USA Hockey Should Play for Gold

Forget about the Men’s Hockey win over Canada, the real tournament starts today. If USA Men’s Hockey is to see Canada again, it won’t be until first or third place games this weekend. The US has a great chance to medal, all they have to do is win one, yes win their next game and they’ll play for a medal. Remember there are only 12 countries playing hockey in the Olympics. The US is on the right side of the bracket, Canada, Russia, and Sweden the three favorites are all on the lower half of the bracket meaning the US only has go though one of them for gold. The USA in all likelihood will need to beat either the Czech Republic or Finland to reach the gold medal game. Based on this bracket, at least a Silver Medal should be the goal.

Pens Stanley Cups Favorites Again?

After a seven game winning streak the Penguins are once again playing like Stanley Cup Challengers. After five road wins the Pens look to climb up the standings as a mega nine game home stand is approaching. Pittsburgh is currently in sixth position but are only four points behind fourth. Are the Pens as strong as last year’s squad? Probably not, but they still have a team capable of reaching the Stanley Cup Finals, especially with everyone healthily. It’s a safe bet to say they’re the last team anyone wants to see in the playoffs. With 14 games left it’s going to be real interesting to see how things play out. I think it’s not entirely out of the question for one of the top three seeds to throw a game to avoid meeting the Pens in the first round.

Check Out Hockey Buzz for Pens News

Last night on RSW, I interviewed Brian Metzer of HockeyBuzz.com, you can read Brian's articles here:

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/team/Pittsburgh-Penguins

Also check out his popular Penguin Podcast.

Lots to talk about tonight on RSW

We’ll have a lot to talk about tonight at 7:30 on Family-Life TV. I’ll be updating everyone on how the local high school teams are doing in WPIAL Basketball playoffs. Of course, we’ll talk about Pitt’s big win over UCONN last night! Is Pitt now the team to beat in college basketball? I’d like to hear your thoughts. Also, I’m sure a lot of you will have thoughts on the Penguins firing of Therrien and where the season is now headed. Another quick note: KHS wrestler and recent show guest Keith Cornman took 2nd place at the sections at 112 lbs. So,there is a lot talk about. I look forward to hearing from you tonight at 7:30. Don’t forget ifyou can’t watch on cable, we’ll be live on Familylifetv.com

Kittanning, Ford City Hockey Game in the Cards?

Last night on RSW, we discussed the possibility of Ford City and Kittanning facing off in an end of the season hockey game. I’m a strong advocate for both schools competing against each other in every sport. This would be a good showcase for both teams and their sport. There are many people, who have never been to a high school hockey game. The intrigue created by this game would bring in many first timers. Both teams also share the rink with Freeport, and neither have the YellowJackets on their schedule. The kids want it, the fans want it, so I hope the people involve will make it happen. My advice is, find a way to make these games a permanent fixture, and it will be win for everyone.

Jolly Hockey Sticks or Ice Creamed!

As the clock ticks by the England National Football team is preparing to tip-toe into a volatile Zagreb tonight knowing defeat to Croatia in this 2010 World Cup qualifier could demote us to also-rans on the World football stage. If Croatia,(not Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil or Agentina) beat England tonight then there will be carnage in the tabloids tomorrow, burning effigees on the streets, messageboards dining out on four letter expletives from now until kingdom come, along with a comprehensive meltdown on radio phone-ins, as enraged fans holler in despair at our demise........once again!

After sneaking away from a ski resort on Saturday by 2 black runs to none, pride may have been dented but the points were won. However there can be no slip up tonight as the former love child of the cockney East End wide boys from the London Borough of Newham will tell you, Slaven Bilic is no mug & he will take almighty pleasure from outsmarting his opposite number as he prepares a modus operandi of his own - it's just which English Football Club he endorses, not when!

Never in the history of International football have England ever been beaten on three successive occasions by the same nation until........hopefully never!

English sport is not all doom & gloom...........spare a thought for the Bulgarian National Hockey Federation.

With more goals than minutes in a game, Slovakia's women's ice hockey team claimed an amazing 82-0 victory last Saturday over Bulgaria in a European Olympic pre-qualifying tournament for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, in the Latvian town of Liepaja.

Bulgaria conceded a goal on average every 44 seconds!

Slovakia outshot the Bulgarians 139-0 during the 60-minute game, scoring on 58.9 per cent of their shots on goal.

The margin of victory is a record for a women's International Ice Hockey Federation-sanctioned event.

Janka Culikova led Slovakia with 10 goals, while Martina Velickova scored nine, Slovakia had 12 players record hat tricks, & fourteen different players scored at least one goal.

Bulgaria was eliminated after scoring one goal and conceding 192 in the tournament. Bulgaria lost to Italy (41-0) and Latvia (39-0), and it followed its 82-0 loss with a 30-1 defeat to Croatia.
In total, Bulgaria's women's ice hockey team surrendered more goals in four games(192) than the Detroit Red Wings did in 82 games last season (184).

The game was 7-0 after five minutes, 19-0 after 10, and an incredible 31-0 after only one period.

So at what point during an 82-0 loss in a women's ice hockey game do you turn to your mate and say, 'Come on pal, finish your drink we're outta here, & we may even beat the traffic.'
Well apparently there were fewer than 40 fans in the crowd for this rather one-sided contest.



After two periods, Slovakia led 55-0. If you're Bulgarian and still in the arena during the third period, chances are you're either one of the players or someone who also refuses to leave the worst movie ever made because you paid 'good money' for your ticket.

Down 77-0 with three minutes to go, Bulgaria put in its back-up goaltender, who promptly let in another five goals in just 85 seconds of playing time.

The 82-0 defeat capped what may have been 'the most pathetic tournament appearance in international hockey history.'

Slovakia, which also beat Croatia, Latvia and Italy, advanced to another qualifying group with Germany, Kazakhstan and France. The winner will secure a spot at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

To add insult to injury Slovakian coach Miroslav Karafiat said after Saturday's game, 'we took it as training.'

Ironically The Slovakian men's team clinched its biggest ever victory against none other than Bulgaria 14 years ago, when they won 20-0.

According to sources a Bulgarian media outlet that actually stands up for the women's team has taken the Bulgarian Government to task rather than hitting out at the players.

With a population of 7.4 million, Bulgaria have just 299 registered hockey players of which only 37 are registered female players, (Canada has about 74,000 female players) & only three indoor ice rings in the whole country.
On that basis Bulgaria could have hardly hoped for a successful run in the competition, although this ruthless and systematic destruction was nothing short of a national embarrassment.

The International Ice Hockey Federation said the result, set a record score for a women's IIHF-sanctioned event. It was not the all-time record for futility, however, that is still held by Thailand, who lost 92-0 to South Korea in the 1998 Asia-Oceania U18 Championship. Well that's a relief then!

The chair of the Bulgarian Hockey Federation is calling Slovakia's 82-goal win 'a kind of insulting mockery, & not at all sportsmanlike.'
We're counting down the moments until he lashes out at the glib reaction of the international sports media, which refuses to acknowledge goalie Liubomira Shosheva's amazing 57-save performance,(she faced 134 shots in 57 minutes).

A few Bulgarian news sources are picking up the story today, and they're calling it 'one of the biggest defeats in sporting history' & 'nothing short of a national embarrassment.'

.......Go on England, make us proud & bring home three precious points from Zagreb!

Pittsburgh Penguins Free Agents - 2008

Will the Pens return to the Stanley Cup Finals, a lot depends on what happens to these guys.

Unrestricted Free Agents: Ty Conklin, Pascal Dupuis, Mark Eaton, Adam Hall, Georges Laraque, Marian Hossa, Ryan Malone, Brooks Orpik, Gary Roberts, Jarkko Ruutu

Restricted Free Agents: Marc-Andre Fleury

Fleury is the one player the Pens least want to let go, but after his performance some NHL team will be looking to make him the highest paid goalie in the NHL.

Pens Win Tonight: 90% Probability

Home Cooking



The Pens will win tonight at home in Mellon Arena against the Red Wings. If needed Detroit will spend more time in the box. Detroit will need a perfectly played game to move the series to 3-0.

Penguins to go undefeated in Stanley Cup Playoffs?

It's been pretty much a given Pittsburgh will win the this year's Stanley Cup. It's well documented how everything fell into place for the Pens, a combination of years of top draft picks, and a dilution of talent in NHL accelerated with the most recent labor agreement. Never before in NHL history has one team collected so much more talent compared the other teams in league.

I know people will say one bad night by the goalie could ruin it, but after looking the team in the east, it's not outside the realm of possibilities the Pens could -----

Go Undefeated in the Playoffs.

If the don't go undefeated, the Penguins could break the all-time record for consecutive NHL playoff wins. The current record is 11 held by the Canadiens, Pens, and Blackhawks all during the early 90s.

I predicted only 2 losses on the way to the Cup, now I want to call a mulligan - as this team could not lose 1.

Penguins 2008 NHL Playoffs Outlook

Last night on RSW we caught up with Brian Metzer of HockeyBuzz.com, to talk about the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs.



Here are some takes from the show about the Pens and their playoff obstacles.

I'm prediciting Pens to wining it all, without dropping more than 2 games in series.

Pittsburgh Penguins Playoff Hockey Talk tonight on RSW

We'll be speaking with Brian Metzer from Hockey Buzz.

Listen to his Penguins Hockey Buzzcast Talkshoe link: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/69789

GIVE AN OLD FACE THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT

By: Nicholas Kukla
February 6, 2008

On January 26th, I received a text message from the Penguins mobile-alert system and was absolutely shocked by the words on my tiny screen. The subject line said “breaking news.” Sadly, it wasn’t an open casting call for “Sudden Death 2.” Sequels are never as good as the original anyways. Maybe Geno Malkin became homesick and decided to return to Mother Russia, already having a fruitful career in the prison-themed restaurant biz? Thank god no. Was the big French guy stepping down from the owner’s box to take a few shifts on the power play and rescue our Crosby-less Penguins? Wishful thinking for the kid in me, but no…although I hear he’s in the best shape of his life. What could possibly shock a die-hard Penguin fan after all that has happened in this franchise’s …well…”colorful” history?

Kris Beech is a Penguin once again.

I couldn’t believe it either. Kris Beech? It felt like something the 2003-2004 Penguins would have done. Things like picking off the garbage heap for players that can do nothing more than fill a jersey. You know the type. The Mike Eastwoods, Landon Wilsons and Brian Holzingers of the world. The guys that leave a poor little kid disappointed on “Shirts Off Our Backs Night, mainly because the little kid has no idea who the hell just give him or her their jersey. But then I started thinking. I haven’t actually watched Kris Beech play hockey in four years. Maybe he finally found his game. There has to be a reason he keeps getting a shot to play in the NHL. The days of a young Kris Beech and co. seem like a distant memory as we watch the high-flying Penguin team of today. I was legitimately shocked when I heard the news, but Beech coming back really has no effect on my life. I thought, if he does well, he’s a nice pickup. If not, he’s banished to the press box for the stretch drive. That’s when I realized I’m kind of rooting for the guy. A diehard Pens fan rooting for Kris Beech? Billy Tibbetts is probably rolling over in his jail cell.

Perhaps no Penguin player in recent memory has been as reviled in this city as Kris Beech. If you sat amongst the die-hards at the old barn in the Hill back in those days, you really could feel an honest disgust towards the young center. I was there and I felt it too. Maybe it was the fact that he was the centerpiece of a trade that sent our beloved Jaromir Jagr on his way to the hated Capitals. Maybe it was the fact that then General Manager Craig Patrick said that Beech had “Ron Francis like abilities,” essentially setting the kid up to fail. Good one Mr. Patrick. I don’t know how you could have possibly put more pressure on Beech than comparing him to one of hockey’s immortals. Most likely, it was the 10 goals and 17 assists in 95 career games with the Pens. It was a terrible offensive output from a no. 7 overall pick with his size (6’3”, 207) and supposed “playmaking ability.” Now that I’ve brought back all those bad Beech memories, I have a plea for all of the Penguin fans out there. Stop the hate. On the eve of his glorious return to the Mellon, give Kris Beech a chance.

Seven years ago, the Penguins didn’t. Beech had almost nothing going for him when he arrived in Pittsburgh back in 2001. He was immediately billed as the next big time star for the Penguins, and someone who could help fill the void when Jagr was taking his act to Washington. He was thrust into the lineup immediately and didn’t produce. As expected, the fans turned on him. Do you remember Ross Lupaschuk or Michal Sivek? No? Neither do a lot of local hockey fans. They were the other players that the Pens got in that dreadful Jagr deal. While neither had the pedigree that Beech owned, they were expected to contribute to the team in a fairly regular role. Lupaschuk and Sivek combined never contributed anything close to what Beech did with the Penguins, and now both are toiling in mediocrity overseas. Their names vanished from the lexicon of Penguins fans. Beech’s is still brought up among fans, but almost never in anything close to glowing terms.

It’s been a long ride back to Pittsburgh. He’s been through Nashville, Vancouver, Columbus and Washington twice! He’s rode the buses of the AHL though Hershey and Milwaukee. Rumor has it he even spent a season as a greeter at the Desert Inn. Sorry for the BASEketball reference… The Penguins are his fourth NHL team this year. Not this season, I mean literally this year, and it’s only February.

Point is, after a lengthy battle with international customs laws, Beech is a Penguin again. He has 11 points in 20 NHL games this season. That’s a 45 point pace over a full NHL season. That would have put him sixth on last year’s team, ahead of notables Jordan Staal, Erik Christensen, Colby Armstrong and Ryan Malone. I’d take that, and I bet a lot of Penguins fans would too. He has spent time with Michel Therrien in Wilkes/Barre. He played on a line with Colby Armstrong with the Baby Penguins. There is some rapport between Beech and some of the guys on this tight knit Penguins team.

Now that we all know that he’s not the heir apparent to Mario and Jaromir, maybe we can accept that Beech can be a solid role player on a team that could really use some depth right now. Maybe now we can also realize that Beech was used by Craig Patrick to try and justify an obvious salary dump back in 2001. Jagr didn’t want to be here anymore, and under the old CBA the Penguins couldn’t afford him anymore. Teams weren’t giving up top talent to give the Penguins when they knew Patrick had to take what he could get for his disgruntled star. Not having Beech on the ice that opening night would have looked like a cop out on Patrick’s part. Probably even an admission of failure.

I’m curious to hear the reaction of the crowd at the arena when they see the familiar face with a new number. Beech will be skating in his brand new RBK Edge Penguins jersey with the number 24 instead of his familiar 16. Anything for jersey sales I guess. Speaking of jerseys, aren’t hockey fans supposed to exemplify the notion of rooting for the name/logo on the front, instead of the name on the back? Penguins fans, say it with me. Give Kris Beech a chance.

Pittsburgh Penguins, World's worst actors?

Here is the video that is making its way around the internet. Featureing: Armstrong, Talbot, Gonchar, and Malkin.

Ford City Hockey

If you haven't seen the Sabers Hockey team, in their first season back on the ice, here are their remaining games:

Thu 1/17/2008 8:30p Ford City at Ligonier Valley
Thu 1/24/2008 6:15p Altoona at Ford City
Thu 1/31/2008 6:15p Connellsville at Ford City
Thu 2/7/2008 8:30p Ford City at Woodland Hills
Mon 2/11/2008 9:00p Ford City at Valley
Thu 2/14/2008 8:15p Derry at Ford City
Thu 2/21/2008 8:00p Ford City at Altoona

All their home games are at the Belmont.

Also I'll be broadcasting the Kittanning Hockey game this Thursday @ 6:15, it will air on WTYM 1380am at 10:am on Friday.

Malkinstein

The Pens have a monster on the blue line.

Malkinstein:

Happy Halloween

Young Penguins try to find their Identity

So we are 10 games into the 07-08 NHL season, and the Penguins are still searching for that all important sense of self. Are they the Buffalo Sabres of last year, a high flying team that runs 4 lines of speed? How about the New Jersey Trap, can they pull that off with the same effect Jersey has done the past decade? Maybe they are like Anaheim in that they run a controlled trap, a bruising forecheck and a monster in goal.

No one knows, not even the Penguins players. They have yet to put together 60 continuous minutes of solid hockey. Sidney Crosby tried to motivate his team this past Saturday against the Canadians, by trying to undress Alexi Kovalev after a questionable hit to Malkin. Although it was unnecessary for Crosby to do it, Kovalev ment no real harm, but it did seem to motivate the Pens, they came back from a 2 goal deficit to earn one point from a game that seemed all but lost after 1 period of play.

The biggest question these young Penguins need to answer is Marc-Andre Fleury. Most every hockey fan in Pittsburgh has questioned his ability at one time or another. He has lightning quick reflexes, that point cannot be contended. He can be an extraordinary netminder. The problem is, he has never been consistent. Patrick Roy never matured till his mid 20's, our go-to guy is only 22. He hardly has the battle tested psyche that a Martin Brodeur or Dominic Hasek has. The big problem with MAF, is that he is a Restricted Free Agent this year. And undoubtedly, another team will try to 'Dustin Penner' him out from under Ray Shero's watch. So the Penguins are left with a huge question. Do they take a chance, sign Fleury to a long term deal and hope he matures into a goalie that deserved a top 3 pick on? Or will they let him be bought out from under us, or even traded away?

I can tell you one thing, I would hate to be in Ray Shero's shoes right about now. There are still quite a few question marks with this young team we have here in Pittsburgh, lets hope Mr. Shero has all the right answers.

Rich Wahl covers the Pens for RizzoSports.com

Freeport Hockey falls in PA State Final

The Freeport Hockey team finished a very sucessfull season as they lost 1-4 in the state title game over the weekend.

Freeport Hockey wins PIHL title.

The Freeport High School Hockey team won the PIHL Western PA, Penguin Cup trophy over Quaker Valley 4-1 today. Freeport will now play for the state title, after winning 4-1 at Mellon Arena. Freeport is 18-3-2 overall for the year, and the only team to beat Quaker Valley.