FINALLY ! ! ! ! !

Just like Sykora raining down powers from the heavens to call his shot in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup yours truly called upon some heavenly vision to foresee Petr Gun earning his first Hat Trick in a Pens jersey at Mellon Arena just over a week ago from today. Forty-Four tries short. Forty-five was so sweet. It was this night that he went a step beyond and added that third goal thus earning his first career Hat Trick.

It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy and one of the team's constant hard workers. He's a blue collar player of sorts. The kind that fits with this city and thus with it's hockey team. Fittingly Petr Gun's third goal came while in front of the net off a feed from, who else, the Pittsburgh Kid, Sidney Crosby who fed a beautiful pass across the middle on the tape of Sykora's stick blade. It was a one of a kind pass that only Sid consistently makes in the league.

Petr Sykora finished it off and on cue the intelligent hockey fans of Pittsburgh rained hats down from the Mellon Arena rafters. But Petr was not alone. Another consummate worker named Pascal Dupuis earned his first career Hat Trick on a pretty move after a beautiful feed from Matt Cooke during four on four play during the third. The fans showed him their love too tossing whatever they had left towards the ice.

It was the kind of blitzkrieg offense that we've been waiting to see from this team of superstars (yes like you Max Talbot). The final score of the game, 9-2. Thirteen different Pens recorded a point against the Islanders. The three stars of the game ended up being 1 - Sykora, 2- Dupuis, and 3- Satan. It's not often that you don't call Sid the Kid one of the stars after a three point night but I doubt if anyone will try to argue this one.

Other notes around the Pittsburgh world:

-The Pirates trade catcher Ronnie Paulino to the Philadelphia Phillies for prospect Jason Jaramillo. Apparently the Phillies recent success has frightened so much that they are trying desperately to return to their losing ways.

-The Pens next game is in Philadelphia against the Flyers at 1:00.

-Malkin now has 48 points to lead the league. Crosby is at 44 points and Ovenchkin is third with 37.

The Rundown

Congratulations are in order to the Pitt football team who somehow (despite their coach) went 9-3 earning the second best bowl game in the Big East. Apparently some team called the Bearcats won the Conference. But it will be Pitt squaring off against the Oregon State on New Year's Eve in the Sun Bowl. I think this will be a really good matchup but I predict a Pitt victory (of course) 42-35 in OT.

Speaking of Bowl games Penn St get's to take on USC in a classic Pac Ten - Big Ten matchup. Both teams are worthy of a shot at the National title but since the NCAA and the BCS suck more dick than a gay man in San Francisco we'll never know how far they would have gone in an actual playoff. Instead we have to watch Florida play Oklahoma. You know ... '#2' Oklahoma who has the same record as #3 Texas but lost to Texas when the two squared off earlier in the season. Yeah .... but this championship system is cool. Nobody really wants to see who the best team is. We'd rather let some douchebag who knows more about 'html' code than actual freakin' football games tell us who are the top two teams than see a playoff.

I've come to realize that I've been extremely harsh on Mr. Ben Roethlisberger as of late. I mean he hasn't been playing great football lately but like a lot of other people I seem to blame him a lot for our lack of offense more than he deserves. The facts are that Ben has been playing hurt and without the same arm strength that he can when he's healthy thus affecting his ability to throw the deep ball or to be as accurate a he is capable of. The guy is a warrior and unlike quarterbacks of old (see Kordell Stewart) Ben has that ability to make a special play at any moment and bring the Steelers back in the game. Ben is capable of greatness when he has a competent (not all-star but competent) offensive line and even more importantly a competent coordinator calling in the plays.

So for the second game in a row the Pens lose but this one was worse than the Ottawa game. This game was at home and the Pens again blew a lead to the Buffalo Sabres. They let the Sabres score three unanswered goals and win the game in regulation. On a side note Hal Gill went down in the Ottawa game and will be out 2-4 weeks.

The Bucs released their Spring Training schedule and things couldn't be more exciting. Awesome! Soon we'll find out which new overpaid underachievers will be playing for us this year! And we still have a few weeks left to sign more of them! Oh joy! If that didn't get your heart pounding maybe this will:

Then again ... maybe we'll just get that record of 17 losing seasons this year.

Sy-Skora

If Petr Sykora hits 50 2-goal games in his career without notching a hat trick he might earn the nickname 'Mr. Lightning Strikes Twice'. But after his 42nd game tonight, where he lit the lamp twice in Carolina, I'm sure he doesn't want that to happen. And I'm positive Pens fans don't either. I was really pulling for him after he got his second. Malkin knew the situation too because the rest of the game he did all he could to set up 'Petr Gun' (as Errey and Steigerwald love to call him). But alas it was not to be. Part of me felt disappointed for Petr but another part actually was happy it didn't happen in Carolina. Wouldn't it be great for Sykora to get his first in the black Pens sweater with penguin ball caps raining down from the Mellon Arena rafters and all of Steel Town cheering his name? That's what I'm hoping and I'm predicting that it happens this year. Petr Gun will get his first hat trick this year and it will happen in the Steel City. You heard it here first.

But Peter Sykora wasn't the only star of the game or even the number one star of the game. In fact I may have even put Sabu in front of Sykora if only by a little bit. It was Crosby who played out of his mind. He was everywhere the loose puck was tonight and then some. Crosby had four assists in the game and is on a torrid scoring pace with 14 points in his last 5 games. Sabourin faced 36 shots saving 34 of them. He now sits second in goals against average and fourth in save percentage.

On a side note it slightly irks me that Steigy and Errey are calling Sabourin Sabu as of lately. I've been using that nickname for awhile now (dating back to last year). At least my reason is cool. They're just playing off his name. I'm playing off his name while honoring one of my favorite old ECW wrestler's who's actual ring name was Sabu.

But that's another point. Back to Sykora and the Pens. Sykora now has 7 goals, 8 assists for 15 points this season tied for fourth on the team with Tyler Kennedy. Crosby is now two points back of Malkin in the scoring race with 39 points and five points ahead of third place Ovenchkin. The Pens finish up their road trip in Ottawa on Saturday. Game time is 2:00.

Fire on Ice: The New 'Pittsburgh Kid'

A few days ago Sidney Crosby was 4th in the league in scoring, projected to finish at about 110 points. It was said to be an off year for the Pens Captain thus far and that he hadn't looked like he hit his stride yet. For anyone else 110 point projection and 4th in the scoring race would be an exceptional year (with exceptions to Malkin and Ovenchkin). But for Sid it was more of a letdown.

I was telling Runhigh before the Sabres game how I felt that Sid needed to pick up his scoring. Not just the points but I was dissappointed that he wasn't putting the puck in the back of the net enough and I wanted to see him taking some more shots instead of trying to set up his teammates more. I couldn't even recall the last time he had a Hat Trick. As if the new 'Pittsburgh Kid' heard me he buried two goals in the back of the net against Buffalo. While I was hoping he'd bury one more and tie the game I was still impressed with the way he just put the pressure on the Sabres defense the whole game. He had taken over and they had few answers.

Saturday night the Devils didn't have any answers to Crosby. He was everywhere. He backchecked on defense, moved the puck through the offensive zone at will and he shot the puck on net when he wanted. At the end of the game Sid was responsible for all four of the Pens goals getting a hat trick and putting an assist right on the waiting stick blade of Peter Sykora. He even came close to adding the Gordie Howe Hat Trick when he got into a scrap during the game. It never amounted into a full on fight and both men were thrown into the penalty box for roughing. Not shabby for the All-Star.

Sidney Crosby's dominance has stretched across the last 5 games. He has had goals in 4 of the last five with the exception being the defensive battle with the Canucks. Over the last five games Sid has notched 7 goals, 5 assists for 12 points. And Sid has overtaken second outright in the scoring race right behind Pens star and teammate Evgeni Malkin.

Sidney Crosby 23 games, 13 G, 21 A, 34 Points, 11 +/-

Evgeni Malkin 23 games, 10 G, 29 A, 39 Points, 11 +/-

The Thunder of Thunder Bay

Go ahead and admit it. Last night you cussed out Therrien. You swore at Fleury or the defense. You thought for a second that the Refs were wearing some red. If you said no to all of these you're a liar. Personally I texted Runhigh "Game Over" after it went to 5-2 in the 3rd period. I think it was at that point we texted each other and said we were switching the channels. He went to some lesbian talking about God knows what and I flipped to watch the final table of World Series of Poker (I know it's not a sport but Damn it's addicting). So being the glutton for punishment I am I kept flipping back to the game expecting to find the Red Wings had gone up by another goal and that the Pens were giving up. But It seemed that the Pens never gave up and finally snapped out of the Stanley Cup funk that they appeared to have been in since the season started. It Started with 13 minutes left in the 3rd period. Down 5-2 and all but written off by the Versus announcer Emerick the Pens got a goal from the league's points leader Evgeni Malkin. Staal made it a one goal game just over a minute later when he put away a rebound off of Osgood. I know this is off the subject but for God knows what reason, every time Osgood made a big save after that goal the Detroit crowd kept chanting 'Ozzy, Ozzy, Ozzy' over and over. Hey dumb asses! You're goaltender has let up 4+ goals! Quit chanting his name like he's posting a shutout! The Red Wings once again sent a blow to my hope when they added a sixth goal to make it 6-4. I asked Runhigh if this game reminded him of Game 6 of the finals at all? Runhigh: "Nope ... whiskey ruined my memory of game six ... similar to tonight's." Staal added another goal and I quickly forgot about switching between Poker and the game and stuck with the Pens. Runhigh cussed the Pens out for not deciding if they were going to play well or not. The Staal show wasn't over though. After Fleury was pulled Staal added his 3rd with 22 seconds remaining to tie it and earn his hat trick.



It makes you wonder how anyone could be talking a Staal trade this early into a season. He's a third year player with an unbelievable rookie season. With superstars like Crosby and Malkin on the team and high expectations for his sophomore season I can understand how he felt like a letdown. But I can't believe how many people were so ready to give up on a player of his size and talent level. Now that his season has jump started I can envision a thirty goal season once again. Go ahead . . . You can all say "Hossa who?" now.
The Staal show wasn't over though. In the overtime period Staal's line turned over the puck and "The greatest forward in the game" as Detroit fans love to call him was made to look stupid as Staal back checked, lifted his stick, stole the puck, and made a pass to the tape of Fedotenko's stick who sniped it into the upper corner of the net to win the game. Staal has arrived and helped to ease the pain of the the June loss by demolishing the Red Wing defense in the 3rd.
Go ahead .... Talk trade now.

The Rundown

A new writer addition to the Irish Road Drinking team has given new life to this writer for putting out posts. I'm not going to lie. So in celebration of the Steeler victory and on the eve of the Election Night Drinking Rules I bring you a Rundown of the Pittsburgh Sports.

First off Congratulations to the Philadelphia Phillies and their fans for winning the World Series. I know we love to give a hard time to Philadelphia but let's give credit where credit is due. The Phillies ended 100 seasons of misery by the city in sports futility. Too bad we can't say the same about the Cubs ... what am I talking about. Screw the Cubs. But seriously if ever a city was ready to party Philly is it. And boy do they know how to party!

Runhigh: "Guess its not the city of Brotherly Love anymore."

Penn State had a rough weekend despite not playing. How does a #7 team jump you in the polls if you're idle? It Boggles my mind? Texas Tech goes from 7 to 2 after beating Texas on a lucky last play at home. If it was at Texas it would have been game over by the 3rd quarter. But the Lions get jumped in the polls because of a "weak schedule." The Beat OSU away!!! This is with Beanie Wells playing and Terrel Pryor aclimated to the OSU system so don't give me the USC beat them rap. Because we all know that USC playing a home against an Ohio team with a depleted offense is different than USC playing in the Horshoe when OSU is at full strength. In my mind Penn State deserves the #2 ranking.

Weathering the storm of 16 straight losers is tough. Pirates writer Jennifer Langosch tries to answer the tough (and obvious) questions.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are off to less than a stellar start this season. Currently they are tied for second in the Atlantic Division with the Devils but way down at Seventh in the Conference. Runhigh was decent enough to remind me that they were one game under .500 last year at by Thanksgiving so lets not hit the panic button yet.

It appears that Alexander Semin is jealous of the Pens Captain Sidney Crosby though. Let's not sugar coat this crap. It wasn't anything lost in translation. It was straight up one douche bag jealous of somebody elses talents. Big whoop Semin. So you have 16 points so far. Any one can go on a hot streak. Real talent lasts the whole season. We'll talk 60 games in when you're 47th on the rank of points leaders. Oh yeah ... a common rule of thumb is to get your team into a position where they'd make the playoffs if the season ended today before you go and talk shit. Otherwise you end up sounding like you do right now ... another whiney little bitch!

Finally in the Obama vs. McCain bowl it looks like the Democrats have won ..... I mean last nights game when the Steelers visited the Redskins the Steelers prevailed 23-6. Hockey Guru's inaugural post on our site proved to be very accurate. The men of Steel came away with a win of more than ten points. Unfortunately our boy was short of the 38 point parlay prediction by 9 points. I don't think anybody would have guessed quite a defensive masterpiece that our team displayed. I know I didn't think the Redskins would hold us to 23. The MVP of the night had to be the defense. You couldn't single out anyone from it. With 7 sacks, 2 INT's on Campbell (the first two against him all season), and holding the Redskin offense to 3-15 on third down conversions it was an all out thrashing. Not to mention the 4th and goal from the one-yard line that the 'Skins passed from. Runhigh summed it up best when he said "What does it say about the Steelers D that the Redskins are afraid to run the best running back in football when only needing one yard." It says the Steelers stuffed Jacobs on four plays from the goal line last Sunday and it scared the crap out of Zorn. Pussy!