March of the Pens

for any lover of hockey whose getting all jackt up for the playoffs and has 20 minutes to spare.  also helps to be a Pens fan...



Currently consuming mass quantities of raw meat and black & gold Kool-Aid.

LET'S GO PENS!!!!!!!! DO IT.

Humanoids From the Deep

 
Been on a bit of a Roger Corman kick lately...although most of those have been from the Filipino exploitation genre. This one wasn't filmed in the Philippines, but it still smells of Corman. Legend has it that after he saw the first cut, he told director Barbara Peeters to add more sex to it. She refused, and Corman hired another director to finish the film. Fun watching it and trying to figure out what scenes were added in...

 

new Japandroids 7"

Love our Japandroids!

"The House that Heaven Built."  FCKYA!  Click HERE for a listen.  The 4th in the Japandroids 7" series.  The first 3 sold out...only 2000 copies.  And like the first 3, the B-side is a cover, this time of Nick Cave's "Jack the Ripper."

Pre-order now on Polyvinyl.  While it doesn't ship until May 25th, they're swell enough to send you the download immediately. Japandroids is also releasing a new LP titled Celebration Rock.  If you pre-order it along with the 7" you may get one of the first 1000 in red vinyl. Sweet.

Thanks to Jables for the heads up!

That'll teach him!!

Hit our players, and YOU WILL PAY!! I think that was the message the Flyers were trying to send.

Nothing better than a guy defending himself for a clean hit, only to see the "defender" kick some bootie. Not sure how much you can call this "defending yourself", as Joe Vitale answers the bell with Harry Zolnerblah...



96% win for Joe, per hockeyfights.com. 2.5% of the votes, probably Zolnerblah's family and Jack Edwards, scored it a win for Zolnerblah.

Pretty meaningless and uneventful game after that. As is the norm around EC, our predictions yesterday came in completely wrong.  Shelley and MacIntyre never squared off.  There was some yapping, but nothing more.  Both of these players will now retreat into hibernation for the rest of the season, as meaningful hockey will be played the next 2 months.

Other notes:

GENO (whining superstar) gets 50!!!  One of only 6 Russian players to achieve that.  Bravo Geno!!  He also notches the 14th Pittsburgh Penguin Art Ross Trophy in 24 years.  Mario = 6, Douchebag Jagr = 5, Malkin = 2, Sid = 1.  We are seriously blessed around here.  Don't forget that.  Geno will also surely get the Hart.

Midway thru the 2nd, Disco Dan replaced MAF with a couple of 2 x 4's in net.  The result was not good, as the 2 x 4's immediately relinquished the 2-1 lead, and took away any chance of Fleury getting his record setting win.  God help us if Fleury goes down in the playoffs, because I do not wanna see 2x4's back in goal at any time.

It sounds as though everyone came thru this game healthy, which was the major achievement.  Also sounds like we'll have our entire lineup ready by Game 1, sans Ben Lovejoy.

First win ever by the Pens versus Philly in CEC.  Not sure if that was monkey or not...maybe a rat...but glad to have it off our backs anyway.

LET'S GO PENS!!  Do it.

Tale of the Tape: There Will Be Blood

Appears Jody Shelley, the Flyers resident goon is dressing today. The Pens have recalled Steve MacIntyre from W-B/S. A look at hockeyfights.com shows that these two have never squared off. I'm betting the mortgage they do today...early. Then I'm suspecting that will be the last of shenanigans. Unless of course, Zac Rinaldo starts getting all bratty. That wouldn't be bad...Arron Asham or Deryk Engelland wil hand him his ass.

Jody Shelley has 6 fights to his credit this year. He's pretty irrelevant as a hockey player, except for these 6 brawls. He's 6-3, 228, and 32 years of age. He beat up Mike Rupp a few nights ago...



Remember when Deryk Engelland beat Shelley to a pulp? This and the Colton Orr fight put Engo on the map. Now no one messes with him.



Also, Engelland is a legit top 6 d-man in the league, so no reason for him to goon it up anymore. Let MacIntyre take care of Shelley.

Steve MacIntyre is also pretty irrelevant. He's had 3 fights all year...all at the AHL level. Big Mac tips the scales at 265 and stands 6-6. That's a big dude. He's 31.   In November, he almost murdered this dude Eric Neilson...



Anyways...if you want to see the big showdown, make sure you see the opening faceoff. I suspect the first time these two meet each other, they're going at it. Then, as I said, I bet that's it. But you never know with the pumpkin suits on the other side.

Speaking of goons...NOW PLAYING...

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.