Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Nice little Monday...

Yesterday turned out to be a great day for your Pittsburgh sports teams, with the Pens beating the Rangers 4-1, and Pitt winning at the Pete against G-Town.

I'll start with the Pitt game, and man, what a game it was. Georgetown looked like they expected to roll right over us, but Dejuan Blair and Keith Benjamin would have none of it. Ronnie Ramon was nailing threes left and right, and we out muscled the "bigger, badder" Hoyas on the offensive boards, leaving John Thompson III in fits. And we won without Sam Young playing well, as he only scored 9 points, his first game under double digits this season.

To be honest, I thought Pitt may have some trouble in this game. G-Town was 4-1 against Pitt under J.T. III, and they are absolutely huge height-wise, so I figured they could outrebound us and just own the paint. Which they kinda did, but what we lacked on the defensive boards we picked up on the offensive ones, and our lack of height was made up for with hustle and athleticism.

It was a big win for the guys, and it finally proves they can live without Fields and Cook, at least for the time being. Kudos to Coach Dixon for not letting the guys feel sorry for themselves...Hail to Pitt!!!

As for our Pens, the only word to describe their recent run is WOW...Geno Malkin netted his second hat trick in as many weeks (hmmmm...didn't Snack mention he could go on a hat trick tear now that he scored his first one two weeks ago? Yea, he did.). I guess somebody was a little pissed they didn't make the All-Star game...(Come on, how can the NHL throw Marc Savard into the game and not Malkin? They should be ashamed of themselves, Malkin's 13th in total points in the league and 11th in scoring, and they guy who went instead of him, Savard, is 21st in points and only has 11 goals...)

Sid the Kid had two assists and Sergei Gonchar scored the other goal for the Pens, who have not lost a game in regulation (insert Les Miles joke here) since before Christmas. Everyone has been on top of their game, and Big Georges and Ryan Malone have been "handling business" with the best of them...Hell, even little Kris Letang is leveling people...

Ty "Who?" Conklin stopped a career high 43 saves, continuing his excellent goaltending. This guy is playing great, and is the major reason for us being in the midst of a 10-0-1 run...The Ty Train is rollin', and all we can do is hop on and go for the ride...

One more little note to pass on, the Steelers are planning that entertainment complex on the North Shore again...If it didn't work last time, I doubt it will work this time, but you never know...

Until lata...

3 comments:

The Duke from Dukes Court said...

You should add an additional option for your poll with the answer: "none of the above"

I wouldn't want the Pens to trade for any of those guys.

--

As for Geno getting passed for the All Star game, yes it is total crap. The only reason I think he got passed up is because he is Russian and doesn't talk to the media much. Savard is a good player, but he brings a less exciting style of play to the All Star game when compared to Geno.

Snuke said...

Yea, I agree with ya on Geno, his "inability" to speak English hurt him, but to be honest, some of my sources have seen him out on the town speaking English with his teammates, so I don't know why he doesn't just do it on a regular basis...

As for the poll, I shoulda been thinking and added a "Don't trade/Somebody else" button, but of course, since our loyal readers voted already, I can't edit it...

Oh well, I'll put you down for a "Kepp the team the same" vote Duke

Ron Ieraci said...

Geno has time to get his props. Maybe if someone saw him play in the defensive zone, he'd get a little more love. The Pen's story isn't about the kids, but the Oiler's throw-away, Ty Cobb...er, Conklin. He's not just stopping shots. He doesn't leave those juicy rebounds and gets the puck to his D before they get splattered against the backboards. The Flower may be Danny Saborin's (remember him?) replacement when he comes off the DL.