The Steel City Sports Fan (Penguins Edition)

Over at the LGP.com message board, a CONSOL Energy employee posted the e-mail they received to announce that the Penguins were coming to the headquarters for a visit (here it is):

To all CNX Center employees:

"The excitement continues this afternoon, as CONSOL Energy is proud to host some very special visitors to CNX Center: the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team! Let's turn out to give our latest partners a rousing welcome to our new headquarters!

"Please gather along the atrium area on the second floor, and the first floor lobby below, starting about 1:45 p.m this afternoon. We expect our special guests to arrive around 2:00 p.m . , shortly after they have completed practice at the nearby Ice-o-plex.

"After we greet the Pens, the team will then proceed to a meeting with executive management on the fourth floor. Following that brief meeting, groups of Penguins players will then be escorted to the various departments to meet briefly with employees.

"Let's show our latest partners how energetic and excited CONSOL Energy employees are about yesterday's announcement of CONSOL Energy Center, which will be the finest venue in the NHL, starting in 2010! GO PENS!!!"

Brett Harvey
President & CEO

Usually I post things throughout the day from work, but due to this huge Internet Explorer situation, they blocked the internet and I was unable to work on anything! Sorry, guys, it was out of my hands!

Here's a brief rundown of what I'm late getting to today:

Therrien announced that Fleury WILL play tomorrow against Atlanta.
"He's going to play (Thursday)," Therrien said following Wednesday's practice at Southpointe. "He feels good. It's good for him to get some practice under his belt. I think his timing is sharp now and I think he's ready to play."

"I'm looking forward to getting back in there," Fleury said. "It's been a while now. It's always frustrating when you're out. I wanted to get back as quick as I could."

Fedotenko returned to practice today after having an illness and sitting out yesterday; he will also be in tomorrow's lineup against the Thrasher.
Talbot and Zigomanis did not practice today and will once again be out of the lineup tomorrow.
With these two players being out of the lineup, the Penguins called up Jeff Taffe and Ryan Stone

YAHOO!'s Puck Daddy has an awesome post that includes a translation of a recent interview of Evgeni Malkin conducted by Natalia Bragilevskaya of SovSport. The interview touches upon several things, but one of the more interesting topics is featured below:

People say that you're moving into your own house?
"I am still in the process [of moving]. I will hold the housewarming party on December 19. All documents are almost ready."
What made you take this step?
"I am getting more mature. It is time to live away from Sergei Gonchar. To start a family."
Is your wedding soon?
"Right over the hill. In about 5 years."
Does your girlfriend know of your long term plans?
"Of course. Who is the boss in the house?" (Malkin is laughing.)
Is this going to be a good house?
"I like it. It's a new three storey [house] with five bedrooms. It is within a five minute drive from the hockey arena."

According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review yesterday, Ryan Whitney is still shooting for a return date prior to Christmas which is could be very likely - more specifically, the game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on December 23rd.

"It's getting there," Whitney said. "I'm hoping pretty soon, probably not Atlanta, but I'm hoping soon after. I'd like to be in before Christmas. That was the goal the whole time."

Four Penguins did not participate in practice yesterday - Tyler Kennedy (IR: knee), Max Talbot (undisclosed), Mike Zigomanis (undisclosed) and Ruslan Fedotenko (illness).

“Fedotenko should be there, he’s just sick,” Therrien said.

“It doesn’t look like guys will be back soon, for the next game anyway,” Therrien said. “I hope so but I’d be surprised. We have to find solutions within.”

The all-time record for most votes received by a player to play in the NHL All-Star game was set in 2000 (Jaromir Jagr - 1,020,736) and both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are currently set with enough votes to realistically break that record by January 2nd.

Here are the results as of 12:00 AM, 12/17/2008:

"For those of you Penguins fans who are about to jump off the bandwagon ... I got a shoe with your name on it!"

To see him say this (and to watch the entire #1 Cochran Sports Showdown from last night), visit KDKA.com!!

Marc-Andre Fleury is scheduled to make an "appearance" on Mark Madden's radio show at 4:00 PM today at the X, 105.9

As promised, here's the link to the Penguins Roundtable at The Confluence (Kuklas Korner).

CLICK HERE!!

I also want to take the time to thank Tony for asking me to be part of this roundtable; I really enjoyed answering the questions and reading the others' answers!!

[UPDATE]
According to the Penguins webpage, these new goalie pads, blockers and gloves, are to wear with the baby blue third jerseys and not on a continuing basis (next throwback jersey game: December 20th against the Toronto Maple Leafs) and they are just "breaking in" the new equipment over the next few days at practice; at the end of the season, they plan to sell the equipment and donating the proceeds to a charity of their choice.

The new equipment, sent to the goalies courtesy of Reebok, was supposed to be dark brown in color to look like the goaltending gear from the 1970s and 80s. However, the equipment was very light and had a gold-ish tint to it.

“It’s not dark enough for what I was hoping for,” Fleury said. “It’s supposed to look like the old style with the blue jerseys. We were looking for brown pads like back in the day. It’s not too bad though.”

So what color would the goalies categorize the new equipment?“It looks a little bit yellow, dark yellow,” Fleury said.“Caramel or French mustard, Dijon mustard,” Sabourin joked.

Fleury was seen wearing new goalie pads at the team's optional practice yesterday held at Southpoint.

Speculation is that they're orange in color (who knows?!)!!!

Since Lauren attended the practice and saw them first-hand, I was able to confirm that both Fleury and Sabourin had the new pads at practice, but they were a mustard color (not orangish).

Sabourin is in the picture above (but they both had the same pads on)
THANKS for the pics, Lauren!!

Dave Molinari reported yesterday that Therrien said Max Talbot has "a slight chance" of returning to the lineup on Thursday against the Atlanta Thrashers. Talbot was injured during their game against the NY Islanders last Thursday (appeared to be his foot).

Therrien also said that "there aren't many" injured players who are likely to return to the lineup this coming Thursday.

I would guess they would be planning to call up a few more Baby Pens closer to Thursday.

Yesterday, TSCSF reader, Lauren, was lucky enough to attend the Penguins practice yesterday at Southpointe AND she was gracious enough to share the pictures and I'm posting a few here!!

THANKS, Lauren!!

Yesterday, the Penguins made a trip to the Childrens Hospital in Oakland to play Santa to a few children hospitalized there. It makes me proud to be a Penguins fan!!

[UPDATE]
The Penguins webpage recently announced that the Penguins new home will be called the Consol Energy Center and that they have a 21-year naming rights deal with Consol Energy (to read more, VISIT THE PENGUINS webpage).

It was reported yesterday on Pittsburgh news that the Penguins will hold a news conference regarding the new arena today at 11 AM at the Marriott City Center. It is expected to be the official announcement of the naming rights going to Consol Energy.

Rob Rossi reported that Marc-Andre Fleury will return to the lineup against the Atlanta Thrashers on Thursday.

"I feel pretty good," Fleury said Sunday. "The last couple of days were really good."

Added Penguins goaltending coach Gilles Meloche: "He's a ready as he can be. Physically, he's fine, but he's not in game shape. He'll need a few days of practice."

Tony Ferrente of The Confluence of the Three Rivers at Kuklas Korner was generous enough to invite me to participate in his latest Penguins Roundtable with him and a few others. I believe he plans to post it on his blog today; once he does, I'll be sure to post a link here in case you're interested!

Yesterday, the Penguins webpage had the first installment of their weekly feature called "Prospect Confidential."

They will "look at the progress of some of the top prospects within the Penguins organization."

This week they focus on Alex Goligoski, Carl Sneep, Luca Caputi, Dustin Jeffrey, and Brian Strait. It's very interesting.

CLICK HERE TO read "Prospect Confidential"

According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the Penguins organization plan to have "the most energy efficient multipurpose / sports facility in North America."

More details are planned to be released within the next few months.