Home, home on the ice!

So.  Title.  Not the best I've come up with.  Get over it.

Home opener for the K-Wings went better than I expected.  I lined up my ride to future games (For environmental reasons only, obviously.), got a few papers graded, sported my Penguin's pride, got reacquainted with the folks in my section...  Oh!  And I watched a pretty damn good hockey game.  Mostly.  Although the first power play left something to be desired.  Which we then got to see in the subsequent power plays.  Props.

The start of the game was a tad disjointed.  You know, what with the technical difficulties of getting the divisional and conference championship banners to come down.

Pretty trophy.  The banners finally made their way down sometime during the first period (I think...maybe it was the second...).  I totally brought my camera with me to the game and could have taken pictures.  But, I forgot.  As per usual.  Pretty sure I only took my eyes off the game to check the Pen's score (unfortunately not the outcome I wanted).  Also, I hate missing parts of the game.  (I have never been able to understand how people can get up in the middle of a period.  Hockey > need for gross arena food/beer.)  First game of the season meant we got to hear the Canadian National Anthem as well!  No offense to my own nationality, but it's soooo much better than ours.  (Not hard when ours originates as a drinking song.  Way to go, USA.)  When it stays in the same key all the way through, that is.  She did an admirable job and parts of it were really nice, but the switching keys in a couple spots...  Well, not part of the song.  Weirdly enough, no one thought to get the Cyclones out on the ice before the anthems were sung.

We DID get an introduction to the opening night roster. I'd done a little research (as previously mentioned) beforehand.  I'm pretty excited to see how our second goalie does.  Hopefully he'll get put in next weekend.  UPDATE:  Monsieur Clermont got the call to Albany.  Sneaky little Devil.  We've brought on Tom Schaul as the emergency bench-sitter.  He's an expert.  Also, he played for the University of Oklahoma.  (The only correct way to say that would've been to break into the "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKlahoma..." song.

Now imagine random people breaking out into song in the middle of a college campus.  Believe it or not, I have experienced this.  It's a little creepy.  Thank you, Presbyterian Youth Triennieum 2007.)  Returning to the topic at hand.

Maxime Clermont.  Wearing numero trente-cinq for the K-Wings, a sixth round draft pick by the Devils in 2010.  (Recently signed a three year entry-level contract with the Devs and got assigned HERE!  Maybe he'll be a yo-yo this season.)  And, obviously, he's French Canadian!  I have no idea why this is so exciting to me.  Maybe it's Fleury.  He's softened me up toward French Canadian goalies...  Totally valid.  Clermont is coming off a four year career in the Q, playing for the Gatineau Olympiques.  (For you Penguins fans, you should know this team.  Maxiiiiiiiiiiiime, as in Talbot, won two championships for them and captained them and won back-to-back Guy Lafleur trophies for playoff MVP.  2003-2004 season was also the season that Sidsters played for Rimouski.  Poor Max was second in like...everything that regular season.  But hey, who doesn't want to be second to Jesus?  Do your best to forget he plays for the Flyers now.)  Oh.  I was talking about the K-Wings, you say?  I was, wasn't I.  Well, then please ignore the fact that abou 75% of this paragraph was not about the Maxime Clermont.

Now, the players who DID play...  Brandon Svendsen was on fire.  Scored two goals and was soooo close to getting the HT until some silly, silly Cyclone gots himself all tangled up with Svendsen.  Not cool.  So Karlander took the empty net.

Fun facts about Svendsen's playing career:
1) He played a season in juniors with Teddy Purcell of the Tampa Bay Lightning (jerk-faces--obviously I still have some resentment there).
2) He played two seasons of college hockey with teammate, David Solway: Svendsen's junior and senior year.  For Bowling Green.  If that wasn't already obvious.
3) It is highly unlikely he will sit down here in the ECHL for an entire season or very long at all.  Especially since most of his time the last two years has been in the AHL and it certainly doesn't look like he's slumping.  As much as I'd like to keep him for our very own, I suppose furthering his hockey career is also important.  Damn him.

Oh Captain, my captain!

Am I overdoing it with the cliches yet?  Also, he's a lot harder to find appropriate pictures of.  By appropriate, I mean something not a head shot and not a photo shoot.  Wes O'Neill played exactly how I expected.  Well, physical, and...a fight to cap off the night.  It was a decent fight.  Obviously being in Kalamazoo brings out the best.  Fun fact: O'Neill fought more last season in the Zoo than in any other previous season of professional or junior hockey.  I have no idea why I keep talking about him and fighting, since he doesn't really do it all that often (unless you're comparing him to Zbynek Michalek--congrats on the goal in the Peg; at least one Pen scored--who has only had one professional fight in the AHL).  What else is there to say, except hopefully we'll keep our claws dug into O'Neill for a little longer than last season.  (I'm trying to come up with a nickname.  I can't call him Cappy, because that would obviously be sacrilegious.  And I can't call him Neiller, because that belongs to Nealer, AKA James Neal.)

Speaking of James Neal, I'd like to take a moment to profess my love and adoration.  I've been pretty excited for him since we got him at the deadline last season and am very happy that he's living up to, and surpassing, expectation.  Another fun fact (I've got a shitload of these.): James Neal's junior career?  He spent four years with the Plymouth Whalers.  With Andrew Fournier (BABYFACE!  I missed seeing you on the ice this weekend.).  And Ryan Nie.  For the first three years--he was then replaced by Michal Neuvirth.  Logically following this (get that...O'Neill--Neal--Plymouth Whalers--Babyface...), I decided it was time to see how Fourny is doing in Europe.  Thank you European leagues, because lookie at what I found.

Tip #1? Eliminate "uh."  Lolz.  There was another thing about him from Steelers TV, but it's mostly in Swedish.  I'm not that smart, and don't plan on translating it.  So far, he's got 12 points (4 G, 8 A) in 10 games with Olofstrom IK, who is sitting pretty at the top of their league.  Kudos.  (Also, I can't remember if this is in the above interview or the mostly Swedish one, but he says something about having worked construction all summer.  The life of a minor-league hockey player.)

The other D-man who stood out?  Elgin Reid. 

I DO remember watching him play for Florida last season and being impressed.  He must have been decent since I had hawkeyes on BabyJStaal for most of the time to see how he was shaping up and I still noticed Reid.  And he made himself known against Cincy.  Loverly.  OH!  Naughty.  (Get your mind out of the gutter.  Please.  We are not at marching band camp.)  Mr. Reid got himself into a bit of trouble last winter with a DUI.  Boozin', no cruisin', boy!  If you haven't figured it out yet, Elgin played a season in Wheeling.  He's holding the kid.  Who I'm led to believe is not his, but Erik Johnson's.  Who is standing to Elgin's left.

Obviously I should be taking notes at the games, because my memory sucks ass.  Or I should just be more on top of things and finish posts when I start them and post them in a timely fashion.  It would be really helpful if the K-Wings posted practice reports and game previews (I hearts you, Pen's communications dept!), but I realize that this is an ECHL team struggling to make money.  So, whatevs. 

JT the younger, aka Babyface Jr., aka Brian Kinney's BF, aka Justin Taylor looked decent out there.  He didn't stand out in a bad way, but, fair warning, I have some HIGH expectations for him this season.  (It was a little disconcerting to see him sporting number 93 on the ice and Taylor Ellington dressed in 23, but I'll get used to it.  Looks like 93 was his original number anyway.  Not that this has any affect whatsoever on his playing abilities.  Also, get it.  Taylor...Taylor!  I loled in my head at that one.  Mostly because I think I'm funnier than I really am.)

JT the older and Taylor.  Justin and Taylor.  Like I said, I think I'm clever.  They even have the same smile.  Creepy.  I refuse to put the Biebs and TSwift picture up here.  I can't have Bieber taking over.  Wrong.  (The only Bieber allowed is Jeff Skinner.  Thank the Cane's locker room chirping for that comparison.)  FUN FACT:  Babyface, Jr.'s first fight?  In the OHL against currently injured Penguin, Dustin Jeffrey.  I'm just now realizing that I may have posted this before, but I really don't care.  Totally worth watching again.

Nicely done, boyos. 

I think I'll hold off on more assessment until I've seen tomorrow night's game.  Pretty sure Babyface, Jr. is going to be my new favorite.  But, anything is possible.  Well.  Almost anything.  I doubt I'll get to watch my boy JStaalsy play in Kalamazoo.  Ever.  I hope I just jinxed that and made it a possibility.

For those of you wanting updates on the other former K-Wings:
Ryan Nie is playing for Lillehammer IK.  He's played all 11 games so far and is 5-6-0 (W-L-T).
Bryan Jurynec is playing for Coventry Blaze of the Elite League in the U.K.  I'm attempting to navigate through their website.  Because of the HUGE differences in how the league works, it's more confusing than the Swedish website.  Go figure.  More research...
So it's a 10 team league.  Somehow, Coventry is 6 and 3 on the season and they've played 13 games.  My kind of math.  (I'm guessing this has something to do with cup challenges (???) and other kinds of games.  No clue.  Foreign language.  You know, English.)  Jurynec has played 11 games, has 5 assists and, GET THIS, 52 penalty minutes.  Not surprised.  But, definitely curious...  Found it!
Game against Nottingham (First image that comes to mind?  Sheriff of Nottingham.  In the Disney version of Robin Hood.): 2 for instigating, 5 for fighting, 10 for misconduct, and 20 for a game misconduct.  And some lovely person was nice enough to video the fight.

Darryl Lloyd.  Oh man, I don't know how I MISSED this.  But, he's also playing in the Elite League.  For Belfast.  12 games, 1 goal, 4 assists, 32 penalty minutes.  I'm guessing he's got at least one fight under his belt...  Ok, seriously unsatisfying.  All minor penalties.  Boy needs to learn to play a little cleaner.  Oh wait, that's nothing new!  Though it looks like there's someone else on his team beating him out for dirtiest player.

Others:
-Brian McMillan (only played a handful of games) is playing in the CHL for the Allen Americans (affiliated with the Dallas Stars and the Colorado Avalanche).  Their regular season home opener is Friday.
-Dean Strong may be returning to us.  I'm sure he hopes he doesn't, seeing as he's playing in Chicago in the AHL on a PTO.  He's played 2 games and is a -1.  (Fun fact #71.87: Matt Clackson is also playing for the Chicago Wolves.  As in former WMU player and Pittsburgh native.)
-Jay Sprague (almost doesn't count, what with his 4 games...) is playing in the CHL for the Tulsa Oilers.
-Aaron Clarke, who I quite liked, seems to have disappeared off the face of google.  At least, recently.  That's a hint.  If you know where/if he's playing this season, let me know.  Unless he's suddenly become a British footballer.
-Brady Leisenring has returned to Germany to play for ESV Kaufbeuren. He's in the same league in which he spent the 08-09 and 09-10 seasons.  7 games: 2 G, 5 A.
-Mike Sellitto was released from the Elmira Jackals last week, so he's looking for a job.  Lucks.
-Brian McGuirk.  I'm disappointed to have to tell y'all that he's no longer playing.  He's working as a trainer with Marc Bastarache in Salem, NH for Top Gun Hockey.  I suppose if that's what he likes to do, he should.
-Blake Friesen: M.I.A.  Lots of old info, but nothing new.  Maybe he's doing something with his college degree.
-John Kivisto (another 4-gamer) went to Michigan Tech.  Pretty sure that's all I can tell you.
-Jon Landry has a goal and an assist in 2 games with the Colorado Eagles (Welcome to the ECHL!).
-Steve Tarasuk has 1 assist in 2 games with the Ontario Reign, fellow ECHL team.
-Justin Coutu...out of a job?  No clue.  Apparently google CAN'T answer everything.  Shucks.
-Ryan McGinnis is a +1 in 2 games with the Florida Everblades, so we'll be seeing him again at some point this season.
-Corey Syvret's got 1 assist in 1 game with the Trenton Devils so far.  Wait, nix that.  Trenton Titans.  They're affiliated with the Flyers now, instead of the Devils.  And there was some sort of drams with management and such, I think...  So.  Trenton Titans.  (Let's be real, it's hard to take a step down from the Devils, but they managed it.)
-Mitch Versteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeg!  How could I have waited so far down the list???  I completely and unashamedly would like him BACK, please.  He's also in Trenton.  Poor guy.  Jersey.  Ugh.  I had such high hopes for him this season.  He'll just have to put that on hold until I can kill whoever I need to kill to get him back on the K-Wings roster.
-A.J. Thelen kind of makes my heart break.  I have no idea how I missed this last season.  I kinda wish he had gotten his act together a little more after the dismissal from MSU.  We'll never know.  The last I can tell, we had the rights to him back in July, but I can't seem to find any more recent info.  Just a lot of people whining about how he sucks.  (Bitter Minnesotans.)
We also had a string of emergency backup goalies.  They got to ride the bench.

I considered raving about the latest Penguins win here.  Oh, wait.  I'm going to.  Pens defeated Minny 4-2 on Tuesday.  Dupers was awesome.  Jordy was awesome.  The whole fucking team was awesome.  Neal was awesome.  TK was outtie with a concussion and probably will be for a while.  Most importantly: WINNER!  2 points in the books.  Here is some excellent proof of the boys' hard work:

Umm.  That.  Face.  Is.  Epic.  Obviously, this is not during the game.  Hence helmet-less Duper.  But, if that's the kind of face you have to make to have a stellar game, you go, Dupers! 

I thought this was eerily appropriate for this blog.  Pretty sure Staal can reach a puck on the opposite side of the ice without moving his feet.

Yes, you SHOULD be congratulating your goalie.  BJ was a rock in net.  As per usual.  There was a scary moment where it looked like he might be injured, but he got himself back up and finished the game.  He was getting a shitton of love from Steigey and Bob on Root Sports.  I think I heard the phrases "toughest goalie in the league" and "best pure back-up goalie in the league" mentioned.  That's right.  Because they're TRUE.

Music moment of the day: WEEZER!  In honor of the fact that Toledo is coming to town tomorrow night and Scott Shriner is from Toledo.

Fun fact about Scott Shriner?  The last band he played with in Toledo was called "The Great Barbeque Gods."  Umm.  Really?  Awesome.  This would be a good moment to thank my older (and best and only) sister for having such fantastic taste in music and introducing it to me.  If you'll note, "Buddy Holly" was released in 1994 when I wasn't quite six years old.

Peace outs.  Game tonight.  Go Pens!  Game tomorrow.  Go K-Wings!  Birthday Sunday.  Go me!  (23 on the 23rd.  How cool is that??)

Road trippin'

The regular season is finally upon us!  Hallelujah!  Thanks be to Crosby!

I'm going to take this moment to mention that Sidsters is lookin' good in practice.  Hopefully he'll be back and ready for a game soon, since he's officially CLEARED FOR CONTACT!

It is very exciting for me to be able to say that I have watched the first three games in their entirety and only missed the first half of the game on Tuesday (Yummy Indian food at Saffron!  Thanks mom and dad!). 

Yay!  As much as I wish I could keep up the pace all season, I know it's just not going to happen.  We came home from the road trip with five points under our belts and no regulation losses.  We also came home with an injured Geno.  Personally, I'm crossing my fingers--and my toes--and anything else I can get my hands on--that it's just a teensy-weensy, minor setback.  Not playing, playing and now not playing tonight?  I'm not sure that it bodes well.  I was very excited that we beat Florida in the home opener.  Though, let's be real, one of the goals against us should never have happened.  Tsk, tsk.  It's ok.  Came out of it with a WIN.

Umm...Washington.  I'd like to take a moment to say that I hate playing them.  Bastards.  You realize we are now 0-8-0 on home ice against them in the last 8 games in Pitt?  And Hovechkin thinks it's like...scoring heaven? 

WRONG.  We need to change that next time around.  It was, however, a well-fought (not referring to Asham's post-fight gestures) game.  Definitely a lower score than I expected at least!  The tying goal was a beauty.  Got my hopes all up and everything!

Side note on Asham.  I will say that the fight was a beauty (I mean, seriously!  Did you SEE that punch???) and at least he kept a hold of Beagle's jersey as he was falling, keeping him from smacking his head back against the ice.  The gestures afterward...  Well, obviously not well though-out.  And offensive.  And just plain bad.  I'm glad he's not trying to defend the actions and I'm glad we're not trying to defend him either.

By we, of course, I mean the team of which I am not technically a part of.  MY team, as in my fantasy team (For the extended commentary, see previous post.) is kicking ass as well.  There are a couple changes that are going into effect tomorrow.  I've traded out Johan Hedberg (MOOOOOOOSE!) for BJ,

backup extraordinaire.  Apologies to Goose, who no longer has an animal bestie.  Also, to my great surprise, I discovered that no one had picked up Cookie-Monster! 

Now, I understand he's not the most popular player in the league.  I understand--not really--if maybe you're morally against having a Penguin on your fantasy team.  (Kind of like how I would be morally opposed to having Ovechkin.)  But, Matt Cooke, despite having a reputation for being a dirty player, is fantastic for fantasy hockey!  (Also, REAL hockey.  But that is not the point.)  He scores goals.  He has line-mates that score goals.  He plays on the penalty kill--very well.  He plays on power play sometimes.  He racks up the penalty minutes.  He shoots quite frequently.  One of the most well-rounded players in terms of fantasy stats.  It's appalling he didn't get drafted in my league at all.  (My apologies for not doing it sooner.)  My league manager finally changed it so that players listed on the IR list could, you know, actually be put on IR.  So there Sid went.  And now I have an empty spot.  I'm hoping that my waiver request will go through Monday and I'll pick up Steve Downie (PLEASE, don't shoot me!  Or don't let me shoot myself!  I can't stand this guy usually!).  I need the penalty minutes.  It's the category I'm seriously lacking in.  So I'm hoping between Cookie and Downie I'll get somewhere.  I AM at the top of my league now.  Woot, woot.  And all of my boys are playing tonight.

Moving on from fake hockey and back to real hockey.  I will not be watching tonight's game.  :(  K-Wings home opener is tonight and I cannot WAIT!  I'm hoping that a few more practices together will have helped the new guys meld better.  (The preseason game I went to...well, they lost badly.)  I have yet to decide who my new favorite is, since Babyface is gone.  (Cue tears.)  I'll put that off until at least after tonight.  I DO have a fun fact to share, though!  It's kinda baller.  No lies.
Two current K-Wings both fought the same current NHLer in the space of a month when they were all playing in the AHL.  When said current NHLer was playing in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.  Said NHLer?  Paul Bissonnette (AKA @BizNasty2point0).  Said K-Wings?  Wes O'Neill and Darryl Bootland.  (Bootland and Bissonnette have also both squared off against Brandon Prust, of the the New York Rangers, a billion times.  Bissonnette did it three times in two games.)  I would totally post videos, except no one was thoughtful enough to film them and put them up on youtube.  Boo hiss.
Back to current events, the K-Wings are playing the Cyclones tonight.  My plan is for the K-Wings to kick some ass and score some goals.  Hopefully they're on the same page.
Side bar:  Another fun fact (I know, I've got too many of these): two Cyclone d-men have NHL older brothers who faced each other in the 2010 Olympic gold medal game.  Keith Seabrook and Garrett Suter.  Hockey royalty, that one.
Oh!  Tonight!  It looks like Riley Gill will be starting in net, which I am super excited about.  I think he's going to do well with more playing time.  I was looking through the bios for the guys yesterday (they finally got posted!) and happened upon a couple of comedians.  Darryl Bootland put big bro and coach, Nick, down as his favorite player.  Suck-up.  He better be getting some extra minutes for that.  And El Capitan Wes O'Neill put down teammate Brandon Svendsen down as his favorite player.  I LOLZed pretty hard.  Thanks, guys.  We've gotten a little younger with the new guys on the roster this year.  Mostly because of the players we got from Vancouver and New Jersey.  Luckily, we've kept the solid veterans around.  I have high hopes for Justin Taylor's sophomore campaign and little hope that we'll keep him the whole season.  I have absolutely zero idea how the new recruits play, so we'll see tonight.  Let's go Wings!  (I can't beLIEVE I just said that...)

Music moment of the day is (obviously) Red Hot Chili Peppers.  It couldn't be anyone else, what with the title of this post.

Good song.  Also, the Chili Peppers are kind of awesome.  My Christmas presents last year, music-wise?  Chili Peppers, Black Eyed Peas, and Smashing Pumpkins.  Get it?  Vegetables?  My parents thought they were pretty clever.  And I'm inclined to agree.

Fantasia 2011 on Exhibition

Fantasy hockey is here again!  My league has been assigned and my team has been drafted.  I've made a few changes, but I was super lucky with being assigned to a league without other Penguins fans!  Woohoo!


So for my forwards:

The one, the only, Cappy.  Mr. Sidney Crosby.

Patrice Bergeron, newly inducted member of the Cup Club.  Lucky bastard.

My personal favorite and the best Staal brother, Jordan Staal.  (I would write more about him, except I think my adoration is completely self-explanatory.  And I'm pretty sure there's plenty of gushing in past posts.  And more to come.)  Also available for use at left wing.

Alexandre Burrows, whom I have a lot of love for, despite the fact that he is not a member of the Penguins.  Solid.  Also, now the K-Wings are a member of the Canucks organization.  Woot.  His winningness?  Ball hockey.  That's right.  He's a champion ball hockey player.  Perfectly acceptable consolation for not winning Lord Stanley last season.

James Neal.  Nealer.  Hugs!  He's had the misfortune (no offense intended) to play for the Stars the majority of his career and as a result does not have a Stanley Cup ring.  He DID win the Memorial Cup with the Plymouth Whalers in juniors (also the junior team of Babyface, may his K-Wings career RIP).  Even Penguins fans don't have a whole lot of love for him (unacceptable!), as evidenced by the Pens fan who sat behind me in Detroit and tried to tell me he wasn't very good.  HOWEVER, I believe that he's going to fit in stellarly (yes, I know, not a word...) and his out-of-character shootout goals only bode well for his career as a Penguin.

For my right wingers, I gambled a bit.  I originally had Teemu Selanne, but dropped him in favor of picking up an extra D-man.  I had it narrowed down to him and Jagr.  While it was a tough decision and I aDORE Selanne (see previous posts for my dream of a Selanne-Crosby-Kariya line), I felt Jagr had a better shot. So...

Jaromir Jagr.  Traitor extraordinaire.  And fantastic winger.  Just pretend he's back playing wing for God and it'll feel better.  Flyers don't exist in this magical world.

(If you haven't noticed, I'm trying to put together a team with the most hardware.  Not including Red Wings.  Amazing as this is, it was done completely unintentionally.)

Next up...El Presidente!!!  Oh, TK, how we all adore thee...  Pretty sure his hardware is self-explanatory or you shouldn't be reading this blog.

This was obviously the winningest picture of him.  More so than the Stanley Cup picture.  I should also mention I can use him on either wing.  He's just that cool.  (He also kicked ass in the Wings-Pens preseason game, which I ATTENDED!)

Last, but not least, of my forwards, Osh-kosh-be-gosh.  AKA T.J. Oshie.  I have no idea when I developed such a fondness for watching him play.  (One of the few non-Penguins whom I like and have seen play in person.  Happy birthday to me!)  I just had a feeling that he's going to have a good season.  Poor guy has only played a total of FOUR playoff games.  And he's got two penalty minutes to show for it.  So an improvement would be much appreciated by my fantasy team.  Preferably before the playoffs.

I hope this is a picture of him scoring a goal, not one of him being denied.  If it isn't, it is NOW.

D-MEN!!!  This is mostly a Pens-fest (current and former) with one exception.  The exception makes it a PenNs-fest.

First up, Tanger.  Kristopher.  Epicness.  Both in hair and play.  I refuse to believe that acknowledgement of his sex hair is a sign of puck-bunny-ness.  It's a fact of life.

Side note: No, that is NOT Max Talbot standing behind him.  That is a sibling of Max Talbot.  Creepy.
I felt that it was time for Tanger to break out the booze.

My PenN, AKA Flyer (which we've already agreed don't exist, so just pretend for a moment, please), is Andrej Meszaros.  I needed a 5th D-man, and I needed a scoring D-man.  Out of who I had available, he was really the best choice.  With a breakout season last year and with the new players in Philly this year, I have a good feeling about him.  We'll see how it works out.  Hopefully he'll live up to expectations.  A little bit about the new boy (since I've obviously talked about most all of the rest of the guys at length before): He was born the day after my childhood best friend, on October 13th.  Although he has never won a Stanley Cup, he has played in the Finals before.  In 2007 for the Senators (lost in 5 games...).  He's played numerous times for Slovakia's world teams, both at the junior and senior level and in the Olympics.  Also, never won.  I'd like for him to continue that streak.  But, play well while losing.  :D

Like I said, no Flyers.  Go Slovakia!?

The return of GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSEEE!!!  That's right, folks!  He's back!  I want to bring back these days:

I'd like to take this moment to mention that I did not change the name of my stuffed penguin from Goose to something else.  His memory lives on!

Back to the real (?), live Penguins avec Paul Martin (Is it weird that I want to pronounce "Martin" the French way?).  Poor, poor man had the bad luck to be drafted by the Devils, where he missed the Cup by a year.  (Obviously not too bad, as he had the good fortune to play alongside American hockey player extraordinaire, Jamie Langenbrunner.)  He has been named to two Olympic teams (2006 and 2010), but has yet to see any ice time during the Olympics (no action in '06 and a broken arm in '10).  Sochi, here he comes!  The things he HAS won?  Two National Championships with the University of Minnesota in 2002 and 2003.

Where's Paul?

And last, but certainly not least, MISTERBENLOVEJOY.  Did you really think I could resist putting him on my team?  Aside from the fact that I have a serious obsession, I also have a HUGE feeling about his season.  Epic.  (I swear, I don't use this word very often...)  What DON'T we already know about Monsieur Lovejoy?  Umm...
...
...
His favorite movie of all time is (apparently) The Count of Monte Cristo.  Props.  If only he'd read the book.  And his favorite hockey movie is NOT Slapshot!  Shocker.  It's The Mighty Ducks.  A man after my own heart.  Classic.

In the words of Geno: "Look awesome.  Girls love."  Hopefully cup love.

GOALIE, GOALIE, GOALIE!

Monsieur Marc-Andre Fleury.  MAF.  Flower.  WALL.

WINNER.  THIS is the real reward when you win the Stanley Cup.  I'm not really sure what to say about the Flower.  He makes me speechless.  ;)  He's just that good.  (Shame on all you doubters out there!)

My first back-up (I opted for three goalies instead of having another skater.) is Jose Theodore, one of the prettiest hockey players ever (obviously important).  Never won a Stanley Cup, but he has won a gold medal for Canada at the 1996 World Junior Championships, going 4-0-0.  Sweetness.  Off the ice, the guy's family life is a little tragic.  He's now with the Florida Panthers, who are now the hosts of the Blackhawks-Flyers-Capitals Convention.  They made a LOT of off-season changes.  If they work well as a team, they're going to be a team to beat.  But they're coming off like, a billion years of losing, so who know...

I have a theory that goalies are pre-disposed to be pretty.  If goal-scoring doesn't work for the Panthers, maybe they can use this to distract the opposing teams.  (1 in 10, folks...there WILL be interested parties...)  This picture was chosen specifically for the fact that I'm a girl and this is a winner.  Lolz.

My third goalie should be a familiar face.  Johan Hedberg.  MOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE.  Him and Goose should be BESTIES!  Poor guy is stuck with a nickname like this just because they couldn't get him a Penguins helmet in time...  I believe he STILL plays with a moose on his helmet, though.  Apparently he prefers Jo-Jo (like yo-yo).  I would, too.  Maybe.

I do have a logical reason for choosing Jo-Jo.  He's playing for the Devils (again) this year and after last year and how Brodeur is looking for this year...I have a feeling that he's going to be playing a lot.  I have a completely (mostly) unresearched opinion that this will be Brodeur's last season.  If, for some reason, Hedberg doesn't get the kind of playing time I forsee, or if Theodore fucks up, I'm dropping one or the other for BJ!!!  (Who is BALLER.)

The season starts tonight, so get excited!!!

Music moment of the day!:
This has absolutely nothing to do with hockey season starting today and entirely everything to do with the fact that everyone should be educated about my all-time favorite classical piano pieces to play.
Firstly, Frederic Chopin's Nocturne in e minor (Op. 72, No. 1)

If anyone has seen The Secret Garden (1987), you would recognize it from that.  (Yes, one of my favorite movies as a child.  Brilliance.)

Secondly, Enrique Granados' Spanish Dances.  I first played these after my freshman year of high school at summer music camp (three of the movements, anyway) and have since learned the rest.  Gorgeous.  A pain in the ass for my tiny hands in some places, but so are most things that I love to play.  These are the "Orientale" and the "Andaluza" (Nos. 2 and 5, respectively).

Thirdly, moving into a bit more modern (relatively): GERSHWIN!  Not Rhapsody In Blue, although that is on my to-do list.  Prelude No. 1.  It took a bit of listening to find an interpretation I liked.  SOO many of the other students playing this did the opening measures at the same tempo as the rest of the piece...  Ugh.

Last, and ALSO not least, Mussourgsky's Pictures At an Exhibition.  All of the previously mentioned pieces are pieces I've been playing for a number of years.  THIS one is the my work-in-progress.  By work-in-progress, I mean I've managed my way through "Baba Yaga" only a couple times.  Slooooowly.  It's getting closer all the time.  Woo!  This is where I encourage you to do your GOOD DEED OF THE DAY and listen to it in it's entirety.  Also, Evgeny Kissin...MMM.  I get more weak in the knees hearing him play than I would meeting the entire Penguins team.

Education time over.  Let's go Pens!!!