The Penguins just announced that a post-game fireworks display (weather permitting) has been added to the festivities for Friday’s regular-season opener against the New York Rangers at Mellon Arena.
HOW AWESOME IS THAT??!!!!
Last night the Penguins received their Stanley Cup Championship rings at a private ceremony. Each 14 karat white and yellow gold ring contains 167 diamonds, totaling approximately 4.50 carats of diamonds and averaging approximately 100 grams of gold. The top of the ring is crowned with a custom-cut black onyx imbedded with a 1.3 carat pear-shaped diamond to create the Penguins logo. The logo is placed on an image of the Stanley Cup, which is sitting on a bed of round diamonds replicating the arena and ice surface.
The ring is further adorned with 12 princess-cut diamonds on each side of the shanks. The title “Stanley Cup Champions” is written along the ring’s left and right outer rim/bezel. The left side of the ring features the player’s name and number as well as a list of the team four playoff series victories. The right side of the ring has the year 2009 split with three Stanley Cups, adorned in diamonds. The two outer Stanley Cups are inscribed on top with 91 and 92, paying homage to the Penguins’ two previous championships.
.jpg)
"I feel better," Crosby said. "I’m not where I want to be but it’s progressing and hopefully by Friday (home opener) it’s something I won’t have to worry about. There was no point where I thought I had to get off or felt like it was getting worse, so that’s good."
Skoula adds nine years of NHL experience, including a Stanley Cup championship in 2001 with Colorado, to the Penguins’ roster. He has played in 724 career games and 79 playoff contests during stints in Colorado, Anaheim, Dallas and Minnesota.I just read that the Penguins signed him just hours after the Columbus Blue Jackets released him (he tried out for and was released by the Florida Panthers in addition to Columbus). Their loss is obviously our gain seeing as how Shero works!!!
The Penguins announced yesterday that they signed forward Ryan Bayda to a one-year / two-way contract.“This will be another great night for the Pittsburgh Penguins organization, and we’re looking forward to sharing it with the greatest fans in hockey,” said team president David Morehouse. “The big screen is one of our special playoff features, but we wanted to bring it back for this very special opening night.”In honor of this special occasion, the big screen will begin showing playoff game highlights and the Stanley Cup Championship DVD this coming Wednesday.
Well to start off, being the defending Stanley Cup Champs, the Pens already have a mark on their backs so I’m thinking that teams will step up their game when playing against them at least in the beginning. The other difference this year is that they won’t have to prove anything to anyone with a Stanley Cup under their belt.
The Penguins announced today that they re-assigned goaltender John Curry to their AHL affiliate Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. With Pittsburgh signing veteran goalie, Johnson, it was pretty much decided that Curry's chance wouldn't be coming this season (unless Johnson is injured).
+1.jpg)
"I have not heard a report on his situation," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said.
.jpg)
"And today and through these gifts, we're ensuring that the culture in this city travels home to countries all around the world," said Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.You can bet that Ravenstahl received one of these gift packs - just because (he's probably received several of these types of gift packs over his tenure as Pittsburgh's mayor!)!!
Bob Errey and Jay Caufield preview the upcoming season and provide analysis of the defending Stanley Cup champions. What will Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin do for an encore? What will be the impact of newcomers Jay McKee, Mike Rupp and Brent Johnson? What will new assistant coach Tony Granato bring to Dan
Bylsma’s staff? Packed with interviews, highlights, commentary and more.
"We will see (about Johnson's status)," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. "It was more precautionary than anything."Last season, Johnson had hip surgery, which kept him out for the rest of the season for the Washington Capitals.
"When the defending Stanley Cup Champions raise the banner on October 2 on FSN it will be a historic night. Not only will we celebrate the franchise's third Cup, but the game will launch the first season during which FSN Pittsburgh will deliver all 70 of the Penguins games in HD,” said FSN Senior Vice President & General Manager Ted Black.In addition to televising the games, they plan to continue broadcasting special Penguins programming including the return of "Penguins Instant Replay" and "Penguins Rewind." Other programs will include:
The game will be broadcast on the Penguins' new HD radio channel at 105.9 HD2 and streamed live on www.pittsburghpenguins.com. Steve Mears, host of the "Penguins Live" show on the HD channel, will handle the play-by-play with Phil Bourque providing color.The NHL Network will also be broadcasting the game on television (the station is picking up the TSN feed from Canada).
Well, I really can't say too much about this game since I didn't get to listen to it, so I don't have an opinion. For WHATEVER REASON, I just can't seem to get myself into the pre-season (even though it's hockey!) -- maybe I'm having a Stanley Cup hangover!!! Even at the game I was at last Friday, it was different and I just couldn't get into it.
The one thing I can point out (the obvious) is that this is the second time the team has given up a lead - no big deal really since this is pre-season and the lines / combinations are constantly changing and are not the ones that they'll be playing with come October 2nd.
"It was OK," ... "We haven't got a lot of chances to practise it. We've still got some kinks to work out, like timing. As we go on we have to improve, no doubt. but it's good to have everybody together" - Sidney CrosbyIf anyone else had a chance to see / listen to the game and has any thoughts, please feel free to comment!!
The game will be broadcast on the Penguins' new HD radio channel at 105.9 HD2 and streamed live on www.pittsburghpenguins.com. Steve Mears, host of the "Penguins Live" show on the HD channel, will handle the play-by-play with Phil Bourque providing color.Let's hope they practiced their penalty killing a bit seeing as how all four of the Maple Leafs goals came on powerplay opportunities.
OK -- this is like the second time I posted a date given by Malkin which turned out to be incorrect. The first time was with the team's visit to the White House (which was only a day off) and now it's the month for when they'll be receiving their championship rings (which is about a month off!)!!
According to Rob Rossi, the Penguins will be receiving their rings sometime prior to the beginning of the regular season which is pretty soon (Malkin said that it would be in November)!
Rossi also gives some interesting tidbits about the ring:
According to TwinCities.com (the Pioneer Press), it's expected that the Minnesota Wild will sign Petr Sykora after his pro-tryout with them.Turns out, a tryout simply means the player is unsigned and must travel to the prospective team on his own dime. The likelihood of Sykora not making the Wild is about that of Derek Boogaard scoring 20 goals this season.
.jpg)
And so am I!!!"I'm just taking it day by day," Kennedy said. "I'm not asking questions. I'm just going out there and playing the game. When I'm on their line then I'm on their line. When I'm not, I'm not.""(Kennedy) is a hard working guy that drives to the net hard," Fedotenko said. "He brings intensity. It's up to the coaches but I'm sure he will have his shot on the line. It's up to the coaches but I feel like Kennedy is a great player. We're excited."
In addition to “Penguins Live,” the new HD channel also carry “NHL Live” from New York each weekday from 12 noon-2 p.m. Pittsburgh radio sports personality Mark Madden will then do one hour of exclusive Penguins and NHL-themed content from 2-3 p.m.The station is planning to debut a "preview edition" for the Pens first preseason game on September 15th from 10 AM - 12 noon.
The daily programming will begin with the “Daily Players’ Playlist,” from 9-9:30 a.m., featuring Penguins’ players favorite songs.
The six-hour block (9 a.m-3 p.m.) will then be repeated during the day and evening.
“Pretty awful” were the words that Kris Letang used to describe his golf skills.
“I’m not golfing,” Letang said. “I’m just going to enjoy it and chat with the guys.”
.JPG)
Yep, that's right!!! I FINALLY got to meet Lord Stanley up-close and personally (after missing it at the beginning of the summer when Dana Heinze brought it home!)!! I'm still buzzing from the excitement actually!! 
.jpg)
.jpg)
"I felt very fortunate to be in the position I was, in center ice with the Stanley Cup," Morehouse said, "and one of the first things I thought about was to bring this back to where I shaped my life."
New Wild GM Chuck Fletcher spent some time with former Penguins forward Petr Sykora, so learning that he's considering making him an offer to play for Minnesota isn't all that surprising.
Prior to being named GM for the Wild this past May, Fletcher was the assistant GM to Ray Shero in Pittsburgh since July 2006. He was also part of the Anaheim organization for four years in various positions such as director of hockey operations, assistant GM, and vice president of amateur scouting and player development. Sykora was part of both organizations during part of Fletcher's time with each of them, so he has become familiar with the kind of player Sykora is.
According to the Minnesota newspaper, StarTribune.com, Fletcher has yet to make an offer because he's debating the following:
1) Sykora's skating is his biggest weakness. In new coach Todd Richards' up-tempo system, Fletcher has been hesitant to add Sykora to a top nine that already has veterans Andrew Brunette and Owen Nolan, who aren't the fastest skaters.
2) Fletcher is still convinced that if he waits a little longer, teams with salary cap problems will trim players via trade or waivers. The Wild has between $2.4 million and $3.5 million of salary cap space (depending on who makes the team), so signing Sykora could inhibit Fletcher's ability to do something later.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
"I have always admired athletes that have retired as champions and I am humbled to have the chance to count myself among them," said Boucher. "I would like to take this opportunity to thank my teammates, my coaches and the organizations I played with over the years. I am going to miss being with the boys."Boucher was one of those players who wasn't fully appreciated. I liked him and felt he deserved more credit for the role he played on the team both on and off the ice. However, he was able to obtain what had eluded him for 17 seasons - the coveted Stanley Cup. Regardless of all that, he did appreciate Pittsburgh (all hockey) fans and said so today as he announced his retirement.
"I would also like to recognize the best fans in all of sports. I never took for granted what a privilege it is to play this game and how important the fans are," added Boucher.I'm guessing this fairs well for Ben Lovejoy who I would love to see up here with the big boys!!
"First of all I'd like to thank my parents, my mom and my dad. They have always believed and supported me. I'd also like to thank my first coach. He also always believed in me, he put his love and soul into training me. Of course I also want to thank Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Kombinat. Thank you very much for this sports complex. Thank you for the 2 best ice rinks in Russia, in my opinion, that have raised a lot of good players, and will raise future stars. It doesn't matter where we play, we always represent Magnitogork and Metallurg, the team I played for and colors I defended. Any trophy won by me or any other player will be brought to this city of Magnitogork.
(Some applause some boos in the crowd)
I would also like to thank all of the fans out there. Thank all of you that came here today. All those that were cheering for our team... (pause, as if he wanted to say Penguins) ...Metallurg. I want to wish Metallurg many many wins and winning gold in the next season. Thank you."
.jpg)
THANKS to Stan Livshin (twitter = usbzoso), we have some awesome videos and pics of Malkin on his day with the Cup!!.jpg)
.jpg)
Posts
All Comments
.jpg)
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}