Dan and Dan Uncut

Saw this aired on ROOT the other night. TREMENDOUS STUFF....



Happy Hockey Day!!

Let's Go Pens! Don't be gutless today!!

Sid speaks

Clearly pretty biased here, but fuck I'm proud to have this guy as our captain...



Nicely played. Dead on balls accurate.

Admits to growing up after his first 2 years. Speaks to competitiveness. "Put a camera on me, and one on Callahan" HAHAHA! Classic.

Whineberg Forever, We Will Cherish Thee

I love John Tortarella. Classic Torts meltdown after last night's game.

Saw this over on Pensblog this am. CLASSIC MUST WATCH STUFF courtesy of Benstonium, featuring Torts and Craig Berube...



If ya didn't see the full Torts whinefest, here ya go...



Seems to be the en vogue thing in the NHL.  Whiners whining about others whining.

Let's be clear on some stuff:

Lap it up Pittsburgh...this is classic Gamesmanship from the master. He's hoping to buy some calls and get his team all jazzed up. Good for Torts, and imo, he's a good character for the game.

Brooks Orpik is not a dirty player. He never Kronwalls people. He's a big hitter, and in most circumstances, has earned the benefit of the doubt with good, hard, clean hits.

BUT, objectively speaking...Brooks was irresponsible here. It's not in his DNA to back off of hits, but he should've tried better in this circumstance. Not the dirtiest hit you'll ever see. But still pretty irresponsible. We called it on Ovechkin a few years back when he injured Gonchar in the playoffs, so call it the same here. I hope Shanahan uses the same decision process that Caveman Colin used on that hit from Ovie, because if you recall...he got away with no suspension. Let's also consider Ovie is a repeat offender, and Orpik is not (although at the time of that Ovie on Gonch hit, I can't recall if he'd been suspended at that point).

I'm curious to hear Jeremy Roenick's opinion on this (felt wierd typing that). If he toes the same line he did with the Nystrom hit on Letang, JR should probably point out that Stepan tried to avoid the hit by veering left (not that I blame him), leaving him in a vulnerable position.

Stepan appears to be OK. And that's a good thing. Not just for Orpik's fate, but you don't wanna see him injured on the play.

Maybe Shanny and Orpik have a staredown, and Shanny gives him the "shape up or else" treatment. Torts is clearly trying to buy a suspension. Giving him a game into the playoffs would seem harsh, considering Orpik's record. But nothing with the NHL surprises us.

With a game against Philly tomorrow, we shouldn't have to wait long to hear from Sheriff Shanny...if we do. One way or another, you can bet your sweet papoopoos there will be more whining.

the Wild Flag covering the Fugazi!!!!!!!!!

FCKYA!!!!! Live at the Paradise in Boston.



Remember when GBV played the Paradise on the their Classic Lineup tour? That was awwwwesome.

Thanks to our pal Tim in Boston for this.

Karl Hendricks Buys Paul's CD's

to which I say FCKYA!



Karl Hendricks Trio MySpace.

Karl Hendricks Rock Band MySpace.

Thanks to our good pal Ben for the tip.

Twirp picks fights with Stars, loses

You remember Andrew Ference. He was a cast away of Penguins past, a disposable player of the "Experience the Evolution" generation. He's not completely irrelevant. He likes to pick fights with the real hockey players of the league...the Super Stars of the NHL. Then he gets his ass promptly handed to him. He's like the little kid who was always picked last, and holds a grudge against the talented kids.

Ference was the victim of Sidney Crosby's first fight a few years back (a 69.5% win for the Kid according to HockeyFights.com). It's gotta suck to lose a fight to Sid...being that he cries and all. Anyways, Ference was back at it Tuesday, slashing and hacking away at James Neal until Neal had no choice but to pummel him.



Funny how Neal laughs at Ference when he skates away. Looks like the face I make after squashing a stink bug.

Bad news for Neal is he's out against the Rags tonight. Good news is he didn't break his hand, it's a lower body injury, and he'll be back for the playoffs next week. Rest up, buddy.

Hilarious to hear how Boston homer Jack Edwards calls the same fight...



"THE LITTLE MAN TAKES DOWN THE BIG MAN!!!!" or something like that.  Jesus.  And people say I'm a homer.

That show below rawked WAY harder than expected...

CLOUD NOTHINGS fckya!! Drummer for this band wails like a bastard.

Cloud Nothings - Tonight at the Brillobox

first got tipped on these dudes a couple years ago by No Love For Ned. I was told "lo-fi from Ohio" and I said "fckya." They (Dylan Baldi) sounded something like this....



live with band, on your sidewalk...



Drummer kinda whales.

a couple years later, sounds like Dylan has added a full time band and now they sound like this...



Pretty creepy. Congrats if you hung in for the big pay off @ the 3:30 mark. Not a huge prog guy, but I can dig it.

Tonight they play the Brillobox (aka: our favorite joint), and we're going to check 'em out. I'd post the link for tix, but it's sold out.

Also playing is A Classic Education, and Pet Clinic from Pittsburgh.

Grown Man who Assaults 12 year olds calls Sidney Crosby a Punk

Pretty hilarious stuff coming from Mike Milbury this morning.  It's on a Philadlephia radio station so take this for what it is: a publicity stunt for Milbury. It's a chance for him to pound his chest in front of Cro Magnon Nation.

“Little goody two shoes [Crosby] goes into the corner and gives a shot to Schenn. Schenn was late to the party, he should have turned around and drilled him right away, but I guess better late than never,” Milbury said. “So you know, Crosby gets cross-checked, big whoop. He said after he came back from his 35th concussion, ‘I’m not going to do this anymore, I’m not going to get into this scrums, I’m going to stay away from that stuff.’ He couldn’t help himself because there’s a little punk in Crosby. He’s not the perfect gentleman. He’s not the sweet kid you see in interviews with his hat pulled down over his eyes. I’d say screw him, hit him."

Milbury liked what he saw yesterday.  Of course he did:

Pens Loss Lost in Laviolette Tantrum

The Cliff Notes version of what happened at the end of yesterday's Pens / Flyers game:

1. Joe Vitale checks Danny Briere at center ice with the cleanest of checks you will ever see. Puck is present. Shoulder to chest.  Never left his feet.  Nothing to see here.
2. The Flyers on the ice have a fit and take a run at Vitale.
3. Peter Laviolette does his best impersonation of a 6 year old: throws a tantrum, breaks sticks, crys, whines.
4. Deryk Engelland ends what the Flyers started and pounds the piss out of Wayne Simmonds.
5. The Pens lost.

Typical Flyers bullshit that dates back to the mid 70's.  Instead of celebrating their huge win in Pittsburgh with class, the Flyers feel the need to relive the Broad Street Bully days.  Obvious Laviolette has bought into that neanderthal bravado as well.  Your player skating with the puck got checked.  Happens. Grow up.

Laviolette made everyone in his presence dumber at his post game spew:

"blah blah blah Gutless blah blah blah 4th line blah blah blah No Comment."

There was some sorta point in there that Dan Bylsma hadn't used his 4th line in 12 minutes.  True.  Like most hockey teams on the planet chasing 2 goals in the 3rd period, the Pens had their stars on the ice trying to mount a comeback.  The empty netter at 18:45 made it a 3 goal lead.  The Flyers probably would've preferred to see Crosby back on the ice so they could cross check him in the back some more.  That wouldn't be gutless, I guess.

But the moral of the story from a Flyers / Mike Milbury (next post) perspective this morning is that Crosby cries.

Other notes and thoughts from yesterday's game:

• NBC's insistence on taking as many different cameras during live action is even worse than ROOT Sports. Show the game for chrissakes. One camera. It's pretty simple.
• Brayden Schenn is a "character kid" according to Pierre McGuire and Eddie Olpuke.  Outright weird commentary after cross checking a dude in the back.  Some people might consider attacking someone with their back to you "gutless."
• Note to Disco Dan: 5 forwards on the Power Play is not working.  In fact, it blows.
• The blind drop passes we insist on making are a minus (-) on the year.
• Zac Rinaldo has clearly filled the Yappy Yet Irrelevant role for the Flyers that was vacated by Danny Carcillo a few years ago.
• I kinda like Wayne Simmonds as a player.  But seeing him getting used as Deryk Engelland's personal punching bag was fun viewing.
• Not a Hartnell fan, but seeing him and uber fan Cy going at it was pretty comical.
• Not panicking. Not. Even. Close.
• Anyone see Pierre McGuire's stupid face in between the Granato  / Laviolette yelling?

Oh, yeah...two misconceptions from Pens fans I've noticed:

Bylsma changes his lines too much.  I think Disco even eluded to this post game, but totally not true.  You're seeing different line combinations after PPs and PKs, which is typical.  For the most part, though, his lines have been pretty consistent lately.

The defense sucks.  Not as much as turnovers leading to odd man breaks that are leaving our d-men out to dry constantly.  Quit with the Harlem Globetrotter mentality when gaining the zone. Possess the puck.  When in doubt, get it deep. We've got the talent to do that...I think.

Final thought:

I don't want home ice in the first round.  There is zero advantage.  The majority of our fans attending Consol Energy Center sit on their hands the entire game...either until the Pens score or when they leave with 2 minutes left on the clock.  The friendly confines of CEC are exactly that...too friendly.  Bring back the Igloo, along with their uncomfortable seats and long pee lines that kept away the posh suits and thing-to-doers.

Starting my playoff mustache in one week.  Fckya.

Trophy Time!!! C'mon!!!!

Like a rented mule, indeed.

Hat trick for Geno. Flower was impeccable. 2 more in the back of the net for JS. Funny we don't hate Tampa as much without that jagoff Downie and putz Dominic Moore (both traded).

This brought our house down...



Reminding a lot of folks of Le Magnifique...



Goosebumps.

C-bus today. Trade Deadline tomorrow. Stay tuned kids. Go PENS!

Good Times, Bad Times, Good Times

Catching up on the past week.

Pens 6 - Flyers 4. Good times.

Love beating the Flyers. They're a bag of dicks. Beating them at home in front of the pumpkin plastered fan base is even better times.



Giroux touches puck. Engelland pounds Giroux. Giroux disappeared for the rest of the game. The perfectly timed and legal check doesn't stop the pumpkin suits from crying. Scott Hartnell cried and acted like he was going to do something. Then he realized it was Deryk Engelland and decided to cower away. No way Hartnell drops them with Engo and gets himself embarrassed in front of the hometown Cro Magnons.

Pens up 1-nil, and shit hits the fan. Ref calls some lame ass penalty on Wayne Simmonds and the Flyers bench and fans erupt...justifiably so. While the brutal call was in favor of the Pens, there was a sick feeling that the refs knew it afterwards, and they would go WAY out of their way to even things up. They did. Pens get called for the next 13 penalties.

Douche Bag Jagr scores his 1st goal in 20 games, followed by another. He goes original and does the Terrell Davis Mile High Salute. So lame. Funny that Flyers fans are forced to cheer this ass bag now. Easily the dumbest celebration in all of sport...

Staal (beast) gets a shorty.

Left of Staal. So pissed.

Matt Cooke (the NEW Matt Cooke) gets a 5-on-3 shorty, and Neanderthal Nation is stunned. First 5-on-3 shorty since #66 did it in 1988. FCKYA!

Refs kept trying to get the Flyers back in the game for their bad call on Simmonds. No avail. Engelland gave them a gift. Duper scores, Jeffrey scores. Both Bryzgalov and Bobrovsky stink.

Pretty funny that the Flyers will be forced to roll out this turd in net for the next 9 years. At a whopping $5.6 mill a year. Whoa. James Neal, Fleury , Letang, Orpik, Staal, Kunitz, Michalek ALL make less than that. Flyers are so effed.

STUNNED!!!! Check out the dude behind him...Mr Laughs.

And apparently, the Flyers organization awards bonus pay on penalty minutes. Witness Hartnell skating around like a clown in the closing minutes until the refs were forced to give him a game misconduct. I was actually starting to dig that dude after watching this years 24/7. Na. He's a douche.

Sabres 6 - Pens 2. Bad times.

Classic letdown. Brent Johnson blows. Pretty much sums that up. I think we'd do better with a cardboard cut out in net. Beej may be the only goalie in the league who doesn't bend at any part of his body.

We need a backup goalie, badly. Sorry Beej. It's been a nice run.

Another thing I took from this game:

More proof at how the home town games at the Consol suck. Tough to say, but the new breed of Pens fans that attend CEC...for the majority...suck ass. There were more excited and louder fans in Buffalo last Sunday than there are for the home games. Sucks. Just saying. I'm taking more road trips next year.

Pens 2 - Rags nil. Good times.

Pens have now beaten the Eastern Conference's best in 2 straight games. Flower back in net...gets his 3rd shutout of the year. I wish we could, but we can't ride MAF the rest of the way. We need a backup for the occasional break.

GREAT game from the Beloved in what felt like a playoff game. Torts was bitching the whole time.

Referring to my Buffalo rant above, another embarrassment from the fans at the Consol. Rings of empty seats near the glass as the clock wound down to beat the Rangers. Brutal.

Geno > Henry



FCKYA. Game day vs. the Bolts. Let's go PENS!!!!!!

Uncomfortably Close with Dan and Dan

Funny stuff courtesy of Tripod. May need to be a Pens fan / familiar with the almighty ROOT to "get"...



btw: do all hockey coaches do that awkward "look directly at the camera" thingy when they're interviewed? It's a move that seems hockey coach specific.

Stunned

Congrats to the Red Wings for winning 73 games in a row at home and shit, but this is pretty funny, and may be in the running for Stunned Pic of the Year, post Detroit home loss to Vancouver which snapped the streak...

pic courtesy of Pensblog