Bruce Boudreau Farewell Tribute

From our buddy Benstonium. See you in Anaheim, Brucey!

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PensUniverse Podcast 11.22.11

Welcome back Sidney Crosby.  The Thanksgiving edition comes to you a day early as we look at the return of the captain and his four point night.  We do some rapid fire NHL topics revolving around the Kings and Caps, but it's mainly all Crosby, all the time.  Joe Pfab and Corey Allan join Doug Smith with some predictions for the next couple games as well.

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Featured Fan Friday - Capital Punishment

Life as a hockey fan is tough. You're anxious, nervous, excited, and about a hundred other emotions all bagged up into one on any given night. Especially game night. Life as a hockey fan growing up in Potomac, MD in a family full of Capitals fans however, must be really tough!

That's where our featured fan found himself in the early stages of his life, and its our focus point this Friday.

Meet Yehuda. His friends call him Goose, and since we're all friends here at PensU we'll go with that too. Growing up a Capitals fan and an admirer of Olaf Kolzig, Goose played defense and rooted on his "hometown" team up until 9th grade. When he was 15, he moved to Pittsburgh to attend high school. School became the priority and hockey got sent to the penalty box.

Then on one faithful day back in 2006, Yehuda attended a game against the Rangers and got introduced to 'Student Rush'. The entire first period was filled with chants of "Lets Go CAPS". By the time the second period however, that all changed. You see, this was the first time Goose was seeing Crosby on the ice, the first time he's ever heard of him in fact. According to him, he's never seen anything like Crosby on the ice.

"The moves he made during the course of the game, along with the energy the crowd had, changed me forever. I actually left the game with a brand new Penguins baseball cap."

From that day back in '06 he's been bleeding Black & Gold ever since. He started playing hockey again, took some training camps and even formed his own team named the 'Mighty Geese' and based the logo off the old Mighty Ducks one.

His wife likes to tell a different side of his hockey obsession. They met back in 2009 during the cup run and she quickly realized that Yehuda LOVED this sport. So she had a choice. Either become a hockey fan and date him, or don't. Luckily for Yehuda she chose the

first one and is almost a big a fan as he is.

Their favorite Penguin memory together was at a game against Boston where Bill Geurin scored with 0.4 seconds left on the clock to send it into overtime where Pascal Dupuis scored the game winner for a 6-5 victory.

In his spare time Goose currently attends Point Park University pursuing a degree in Information Technology. He also works full time in Murrysville (my hometown!) as a Quality Assurance Agent for a software development company. When he is free from all of that he has his own blog call "The Penalty Box" and cares for his daughter who is already a Penguins fan as you can see!

If you'd like to know more about Goose or his passion for Pens hockey you can follow him on twitter @PenaltyBoxMan.

And as always if you wanna be featured on an upcoming Friday please let me know @DeniedByFleury and we'll be in touch!

Let's Go Pens!!

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Southeast Division Update

The Southeast became a lot more competitive than anticipated last year.  Will it be even more competitive this year?  At the end of each summary we will highlight just one blog for that respective team, but there are many quality sites out there if you care to search for them.  Please share your comments on the rest of the teams across the NHL as we fill the void of the offseason.

Carolina Hurricanes

2010-2011 Record: 40-31-11 (3^rd in the Division)

Offseason Thus Far: The ‘Canes were active resigning or acquiring mainly veteran help over the offseason.  Joni Pitkanen, Jussi Jokinen, Brian Boucher, Alexei Ponikarovsky, and Tomas Kaberle all signed to play in Carolina.  This is a team that had a chance to make the playoffs playing at home in the last game of the season, so they did not make huge moves to the roster. They did lose Eric Cole and Joe Corvo.  Kaberle, Tim Brent, and Anthony Stewart look to fill the void.

Analysis: Carolina played a great second half of hockey for a team many had written off before the first puck even dropped.  General Manager Jim Rutherford see center Brandon Sutter as a major key to the Hurricanes success this year, especially as penalty killer.  Jeff Skinner and Zac Dalpe add to the young talent that should make this team a playoff contender.

Blog: Cardiac Cane

Florida Panthers

2010-2011 Record: 30-40-12 (5^th in the Division)

Offseason Thus Far: There was no way to tell that new team leadership was in place in Florida this offseason.  Yes, I know it is not easy to sense sarcasm in print.  The Panthers were throwing out contracts left and right when the free agency period opened.  Dale Tallon grabbed the reigns and went out and got an assortment of new faces through trade or signing in early July.  Kris Versteeg, Marcel Goc, Scottie Upshall, Ed Jovanovski, and Tomas Fleischmann were among those taking their talents to Sunrise.  Jose Theodore was brought in to take the place of Thomas Vokoun.  The opening night roster this year is drastically different from ’09-’10.

Analysis: Florida’s biggest issue in the last couple years has been allowing Vokoun to see too many shots.  The new offensive faces should help with that as possession may swing more in the favor of the Panthers.  However, goaltending and defense still have something to prove as Erik Gudbranson looks to contribute as a 19-year old.  Brian Campbell figures to play on the top defensive pairing with Jovanovski.  It will be interesting to watch how this new look Panthers’ lineup creates chemistry. 

Blog: Litter Box Cats

Tampa Bay Lightning

2010-2011 Record: 46-25-11 (2^nd  in the Division)

Offseason Thus Far:  The Lightning made quite the run in the Eastern Conference after finding their way into the playoffs with the main cogs staying fairly healthy over the season.  They did not shake up too much with the resigning of Dwayne Roloson and Adam Hall.  Mathieu Garon, Michel Ouellet, and Matt Gilroy were signed to add some depth and competition to the third and fourth lines.  Ouellet and Alexandre Picard were sent to Norfolk when 27 players were trimmed from the roster earlier this week. 

Analysis: The goaltending situation was shaky at best until acquiring Roloson and now he is part of the glue holding the team together.  Of course having Steven Stamkos, Marty St. Louis, and Vincent Lecavalier doesn’t hurt either.  Nate Thompson and Teddy Purcell played well for the Bolts in the playoffs and the addition of Eric Brewer last season was a very underrated move.  This team should challenge for the division crown.

Blog: Bolts By The Bay

Washington Capitals

2010-2011 Record: 48-23-11 (1^st in the Division)

Offseason Thus Far: For some the Capitals were quieter than expected but the moves they made were smart.  They acquired Troy Brouwer from Chicago during the draft and resigned a team leader, Brooks Laich.  Roman Hamrlik, Jeff Halpern, and Joel Ward all come into the fold with clear roles.  In a great move for the future of the franchise, they shipped Semyon Varlamov to Colorado for a first and second round pick.  Vokoun was signed to fill the void at netminder  George McPhee also resigned Mathieu Perreault who seemed to always pick up his play at the right time last year. 

 

Analysis: The defense has been the question for years in Washington and this year Karl Alzner and John Carlson may be asked to prove their worth on the blue line.  Alexander Semin had a down year and his work ethic was questioned at times.  Still this team made subtle, but nice moves and they still have Alex Ovechkin.  Despite their competition improving it would be easy to see them atop the division again. 

                                         Semin looks to redeem himself this year.

Blog: Japers’ Rink

Winnipeg Jets

2010-2010 Record: 34-36-12 (4^th  in the Division)

Offseason Thus Far: Did anything happen with this franchise in the offseason? Oh, right.  They used to be in Atlanta.  The team still finds itself in the Southeast for one more year as NHL realignment looms.  The biggest recent news was the size of Dustin Byfuglien, who had a breakout season playing defense last year.  Unfortunately, Byfuglien also finds himself in trouble with the law.  Blake Wheeler could be the breakout star for the Jets after signing a new contract.  Eric Fehr was acquired from Washington, but the team was already hit with sadness after the passing of Rick Rypien only a few days after agreeing to terms with Winnipeg.

Analysis: Zach Bogosian returns to the lineup with a fairly solid defensive core.  Andrew Ladd provided great veteran leadership last year and expects to do the same in Winnipeg.  The big question may be scoring after Ladd, Wheeler, Evander Kane, and Bryan Little.  Nik Antropov figures to score his fair share of goals, but it would not be a surprise to see a less than average offense for the Jets.  They will have plenty of crowd support, but is it enough to keep them competitive?  Maybe Alexander Burmistrov can find the scoring touch. 

Blog: Jets Nation

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A Point is a Point: PENS LOSE

Yes we lost but tonight we got a chance to see the real character of our team. All 4 lines putting in gritty shifts, the defense actually making defensive plays, Marc Andre Fleury putting on another great performance, though not so much in the shootout. Getting a point against the "highly talented offense" of the Caps is partially a win in my book.

Without the services of Sergei Gonchar and Evgeni Malkin, guys needed to step up and they did. Max Talbot finally got on the board with a goal even if he did deflect it in and Goose and Tanger played a much improved defensive game.

No one said this was going to be a cake walk, we all know that but we also know what this team is capable of doing. What they are capable of has not been showing and they need to press the play button.

The first period of hockey was probably the best we have seen in a while. Both and forth action, great goal tending on both ends. I don't know about you, but I felt pretty good going into the second period with no score. The second period rolls around and we all still feeling pretty good, until the Caps get an amazing amount of luck about Backstrom takes a shot that deflects off of Fleury's pad straight up in the air, the puck ends up coming back down right behind Flower. Not only was puck behind Fleur but so was Mike Knuble. Luck in my opinion.

The Caps didn't last too long as Max Talbot deflects in a goal his first goal in what seems like forever. The Pens PP goes to work and gets on the board putting the boys up 2-1. Crosby takes the center lane and uses the back hand pass to find Guerin who puts it home. The second period ends with the Pens up 2-1. We can breath, only 20 minutes to go.


An early third period powerplay for the Pens, a chance to go up by 2 and get more momentum. Well Alex Semin didn't like the thought of that because she goes and scores a short handed goal. In my opinion, Semin scored due to a break down of communication between Goligoski and Letang. Goose drops back in order to direct Letang which allows Semin the center of the ice and the ability to pick his shot spot. Semin gives the Caps a huge momentum swing and they fed of that goal for sure. Eric Fehr redirects a Mike Green shot to put the Caps up 3-2.


Jay McKee pulls a Hal Gill on Flower and screens him, Fehr is there on the door step. At this point we are all preparing ourselves for another lose, but Jordan Staal gave us some life with a wicked shot over Theodore's shoulder to tie up the game.
Overtime it is, we know for sure the Pens get a point a point out of this game. We got a couple nice looking chances in OT but obviously couldn't capitalize but neither could the Caps. It was down to a shootout. Letang scores first on Theodore and Fleury stops Backstrom. Crosby scores on Jose but Ovie scores on Flower. Billy G was next up, yes Billy G in a shootout. Stopped by Theodore. Semin scores, Kunitz is stopped. Knuble scores for the Caps. Game.


Frustration, a lot of it.



"Maybe I'm in the minority here, I'm getting tired of hearing that we played hard and we should have deserved better," Orpik said. "We're not winning hockey games, and that's what it comes down to. I don't know. I don't feel very good leaving the rink when you lose, no matter how you played..."


"I'm getting very concerned. Everyone wants to talk about the playoffs. We've still got eight games to go here, and we're not exactly playing too well. The way we're playing now, we'll be out in the first round. It's getting pretty frustrating, yeah." - Brooks Orpik


Saturday we take on the Flyers, expect a big game from our guys.

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