Archive for October, 2006

The end of the world is at hand… follow the Greens put it back together

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Relantel
on October 30, 2006
in Reviews and Television
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I happened to catch by accident the 2nd episode of the new drama “Jericho” (IMDb) on CBS (Wednesdays at 8pm normal air - I caught a saturday reair). We were at a friend’s house, and it happened to be on after we had eaten, so I watched it while we sat and talked. The main stars were Gerald McRaney (the Dad from Major Dad) and Skeet Ulrich (As good as it gets). McRaney plays the Mayor, Johnston Green. Ulrich is his long lost son, Jake Green. Another main character, one with mystery surrounding him, is Robert Hawkins, played by Lennie James (can’t place him, but IMDb says he was in Sahara last year). Mr. Hawkins always seems to know more than he lets on…

The 2nd episode started off with enough “previously” clips from the 1 hour series premiere that I was not lost. The basic premise is dealing with a post-nuclear attack world from the point of view of a small town in Kansas. After watching the 2nd episode, I set up the DVR at home to record it. The episodes since have been action packed, leading up to suffering an EMP in the most recent episode. Also laced in are the interpersonal relationships in the town, including the Mayor, his wife Gail (played by Pamela Reed), their two sons, Eric (played by Kenneth Mitchell) and Jake, and Eric’s wife April (played by Darby Stanchfield), and the rest of the townfolk, who struggle to cope with the reality that no one is coming to save them, still unable to answer the question of whether it was an accident or an attack, and if so, by whom.

CBS has full episodes viewable on their website  cbs.com), click on new dramas, and then scroll over skeet ulrich for Jericho. It’s a system called innertube, and every episode up to and including last Wednesday’s are viewable in their entirety. You only have to put up with a 20-second commercial in between show segments.

Crosby nets 1st Hat-trick in 8-2 win at Flyers

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Relantel
on October 29, 2006
in Hockey
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Pens sophomore Sidney Crosby netted his first career hat-trick en route to an 8-2 win at the rival Philadelphia Flyers. The win improved the team record to 6-3 after 9 games, briefly restoring the Pens to 1st in the Division, before NJ completed a win over Columbus to go back up by 1 point in the standings. NJ has played two more games than the Pens.

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Malkin extends goal streak to 4 games over NJ

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Relantel
on October 25, 2006
in Hockey
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Although the Pens allowed the first goal, the Pens stormed back to tie it at 1 at the end of the 1st period. Nils Ekman scored his 2nd of season, with the loan assist going to Mark Eaton, his first point as a Penguin.

The 2nd period belonged to the Pens, featuring goals by Crosby (3rd from Malkin and Whitney) and Staal (4th, and first even-strength of his career, from Recchi and Ekman) to go into the 2nd intermission up 3-1.

NJ would crawl back into it about 8 minutes into the 3rd, to make it 3-2, but Malkin’s impression of Mario Lemieux’s 1991 goal in the Cup Finals vs the North Stars, a superpurb highlight-reel goal two and a half minutes later restored the two goal lead. Assists went to Crosby and Whitney.

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can we score at even strength please?

Published
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Relantel
on October 23, 2006
in Hockey
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The Pens beat the Blue Jackets 5-3 on Saturday on the strength of three powerplay goals and two shorthanded goals. Michel Ouellet’s 4th on the PP opened the scoring, deflecting a shot by Sergei Gonchar. Gonchar got right back on the board, scoring his 2nd goal in as many games midway through the period.

The Jackets got a late powerplay, and converted to pull within 2-1 at the end of the 1st. The Jackets would tie it in the 2nd period right as a Penguins penalty was expiring, counting as an even strength goal against. Fredrik Modin got his first as a Jacket on the play.

The major development at 12:51 of the 2nd was Pens forward Ryan Malone coming to Crosby’s defense after a perceived cheap hit. Malone got 2, 5 & 10, while Kesla only got 5. Malone in reality got 6 weeks for the effort, as he broke his forearm on the play. While the Pens were killing Malone’s extra 2, 18-year old rookie Jordan Staal scored shorthanded off of a Mark Recchi rebound with 8 seconds to go in the kill. Robert Scuderi got the 2nd assist as the Pens took a 3-2 lead into the 2nd intermission.

The Pens would get some insurance in the 3rd period on a powerplay goal by Evgeni Malkin, assisted by Crosby and Ouellet, at 7:04 of the third. 24 seconds later, John LeClair took an interference penalty, leaving the Pens shorthanded once more. 21 more seconds later, Rookie Jordan Staal was awarded a penalty shot after being brought down when he was in the clear on a shorthanded breakaway.

Staal made his run, and clanged a shot off of the post, onto the back of the goaltender, with the puck crossing the goal line. At first, the referee signaled no goal, although the home horn had sounded. The play was reviewed upstairs by the video goal judge, where a goal was awarded at 7:49 of the third, giving Staal his second shorthanded goal of the game and third of his career.

The Jackets added a 5-on-3 powerplay goal of their own to close it to 5-3, but that would be the final score. Staal would later have a chance at a shorthanded hatrick when the Jackets pulled their goalie on a pair of late powerplay opportunities, but the Pens failed to get it in the net.

After going scoreless on the powerplay in the first couple games, the Pens are now at 25% (11 for 44) on the powerplay, tied for fourth best in the league. Their PK (allowing 8 of 49) is 16th at 83% effeciency. An improvement for a team who was dead last in the PK last year, but they have had their breakdowns. The biggest stat so far is zero shorthanded goals allowed versus Staal’s 3 shorthanded goals for.

Crosby and Malkin had quiet nights, with only 1 point each, giving Crosby 2+8 in 7 games, and Malkin 3+1 in 3 games. Malkin became the first player since 1995-96 to score a goal in each of his first three games. Staal’s two shorthanded goals in the same game are the youngest anyone has ever done that, and it is believed that his opening 3 shorties to start a career are a record as well.

Pens win on the Island, 4-3 in OT

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Relantel
on October 20, 2006
in Hockey
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Pens open up a 2-0 lead, surrender 3 goals late in the 2nd to trail 3-2 going into the third, see the game tied 3-3 by Evgeni Malkin in the 3rd, with the Pens winning in OT off of a powerplay goal by Sergei Gonchar, his 1st of the season.

The win improves the Pens to 3-3 on the season with 6 points. Crosby was the third star with 0+3 on the night. Malkin was 1+1 to improve to 3 points in 2 games to start his career.

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Pens standings/stats update, 10-13-06

Published
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Relantel
on October 13, 2006
in Hockey
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Pens stats update (3 team games):

Name GP G A TP PIM +/-
Crosby 3 2 4 6 2 +2
Ouellet 3 2 2 4 0 E
Armstrong 3 0 3 3 17 +1
Whitney 3 2 0 2 4 +3
Ruutu 3 1 1 2 4 +2
Moore 3 0 2 2 2 +3
Recchi 3 0 2 2 4 E
Melichar 3 1 0 1 0 +4
Staal 3 1 0 1 0 -1
Letang 3 1 0 1 0 -1
Scuderi 3 0 1 1 0 +1
Ekman 3 0 1 1 0 E
Gonchar 3 0 1 1 6 -2
Leclair 3 0 0 0 0 -1
Malone 3 0 0 0 0 -1
Stewart 1 0 0 0 0 E
Roy 2 0 0 0 7 E
Eaton 3 0 0 0 2 -1
Thorburn 3 0 0 0 -1
Fleury 3 0 0 0 2 N/A

We may not be atop the standings very long, but things look good at the top:

Eastern Conference
ATLANTIC GP W L OT PTS GF GA HOME AWAY L10
PITTSBURGH 3 2 1 0 4 10 7 1-1-0 1-0-0 2-1-0
NEW JERSEY 3 2 1 0 4 12 9 1-0-0 1-1-0 2-1-0
NY RANGERS 4 2 2 0 4 17 16 1-2-0 1-0-0 2-2-0
PHILADELPHIA 4 1 2 1 3 9 14 0-1-1 1-1-0 1-2-1
NY ISLANDERS 4 1 3 0 2 10 16 0-0-0 1-3-0 1-3-0

wow, what a shootout - Pens beat Rags 6-5

Published
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Relantel
on October 13, 2006
in Hockey
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Sidney Crosby is on fire - coming away with 4 points, 1 goal and 3 assists, as the Pens score first, shorthanded, no less, in a game where neither team had more than a one goal lead, and Crosby’s game winner came with 3.3 seconds to go in regulation, denying the Rags overtime and a guaranteed standings point. The Pens went 4-9 on the powerplay, while the Rags went 3 for 9. The Pens perfect PK is perfect no more, and its 0 for 11 powerplay coming in is now a 20% clip.

18 year old Jordan Staal had his first career goal in the 2nd period, the first of the game, while shorthanded. Later on, 19 year old rookie d-man Kris Letang would get his first career goal as well. D-man Ryan Whitney had two goals, the 2nd of which came right as a Pens penalty was expiring. It was a shorthanded rush, but credited as an even strength goal. The other goal was from Michel Ouellet. Colby Armstrong and Mark Recchi each had two asists.

After three games, the Pens are 2-1 with 4 points, tied with the rangers atop the Atlantic division with a game in hand. Rangers are 2-2 with 4 points.

Pens shutout Flyers 4-0 in season opener

Published
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Relantel
on October 6, 2006
in Hockey
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The Pens accomplished a first to start off their 40th Season in the NHL: They pitched a shutout in a season opener, something they had never done in a home opener, let alone a season opener.

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