offs and have come back to win, but those other teams were not Pittsburgh. The Pens are working like a well oiled machine, and if they play like they have been they will win the cup, no doubt. Marian Hossa had two goals, while Ryan Malone and Ryan Whitney also scored for the Penguins in the 4-1 victory that put them on the verge of a four-game sweep in the Eastern Conference final, and a likely date with Detroit in the Cup final, the Red Wings also up 3-0 in their conference final with the Dallas Stars. Marc-Andre Fleury made 17 saves for the Pegnuins and Martin Biron made 21 saves in the Flyers net. R.J. Umberger had the lone goal for the Flyers, who were playing without their top two defensemen in Kimmo Timonen (blood clot) and Braydon Coburn (facial injury), which I really don't think made much of a difference. The Pens pretty much killed the Flyer's loudest fans in the NHL by establishing a 2 nothing lead 8 minutes into game play. By the end of the first period flyer fans were sitting on their hands (thanks AP). Gary Roberts did not play to the disappointment of most of the 42 year old hockey fans in Pittsburgh ( that's about 90% of Pittsburgh fans). Just to complete the coverage, Jordan Stahl will fly home tomorrow morning to attend the funeral of his grandfather. He will return for game 4 on Thursday.

Penguins Win Extending Their Lead To 2-0

The Penguins won their second game against the Flyers a couple minutes ago. Crosby, Hossa (who doesn't score in playoffs huh), Talbot (with the game winner), and Stahl (empty net) all scored for the 4-2 victory. I really don't know who is going to be able to beat this team. The Pens are going to win the cup. The second and third periods were pretty weak for Pittsburgh and Philly still couldn't manage to beat them. There was some fighting, but this series has been kind of tame compare to what I thought it would be. The Flyers are going to be desperate and frustrated in game three, which could translate into violence. Yeah! There was also some kind of mushy story going on during the game between some kid with cancer and the Penguins. They kept showing him when they scored. Blah blah blah. Pittsburgh will do anything they can to make the story of the Penguins more dramatic and emotion filled. It just goes with the territory when a sport team starts winning in the Burgh.  I am just waiting for Mike Lang to break down and start saying things like "this team is a true inspiration" and what a "great story". The Pens are a solid team that are arguably the most well rounded team in the league. They have a great goalie that looks even better because of the team's ability to block shots. They have incredible power play killing ability, and they probably have the MVP of the year Malkin. They don't need a back story or some kind of inspiration behind there wins. They are just a solid team. Period. Now that I look like a complete heartless asshole, I'll at least say its nice to see the team giving back. Did that do anything for anyone? Recap here. I was too lazy to do it today. You know mothers day and all.

Pens Win Eastern Conference Semi-Finals

Pittsburgh won game five 3-2 in classic thrilling fashion with an overtime goal by Marian Hossa. The game was very much worth me missing my Sunday MTV reality show catch up. You could not ask for a better more thrilling game than this game.  The first period was scoreless followed by a second period dominated by the Pens. Marian Hossa scored first followed by a goal than none other than MVP (opinion) Malkin. In the third, the Rangers tied it up with a score by Korpikowski (whoever the hell that is) and one later by Nigel Dawes . We went to overtime and won with the best acquisition of the season Hossa (who many have said can't score in the post season).  Pens won the series 4-1, and will move on to the Eastern Conference Finals. Now we will have the "Turnpike Rivalry Series" against the Philadelphia Flyers. It will be Pennsylvania's 2008 White Trash Fest (well until the Regatta hits). The Flyers are a very physical team, so this series will be pure insanity. It may be a 300 style bloodbath. It could be the setting for a new Mel Gibson movie. (Ok, have I gone too far? I'll stop). The media will have a field day with hyping this series up ( me included I guess obviously). Drunk Pittsburgh fans vs. drunk Philly fans could be better than the actual games. Games one and two will be in the "Igloo", but the days and times have not yet been announced. If a series could be better than the series that just concluded it will be a Flyers-Pens series for the Eastern Conference Finals. Hell, the Flyers are led by a Pittsburgher, R.J. Umberger. Umberger has said that it would be a dream to come
home and face the Pens before game 5 against the Canadians. This will be crazy. The Pens are so bringing home the Stanley Cup.  Now, I have to go back to studying for my finals. I squeezed an update in, but I have a 20 page paper due along with some other tests. 

Here is a dissapointing video of Philly v. Pittsburgh fans, and a video of the Laraque Cote fight from April right before the playoffs.

Penguins 3 Games Rangers 0 Games.

Well, if the New York Rangers couldn't beat the Penguins tonight, I doubt they are going to beat them at all in this series. The Rangers out shot the Pens 39 to 16, and had their opportunity in power plays, but couldn't come up with the win. There was just too much fire power on Lunquist from Malkin and crew. The Penguins again showed how good they are in blocking shots and stopping power plays. I can just hear the New York media whining now. Ahhhh poor New York. You may have the best city in the world, but you don't have the best Hockey team Yo! Whats up, 412 baby!!! The Rangers desperately brought all they could but lost in a devastating way. The Pens are up 3-0 in the series and have all but locked up a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals. Pittsburgh is Fired up !!! Hossa scored first on the second shot of the game followed by George Laraque (yeah Laraque). Malkin made it 3-1 with a slap shot from just above the right circle. The Rangers came back from the Pens lead only to have Ryan Hollweg ruin a 60 second Ranger control of the puck with a boarding penalty. Malkin jumped on this opportunity by scoring his second goal of the night. Ryan Malone tipped in a shot with 17 minutes to go, which sealed the deal. The Pens are not even celebrating over being up 3-0 and having their first win this season in New York. They have their eye on the prize. The Stanley Cup is their goal and they won't be happy till it's in Pittsburgh. Mike Casey had a nice live blog over on Newsday.com if you want a more detailed analysis. I am most impressed with the Pens professionalism, poise, and modesty with this playoff success. The interviews post game are amazing and makes you feel that this team deserves the 7 and 0 record of the playoffs. I know that was cheesy, but that's what the Pens are doing to us Pittsburghers.