Pens
(2-1-0, 4 points)

Pens - 0, Coyotes - 3

Phoenix Coyotes webpage
RECAP (10/07/2009)

East Valley Tribune
Prucha lifts Coyotes past Penguins (10/07/2009)

Arizona isn't exactly a hotbed for hockey which is illustrated by the recent issues they've been having and their uncertain future in Phoenix, so there wasn't much news as you can see!

Some Highlights After Last Night's Letdown

• Pittsburgh ranked #1 sports city by The Sporting News (look familiar??)!!

"Almost four months after securing the city of Pittsburgh their third Stanley Cup championship, the Penguins, along with the help of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pittsburgh Pirates and the University of Pittsburgh, helped deliver the city another title in 2009: ‘Best Sports City’ courtesy of Sporting News."

• Penguins deliver pizza to students waiting in line for first Student Rush this season -- Marc-Andre Fleury, Max Talbot, Chris Kunitz, Pascal Dupuis, Eric Godard, and Chris Bourque were the players involved in the delivery.



In addition to the player pizza delivery, the American Eagle Outfitters street team distributed white American Eagle Student Rush hoodies to the first 400 students in line. A DJ was also present to entertain the group and
conduct raffles for autographed prizes throughout the evening.

• Crosby ranked #1 in Top 50 -- it looks as though Sid is becoming more popular than Ovi these days and rightfully so! The list is selected by "a panel of 121 experts that includes hall of Famers, major award winners, executives, coaches, and other hockey experts." Two other Penguins made Sporting News Top 50 Greatest Players in the NHL, #3 - Evgeni Malkin, and #24 - Marc-Andre Fleury

"Crosby edged Alex Ovechkin by only seven points (1,509-1,502), despite picking up fewer first-place votes (53-34) than the colorful Washington Capitals left winger."

On this Date in Pittsburgh Penguins History

2005
The Penguins wore a Hurricane Katrina patch on their jerseys to benefit the survivors of the hurricane.

2000
The Penguins won the second "Game ONE" in Japan against the Nashville Predators, 3-1.

1992
Stanley Cup banners were raised in a pre-game ceremony at the [then named] Civic Arena.

1976
Penguins obtained Dunc Wilson from the New York Rangers for cash and other considerations.

Penguins Sign 2009 First-Round Draft Pick

The Penguins announced that they signed this year's first-round draft pick, Simon Depres to a three-year entry-level contract. He will continue to play out this season with the Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL.

That seems to be a pretty long contract deal, so the Pens must be pretty confident in their first-round draft pick this year which is good.

[UPDATE] Pre-Game News: Johnson in Goal

[UPDATE]
Phoenix recalled forward Francis Lessard from the San Antonio Rampage (but will not affect tonight's game due to the following):

Lessard will serve the three regular season-game suspension he was issued by the National Hockey League on Sept. 23, which was the result of a game misconduct penalty in a preseason game versus the Anaheim Ducks on Sept. 18. His suspension included the Coyotes’ final two preseason games and three regular season games, the first of which will be tonight versus the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Tyler Pyatt out tonight due to injury.

Brent Johnson will make his debut tonight against the Phoenix Coyotes!! Here's the rest of tonight's

LINE COMBINATIONS:
Kunitz-Crosby-Guerin
Dupuis-Malkin-Fedotenko
Cooke-Kennedy-Staal
Rupp-Adams-Godard/Bourque

Orpik-Gonchar
Eaton-Letang
McKee-Goligoski

“It’s exciting and refreshing,” Johnson said. “I haven’t played in a really long time. It will be nice to get 60 minutes under my belt.”

Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma informed Johnson last week that he would get the nod for Wednesday night’s game.

“This is a chance that he knew was coming,” Bylsma said. “He’s been planning for it. He’s done a great job in practice at being sharp, getting extra work and getting ready. He’s known for a week that he was getting this game. This is his first chance to play for the Penguins and backstop us. I’m looking forward to seeing him.”

UP NEXT: PHOENIX COYOTES
(1-0-0, 2 points)
In net tonight: Ilya Bryzgalov (projected)
Storyline: Biz Nasty returns to Pittsburgh

Phoenix Coyotes webpage
PREVIEW (10/06/2009)
COYOTES WORK ON PENALTY KILLING (10/05/2009)

The Dessert Dog Blog

INSIDE 'THE IGLOO' (10/07/2009)

Arizona Republic News
Coyotes look at turnovers, penalties (10/05/2009)

azcentral.com

Coyotes to face defending champs (10/06/2009)
Coyotes' Bissonnette returns to Pittsburgh (10/06/2009)

CHECK BACK FOR MORE HEADLINES THROUGHOUT THE DAY!!

Hockey on the Golf Course

Yep - pretty odd place to find hockey, but that's where you can find alot of hockey players during the off-season. It was just as odd to hear my husband tell me that Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby among others were in this month's issue of his Golf Digest, but there they were!

The article, called "These Guys are Good," ranked the Top 150 Athlete Golfers and here are just a few of the results (in reference to hockey players although there were other athletes on the list like NFL greats as well):

#11 - Marc Savard (Boston Bruins) - 0.6 index

#12 - Jamie Langenbrunner (NJ Devils) tied with one other athlete with 0.8 index

#16 - Mario Lemieux (big surprise!) - 1.1 index

MARIO SAYS
I have just two simple thoughts with my driver: Get my left shoulder behind the ball going back, and release the club through the ball.

#17 - Mike Modano (Dallas Stars) tied with one other athlete with a 1.3 index
#44 - Brenden Morrow (Dallas Stars) an index of 3.5
#50 - Daniel Alfredsson (Ottawa Senators) tied with five other athletes with an index of 4
#105 - Wayne Gretzky - has a 10.6 index
#125 - Sidney Crosby (who tied with 6 other athletes) - and has a 15 index which the article says makes him more proficient with a hockey stick than a golf club

For those of you, like me, who really aren't into golf - they're referring to a "handicap index" ("index" or "handicap") which represents the golfer's potential scoring ability / playing potential. It's "based on the best scores posted over a given number of rounds, ideally the best 10 scores of your last 20 rounds. However, you only need 5 scores to establish a handicap index. It allows golfers of all skill levels to play on "equal terms," so the higher the index, the less skilled the golfer.

Crosby Makes AskMen.com's Top 49 Once Again

Once again, Sidney Crosby has made AskMen.com's Top 49 Most Influential Men in the World. This year, he's moved up to #34 (last year he was 45).

"It is a great honor to be named one of the most influential men of the year by AskMen.com and I want to thank all the fans that voted for me." - Sidney Crosby

Penguins Blue Jerseys

According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the first game the Penguins will be wearing their blue alternate jerseys is Saturday, October 17th against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The team's record while wearing the alternate jerseys is 3-5-2.

Why??

Inside Hockey Interview (Crosby & Malkin)

This is probably the first time I've seen Sid and Malkin together in an interview and it's pretty enjoyable - just to watch them comment on the highlights of their Stanley Cup run is fun to watch and it's actually the first time either of them have seen any of it since they hadn't watched any of it over the summer. The interview was aired on "Hockey Night in Canada" this past Saturday (and has been showing up around the internet since).

A few mentionables: both Sid and Geno agree that Ovi's hit on Gonch was "dirty." Sid's reaction when they watched one of Geno's goals - it's priceless!! Geno on his "fight" with Zetterberg is humorous -- "I say 'let's go fight' he say 'no'" (but they go anyway!)!!

Q&A with Crosby

Kevin Allen of USA Today sat down with Sid prior to the start of this season to talk about last season and his hopes for this one.

CLICK HERE to read the Q&A

Here's a snippet:

After you won the Stanley Cup, there was a photo of you sleeping with the Cup posted on the Internet. Photos of the Penguins with the Stanley Cup in Mario Lemieux's pool were also posted. There is no such thing as a private party any more for athletes, is there?

Crosby: That's the world we live in. It's the way it is and it is scary. But the fact that pictures of the Cup got out is great. The Cup has that legend to it. Everybody wants to know where it's at and what's going on with it. The picture of me with the Cup was private, but at the same time I have a picture with the Stanley Cup that's pretty neat.

Team News: Monday

According to the Penguins webpage:

• Ruslan Fedotenko was given the day off to rest today and will return to practice tomorrow
  

  "It’s related to the bumps and bruises of the game," Bylsma said. "But again, it’s a maintenance day and plan to see him on the ice tomorrow."

• the team practiced in their blue uniforms today in order to break them in prior to wearing them later on this month -- after having such a bad record with these alternate jerseys and even cancelling a few of the last dates they were to wear them last season, I'm not sure why they're bringing them back this season


• the telecast of the Pens season home-opener on FSN - Pittsburgh last Friday set a record for the network; the last record that was set was back in 2005 when Sidney Crosby played his first game as a Penguin (7.1 compared to this record of 10.5)

“Friday night defied ordinary on FSN,” said Ted Black, Senior VP/General Manager, FSN Pittsburgh. “Our ability to showcase the Stanley Cup banner raising ceremony and Coach Bylsma’s team pregame talk was a truly unique opportunity for fans and they proved that by the record number who tuned in for the opening season game on FSN Pittsburgh.”

In My Own Words: Sidney Crosby (Part 4)

Don't forget FSN- Pittsburgh's special on Sidney Crosby tonight!! Check your local listings for channel(s); it airs at 6:30 PM, but I'm sure they'll have re-runs of it for a while (I still haven't had a chance to see the "raw video" of the summer with the Cup yet).

I'm Asking for Your Patience!

Hey gang, seeing as how this is the first time the FanHuddle network has launched and that we've been having some issues with the site, I ask you again to PLEASE BE PATIENT AND BEAR WITH ME!!

All of us at the network are doing what we can to make this transition smooth, but nothing ever works out that way. I'm trying to do what I can to make it easy for you guys to navigate from here to there and I've had to make a few decisions on my own that actually go against my contract, but my ultimate goal is to keep my followers / readers happy and interested.

What I'll be trying to do is keep posts in both places (which I'm not actually allowed to do). So I would also ask that if you follow me on the blog here to continue to follow here until there aren't any issues over at the new network -- HANG OUT WITH ME HERE (at the old blog).

PLEASE hang in there with me - this is a difficult time for me and the entire network as we're trying to work out the kinks (and I have less control over my blog than I used to), but my followers / readers are important to me and if I didn't think this would end up being better for both of us, I would never have agreed to do it!!

THANKS!!!

LET'S GO PENS!!!!!!!!

Pens
(2-0-0, 4 points)

Pens - 4, Islanders - 3 (SO)

New York Islanders webpage
RECAP (10/03/2009)

New York Post
Tavares scores in debut, but Islanders fall to Penguins in shootout (10/04/2009)

Crosby outshines Isles rookie Tavares in Pens' win (10/03/2009)

The New York Times
Islanders Fall in Opener, but You’d Never Know It (10/03/2009)

newsday.com

Penguins can serve as lesson for Islanders (10/04/2009)
Tavares gets his first goal but Islanders lose (10/04/2009)

The Rivalry blog
Islanders Lose, But ...

It Was Bittersweet

I was lucky enough to be at last night's Penguins game against the NY Rangers for the banner-raising ceremony. What a way to start the game AND the season especially with a WIN!!

In one word, it was bittersweet - last night was the FINAL opening night at the Igloo, but it was highlighted with such a happy occasion - the raising of the Championship banner and remembering such a great 2008-2009 season -- MOMENTOUS and historic all in one night. Isn't is great to think that it was such a wonderful send-off and awesome tribute for the last time there would be an opening night at the Igloo?! The Pittsburgh organization did a wonderful job with the ceremony - it was seriously as PERFECT as it could've been!

Pittsburgh has been talking about "turning the page" and moving on for a fresh start this season after winning the Cup in 2008 - 2009. Well, they definitely put their words into action last night as it was a great game and a really great effort for each player on the ice - they came out looking like they've been playng for a month or two into the season and although they have a few things to work on, they're looking pretty good considering the short off-season and their title of defending Stanley Cup champions (there was no Stanley Cup "hangover" anywhere to be seen last night!).

The game had everything I enjoy about hockey -- energy, physicality, a [good] fight, and a WIN (and even included a few extras with a promotional giveaway of a replica banner, the Stanley Cup all shiney & sparkly, pre-game banner-raising ceremony, and FIREWORKS!) - what more could a Pens fan (any hockey fan for that matter) want?!!!

And WHAT A FIGHT (swinging fists to the background song of "Mother" by Danzig) - that was one HEAVYWEIGHT battle between Godard and Brashear - they DID NOT disappoint (I really think Godard got the best of Brasher - Godard skated off to the penalty box while Brashear headed to the locker room)!! And Godard - he was "on" last night in not only his role as an enforcer, but also as a hockey player - crashing the net and almost getting a goal not once, but TWICE - he looked really good overall. Hell, all of the Penguins looked good.

GODARD VS BRASHEAR (October 2, 2009)

The man of the game had to be Marc-Andre Fleury. He was ON FIRE even in the pre-game warmups (and I'm not kidding!)!! Towards the end of warmups, the players were gathered around the net, shooting the puck as fast and hard as they could keeping the pressure on him and Fleury was all over the place and the puck never got past him for which he received loud applause from the crowd -- and it was just pre-game!! He definitely gave us a preview of what was to come during the game.

Other mentionable player performances were from Alex Goligoski (if he continues to play like this, the kid is $$$ - definitely an offensive defensman), and Tyler Kennedy (TK) - he's a firecracker; big ball of lightening, that kid!! What he lacks in size, he makes up for in dedication, motivation, guts, grit, and energy!!


A great game, a great night, a great win, and a great way to put the final home-opening game for the Pens at the Igloo!

For right now, I can't quite figure how to embed videos (it hasn't been working for me), so links will have to do. Here are links to the Pens pre-game banner-raising ceremony:

PART 1
PART 2

UP NEXT: NEW YORK RANGERS
(0-0-0, 0 points)
In net tonight: Henrik Lundqvist (projected)

New York Rangers webpage
PREVIEW (10/02/2009)
22 Players on Opening-Night Roster (09/29/2009)

New York Daily News
Rangers expect own banner night when opening against champion Penguins (10/02/2009)

Rangers hope healthy Marian Gaborik lights lamp (10/01/2009)

The Blueshirts Blog
Avery out; Rangers un-sign Semenov (10/01/2009)

New York Post
Rangers face Pens on banner night (10/02/2009)

Avery uncertain for Rangers' opener (10/01/2009)

newsday.com
Strange but true: Keenan back at MSG, now on TV (10/02/2009)

Rangers will be on their bench for Pens' ceremony (10/01/2009)
Blue Notes blog
Avery out, Semenov "issue", alternate captains TBA, Cup ceremony (10/01/2009)

BLUESHIRT BANTER blog
Rangers Analysis: In Search of Victory (10/02/2009)
Rangers Notes: Afternoon Updates (10/01/2009)
Rangers News: Semenov might not join the team in Pittsburgh due to contract problems (Update) (10/01/2009)

PLEASE - Bear With Me!!!!

[UPDATE]

STAY TUNED, the new FanHuddle website should be up sometime this evening!!!

It's October 1st - the launch date for FanHuddle and, yes, the site is up and running, but I don't think it's quite ready for readers / visitors right now because my URL is not yet "live."

So I'm posting this to ask all of you for your patience as I figure out what's going on. According to our "contracts," we are not able to write any posts on our old blogs, so all my current news is at the new site which SHOULD be up sometime today since they haven't told us otherwise.

This has been quite the undertaking, so I'm just hoping (and asking for) you all stick by me as things around here won't be "business as usual" for a little bit -- but IT'LL BE WORTH IT!!!!!

THANKS GUYS (I'll TRY to keep you posted)!!!!!

LET'S GO PENS!!!!!!!

Unlikely Penguin Among Featured Athletes in ESPN's "The Body"

The premiere issue of ESPN The Magazine's "Body Issue" is set to hit newsstands October 19th and is something that's been compared to Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue. The magazine approached various male and female pro, amateur, and Olympic athletes about posing "in various stages of undress."

USA Today released a list of those athletes and among them is our very own Bill Guerin (along with Zdeno Chara!)!! This should be interesting!!

Penguins HD2 Radio Station Launches TODAY

Don't forget that the Penguins will be launching their HD radio station today at 9:00 AM. If you don't have an HD radio, you can visit the official webpage where it'll be streamed LIVE!

"Penguins Live" will air from 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM. Programming begins with "Daily Players' Playlist," from 9:00 AM - 9:30 AM featuring favorites songs of the Penguins players; the station will also carry “NHL Live” from New York each weekday from 12 noon-2:00 PM, followed by Madden from 2:00 PM -3:00 PM.

The six-hour block (9:00 AM - 3:00 PM) will then be repeated during the day and evening.