Yesterday I waxed poetic about the 20 year anniversary of the Pens winning their first Stanley Cup.
The 1991 Stanley Cup Penguins will always have favored status in my heart. You never forget your first cup…or something like that. The team was not as brilliantly talented as their 1992 or even 1993 successors. Their run was not as epic as the 2009 version. And it matters not a lick.
What they did was bring Pittsburgh its first and most improbable Stanley Cup, doing so through a litany of spectacular moments. They gave us a lifetime of brilliant hockey memories; memories that two decades later are still burned in my brain (with an occasional second assist from YouTube).
Some of the most memorable include:
THE INJURY – The Pens opened the 1990-91 season without Lemieux. Le Magnifique had offseason back surgery and then suffered a major set back with a training camp infection. There was talk that his career was in jeopardy and ultimately we would not see him in the line-up until late January. I remember the Pens opening night broadcast starting with this quote from Tom Barrasso “I wish to state unequivocally that we are a better team with Mario Lemieux in the line-up.” The bad news was obvious. The good news, the rest of the team was forced to grow up with their franchise player sidelined.
THE KID – It’s fair to say that none of us had ever heard of an 18 year old Czech phenom named Jaromir Jagr when the Pens acquired him on draft day. I remember reading that he was the most talented player in the draft; and frankly not believing it. That’s exactly what teams say when they have the fifth pick in a deep draft, rather than the first. Who would have known that Jagr would develop in to the one of the truly dominant offensive stars in NHL history, and a critical component of two Stanley Cup championships. Not to mention a pretty solid weather man on WDVE.
THE OPTION LINE – With Lemieux out, the Pens offense was put in the hands of three young stars playing out their options; Kevin Stevens, Marc Recchi, and John Cullen. All three were critical to the team’s regular season success. All three were critical to the team’s ultimate Stanley Cup championship, Recchi and Steven’s directly and Cullen by being the marketable asset that allowed for THE TRADE (see below).
THE TRADE – Arguably the greatest trade deadline deal in NHL history. The Pens were struggling and underachieving when Craig Patrick changed the entire look of the franchise. The deal was such highway robbery that Hartford GM Eddie Johnston (yes, that EJ) should have gotten his name on the cup. Ron Francis brought leadership and brilliant two way hockey. Ulf Samuelsson brought dominant, in your face defense (as Cam Neely will attest). Even Grant Jennings was a key acquisition. Before the trade the Pens were a great offensive team, after it they were a great team.
THE GOAL, PART I – The Pens were very much in danger of falling behind New Jersey two games to zero…at home. They were outplayed by the plucky Devils for two straight games and had barely managed to force overtime in game 2. That’s when the 18 year old Jagr scored the first of his many jaw dropping goals over the next decade. He blew around the Devil defense, cut across the face of the goal, out waited Chris Terreri, and fired home one of the biggest goals in Penguin history. It was pure individual brilliance; the kind rarely seen by any player…or at least any player not wearing 66 in black and gold.
THE BANISHMENT – A regretably overlooked turning point in the playoffs may have occurred in game four of the first round against New Jersey. After discovering that the Pens had not won a game all year with John Rowan watching from Chris Cox’s house; we banished him to the backyard for the third period. The Pens lost the game but after that, we were more strategic about our viewing logistics. Quote of the year from Chris’ mom…”Why is J.P. in the backyard by himself?”
THE SAVE – I’m the biggest Tom Barrasso fan this side of…anywhere…and even I will acknowledge the obvious. Frank Pietrangelo’s spectacular glove robbery of Peter Stastny was “the moment” the Pens developed that championship belief. The combination of facing elimination and the loss of Barrasso drove stress levels to record highs amongst Pens fans. And then there was Stastny all alone in front, firing a loose rebound towards an empty net…until Frankie Pete robbed him blind. I love watching 18,000 fans jump to their feet to celebrate a sure goal, and then dropping down in stunned disbelief.
THE GOAL, PART II – The Pens were very much in danger of falling behind Washington two games to none, at home. Sound familiar? They were outplayed in game one and needed a late Randy Gilhen (seriously) goal to send game two in to overtime. And then Francis set up Kevin Stevens for the game winning goal in overtime. The Pens never looked back, dominating the next three games with Barrasso stopping 97 of 100 shots. The conference finals were coming.
THE GAURANTEE – In those days, the common belief was that the Boston Bruins were the superior team and the Pens the underdog upstart. Boston has played in the Stanley Cup Finals in two of the last three seasons, led by star players Ray Bourque and Neely. The Pens lost the first two games and were quite frankly robbed by a highly questionable penalty late in game two. The situation looked bleak until Stevens took over. He boldly guaranteed after game two that the Pens would win the series. It was pure bulleting board material...for the Pens. The boys have not lost of playoff game to the Bruins since.
THE ROUT – PART I – After two hard fought victories in Pittsburgh the Pens returned to Boston for a critical game 5. We all thought this would be a turning point in the series. It was. The Pens destroyed the B’s 7-2, chasing overrated scrub goalie Andy Moog in the process.
THE TROPHY – I laugh every time I see teams refuse to touch the conference championship trophy. After Recchi finished off the B’s in game 6, Lemieux and company took the Prince of Wales trophy for a skate. Two weeks later, they were Stanley Cup champs. Two decades later, Sidney Crosby did the same thing. Perhaps this superstition is a tad…dumb?
THE FOG – Don Cherry, a man who could do the entire world a favor by talking considerably less, accuses Barrasso of being “in a fog” after a game one loss to Minnesota in the finals. Barrasso’s response, “I refuse to have a battle of wits with Don Cherry because he’s unarmed.”
THE GREATEST GOAL IN STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF HISTORY – “Here’s Lemieux, to center, penalty coming up, LOOK AT LEMIEUX, OH MY GOODNESS, WHAT A GOAL, WHAT A MOVE, LEMIEUX. OOOOOOH BABY.” Kudos to hockey night in Canada for its perfect description of what truly was the greatest goal in playoff history. What Lemieux did to Shawn Chambers and John Casey is a criminal offense in seven states.
THE PARADE – Mario’s back stiffened before game 3 causing a late and shocking scratch of the game’s greatest player. Without Big 66, the Pens fell 3 to 1. Minnesota started planning their Stanley Cup parade. The Pens were…ANGRY.
THE DANCE OF CHAMPIONS – The Pens jumped out to quick leads of 3-0 and 4-1 in a must win game 4; then gave two goals back to make it a one goal game. Late in the third period, the team known as an offensive juggernaut took a five minute major penalty. The Pens killed it without allowing a single shot on goal. It was the defining moment of what was now a great team in all phases. I still say this game was one of the underrated gems of Barrasso’s career.
THE ROUT, PART II – The Pens 8 to 0 demolition of the North Stars in game 6 remains possibly the most dominant cup clinching victory in NHL history. The NHL was close to invoking a mercy rule. Lemieux so dominates Minnesota that he looks to be playing pond hockey against local high school players. Francis, Mullen and even Jim Paek score breakaways. Barrasso silences his remaining critics with a defining shut out.
THE ANNOUNCEMENT – In the immortal words of Mike Lange, “The Stanley Cup has come to the city of Pittsburgh.”
THE LIFT – Mario Lemieux, the man who lifted the franchise, lifts the Stanley Cup. Lange…”Go for it Mario…Go for it.”
THE PHOTO – The Pens become the first team to do an all hands on photo at center ice with the cup. The tradition lives to this day. One of the greatest moments in Pittsburgh sports history, immortalized forever.
THE MEMORIES – To last a lifetime.
Showing posts with label tom barrasso. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tom barrasso. Show all posts
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Twenty Years Later ???
If you are a hockey aficionado like me, I highly recommend the Empty Netters Blog on the Post Gazette’s web site. Not only does Seth Rorabaugh do an excellent and thorough job of covering the game, but he also adds a touch of sarcasm and humor which I find to be positively, “Haber-Esqe.”
Throughout the 2010-11 season, Empty Netters has been running a feature entitled “Twenty Years Later” focusing on the 20 year anniversary of the Penguins first Stanley Cup championship. It includes recaps of every game played (often with awesome video footage) and interviews with key players from that team. Most of those players are long gone, with the notable exception of the ageless Marc Recchi. Remember when the Pens traded him in 1992, ostensibly because he was too small to survive long-term in the NHL?
Needless to say, I was thoroughly enjoying the walk down memory lane, until reality slapped me in the face this morning.
TWENTY YEARS ???
Is it really possible that today is the 20 year anniversary of one of the greatest moments in Pittsburgh sports history? Can it really be two decades since that magical season ended with Mario Lemieux lifting the franchise’s improbable first Stanley Cup?
Twenty freakin years?
Let’s see, we were 18 years old, seniors in high school when the Pens won that first championship. That would make me…never mind.
Was it not just yesterday that Mario Lemieux was the 18 year old French Canadian savior of Penguin hockey? No, that was 1984. Did I not wake up this morning to news that 18 year old Czech phenom Jaromir Jagr was coming to Pittsburgh? Sorry, 1990. I could swear that only in the last few minutes came reports that the Pens had acquired Ron Francis and Ulf Samuelsson from Hartford. That was 1991.
And now, Lemieux is the Penguins OWNER, Jagr is playing out the string in Europe and Francis and Samuelsson are both coaches and/or executives in the league. How on earth did this happen?
Here’s the thing; for me and a large portion of my audience, the Penguins are the first championship team we truly experienced. I have the vaguest of memories of the Steelers’ fourth Super Bowl in 1980; just as I have the vaguest of memories of dressing up as “the Fonz” for Halloween. I’ve said before that those first four Super Bowl championships are far more history to me than they are reality.
The Penguins however are different. We quite literally grew up together. It started with the drafting of Lemieux in 1984, the event that quite literally saved the franchise. It continued as Lemieux matured in to a superstar, and then possibly the most dominant player in NHL history. And it morphed in to a championship when the Penguins finally surrounded Le Magnifique with other championship caliber players.
I still remember dancing around my basement when the Pens acquired Paul Coffey in 1987. Finally, there was a second superstar, a player truly worthy of sharing the ice with Big 66. The other star pieces of the championship puzzle fell gradually in to place over the next three plus years; Barrasso, Recchi, Stevens, Jagr, Mullen, Trottier, Murphy, Francis, Samuelson, etc. It was a stunning build out for a club that for too long relied on other team’s leftovers.
I’m not sure today’s generation of Penguin fans can truly appreciate how impossible to fathom a Stanley Cup Championship was for us in 1991. That’s not to say we were not fully on board for the journey, we absolutely were. We just never dared allow ourselves such grandiose fantasies. Not for a team that had won exactly one playoff series in ten years.
For the most part all we knew were near misses and failures. I remember albeit vaguely the 1982 first round loss to the NY Islanders where the Pens blew a 2 goal lead in the final four minutes. I remember quite clearly blowing what should have been a slam dunk playoff appearance in 1988, in spite of Lemieux’s unwavering brilliance down the stretch. And there but for the grace of Steve Guenette go I.
The Penguins made missing the playoffs an annual event; at a time when over 75% of the league was honored annually with a post season bid.
That’s why we celebrated like drunken sailors when the 1991 Pens knocked of Washington in the second round. Going to the conference finals was new ground; a previously inconceivable destination. On a side note, would anyone have guessed then that the series would mark the beginning of two decades of torturing the Craps?
The Penguins had little or no history in those days. Now they have history to match any non original six team (and for my money one or two of them). The watershed moment for the franchise was the Stanley Cup exchange between Sidney Crosby and Lemieux in 2009? That past meets the present. To me having two completely separate eras of championship greatness is what defines a truly great organization, in any sport.
And yet I still can’t believe its been twenty years.
Twenty years since Frankie Pietrangelo’s save against New Jersey. Twenty years since Kevin Stevens guaranteed a victory over Boston after falling behind two games to none? Twenty years since Lemieux effectively destroyed John Casey’s career.
I guess it makes sense. In those days we would watch the games in Chris Cox’s basement and then play hockey in the driveway between periods (with your friendly neighborhood blogger flopping around on the asphalt making “Barrasso-like” saves”). We would celebrate any series victory by grabbing sticks out the garage and running around the block. Today’s game night activities are to say the least, far more reserved.
So much has changed. Lemieux and Jagr gave way to Crosby and Malkin. Barrasso gave way to Marc-Andre Fleury; Phil Bourque gave way to Max Talbot. The Old Igloo has given way to the brilliant new Consol Energy Barn. Mike Lange has given way to Paul Steigerwald (admittedly the one change that we would all reverse in a heartbeat if possible).
And yet so much has stayed the same. Let us not forget that a franchise that endured so much losing and sorrow in its first two decades has lifted the cup three times in the past two decades. The Pens have turned post season success from an impossible dream to an annual expectations. And they have suited up an incredible list of superstars headlined by Lemieux, Jagr, Crosby, and Malkin. Such thoughts were inconceivable in the early 80s, when players were threatened with trades to the Burgh.
In short, a franchise that was once laughed at and mocked is now one of the class organizations in all of sports. Pittsburgh has become a destination spot for great hockey.
Could we have possibly had the foresight in 1991 to see this coming? Certainly not, nor did we care. At that point it was about nothing more than the moment, the incomprehensible idea that, “The Stanley Cup has come to the city of Pittsburgh" to quote Lange.
We had no foresight towards the repeat championship in 1992, nor the shocking collapse of the most dominant team in Penguin’s history two years later. We could not predict Mario’s back, Stevens’ face, Jagr’s moods, or Howard Baldwin’s reckless and unruly spending spree; all of which nearly ruined the team. We had no way of knowing how close our Penguins would come to extinction in the Burgh, before more Mario magic and a fortuitous ping pong ball returned them to prominence.
How could we? We could not even predict our own futures; college, relocations, jobs, wives, kids, and everything else. All of those things that define us today were unknowns 20 years ago. Our lives were blissfully simple back then. We were far more concerned about shutting down Minnesota’s white hot power play, than we were about graduation.
All we knew or cared about was that the impossible had happened; the Pittsburgh Penguins had brought home the Stanley Cup. It was the first time in my life that I truly felt the complete and total sports happiness that comes only with a championship. It was the year I truly became a Penguin fan for life.
Or better stated…twenty years to life.
ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY PENGUIN, BLESSED BE THE PENGUIN, FOR IT IS GOOD.
Throughout the 2010-11 season, Empty Netters has been running a feature entitled “Twenty Years Later” focusing on the 20 year anniversary of the Penguins first Stanley Cup championship. It includes recaps of every game played (often with awesome video footage) and interviews with key players from that team. Most of those players are long gone, with the notable exception of the ageless Marc Recchi. Remember when the Pens traded him in 1992, ostensibly because he was too small to survive long-term in the NHL?
Needless to say, I was thoroughly enjoying the walk down memory lane, until reality slapped me in the face this morning.
TWENTY YEARS ???
Is it really possible that today is the 20 year anniversary of one of the greatest moments in Pittsburgh sports history? Can it really be two decades since that magical season ended with Mario Lemieux lifting the franchise’s improbable first Stanley Cup?
Twenty freakin years?
Let’s see, we were 18 years old, seniors in high school when the Pens won that first championship. That would make me…never mind.
Was it not just yesterday that Mario Lemieux was the 18 year old French Canadian savior of Penguin hockey? No, that was 1984. Did I not wake up this morning to news that 18 year old Czech phenom Jaromir Jagr was coming to Pittsburgh? Sorry, 1990. I could swear that only in the last few minutes came reports that the Pens had acquired Ron Francis and Ulf Samuelsson from Hartford. That was 1991.
And now, Lemieux is the Penguins OWNER, Jagr is playing out the string in Europe and Francis and Samuelsson are both coaches and/or executives in the league. How on earth did this happen?
Here’s the thing; for me and a large portion of my audience, the Penguins are the first championship team we truly experienced. I have the vaguest of memories of the Steelers’ fourth Super Bowl in 1980; just as I have the vaguest of memories of dressing up as “the Fonz” for Halloween. I’ve said before that those first four Super Bowl championships are far more history to me than they are reality.
The Penguins however are different. We quite literally grew up together. It started with the drafting of Lemieux in 1984, the event that quite literally saved the franchise. It continued as Lemieux matured in to a superstar, and then possibly the most dominant player in NHL history. And it morphed in to a championship when the Penguins finally surrounded Le Magnifique with other championship caliber players.
I still remember dancing around my basement when the Pens acquired Paul Coffey in 1987. Finally, there was a second superstar, a player truly worthy of sharing the ice with Big 66. The other star pieces of the championship puzzle fell gradually in to place over the next three plus years; Barrasso, Recchi, Stevens, Jagr, Mullen, Trottier, Murphy, Francis, Samuelson, etc. It was a stunning build out for a club that for too long relied on other team’s leftovers.
I’m not sure today’s generation of Penguin fans can truly appreciate how impossible to fathom a Stanley Cup Championship was for us in 1991. That’s not to say we were not fully on board for the journey, we absolutely were. We just never dared allow ourselves such grandiose fantasies. Not for a team that had won exactly one playoff series in ten years.
For the most part all we knew were near misses and failures. I remember albeit vaguely the 1982 first round loss to the NY Islanders where the Pens blew a 2 goal lead in the final four minutes. I remember quite clearly blowing what should have been a slam dunk playoff appearance in 1988, in spite of Lemieux’s unwavering brilliance down the stretch. And there but for the grace of Steve Guenette go I.
The Penguins made missing the playoffs an annual event; at a time when over 75% of the league was honored annually with a post season bid.
That’s why we celebrated like drunken sailors when the 1991 Pens knocked of Washington in the second round. Going to the conference finals was new ground; a previously inconceivable destination. On a side note, would anyone have guessed then that the series would mark the beginning of two decades of torturing the Craps?
The Penguins had little or no history in those days. Now they have history to match any non original six team (and for my money one or two of them). The watershed moment for the franchise was the Stanley Cup exchange between Sidney Crosby and Lemieux in 2009? That past meets the present. To me having two completely separate eras of championship greatness is what defines a truly great organization, in any sport.
And yet I still can’t believe its been twenty years.
Twenty years since Frankie Pietrangelo’s save against New Jersey. Twenty years since Kevin Stevens guaranteed a victory over Boston after falling behind two games to none? Twenty years since Lemieux effectively destroyed John Casey’s career.
I guess it makes sense. In those days we would watch the games in Chris Cox’s basement and then play hockey in the driveway between periods (with your friendly neighborhood blogger flopping around on the asphalt making “Barrasso-like” saves”). We would celebrate any series victory by grabbing sticks out the garage and running around the block. Today’s game night activities are to say the least, far more reserved.
So much has changed. Lemieux and Jagr gave way to Crosby and Malkin. Barrasso gave way to Marc-Andre Fleury; Phil Bourque gave way to Max Talbot. The Old Igloo has given way to the brilliant new Consol Energy Barn. Mike Lange has given way to Paul Steigerwald (admittedly the one change that we would all reverse in a heartbeat if possible).
And yet so much has stayed the same. Let us not forget that a franchise that endured so much losing and sorrow in its first two decades has lifted the cup three times in the past two decades. The Pens have turned post season success from an impossible dream to an annual expectations. And they have suited up an incredible list of superstars headlined by Lemieux, Jagr, Crosby, and Malkin. Such thoughts were inconceivable in the early 80s, when players were threatened with trades to the Burgh.
In short, a franchise that was once laughed at and mocked is now one of the class organizations in all of sports. Pittsburgh has become a destination spot for great hockey.
Could we have possibly had the foresight in 1991 to see this coming? Certainly not, nor did we care. At that point it was about nothing more than the moment, the incomprehensible idea that, “The Stanley Cup has come to the city of Pittsburgh" to quote Lange.
We had no foresight towards the repeat championship in 1992, nor the shocking collapse of the most dominant team in Penguin’s history two years later. We could not predict Mario’s back, Stevens’ face, Jagr’s moods, or Howard Baldwin’s reckless and unruly spending spree; all of which nearly ruined the team. We had no way of knowing how close our Penguins would come to extinction in the Burgh, before more Mario magic and a fortuitous ping pong ball returned them to prominence.
How could we? We could not even predict our own futures; college, relocations, jobs, wives, kids, and everything else. All of those things that define us today were unknowns 20 years ago. Our lives were blissfully simple back then. We were far more concerned about shutting down Minnesota’s white hot power play, than we were about graduation.
All we knew or cared about was that the impossible had happened; the Pittsburgh Penguins had brought home the Stanley Cup. It was the first time in my life that I truly felt the complete and total sports happiness that comes only with a championship. It was the year I truly became a Penguin fan for life.
Or better stated…twenty years to life.
ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY PENGUIN, BLESSED BE THE PENGUIN, FOR IT IS GOOD.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Saying Hello to the New Igloo
For better or for worse, I spent the last hockey season waxing poetic about the demise of the Civic Arena, aka the old Igloo. I penned not one but two blogs delineating the lifetime of memories that I and all Penguin fans acquired in that unique but antiquated building.
And so it is only appropriate that I blog the same appreciation for the new Consol energy Center in the Burgh.
This magnificent new building is as far superior to its predecessor as the current Penguins are to the hopeless, pre Mario teams of the mid 80s. I have attended games in a dozen arenas throughout the United States and Canada and I can say this with some degree of confidence; the Consol Energy Center ranks with or above any and all of them. It is the kind of first class facility that both the Penguins and the city of Pittsburgh richly deserve.
I’m not here to trample on the Igloo’s grave. I freely admit that as Emily and I walked up the hill towards the new facility, I felt a tinge of sadness taking in the now empty Civic Arena. A rush of memories flooded my brain, just as they did last March on my final visit. As I noted at the time, it might be a dump, but its our dump.
The Igloo was distinctly Pittsburgh and the physical embodiment of the Penguin’s franchise. It was also the last truly unique structure standing in the National Hockey League. To some degree its unfortunate that it never got the same respect as the “vintage” old buildings in Chicago, Boston, Toronto or Montreal.
None of which should obscure the reality that its time had long since past.
To be honest, I always felt that the Igloo gave the Penguins a bit of a bush league feel around the National Hockey League. The Penguins have a history that ranks with any team outside of the original six (and maybe some of them). That history demands a certain level of respect in the hockey world. I can’t help but think that more than a few hockey folk, especially from north of the boarder, refused to give it to a team playing essentially in a minor league facility.
Rest assured, that will no longer be the case.
I remember my first visit to the United Center in Chicago. It was 1996 and to that point in my life I had seen only the Igloo and the horrific and lifeless Mausoleum on Long Island. I was absolutely shocked when I entered the UC. I could not believe the large, open, well lit concourses, the nearly perfect sightlines, or the flat out enormity of the building. I remarked at the time that the Igloo could easily fit inside the UC.
Little did I know then that the UC was not an aberration, the Igloo was. Chicago’s new edifice is bigger than most arenas but almost all the new buildings share its basic constructs. I noted this in Los Angeles, San Jose, Minnesota, Toronto, Carolina, Tampa and St’Louis. Quite honestly, I never looked at our quaint little dome in Pittsburgh the same way again. From that day forward I recognized the desperate need to upgrade the Penguin’s home.
The Consol Energy Center is a monumental upgrade to say the least.
Over the succeeding 15 years I could no longer overlook the glaring deficiencies of the Igloo. The cramped concourses and seating areas. The poor views, especially in the covered ends. The back-up goaltenders sitting in the runway on a folding chair, the coaches sliding across the ice, etc, etc. There was a time when this was the typical experience in the NHL but that time had long since passed.
And that covers the areas we could see. It was pretty common knowledge that the Igloo’s locker rooms and training areas were not exactly state of the art. I can’t help but picture the disgusted looks on the faces of visiting players, who were changing in locker rooms equivalent to those from my high school soccer days (though picturing that look on Alex Ovechkin’s face does bring a sly smile).
Anyway, enough about the past, this is about the present and the future.
Let me start by saying that there does not appear to be a bad seat in the new building. I can say this because we sat in pretty much the worst seats in the place for two straight days. We were directly behind the net in the top five rows of the upper deck. And we had brilliant, unobstructed views of the entire ice. The height of the upper deck is solid, although it might freak out those who knew only the old E and F balconies across the street.
The New Igloo is lined with glass providing some terrific (though in some cases obstructed) views of downtown Pittsburgh. You take this in as you ride escalaters, yes escalaters to the upper balconies. No more sprinting up long runways or narrow stairwells. I’ll take it on faith or from Dan Potash that these locker rooms and training areas are indeed state of the art.
Perhaps most impressive, the building pays homage to the great history of the Penguins. For all of the non stop blathering about the original six, I will argue that few franchises can match the accomplishments of the Penguins, at least since they were raised to prominence by a quiet French Canadian simply known as “Le Magnifique.”
Emily and I spent a good half hour after Friday’s game watching video highlights of all time Penguin greats (she insisted that we first check out Tom Barrasso and who am I to argue with that?). We also watched videos of great moments in Penguin’s history (Petr Nedved in the 4th overtime) and used a spectacular program to get up close and personal looks at the Stanley Cup.
Between these features, murals of current and past players, and the numerous banners hanging in the rafters, the building is a living, breathing monument to its primary tenant. It is not some lifeless edifice like in St’Louis or Carolina. Just as I saw murals of Gordie Howe and Terry Sawchuck in Detroit, I saw murals of Rick Kehoe, Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr in Pittsburgh.
And unlike Detroit, we can now get in and out of the men’s room with out missing half a period of action.
The New Igloo, even with its glass exterior, does lack the unique exterior charm of its predecessor and sadly is not located on prime viewing real estate. So be it. This is a miniscule price to pay for a thousand fold improvement in quality. Take this from a Chicago resident who deals with the brilliant new interior of Soldier Field obscured by an alien abomination of site on the outside.
The building was a bit quiet at times but I will chalk that up to holiday afternoon games and not playing prime rivals. It got awfully loud when Marc Andre Fleury robbed Ottawa on Friday and/or Sidney Crosby finished off his third consecutive thanksgiving Saturday hat trick against Calgary.
Of course the one place the new Igloo is completely deficient is in history and memories. You can’t buy or rush those in to being. It will take time for the Pens to turn their new house in to a home. The visions of Mario’s criminal dissection of Shawn Chambers and John Casey or Ron Francis’ 95 foot slap shot through Mike Richter will always be across the street. We will never know Gary Roberts taunting all of Ottawa at the new barn.
That being said, I anxiously await the creation of those new memories. I took in two this weekend which is a tremendous start. With this young and brilliantly talented Penguin team, I expect many more in short order. The new generation of Penguins can build on their championship legacy, while working in a first class environment. Honestly, I had to pinch myself repeatedly to make sure I was not dreaming the experience.
We should not forget that work that Lemieux put in to making this happen. I understand that his motivations were not entirely altruistic but let us never forget that Big 66 ultimately saved the franchise one final time. He could have taken the money and run to Kansas City or Las Vegas but he did his best to keep the Penguins in the Burgh. It is truly mind boggling to consider where the Penguins sit today when you consider how bleak things looked at the turn of the century.
The Old Igloo now awaits its date with the wrecking ball (even as the new one has already hosted the ageless Recchin ball). It will be a truly sad day for me when that occurs. I’m sure I’ll deal with and perhaps blog about a wealth of emotions when that happens.
Alas it is time to move forward. As a great fictional ship captain once said, “it should be noted that this death takes place in the shadow of new life.” For the Penguins and their fans, the death of the igloo is the genesis of new life at the Con. The new building is the future; a future the Penguins truly deserve.
In fitting tribute to our old friend Badger Bob, every day now truly is, “A great day for hockey,” at least in the Burgh.
ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY PENGUIN, BLESSED BE THE PENGUIN…FOR IT IS GOOD.
And so it is only appropriate that I blog the same appreciation for the new Consol energy Center in the Burgh.
This magnificent new building is as far superior to its predecessor as the current Penguins are to the hopeless, pre Mario teams of the mid 80s. I have attended games in a dozen arenas throughout the United States and Canada and I can say this with some degree of confidence; the Consol Energy Center ranks with or above any and all of them. It is the kind of first class facility that both the Penguins and the city of Pittsburgh richly deserve.
I’m not here to trample on the Igloo’s grave. I freely admit that as Emily and I walked up the hill towards the new facility, I felt a tinge of sadness taking in the now empty Civic Arena. A rush of memories flooded my brain, just as they did last March on my final visit. As I noted at the time, it might be a dump, but its our dump.
The Igloo was distinctly Pittsburgh and the physical embodiment of the Penguin’s franchise. It was also the last truly unique structure standing in the National Hockey League. To some degree its unfortunate that it never got the same respect as the “vintage” old buildings in Chicago, Boston, Toronto or Montreal.
None of which should obscure the reality that its time had long since past.
To be honest, I always felt that the Igloo gave the Penguins a bit of a bush league feel around the National Hockey League. The Penguins have a history that ranks with any team outside of the original six (and maybe some of them). That history demands a certain level of respect in the hockey world. I can’t help but think that more than a few hockey folk, especially from north of the boarder, refused to give it to a team playing essentially in a minor league facility.
Rest assured, that will no longer be the case.
I remember my first visit to the United Center in Chicago. It was 1996 and to that point in my life I had seen only the Igloo and the horrific and lifeless Mausoleum on Long Island. I was absolutely shocked when I entered the UC. I could not believe the large, open, well lit concourses, the nearly perfect sightlines, or the flat out enormity of the building. I remarked at the time that the Igloo could easily fit inside the UC.
Little did I know then that the UC was not an aberration, the Igloo was. Chicago’s new edifice is bigger than most arenas but almost all the new buildings share its basic constructs. I noted this in Los Angeles, San Jose, Minnesota, Toronto, Carolina, Tampa and St’Louis. Quite honestly, I never looked at our quaint little dome in Pittsburgh the same way again. From that day forward I recognized the desperate need to upgrade the Penguin’s home.
The Consol Energy Center is a monumental upgrade to say the least.
Over the succeeding 15 years I could no longer overlook the glaring deficiencies of the Igloo. The cramped concourses and seating areas. The poor views, especially in the covered ends. The back-up goaltenders sitting in the runway on a folding chair, the coaches sliding across the ice, etc, etc. There was a time when this was the typical experience in the NHL but that time had long since passed.
And that covers the areas we could see. It was pretty common knowledge that the Igloo’s locker rooms and training areas were not exactly state of the art. I can’t help but picture the disgusted looks on the faces of visiting players, who were changing in locker rooms equivalent to those from my high school soccer days (though picturing that look on Alex Ovechkin’s face does bring a sly smile).
Anyway, enough about the past, this is about the present and the future.
Let me start by saying that there does not appear to be a bad seat in the new building. I can say this because we sat in pretty much the worst seats in the place for two straight days. We were directly behind the net in the top five rows of the upper deck. And we had brilliant, unobstructed views of the entire ice. The height of the upper deck is solid, although it might freak out those who knew only the old E and F balconies across the street.
The New Igloo is lined with glass providing some terrific (though in some cases obstructed) views of downtown Pittsburgh. You take this in as you ride escalaters, yes escalaters to the upper balconies. No more sprinting up long runways or narrow stairwells. I’ll take it on faith or from Dan Potash that these locker rooms and training areas are indeed state of the art.
Perhaps most impressive, the building pays homage to the great history of the Penguins. For all of the non stop blathering about the original six, I will argue that few franchises can match the accomplishments of the Penguins, at least since they were raised to prominence by a quiet French Canadian simply known as “Le Magnifique.”
Emily and I spent a good half hour after Friday’s game watching video highlights of all time Penguin greats (she insisted that we first check out Tom Barrasso and who am I to argue with that?). We also watched videos of great moments in Penguin’s history (Petr Nedved in the 4th overtime) and used a spectacular program to get up close and personal looks at the Stanley Cup.
Between these features, murals of current and past players, and the numerous banners hanging in the rafters, the building is a living, breathing monument to its primary tenant. It is not some lifeless edifice like in St’Louis or Carolina. Just as I saw murals of Gordie Howe and Terry Sawchuck in Detroit, I saw murals of Rick Kehoe, Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr in Pittsburgh.
And unlike Detroit, we can now get in and out of the men’s room with out missing half a period of action.
The New Igloo, even with its glass exterior, does lack the unique exterior charm of its predecessor and sadly is not located on prime viewing real estate. So be it. This is a miniscule price to pay for a thousand fold improvement in quality. Take this from a Chicago resident who deals with the brilliant new interior of Soldier Field obscured by an alien abomination of site on the outside.
The building was a bit quiet at times but I will chalk that up to holiday afternoon games and not playing prime rivals. It got awfully loud when Marc Andre Fleury robbed Ottawa on Friday and/or Sidney Crosby finished off his third consecutive thanksgiving Saturday hat trick against Calgary.
Of course the one place the new Igloo is completely deficient is in history and memories. You can’t buy or rush those in to being. It will take time for the Pens to turn their new house in to a home. The visions of Mario’s criminal dissection of Shawn Chambers and John Casey or Ron Francis’ 95 foot slap shot through Mike Richter will always be across the street. We will never know Gary Roberts taunting all of Ottawa at the new barn.
That being said, I anxiously await the creation of those new memories. I took in two this weekend which is a tremendous start. With this young and brilliantly talented Penguin team, I expect many more in short order. The new generation of Penguins can build on their championship legacy, while working in a first class environment. Honestly, I had to pinch myself repeatedly to make sure I was not dreaming the experience.
We should not forget that work that Lemieux put in to making this happen. I understand that his motivations were not entirely altruistic but let us never forget that Big 66 ultimately saved the franchise one final time. He could have taken the money and run to Kansas City or Las Vegas but he did his best to keep the Penguins in the Burgh. It is truly mind boggling to consider where the Penguins sit today when you consider how bleak things looked at the turn of the century.
The Old Igloo now awaits its date with the wrecking ball (even as the new one has already hosted the ageless Recchin ball). It will be a truly sad day for me when that occurs. I’m sure I’ll deal with and perhaps blog about a wealth of emotions when that happens.
Alas it is time to move forward. As a great fictional ship captain once said, “it should be noted that this death takes place in the shadow of new life.” For the Penguins and their fans, the death of the igloo is the genesis of new life at the Con. The new building is the future; a future the Penguins truly deserve.
In fitting tribute to our old friend Badger Bob, every day now truly is, “A great day for hockey,” at least in the Burgh.
ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY PENGUIN, BLESSED BE THE PENGUIN…FOR IT IS GOOD.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Penguins Need to Sit Fleury…For Now
For the past 20 years or so, Sports Illustrated has run a piece called, “this week’s sign of the apocalypse.” Within that context, those who know me might think that this week’s blog entry is a campaign to get me in next week’s issue.
I can just see it now. This week’s sign of the apocalypse, “noted Penguin goaltending freak and massive Marc-Andre Fleury fan Adam Haberman wrote an internet blog where he made this statement…the Penguins should bench Fleury and run with Brent Johnson for awhile.”
There it is, clear, concise, and in writing. I am comforted that in the 30 seconds or so since I typed that paragraph, life continues to thrive on the planet earth. I can also assure you that I was not kidnapped and replaced by aliens (or Philly fans) on my honeymoon.
Ok, let’s come to grips with what I am and am not saying.
I am saying that Brent Johnson should start the next game in goal for the Penguins. I’m also saying that if he plays well, he should start the one after that. In fact, I think the Pens should run with Johnson for a few weeks if he continues to play at a high level.
I am not saying that Marc-Andre Fleury should be demoted, traded, or sent on another African safari. I am by no mean suggesting that there is or should be a goaltending controversy in the Burgh. In the end, the Penguins can not win a Stanley Cup with Brent Johnson in goal. He’s a back-up goaltender and as we know water ultimately finds its level. If there is going to be another Cup parade in the Burgh, Marc-Andre Fleury needs to be in goal, and at his best.
Which is what has lead me to this frightening crossroads just three games in to the 2010-11 season.
I have passionately defended Fleury in many forums including this one as recently as last May. I’m a firm believer in the Flower. He has his ups and downs, as does every goaltender in the NHL. That being said, he also has two trips to the Stanley Cup finals and a game 7 cup victory on his resume. Very few goaltenders can say that.
We are still talking about a man who led the Pens to 30 playoff victories in two years. We are still talking about a man who stopped two future hall of famers on point blank chances, in game 7’s on the road. With all due respect, I’m not sure Brent Johnson makes those saves.
Which is not the point.
The point is right now I’m not sure Fleury makes those saves either. And even if he does, I’m not sure he does not give up a Michael Leighton style softball 30 seconds later. That point was driven home on Saturday night when Fleury gave up a goal that Johnson (or for that matter Disque) certainly would have stopped in the final minutes against Montreal (though I’m remain unsure about Leighton).
For the last three years, the Penguins philosophy with Fleury has basically been you are the man, bar none. If you have a bad game, we will throw you right back out there the next night. I wholeheartedly agree with that. It’s the way you should handle a proven #1 goaltender in the NHL. At least as long as he lives up to his end of the bargain.
For most of his career in the Burgh, Fleury has done so. For most of calendar year 2010, he has not. He struggled in the second half of last season, in last season’s playoffs, and certainly in his first two starts.
And now its time for some accountability.
I actually thought Fleury played pretty well against Montreal, right up to the Gomez game winner. I don’t expect a goaltender to make every save but you simply can not allow that goal at any time, let along the last two minutes of a hockey game. Unfortunately, we saw a few of those in last year’s playoff series against Montreal as well.
So now Dan Bylsma needs to change the message to MAF. The message has to be that he must reestablish his position with his play on the ice. I don’t come to this decision lightly (thus the whole apocalypse comparison above) but we are there. To be honest, it’s not as dramatic you may think and there is absolutely precedent for it in the Burgh.
I would argue that the best Fleury has ever played as a Penguin was the last two months of the 2007-08 season and the playoffs that followed. You may recall that he spent half that season recovering from an ankle injury. During his absence, Ty Conklin played so brilliantly in net that many thought Conklin should remain the starter (yes, that really happened, seriously, I’m not making it up). The Penguins basically told Fleury he would have to earn the job back. And to be clear, he did…in brilliant fashion
That makes me consider at least the possibility that Fleury raises his level when he has some competition for his job, real or perceived.
The other precedent occurred in 1990. You may recall that season ended with a Penguin Stanley Cup celebration. It started with a mild goaltending controversy. It’s long since been forgotten but for the first two plus months of that season, Bob Johnson was basically rotating three goaltenders, Tom Barrasso, Frank Pietrangelo, and Wendell Young.
I readily concede that I lack any kind of objectivity when evaluating Barrasso. That being said, I think it’s fair to say that he was a far better goaltender than either of the gentlemen mentioned in the paragraph above. To be honest, it’s not even close. Barrasso is a borderline hall of famer. Frankie Pete and Young were borderline NHL players.
It’s easy to forget that Barrasso was coming off a difficult season in 1989-90; both on and off the ice. Regardless, his play in the first two months of the following year was lacking and Badger Bob responded by putting his rear end on the bench. I doubt that played well with Barrasso who could be shall we say, a bit prickly at times.
Regardless, it worked. Somewhere along the way, Johnson’s message got through. Just about the time that Pittsburgh reporters were pressing trade rumors, Barrasso found his ‘A’ game and started a brilliant run that ended with back to back cups. I can’t guarantee that Johnson’s decision to bench Tommy was the reason but I have a feeling it sent a message. In short, regardless of your pedigree, you have to earn your job. Remember, the Pens did not need Barrasso to be good, they needed him to be championship caliber.
Right now I think Bylsma needs to send that same message to Fleury. Right now that message is more critical than the “we believe in you and we know you can bounce back” message. Fleury seems a bit too comfortable to me and his play is not living up to the comfort level. Sometimes we all need a little push.
I don’t think I even need to say this given my audience but let me be clear regardless. I am not suggesting Fleury is solely responsible for the Pens failures last season. Far from it. All you need to do is watch the first 30 minutes of game 7 against Montreal to realize that. Get beyond the series long disappearance of Crosby and Malkin and just watch how many brutal, and I mean BRUTAL, defensive mistakes the Pens made in that game. It was emblematic of a series in which the entire team underachieved.
Nor am I suggesting Fleury is solely to blame for the Pens 1-2 start. To be honest, I’m concerned with what I’ve seen so far. Even yesterday’s win over the Devils was disconcerting given that New Jersey was forced to play three men short handed a la Gene Hackman’s team in Hoosiers. I half expected John McLean to play with four men and tell the ref, “My team is on the ice!”
(Quick aside, watching the Devils play with 17 men yesterday is maybe the best example of sports justice I’ve ever seen. I can not describe my joy in watching Lou Lamoriello’s team pay over and over for his mockery of the salary cap that was that absurd and asinine Kovalchuk contract. I truly, truly hope that this was the first step in Sammy Sosa on skates destroying that franchise for the next 15 years).
Still, the Pens can not win without Fleury at his best, and right now he’s just not there. Sometimes great coaching means a little tough love. That’s what Dan Bylsma needs to do to help Fleury regain his ‘A’ game. It’s worked before, and I fully expect it will work again.
I can just see it now. This week’s sign of the apocalypse, “noted Penguin goaltending freak and massive Marc-Andre Fleury fan Adam Haberman wrote an internet blog where he made this statement…the Penguins should bench Fleury and run with Brent Johnson for awhile.”
There it is, clear, concise, and in writing. I am comforted that in the 30 seconds or so since I typed that paragraph, life continues to thrive on the planet earth. I can also assure you that I was not kidnapped and replaced by aliens (or Philly fans) on my honeymoon.
Ok, let’s come to grips with what I am and am not saying.
I am saying that Brent Johnson should start the next game in goal for the Penguins. I’m also saying that if he plays well, he should start the one after that. In fact, I think the Pens should run with Johnson for a few weeks if he continues to play at a high level.
I am not saying that Marc-Andre Fleury should be demoted, traded, or sent on another African safari. I am by no mean suggesting that there is or should be a goaltending controversy in the Burgh. In the end, the Penguins can not win a Stanley Cup with Brent Johnson in goal. He’s a back-up goaltender and as we know water ultimately finds its level. If there is going to be another Cup parade in the Burgh, Marc-Andre Fleury needs to be in goal, and at his best.
Which is what has lead me to this frightening crossroads just three games in to the 2010-11 season.
I have passionately defended Fleury in many forums including this one as recently as last May. I’m a firm believer in the Flower. He has his ups and downs, as does every goaltender in the NHL. That being said, he also has two trips to the Stanley Cup finals and a game 7 cup victory on his resume. Very few goaltenders can say that.
We are still talking about a man who led the Pens to 30 playoff victories in two years. We are still talking about a man who stopped two future hall of famers on point blank chances, in game 7’s on the road. With all due respect, I’m not sure Brent Johnson makes those saves.
Which is not the point.
The point is right now I’m not sure Fleury makes those saves either. And even if he does, I’m not sure he does not give up a Michael Leighton style softball 30 seconds later. That point was driven home on Saturday night when Fleury gave up a goal that Johnson (or for that matter Disque) certainly would have stopped in the final minutes against Montreal (though I’m remain unsure about Leighton).
For the last three years, the Penguins philosophy with Fleury has basically been you are the man, bar none. If you have a bad game, we will throw you right back out there the next night. I wholeheartedly agree with that. It’s the way you should handle a proven #1 goaltender in the NHL. At least as long as he lives up to his end of the bargain.
For most of his career in the Burgh, Fleury has done so. For most of calendar year 2010, he has not. He struggled in the second half of last season, in last season’s playoffs, and certainly in his first two starts.
And now its time for some accountability.
I actually thought Fleury played pretty well against Montreal, right up to the Gomez game winner. I don’t expect a goaltender to make every save but you simply can not allow that goal at any time, let along the last two minutes of a hockey game. Unfortunately, we saw a few of those in last year’s playoff series against Montreal as well.
So now Dan Bylsma needs to change the message to MAF. The message has to be that he must reestablish his position with his play on the ice. I don’t come to this decision lightly (thus the whole apocalypse comparison above) but we are there. To be honest, it’s not as dramatic you may think and there is absolutely precedent for it in the Burgh.
I would argue that the best Fleury has ever played as a Penguin was the last two months of the 2007-08 season and the playoffs that followed. You may recall that he spent half that season recovering from an ankle injury. During his absence, Ty Conklin played so brilliantly in net that many thought Conklin should remain the starter (yes, that really happened, seriously, I’m not making it up). The Penguins basically told Fleury he would have to earn the job back. And to be clear, he did…in brilliant fashion
That makes me consider at least the possibility that Fleury raises his level when he has some competition for his job, real or perceived.
The other precedent occurred in 1990. You may recall that season ended with a Penguin Stanley Cup celebration. It started with a mild goaltending controversy. It’s long since been forgotten but for the first two plus months of that season, Bob Johnson was basically rotating three goaltenders, Tom Barrasso, Frank Pietrangelo, and Wendell Young.
I readily concede that I lack any kind of objectivity when evaluating Barrasso. That being said, I think it’s fair to say that he was a far better goaltender than either of the gentlemen mentioned in the paragraph above. To be honest, it’s not even close. Barrasso is a borderline hall of famer. Frankie Pete and Young were borderline NHL players.
It’s easy to forget that Barrasso was coming off a difficult season in 1989-90; both on and off the ice. Regardless, his play in the first two months of the following year was lacking and Badger Bob responded by putting his rear end on the bench. I doubt that played well with Barrasso who could be shall we say, a bit prickly at times.
Regardless, it worked. Somewhere along the way, Johnson’s message got through. Just about the time that Pittsburgh reporters were pressing trade rumors, Barrasso found his ‘A’ game and started a brilliant run that ended with back to back cups. I can’t guarantee that Johnson’s decision to bench Tommy was the reason but I have a feeling it sent a message. In short, regardless of your pedigree, you have to earn your job. Remember, the Pens did not need Barrasso to be good, they needed him to be championship caliber.
Right now I think Bylsma needs to send that same message to Fleury. Right now that message is more critical than the “we believe in you and we know you can bounce back” message. Fleury seems a bit too comfortable to me and his play is not living up to the comfort level. Sometimes we all need a little push.
I don’t think I even need to say this given my audience but let me be clear regardless. I am not suggesting Fleury is solely responsible for the Pens failures last season. Far from it. All you need to do is watch the first 30 minutes of game 7 against Montreal to realize that. Get beyond the series long disappearance of Crosby and Malkin and just watch how many brutal, and I mean BRUTAL, defensive mistakes the Pens made in that game. It was emblematic of a series in which the entire team underachieved.
Nor am I suggesting Fleury is solely to blame for the Pens 1-2 start. To be honest, I’m concerned with what I’ve seen so far. Even yesterday’s win over the Devils was disconcerting given that New Jersey was forced to play three men short handed a la Gene Hackman’s team in Hoosiers. I half expected John McLean to play with four men and tell the ref, “My team is on the ice!”
(Quick aside, watching the Devils play with 17 men yesterday is maybe the best example of sports justice I’ve ever seen. I can not describe my joy in watching Lou Lamoriello’s team pay over and over for his mockery of the salary cap that was that absurd and asinine Kovalchuk contract. I truly, truly hope that this was the first step in Sammy Sosa on skates destroying that franchise for the next 15 years).
Still, the Pens can not win without Fleury at his best, and right now he’s just not there. Sometimes great coaching means a little tough love. That’s what Dan Bylsma needs to do to help Fleury regain his ‘A’ game. It’s worked before, and I fully expect it will work again.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Saying Goodbye is Hard to Do
Root for the logo on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back. That’s what they tell sports fans in the modern world of free agency and salary caps.
Ideally, this is supposed to mean that the team is far more important than any one player. Realistically, it means don’t get attached to individual players because every one of them is on borrowed time with that organization.
I learned this lesson the hard way in 1992, back when such lessons were relatively new in the sports world. I will never claim that I was the most devout or devoted Pirate fan but I was a fan. If you doubt the veracity of my claim, I’ll happily dial up my good friend the Kapper and let him regale you with stories about the 50 or so Pirate games we went to over four years.
My fandom stopped short just about the time that Barry Bonds, Doug Drabek and anyone else who could play bolted for the free agent door. The Pirates turned into a glorified minor league team that day and 18 years later, little has changed.
I learned the lesson far more poignantly in 2000 when the Pens parted ways with Tommy Barrasso.
By the time the deal was made, it was abundantly clear that Barrasso’s time in the Burgh had long since passed. He was no longer playing at an elite level and sadly had become an increasingly difficulty presence in the locker room. When Ottawa came calling with an offer of two players who could help the team right then and there (including the illustrious Ron Tugnutt of five overtime fame), the deal had to be made. I knew it, which means everyone on earth knew it.
And the day it happened, I was crushed.
I remember when rumors of the deal started to spread. The internet was in its infancy then and we did not have 300 news organizations firing off rumors before they occurred. By the time word was spreading of a Barrasso deal, it was done. I clearly remember a stream of emails, started from Chiodo central in Philadelphia, the theme of which was…has anybody heard from Habe? Are we sure he’s safe?
I can laugh at it now and on some level it was funny then too. It was intended to be a joke but it definitely fell in line with the idea that often in humor there is a significantly serious element. My friends were joking about how devastated I would be by the trade of my all time favorite player but in all honesty, I think they really were worried about me.
Again, I knew Tommy had to go. And I kept telling myself that I root for the Penguins, not Barrasso. I had been eased into the deep end of the pool by his decreasing presence on the ice that season. And it still took me awhile to recover. I rattled off an email to the group, reminding them of the good all days (at that time) when the Pens were winning Stanley Cups and Barrasso was known purely as a great goaltender. At this risk of dropping into a ridiculously sappy 80s reference, those were indeed the best days of my life (that’s for you Weet).
Since that time I’ve had more practice in dealing with the harsh reality of modern sports. I watched the Pens dump Jagr, Kovalev, and then the whole team at the start of this decade. I dealt with Mario’s retirement. And now of course I’m dealing with this whole Ben Roethlisberger mess which is in some ways worse.
Seriously, what would be harder, dealing with Ben leaving the Steelers over free agency or constantly debating whether it’s ok to like him and root for him? It’s the ultimate indignity of fandom. We mocked San Francisco fans for their unabashed love of Bonds and his steroid induced home run record. Are San Francisco fans now mocking us for standing behind Ben? Or is Ben to some extent a victim of immaturity, bad decisions, and the 24 hour media cycle?
Alas, that’s a topic for a different day.
I bring all this up because yesterday I got another lesson in loss and how much it can hurt, through the eyes of my wife Emily. The Blackhawks made the decision to part with their Stanley Cup goaltender Antti Niemi. To say Niemi was her favorite player would be a comparable understatement to saying I was a Barrasso fan in the 90s. Rest assured, Antti Niemi did not have a bigger fan outside of Finland than Emily Seto.
As early as last October, when the Hawks were winning in spite of the nightly Cristobal Huet five hole give away, Emily was already trumpeting Niemi. She kept asking why he was only playing one of five games even though that one game always seemed to be shutout. The only answer I could give was that the Hawks were trying to justify Dale Tallon’s outrageous, post all night drinking binge contract to Huet.
The irony in all this is that two years ago, the Hawks were throwing out $5.6 Million to a borderline NHL starter with a history of going soft in big games. Two years later they walked away from a young, talented, Stanley Cup winning goaltender for basically half that price. They are not alone in this. I spewed out a blog last week about the devaluation of goaltending this year and Niemi is just the latest and most egregious example.
Even worse, ten year veteran Marty Turco signed on for what is essentially back-up wages. Ironically, Turco reportedly turned down a multi-year deal in Philly for this one year deal because it gave him “the best chance to win the Stanley Cup.” Gee, where have I heard that one before.
We were at the Blackhawks convention this weekend and listening to general manager Stan Bowman talk made two things clear. First, Scotty’s kid is better than Sominex if you find you can’t sleep at night. And second, Niemi’s days in Chicago were somewhere between waning and numbered. Bowman would not even mention his Stanley Cup goaltender by name. He just kept talking about how its about the team and not about one player. I believe Emily’s comment at the time was something to the effect of, that’s not what I wanted to hear.
I guess in retrospect I should not be shocked by this. Stan’s legendary father won eight Stanley Cups with Ken Dryden and Barrasso but he also won two with Chris Osgood. Somewhere along the way, Bowman became a believer that you don’t need great goaltending to win. I call it the Osgoodification of the NHL and it’s a trend I’ve come to truly detest.
That being said, let’s remember something about Osgood. For as much as he flops around like a beached whale, for as awkward and slow as he often looks in net, the man does seem to make the big save at the big time. I maintain that had Detroit not switched from the washed up Dominik Hasek to Osgood in 2008, the Pens would have won back to back championships. For as much as I don’t like Osgood, his career suggests that he was at his best in big games. That’s the definition of great goaltending in my mind.
That’s what Marc Andre Fleury did for the Pens in both 2008 and 2009. And that’s what Antti Niemi did for the Hawks last year. The fact that he does not have Patrick Roy’s pedigree is irrelevant. Over four rounds of the most intense, stressful, and pressure packed games in any sport, Niemi made the big save when it had to be made. And the Hawks thought so little of that they replaced him with a guy who in his prime was exactly the opposite; a regular season star and a playoff choker.
And let me be clear, Marty Turco’s prime ended with a thud around 2008. As Hossa-like as Turco’s cup desire might be, it does not change the fact that if somebody was offering him 3 years, $12 Million, Turco would not have signed with the Hawks for Scott Clemnensen wages. It’s buyer beware when you go on the cheap at the most important position in sports, even if it means fighting with the all mighty salary cap.
In any event, that’s a story for another day.
The story for today is about saying goodbye and how hard it is to do. It’s about understanding that it’s ok to feel a sense of loss when your favorite player departs. It’s about knowing the harsh reality of sports in any era; we root for the name on the back of the jersey as much as the name on the front. We’re human and we’re fans. We just can’t help ourselves.
Goodbye Antti and good luck; we will miss you.
Ideally, this is supposed to mean that the team is far more important than any one player. Realistically, it means don’t get attached to individual players because every one of them is on borrowed time with that organization.
I learned this lesson the hard way in 1992, back when such lessons were relatively new in the sports world. I will never claim that I was the most devout or devoted Pirate fan but I was a fan. If you doubt the veracity of my claim, I’ll happily dial up my good friend the Kapper and let him regale you with stories about the 50 or so Pirate games we went to over four years.
My fandom stopped short just about the time that Barry Bonds, Doug Drabek and anyone else who could play bolted for the free agent door. The Pirates turned into a glorified minor league team that day and 18 years later, little has changed.
I learned the lesson far more poignantly in 2000 when the Pens parted ways with Tommy Barrasso.
By the time the deal was made, it was abundantly clear that Barrasso’s time in the Burgh had long since passed. He was no longer playing at an elite level and sadly had become an increasingly difficulty presence in the locker room. When Ottawa came calling with an offer of two players who could help the team right then and there (including the illustrious Ron Tugnutt of five overtime fame), the deal had to be made. I knew it, which means everyone on earth knew it.
And the day it happened, I was crushed.
I remember when rumors of the deal started to spread. The internet was in its infancy then and we did not have 300 news organizations firing off rumors before they occurred. By the time word was spreading of a Barrasso deal, it was done. I clearly remember a stream of emails, started from Chiodo central in Philadelphia, the theme of which was…has anybody heard from Habe? Are we sure he’s safe?
I can laugh at it now and on some level it was funny then too. It was intended to be a joke but it definitely fell in line with the idea that often in humor there is a significantly serious element. My friends were joking about how devastated I would be by the trade of my all time favorite player but in all honesty, I think they really were worried about me.
Again, I knew Tommy had to go. And I kept telling myself that I root for the Penguins, not Barrasso. I had been eased into the deep end of the pool by his decreasing presence on the ice that season. And it still took me awhile to recover. I rattled off an email to the group, reminding them of the good all days (at that time) when the Pens were winning Stanley Cups and Barrasso was known purely as a great goaltender. At this risk of dropping into a ridiculously sappy 80s reference, those were indeed the best days of my life (that’s for you Weet).
Since that time I’ve had more practice in dealing with the harsh reality of modern sports. I watched the Pens dump Jagr, Kovalev, and then the whole team at the start of this decade. I dealt with Mario’s retirement. And now of course I’m dealing with this whole Ben Roethlisberger mess which is in some ways worse.
Seriously, what would be harder, dealing with Ben leaving the Steelers over free agency or constantly debating whether it’s ok to like him and root for him? It’s the ultimate indignity of fandom. We mocked San Francisco fans for their unabashed love of Bonds and his steroid induced home run record. Are San Francisco fans now mocking us for standing behind Ben? Or is Ben to some extent a victim of immaturity, bad decisions, and the 24 hour media cycle?
Alas, that’s a topic for a different day.
I bring all this up because yesterday I got another lesson in loss and how much it can hurt, through the eyes of my wife Emily. The Blackhawks made the decision to part with their Stanley Cup goaltender Antti Niemi. To say Niemi was her favorite player would be a comparable understatement to saying I was a Barrasso fan in the 90s. Rest assured, Antti Niemi did not have a bigger fan outside of Finland than Emily Seto.
As early as last October, when the Hawks were winning in spite of the nightly Cristobal Huet five hole give away, Emily was already trumpeting Niemi. She kept asking why he was only playing one of five games even though that one game always seemed to be shutout. The only answer I could give was that the Hawks were trying to justify Dale Tallon’s outrageous, post all night drinking binge contract to Huet.
The irony in all this is that two years ago, the Hawks were throwing out $5.6 Million to a borderline NHL starter with a history of going soft in big games. Two years later they walked away from a young, talented, Stanley Cup winning goaltender for basically half that price. They are not alone in this. I spewed out a blog last week about the devaluation of goaltending this year and Niemi is just the latest and most egregious example.
Even worse, ten year veteran Marty Turco signed on for what is essentially back-up wages. Ironically, Turco reportedly turned down a multi-year deal in Philly for this one year deal because it gave him “the best chance to win the Stanley Cup.” Gee, where have I heard that one before.
We were at the Blackhawks convention this weekend and listening to general manager Stan Bowman talk made two things clear. First, Scotty’s kid is better than Sominex if you find you can’t sleep at night. And second, Niemi’s days in Chicago were somewhere between waning and numbered. Bowman would not even mention his Stanley Cup goaltender by name. He just kept talking about how its about the team and not about one player. I believe Emily’s comment at the time was something to the effect of, that’s not what I wanted to hear.
I guess in retrospect I should not be shocked by this. Stan’s legendary father won eight Stanley Cups with Ken Dryden and Barrasso but he also won two with Chris Osgood. Somewhere along the way, Bowman became a believer that you don’t need great goaltending to win. I call it the Osgoodification of the NHL and it’s a trend I’ve come to truly detest.
That being said, let’s remember something about Osgood. For as much as he flops around like a beached whale, for as awkward and slow as he often looks in net, the man does seem to make the big save at the big time. I maintain that had Detroit not switched from the washed up Dominik Hasek to Osgood in 2008, the Pens would have won back to back championships. For as much as I don’t like Osgood, his career suggests that he was at his best in big games. That’s the definition of great goaltending in my mind.
That’s what Marc Andre Fleury did for the Pens in both 2008 and 2009. And that’s what Antti Niemi did for the Hawks last year. The fact that he does not have Patrick Roy’s pedigree is irrelevant. Over four rounds of the most intense, stressful, and pressure packed games in any sport, Niemi made the big save when it had to be made. And the Hawks thought so little of that they replaced him with a guy who in his prime was exactly the opposite; a regular season star and a playoff choker.
And let me be clear, Marty Turco’s prime ended with a thud around 2008. As Hossa-like as Turco’s cup desire might be, it does not change the fact that if somebody was offering him 3 years, $12 Million, Turco would not have signed with the Hawks for Scott Clemnensen wages. It’s buyer beware when you go on the cheap at the most important position in sports, even if it means fighting with the all mighty salary cap.
In any event, that’s a story for another day.
The story for today is about saying goodbye and how hard it is to do. It’s about understanding that it’s ok to feel a sense of loss when your favorite player departs. It’s about knowing the harsh reality of sports in any era; we root for the name on the back of the jersey as much as the name on the front. We’re human and we’re fans. We just can’t help ourselves.
Goodbye Antti and good luck; we will miss you.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
A Frighteningly Passionate Defense of Marc-Andre Fleury
Everybody has a weak spot and mine is goaltending.
I can keep my emotions and passions in check on just about every other topic. Trust me on this one. If I had any doubt about my ability to stay calm in the face of enemy fire, Ben Roethlisberger is forcing me prove it on a daily basis.
I’ve stood up to numerous out of town assaults on Ben’s character, decisions, and generally scum-baggedness (it’s my blog; I can make up words if I want). Frankly, Ben deserves it for the way he’s acted.
I’m not sure I deserve it; after all I’m not hitting on 20 year old drunk college girls. That being said, when you wear your sports passions on your sleeve as I do (and on your shirt, your shorts, and your hat), you have to be tough. If I’m going to walk around Chicago carrying my terrible towel trumpeting the glory of the Steelers all the time, I have to be prepared for a response when things go south.
I can handle the shots at Big Ben and Santonio Holmes. I can handle the weekend at Bernie’s jokes directed at Joe Paterno. I can even take all the grief that comes from being a Cub fan. Oh and I’m perfectly willing to listen to legitimate criticism about the entire NHL world fawning over Sid the Kid to the point of Favre like nausea.
Seriously, I can handle all of that with a proportionate degree of class and dignity.
Alas, when you attack my goaltender, I become like a mother bear when one of her cubs (not Cubs) is under attack. I grimace and growl; the fur (hair) stands up on the back of my neck. I become 100% ready to attack.
To some degree I’ve always known this but tried to overlook it as a minor character flaw. Alas it came flying back to the forefront this week because once again a segment of the Penguin fan base has taken to ripping up Marc-Andre Fleury.
Yes that’s the same Marc-Andre Fleury who you last saw robbing future hall of famer Nicklas Lidstrom at point blank range to win game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals…on the road. The same MAF who took the Pens to game 6 of the finals the year before that. The same Flower who robbed Alex Ovechkin on a breakaway in game 7 against Washington last season (again on the road). And also the guy who shut out Montreal on the road last night.
A normal person would not care about this criticism. They would just brush it off. It would be enough for them to say, Stanley Cup Champions and move forward. Of course when it comes to goaltenders, I am hardly a normal person. That’s why I wrote an entire blog on the subject last year after the Stanley Cup finals. I called it, Stanley Cup Championship should put an end to Fleury bashing. Apparently, I was wrong.
http://ahaberman35.livejournal.com/tag/fleury#post-ahaberman35-5374
Is it any wonder that Emily gets so worked up when people criticize her favorite player, Hawks goaltender Antti Niemi? It’s almost like we are the bear couple (not to be confused with Chicago Bears) and we have two sons, Marc-Andre and Antti. Cleary I’m not setting a good example for grace under fire.
Here is the thing about Fleury, he is never going to have great numbers, at least not playing for this version of the Penguins. And to be clear, that’s the way it should be. The Penguins have two of the best offensive players in the league in Crosby and Malkin. They play Dan Bylsma’s aggressive forechecking system which generates a lot of scoring chances in the offensive zone. They allow their talented offensive defensemen to pinch and go in deep to create chances.
This is exactly the way a team with this much talent should play. Do we really want to see them playing the NJ Devils trap? We don’t and neither does their owners, a fellow who knew a thing or two about scoring goals as well. The Penguins fired the worlds angriest French Canadian as coach last season about 48 hours after he unveiled the Crosby and Malkin version of the neutral zone trap.
So in came Bylsma who totally revamped the way the Penguins played. He developed a style that plays to their strengths and covers up their biggest weakness, their defensive defensemen. It’s a classic example of a coach brilliantly tailoring a team’s game plan to its talents.
The down side to Bylsma’s strategy is it exposes the Penguins to a lot of quality chances against them. To be clear, that’s not the same as a lot of shots on goal. When Kris Letang goes in deep and throws a diagonal centering pass to the slot, sometimes it results in a brilliant goal. Sometimes it results in a 2 on 1 break the other way.
Fortunately, the Penguins have a goaltender who can be counted on to make the big save when that happens. More important, they have a goaltender who gets that this style is going to leave him exposed sometimes. He makes as many big saves as possible and when one gets buy him, he fishes it out of the net and moves on.
When they are on their game, the Penguins dominate with the forecheck and do not give up a high number of shots. And while I can not prove this statistically, I would guess that the number of quality shots they give up as a percentage of total shots is as high as any team in the league. The result, you will not find Marc-Andre Fleury at the top of the list in save percentage in the NHL. Compare this to Jaroslav Halak who faces 45 shots a game but probably faces fewer quality chances than the Flower.
There is a stat that he is frequently on the leader board for…wins. Especially playoff wins. I guess we as Penguin fans can grudgingly settle for that?
I went through this with Tom Barrasso in the early 90s. Lemieux, Jagr, Coffey and company were playing run and gun hockey and winning games 6 to 4. I would hear all kinds of comments about Barrasso and how his GAA and save percentage were mediocre so he obviously was not good. To say I did not always handle such criticism well was a grotesque understatement.
I would get into arguments with people at school, in bars, anywhere to defend Barrasso. I turned my home into a billboard for him. I ran into Jeff Webster a few years back after not seeing him since high school and the first thing we did was argue about Barrasso! It was soccer practice 1990 all over again.
And yes, I admit this is emblematic of some degree of psychosis. It’s disturbing that I could not be above such arguments, especially after two Stanley Cups. Alas, I was 17 years old when that started. Clearly I’ve matured and moved on from such issues after two decades of personal growth.
WRONG.
Last week I found myself defending Barrasso on Bob Smizik’s blog. I was defending him for that awful, never should be spoken of playoff loss to the Islanders in 1993. I was pointing out in intricate detail how poorly the Penguins played in that series and two awful turnovers by Ulf Samuelson that lead to goals in game 7 (a nightmare I relived thanks to the NHL network and the miracle of YouTube). I was doing this with vigor, anger, and passion…17 YEARS LATER. Honestly, this is not normal behavior.
And over the last 48 hours I’ve been fighting it out with Fleury bashers as if they insulted by family.
I admit that Smizik’s blog has become kind of a guilty pleasure for me. It helps me deal with being completely isolated from the inside Pittsburgh sports scene. I enjoy reading it and commenting on it. I do this knowing full well that internet blogs attract a motley mix of folks, some of whom do not have the most educated or enlightened perspective on sports.
I found myself pleasantly amused by the belief that Bruce Arians is responsible for everything that went wrong with the Steelers the last two years, right down to Ben’s bathroom escapades. I enjoyed arguing my minority view point on Ben which I espoused twice in recent blog entries. I argued these points with thought, passion, and sensibility.
As for the Fleury bashing…yikes. I did not bring my computer home last night. So I found myself counting the minutes until I got to work so I could lay into these morons who are attacking one of the best goaltenders in the NHL. I could feel the anger and venom building up inside me as my fingers cracked the keys. Honestly, it’s frightening…to me!
So I have two suggestions for Penguins fans.
First, be proud that you have one of the best young goaltenders in the league on your team. Understand that he’s not perfect; that he will let in a soft goal once in awhile, or give up a bad rebound. Understand that his statistics will never be amongst the league leaders except for wins. And understand that in spite of that, the guy is perfect for this Penguin team and the way they play. He’s an elite goaltender in the NHL no matter how much some fans and media members refuse to believe it.
And second…if you disagree with the above, don’t mess with me on this topic. This old bear still gets mighty angry when you attack his goalie!
ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY PENGUIN, BLESSED BE THE PENGUIN, FOR IT IS GOOD !
I can keep my emotions and passions in check on just about every other topic. Trust me on this one. If I had any doubt about my ability to stay calm in the face of enemy fire, Ben Roethlisberger is forcing me prove it on a daily basis.
I’ve stood up to numerous out of town assaults on Ben’s character, decisions, and generally scum-baggedness (it’s my blog; I can make up words if I want). Frankly, Ben deserves it for the way he’s acted.
I’m not sure I deserve it; after all I’m not hitting on 20 year old drunk college girls. That being said, when you wear your sports passions on your sleeve as I do (and on your shirt, your shorts, and your hat), you have to be tough. If I’m going to walk around Chicago carrying my terrible towel trumpeting the glory of the Steelers all the time, I have to be prepared for a response when things go south.
I can handle the shots at Big Ben and Santonio Holmes. I can handle the weekend at Bernie’s jokes directed at Joe Paterno. I can even take all the grief that comes from being a Cub fan. Oh and I’m perfectly willing to listen to legitimate criticism about the entire NHL world fawning over Sid the Kid to the point of Favre like nausea.
Seriously, I can handle all of that with a proportionate degree of class and dignity.
Alas, when you attack my goaltender, I become like a mother bear when one of her cubs (not Cubs) is under attack. I grimace and growl; the fur (hair) stands up on the back of my neck. I become 100% ready to attack.
To some degree I’ve always known this but tried to overlook it as a minor character flaw. Alas it came flying back to the forefront this week because once again a segment of the Penguin fan base has taken to ripping up Marc-Andre Fleury.
Yes that’s the same Marc-Andre Fleury who you last saw robbing future hall of famer Nicklas Lidstrom at point blank range to win game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals…on the road. The same MAF who took the Pens to game 6 of the finals the year before that. The same Flower who robbed Alex Ovechkin on a breakaway in game 7 against Washington last season (again on the road). And also the guy who shut out Montreal on the road last night.
A normal person would not care about this criticism. They would just brush it off. It would be enough for them to say, Stanley Cup Champions and move forward. Of course when it comes to goaltenders, I am hardly a normal person. That’s why I wrote an entire blog on the subject last year after the Stanley Cup finals. I called it, Stanley Cup Championship should put an end to Fleury bashing. Apparently, I was wrong.
http://ahaberman35.livejournal.com/tag/fleury#post-ahaberman35-5374
Is it any wonder that Emily gets so worked up when people criticize her favorite player, Hawks goaltender Antti Niemi? It’s almost like we are the bear couple (not to be confused with Chicago Bears) and we have two sons, Marc-Andre and Antti. Cleary I’m not setting a good example for grace under fire.
Here is the thing about Fleury, he is never going to have great numbers, at least not playing for this version of the Penguins. And to be clear, that’s the way it should be. The Penguins have two of the best offensive players in the league in Crosby and Malkin. They play Dan Bylsma’s aggressive forechecking system which generates a lot of scoring chances in the offensive zone. They allow their talented offensive defensemen to pinch and go in deep to create chances.
This is exactly the way a team with this much talent should play. Do we really want to see them playing the NJ Devils trap? We don’t and neither does their owners, a fellow who knew a thing or two about scoring goals as well. The Penguins fired the worlds angriest French Canadian as coach last season about 48 hours after he unveiled the Crosby and Malkin version of the neutral zone trap.
So in came Bylsma who totally revamped the way the Penguins played. He developed a style that plays to their strengths and covers up their biggest weakness, their defensive defensemen. It’s a classic example of a coach brilliantly tailoring a team’s game plan to its talents.
The down side to Bylsma’s strategy is it exposes the Penguins to a lot of quality chances against them. To be clear, that’s not the same as a lot of shots on goal. When Kris Letang goes in deep and throws a diagonal centering pass to the slot, sometimes it results in a brilliant goal. Sometimes it results in a 2 on 1 break the other way.
Fortunately, the Penguins have a goaltender who can be counted on to make the big save when that happens. More important, they have a goaltender who gets that this style is going to leave him exposed sometimes. He makes as many big saves as possible and when one gets buy him, he fishes it out of the net and moves on.
When they are on their game, the Penguins dominate with the forecheck and do not give up a high number of shots. And while I can not prove this statistically, I would guess that the number of quality shots they give up as a percentage of total shots is as high as any team in the league. The result, you will not find Marc-Andre Fleury at the top of the list in save percentage in the NHL. Compare this to Jaroslav Halak who faces 45 shots a game but probably faces fewer quality chances than the Flower.
There is a stat that he is frequently on the leader board for…wins. Especially playoff wins. I guess we as Penguin fans can grudgingly settle for that?
I went through this with Tom Barrasso in the early 90s. Lemieux, Jagr, Coffey and company were playing run and gun hockey and winning games 6 to 4. I would hear all kinds of comments about Barrasso and how his GAA and save percentage were mediocre so he obviously was not good. To say I did not always handle such criticism well was a grotesque understatement.
I would get into arguments with people at school, in bars, anywhere to defend Barrasso. I turned my home into a billboard for him. I ran into Jeff Webster a few years back after not seeing him since high school and the first thing we did was argue about Barrasso! It was soccer practice 1990 all over again.
And yes, I admit this is emblematic of some degree of psychosis. It’s disturbing that I could not be above such arguments, especially after two Stanley Cups. Alas, I was 17 years old when that started. Clearly I’ve matured and moved on from such issues after two decades of personal growth.
WRONG.
Last week I found myself defending Barrasso on Bob Smizik’s blog. I was defending him for that awful, never should be spoken of playoff loss to the Islanders in 1993. I was pointing out in intricate detail how poorly the Penguins played in that series and two awful turnovers by Ulf Samuelson that lead to goals in game 7 (a nightmare I relived thanks to the NHL network and the miracle of YouTube). I was doing this with vigor, anger, and passion…17 YEARS LATER. Honestly, this is not normal behavior.
And over the last 48 hours I’ve been fighting it out with Fleury bashers as if they insulted by family.
I admit that Smizik’s blog has become kind of a guilty pleasure for me. It helps me deal with being completely isolated from the inside Pittsburgh sports scene. I enjoy reading it and commenting on it. I do this knowing full well that internet blogs attract a motley mix of folks, some of whom do not have the most educated or enlightened perspective on sports.
I found myself pleasantly amused by the belief that Bruce Arians is responsible for everything that went wrong with the Steelers the last two years, right down to Ben’s bathroom escapades. I enjoyed arguing my minority view point on Ben which I espoused twice in recent blog entries. I argued these points with thought, passion, and sensibility.
As for the Fleury bashing…yikes. I did not bring my computer home last night. So I found myself counting the minutes until I got to work so I could lay into these morons who are attacking one of the best goaltenders in the NHL. I could feel the anger and venom building up inside me as my fingers cracked the keys. Honestly, it’s frightening…to me!
So I have two suggestions for Penguins fans.
First, be proud that you have one of the best young goaltenders in the league on your team. Understand that he’s not perfect; that he will let in a soft goal once in awhile, or give up a bad rebound. Understand that his statistics will never be amongst the league leaders except for wins. And understand that in spite of that, the guy is perfect for this Penguin team and the way they play. He’s an elite goaltender in the NHL no matter how much some fans and media members refuse to believe it.
And second…if you disagree with the above, don’t mess with me on this topic. This old bear still gets mighty angry when you attack his goalie!
ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY PENGUIN, BLESSED BE THE PENGUIN, FOR IT IS GOOD !
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