It is being deemed “radical” what the NHL has done in terms of realignment for the 2012 season.  I personally don’t think anything “radical” needed to be done.  The NHL could have just moved Winnipeg to the Western Conference’s Central Division and Columbus to the East, maybe, and I emphasize the maybe, shifting around some of the East’s teams so that Columbus wasn’t in the South East, which would have been a little silly.

But instead they decided to be “radical”.  Starting in 2012, the NHL will play with four yet to be named conferences as follows:

Conference D:
New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Washington and Carolina

Conference C:
Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Buffalo, Florida and Tampa Bay

Conference B:
Detroit, Columbus, Nashville, St. Louis, Chicago, Minnesota, Dallas and Winnipeg

Conference A:
Los Angeles, Anaheim, Phoenix, San Jose, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Colorado

Each conference will send its top four teams into the playoffs with the playoffs starting out with games among the top four teams in each conference.  After that the teams will be reseeded leading to the very real potential for an all Western or all Eastern Stanley Cup Final.  It think that is bad but hey, what do I know right?  I thought this could have been solved by moving just two teams.

Anyway, the Penguins are now in what I would call potentially the toughest of all the conferences based on the teams as they currently are.  They will have to contend with Washington, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Carolina for one of the top four places in that conference.  And let us not forget the New York Rangers too.  Year in and year out that is six quality teams vying for four spots and you know the Penguins are going to get shut out at least once in the near future from the playoffs based on that.

Once good thing about this realignment is that the regular season now means a lot more than it has in the past.  You don’t have 15 teams competing for eight spots.  You have seven or eight teams competing for just four.  You don’t have to just be better than the bottom half of the Eastern or Western Conference but better than the bottom half of your, essentially, division.  Yes, I know they are calling them conferences, but they are more like divisions to me.

Really, ok, that is fine.  No more coasting in to eighth place on the last day of the season.  Now play hard all season or be left behind.  Although the loser in this could be the teams that are not perennially good and the New York Islanders look to not be making any playoff appearances any time soon based on their lot in “Conference D”.  I think that hurts the game if you ask me.  I mean, we are not talking about a conference with only one or two perennial powers but, again, a conference with the Penguins, Flyers, Rangers, Captials, Hurricanes and Devils in in.  Seriously?  If I were an Islanders fan, and I am not because I actually know a thing or two about hockey, I would be screaming bloody murder.

It is what it is though.  I liked the current set up and didn’t think, again other than two moves, that it needed changing.  But hockey seems to be a sport with fickle women in charge of it.  They realign more that a car with a bad front end.

Billy Guerin officially announced his retirement today after am 18 year stint in the NHL. Having played with eight different teams, Guerin’s last official home was in Pittsburgh where he helped the team win the Stanley Cup in 2008-2009. He remained with the team for the 2009-2010 season but was not tendered a new contract for this year. He tried out for the Philadelphia Flyers this year but was released before the season began.

Bill Guerin will be honored by the Penguins in a ceremony before tonight’s home game versus the New Jersey Devils. “We were only here a short time, but my family and I developed such a deep connection to the city, the team and the fans,” said Guerin.

It was obvious how much the fans in Pittsburgh appreciated Guerin’s presence. Despite being a veteran, the fans regularly cheered for Guerin on the ice and applauded when his kids were shown on the old Igloo’s scoreboard.

Guerin was no doubt thankful that the Penguins acquired him from the New York Islanders for literally a song. He was struggling on a team that showed little penchant for winning and that was obviously frustrating to a player of Guerin’s caliber.

Guerin made his reputation as a player that could both finish and set up his teammates and also as a no-nonsense player on the ice who was not adverse to getting down and dirty. He often exceeded 100 penalty minutes by year’s end.

Considering the success he had at the tail end of his career here in Pittsburgh and how much the fans and the players loved him on the ice and in the locker-room I do not think it is any surprise that tonight, bad boy Billy Guerin retires a Penguin. Billy, I salute you. And with your announcement of a well deserved retirement after a long and productive career I am proud to see that you will now forever be a Pittsburgh Penguin.

Blame last night’s loss on the rain falling last night as fans funneled into the Igloo for Game 7? Nope. Blame it on the Fleury – Marc-Andre Fleury. The Penguins netminder had a game that all Pens fans and even he would sooner forget.

Sure, the Canadiens capitalized on their first shot after Sid took a terrible boarding penalty. Sure Gonchar looked like he was already making plans about where he would be playing next year. But those are the sorts of stops a goalie the caliber of Fleury is supposed to make. And that was the story of the night on three of the Canadiens first four goals as all were stops Fleury is supposed to make. But he didn’t and the Pens are off to the golf course for the summer awaiting next year and the opening of the Consol Energy Center.

Fans on hand tried their darndest to get the home team fired up but slowly and surely they fell down 4-0 half way through the second before coming to life with a goal by Chris Kunitz. The fans were loud and cheered even when the Pens were down. They cheered their hearts out. But this was not the year for another Stanley Cup.

Too many players just went through the motions after falling behind last night and when they finally got a fire lit under their asses it was too late. Too many players on the team just played like there was another chance to win the series when there was none and it will lead to one interesting off season as several players on this year’s team will almost certainly not return from Fedotenko to Ponikarovksy to most likely Gonchar as well.

Time for Shero to work his magic and get this team set for next year. And he’ll have a little bit longer than last year to do so.

O Canada! What has happened? Many people thought that a Canada – Russian match up would be for a gold medal in Vancouver not in an elimination game where the loser goes home without any medal at all.

Tonight the Canucks take on the Ruskies and Sid takes on Geno … and Ovechkin … and Gonchar. With the likely starter for the Canadians being Luongo, who has never risen to the challenge of being a big time goaltender and an entire team of “potential” on the ice, the guys from the Great White North are going to need a miracle.

So far the Canadians have not played up to what people have seen as their potential. They struggled in the preliminary round and their only two easy victories have been against teams that could probably be beaten by a good college hockey squad.

Thus my prediction is a Russian victory tonight when this bloodbath ends.  The Canadians will scratch and claw with all their might to not go quietly into the night. But what we have seen to date is a team of aged talent that hasn’t been able to prove itself. Crosby is their ace in the hole by Russia holds the trump in a pair of stars named Malkin and Ovechkin.

In order for this prediction to turn out wrong Luongo would have to have the game of his life. Either that or the Canadians would have to swallow their pride and get over the fact that Fleury lost a big game and disappointed his countrymen in World Juniors. Much has changed for the Penguins net minder since then and I think a Stanley Cup should be more than enough to get the stubborn forces of Canadian hockey to give the man who should be in goal the chance he deserves and his team more than a long shot chance to win tonight.

But that will not happen. So Canada had better pray for that miracle.

When it was announced by the Penguins that season ticket holders would have an oportunity to have their picture taken with Lord Stanley’s Cup the questions began to swirl. How many would take advantage of the oportunity to have a picture with the trophy on Penguins ice? When would be the best time to show up; early or later to beat any potential log jams? Well, yesterday, the first of two days when the cup was available, and when season ticket holders with names in the first half of the alphabet were given tickets for, the answers were unmistakable; nearly every damn one and it did not matter.

Yes, even when we arrived at 11:45 AM (over a full four hours BEFORE our recommended time) the line was out the door of gate one, down the sidewalk to Center Avenue and then around the bend down to Washington Place. Inside the line was wrapped around the concourse from Gate one all the way back to section C5/6 the long way around. Then the line wound down the steps and out to center ice.

The impressive thing? No one seemed to care. Yes, by the time we got out of there at 4:45 (five hours later) there was not bitching or moaning from those around us in line the entire time. People talked, children played and everyone accepted the long march to the single reason why we had all shown up. Even when people who had already had their pictures taken told those standing outside that the wait was five hours the groans were light if existent at all. Everyone seemed to expect this sort of turn out.

Here some pictures from yesterday’s wait in line:

The End of the line when we arrived

Me and Charlotte waiting in line (about 30 minutes after arriving)

Charlotte and mommy taking a stroll

Charlotte gets a ride (about 60 minutes after arriving)

Just inside Gate 1 (We have to walk all the way around)

Waiting once inside

a short break from walking

Soooooo close

Finally! Mommy and Charlotte on the ice

The Grand Prize! Lord Stanley's Cup!

Oh, and just in case you thought that the line might get shorter late in the day?  Well, let’s just say we are damn glad we did not wait until 4:00 pm to show up!

The line at 5PM was still looooooooong!

I just want to thank the entire Penguins organization for this wonderful experience and if you have tickets for today to get your picture with the cup well my suggestion is get there as early as you can!

The Pittsburgh Penguins opened the season last night by raising their championship banner to the rafters and then dispatching the New York Rangers before yet another sell out crowd. Powered by goals by Evgeni Maklin (1), Sidney Crosby (1) and Mr. (Tyler) Kennedy (1) the Penguins downed the Rangers 3-2.

The Penguins looked good last night despite a preseason in which they won only 1 game. Of course that was because their stars were not the focus of those games and a lot of players no longer with the team were getting much of the icetime. Fleury looked sharp making some spectacular saves by flashing his glove hand and stopped 25 of 27 shots and looked like he hasn’t missed a beat since the Finals ended a few months ago.

Yes, it is still early. But this is an encouraging sign for a team that played late into the year last season and had a very short off season. The third line of Stall, Cooke and Kennedy also played yet another strong game leading me to once again call them the best third line in all of hockey. They cycled, checked, and shot like a top line at many times and that is what you like to see from guys on the #3 line. I was also happy to see that Bylsma decided to keep Kennedy on the third line rather than move him up to the second line. Dupuis played there most of the night instead. Kennedy is a great fit for the third line and while I have no doubt that he can play on the second line with Malkin, his chemistry with his current linemates should not be sacrificed.

Today the Penguins are in New York to play the Islanders in the second game of the season. The Islanders have not taken to the ice yet in the regular season so far.