Well, today I received my request from the Penguins to renew my season tickets in section 201. And boy is my ass sore! Per seat my tickets are going up from $49.50 to $53.50 each! That is an 8% increase!
Look, I know Mario and his crew live a life of champagne wishes and caviar dreams, but an eight freaking percent increase? Seriously? You know, I got a raise this year. It was 2.1%.
I do not know how much longer the Pens can keep these yearly astronomical and out of line with the rest of the nation price increases up. But at the rate things are going soon my pair of seats are going to be close to $10k.
Looks like as a season ticket holder I will be going to even fewer games next year. Maybe 10 at most. The rest will have to be sold just so I can do that and afford to see some games in the playoffs too.
Hey Mario, just a suggestion. You know, from the little people. Next time before you stick it to the season ticket holders how about a little warning and at least offer up some lube?
Matt Cooke threw and elbow to the head of the Rangers Ryan McDonagh. He deserved a suspension for the hit. He deserved it because:
1) It was a dirty hit
2) Cooke is a repeat offender
He also knew it was coming because:
1) He knew Mario pissed off Gary Bettman by calling the NHL on the carpet over head shots
2) The league had just wrapped up its winter meetings where head shots were a hot topic
But the suspension he got was silly. It was, at the time because the Penguins were not a lock for the playoffs, a minimum of 10 games (if they had missed the playoffs) and a maximum of 17 games (if they played a seven game opening round having made the playoffs). Now the suspension, with the Penguins having made the playoffs is a minimum of 14 games.
It was a silly suspension because, I bring this up again, Gillies of the Islanders … sorry I mean the New York Goons … chased down a man across the ice, knocked him down and then continued to beat on him while he was on the ice and got just 9 games. Then Gillies came back from suspension and in his first game back threw a blatant elbow and promptly got a 10 game suspension. At least Cooke waited a few games between coming off his last suspension and his latest infraction for crying out loud!
There was little doubt at the time of the Cooke suspension that the league was sending Mario a message to sit down, shut up, and stop making them look so bad. There is even less doubt now.
Last night, repeat offender, and Red Wings thumper, Todd Bertuzzi proved that. You might remember Mr. Bertuzzi. He is the schlub that punched Steve Moore from behind on March 8th, 2004. Moore suffered a concussion, facial lacerations and several broken vertebrae. That incident got Bertuzzi suspended indefinitely by the league and he wound up missing 20 games (13 regular season and 7 in the playoffs).
Bertuzzi has not seriously cleaned up his act since. He regularly finds any excuse he can to hit players late. In 2003-04 he amassed 122 PIMs in just 69 games. In 2005-06 he massed 120 PIMs in 82 games. In 2006-2007 he netted only 13 PIMs but also only played in 15 games. In 2007-08 Bertuzi had 97 PIMs in just 68 games. In 2008-2009 he got sent to the sin bin for 74 minutes in just 66 games. Last year he had a respectable year of just 80 minutes in 82 games. This year the aging winger has been able to get just 61 penalty minutes. This however is due mostly to the fact that he can no longer chase down players the way he used to. Make no mistake he would love to! But he just cannot.
And he was up to his old tricks again last night as he found an excuse to throw a purposeful elbow into the head of Ryan Johnson. Of course Red Wings fans, who as we here in the ‘Burgh have learned are some of the most ignorant and ill-educated hockey fans, around are defending the hit calling it unintentional. I have read numerous praises for Bertuzzi as being a “gentleman” for immediately seeking out Johnson and apologizing for the hit that got him a 5 minute major as well as ejected from the game. Coming from a Detroit fan ok, I can see why a thug who apologizes would be a “gentleman” in their eyes considering most of the thugs on Detroit’s streets have no such courtesy. I mean, could you imagine? It would be laughable to see a gangsta thug rob a woman at gun point and then tell her how sorry he was!
I have even seen comments from Johnson claiming that he does not think the hit was intentional. Ok, so because Johnson is too stupid to know what Bertuzzi was trying to do to him that makes it ok?
The video says it all and here it is. My commentary follows:
You can clearly see at around 0:39 of this clip (during the replay) that Bertuzzi sees that Johnson’s head is down as he tries to clear the puck. Bertuzzi lifts his elbow, rides it up Johnson’s arm and straight into his head. His right elbow is more than halfway up and Bertuzzi, seeing that he was going to miss Johnson, threw that elbow out there on purpose. There is no doubt about this. That is except to the NHL brass, Red Wings fans and other assorted people who know little to nothing about hockey.
Today the league announced Bertuzzi’s punishment. That punishment? Zero games suspension. Oh yeah, the NHL is really serious about hits to the head and cracking down on repeat offenders. Nope. What the league is really about is making sure Mario knows his place. Bettman cannot stand that Lemieux knows more about what’s up that he does and he certainly cannot stand that Lemieux gets more respect than him. I mean honestly, if you walk into a room and on one end is Mario and the other is Bugsy Bettman, who do you think is going to have the bigger crowd. I mean of legitimate hockey fans, not brown-nosing yes men. Of course it is going to be Mario.
So Bettman acts like a thug to get even. He slaps Cooke hard, lets Gillies off with a relatively comparable love tap and lets Todd Bertuzzi get off scott free.
It was announced today that the injury decimated Penguins acquired Alexei Kovalev from the Ottawa Senators for a conditional 7th round pick. The pick becomes a 6th round pick if the Penguins advance past the first round of the playoffs and Kovalev plays in 50% or more of those games.
The AK-27 gets another stint with the Penguins at 38 and was told of the trade today on his birthday. Despite being 38, Kovalev has proven to still have a scoring touch. Just two years ago with the Canadiens he tallied 35 goals and 84 points. Last year he had 26 goals and this year so far he has netted 18 pucks for Ottawa.
Kovalev seems certain to add some scoring punch to a team that is still missing many of its top scorers due to a rash of injuries. I assume that Kovalev, considering his age and tenure, will be wearing the #27 when he suits up for the Penguins. Although that number is currently worn by veteran forward Craig Adams.
Thursday night they put up a spirited effort against a Devils team that seems to have finally figured out how to win. But they came up short and shut down by the one thing that hasn’t changed in New Jersey this year. That would be Martin Brodeur. Oh, they had their chances. They just could not finish.
Last night the Hurricanes came to town. A mediocre team this year, the Penguins built a 3-0 lead on an even strength goal by Dustin Jeffrey (2), a power play goal by Mark Letestu (10) and a short handed goal by Pascal Dupuis (10). Good thing too because Carolina scored twice in the final five minutes to make the game look respectable.
This may be the way the Penguins have to cope until the two headed monster returns. Without those two they are as good, still, as your average team sitting at 8th or 9th in the Eastern Conference and they are better than teams like the Islanders who they will play to end things out before the All Star Break and to start things up afterwards.
Win the games against the bottom feeders. Pull out a couple among the better teams. Then when the team gets healthy make the final run for the playoffs.
Twenty-one games into the season Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang are pacing the Penguins in scoring. Sidney Crosby is on top with 33 points (14 G & 19 A) and a +4. Evgeni Malkin, who has struggled at times, is second with 20 points (7 G & 13 A) but is a -3. Kris Letang is taking over Sergei Gonchar’s spot on the scoring list at number three with 18 points (3 G & 15 A) and is an impressive +9 as well.
There is one distinct disappoint however beyond Malkin’s spotty play until lately. Zbynek Michalek who was touted as a shut down defenseman is a -5 on the season. It is hard to see him not finishing the season with much better numbers but his performance does bear watching.
Have you seen me?
In 2008-09 Eric Goddard played 71 games for the Penguins. In 2009-10 Goddard played in 45 games during the season. This year Goddard has played in just 6 games. He is a +2. If this trend continues, the Penguins enforcer is on pace to appear in just under 25 games this year. His diminishing role can be attributed to the accession of other players willing to drop the gloves. In particular Deryk Engelland who has proven himself a serviceable sixth defenseman and who has appeared in 19 games. Engelland has shown the ability to take on the opposition’s tough guys and stand up for his teammates. All this points to Goddard’s days with the Penguins pretty much ending unless something catastrophic happens such a injuries.
Tonight the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Ottawa Senators renew a match up that is becoming commonplace in the post season. In recent years each team has had to beat the other in order to advance. Pittsburgh, the forth seed in the East, and Ottawa, the fifth seed, drop the puck in less than an hour at the Igloo.
Pittsburgh didn’t limp into the playoffs but did not impress in March and April nearly as much as they had in the previous two seasons where they used the final weeks of the regular season to build momentum. When you count overtime and shootout losses as what they are, losses, the Penguins were basically a .500 team. Ottawa on the other hand finished the season 7-2-1 so they are not going to be an easy first round opponent.
As much as Penguins fans want to be optomistic there are questions about whether star players who have not played up to snuff (Fleury, Malkin, Gonchar) lately can find that extra gear, bear down and play playoff hockey. Fleury has been one of the best netminders in the playoffs over the past two years winning 7 of 8 series and only loosing that one finals series against Detroit. He is capable but has to steady himself in net.
Tonight, not all answers will be given but a glimpse of what is to come is certainly going to be on view. Someone better find the switch and flip it soon. Because Crosby can’t win another cup on his own.
