Hope Winters Eternal

Where the fuck did the Summer go? I mean, I absolutely love that Summer apparently went somewhere all of a sudden and it went from 90 degrees to me having to wear a sweatshirt in roughly six hours, but still, what the Hell happened? Suddenly leaves are on the ground, stupid yinzers are only talking about the Steelers, ladies everywhere are downing Pumpkin Spice lattes like it doesn't even matter, and those annoying summer temps are back at their high schools and colleges.

I'm not missing anything am I? I think I covered it all...wait...


[AP]


[AP]

Oh. My. God. Did anyone else know this was going on? Oh, hockey, you wonderful lady, how I have missed you. So, let's get right to the action, because that's what you're here for right? Fisticuffs? Knuckles sandwiches? Ice skating dudes beating the piss out of each other? Good, I thought so.

We come first, of course, to Jesse Boulerice. Boulerice is perhaps the definition of preseason fighters, a dude who drops the gloves, has been in the league for a long time, and is just looking for his chance to place some more puck, wherever it may be. Cause, really, if you want to describe Jesse Boulerice's career...other than his violent outbursts...you might as well just ask the Original Man in Black.



Boulerice knows exactly what he's supposed to do. Skate hard every shift, fight for dudes no matter what, and avenge his own fights...like this one...



Gorf...

But, the dude comes back for more. Now, me? Personally if some guy totally and utterly cleaned my clock with one punch, I'd probably say things like, "Let's not fight again. My face is still reeling from the last punch you threw at me. How bout a beer?" I'm not one for fighting dudes that beat the shit out of me already. That's why I'm not an enforcer. Jesse Boulerice is. Jesse Boulerice comes back in a big way.

Boulerice knows it's a man's game, and comes back in stout fashion:


[Reuters]

Unreal. For a moment, let us enjoy this crisp photo. I think it's something special at the CEC that gets overlooked: photography. With basically an unobstructed scope of vision from EVERYWHERE in the arena, press photography of Pittsburgh Penguins game are going to be gorgeous, with cameramen able to snipe shots like this from anywhere they want at anytime they want. Going to be a golden era of hockey photography at the CEC.

Really, did you expect anything else? Two dudes letting their respective managements know that even though they might not dress, might not even be with the big club, they're ready to take some grenades in the trenches when they need to. Say Godard, God forbid, doesn't make the Penguins roster. Say Rupp is hurt too for some reason. So, where are we going to turn? Being able to call up a dude like Boulerice when the Flyers or Rangers are coming to town is a nice thing to have in your pocket. He'll be forgotten about by your average Pens fan, but he'll still be huge if we need him to be.

The game itself, how great was it? No one except die hard Penguin fans will remember this along with Oct. 7th as the "first," game at the CEC, but it was still a wonderful experience. Don't believe me? Just look at this face from Mike Babcock:


[AP]



Bitter beer face!

Consider this in relation to...


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Pimp City. Population: That Guy. You think the game wasn't important to both of those teams? The stars of the Penguins playing in the game? The heavy checking in the first preseason game? These two teams are perhaps not bitter rivals like Pittsburgh and Philly or Detroit and Colorado, but with a lot of headline players that played in both of the Stanley Cup Finals still around, they have a chip on their collective shoulders. For that to be the first preseason game? What more could you want.

It's simple arithmetic folks, more photos of that face=more awesome times.

It's gonna be a great year.

It's September, Can You Feel It?

Did anyone really think anything else was possible? After the two monster signings of Martin and Michalek, what was left for Ray Shero to do? Holes at forward with Fedotenko, Guerin, and Ponikarovsky all moving on needed to be plugged but what could Shero do with only pocket change to sign some forwards. It seems at long last, rather than signing the old dudes in the hopes that they plug it up for a season or two; Ziggy "Stardust," Palffy, Mark Recchi, John LeClair, Gary Roberts, Bill Guerin, etc., the Penguins are finally going to try and let their young forwards; Eric Tangradi, Mark Letestu, and Dustin Jeffrey, take every shot at cracking the first and second lines to fill in the question marks on the top to lines.

The third and fourth line? No question marks there except who is going to play night in night out. There are plenty of of players for those 3rd and 4th lines: Craig Adams, Matt Cooke, Eric Godard, Tyler Kennedy, Mike Rupp, and Max Talbot will be joined by Arron Asham and Mike Comrie to give Disco Dan Bylsma plenty of options amongst his grinders, penalty killers, and all around forces of nature. Out of these players, Comrie has the best shot to make it into the top two lines however he could fit anywhere, but more on that later.

So, who is going to play? Earlier this off season, Jody Shelley came to Philadelphia and Derek Boogaard has come to New York so I fully expect #28 to suit up when we play them at the very least. With Colton Orr in Toronto and last seasons fighting major leader, Zenon Konopka signing with the Islanders, we may even see Godard more than that. Godard's growing importance to the team has already been discussed though so let's move on to our two new boys.

Arron Asham

Everyone wants to focus on what Asham did in the playoffs for the Flyers last year when considering what he could possibly be for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Asham, however, could be putting up some huge numbers for the Penguins if you look at some of his even older numbers. Consider that Mike Rupp had easily his greatest season with the Penguins last year, pocketing 13 goals and 19 points when he never had more than 10 goals in his 9 year NHL career. Asham, who will probably get the same treatment Rupp got, (the odd matchup line change where Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, or maybe even Jordan Staal), has the possibility of putting up even bigger numbers. Asham has four seasons with 10 or more goals with a career high of 15 in 2002-2003 with the Islanders. I expect some fireworks from Asham this season, and not just from his fists:



We all know how I feel about Colby Armstrong. Seeing Asham immediately jump in, a guy who fights heavyweights like Rupp and super heavyweights like Orr, and beat the snot outta some snot nosed cheap shot middle weight like Armstrong for throwing a cheap shot is fantastic. You CANNOT have enough protect for the Penguin superstars. When Godard isn't in the line up, you obviously lose something with Asham in physicality and enforcing. But, Asham will bring a better offensive skills and isn't a GIANT drop off from Godard's fist. You like to see Godard in games when the opponent has a big time enforcer such as everyone in the Atlantic seems to have now, but against other teams, a combination of Asham and Rupp should suffice.

Plus, he looks like he could play Vincent Vega in a Pulp Fiction remake:



"I ain't your friend, palooka."

Mike Comrie

I don't care about Hilary Duff. Comrie has always been a player I have had a respect for because he plays the game hard, gets dirty, scores goals, fights, everything. Looking around the great vastness of the internet, in between all the mouth breathing and soul sucking crap, you'll find some interesting tidbits about this signing: Comrie signing for league minimum, Comrie giving up a lot of money elsewhere to sign with the Pens, Comrie replacing Guerin on Crosby's line, Crosby personally talking to Comrie about coming here and almost instantly congratulating him on his arrival to Pittsburgh. All of these things point to Mike Comrie being hungry like the wolf:



Really, I had no reason to post this song except for forcing the hungry like the wolf reference. Whatever, that song rules, you all suck.

Anyway, Comrie being hungry is going to push people, and I absolutely love it. Tyler Kennedy? Max Talbot? Are you listening? Mike Comrie, as long as he stays healthy is going to push everyone on this squad and has the talent to back it up; 33 goals with Edmonton in 01-02, 20 in 02-03, 30 with Phoenix in 05-06, 21 for with the New York Islanders in 07-08. Even combining the career highs of Tyler Kennedy and Max Talbot doesn't equal Comrie's career high. There's a new grinder in town ladies and gentlemen, and he's got him some hands.

As mentioned, though, Comrie's problem is staying healthy. Comrie has only played 50+ games in a season twice since the lockout. For league minimum though, this is another classic Ray Shero move of "low risk, high reward." Think Janne Pesonen, except, you know, better.

But, enough crap about goals and lame stuff like winning. My favorite thing about Mike Comrie, is, of course, that he fights. It's not just that he fights, it's that he fights with the frame he has. At 5'10", Comrie is the shortest player on the Penguins team yet he still throws down. What is great about his fight card is that while he gets a handful of fights each regular season, he has thrown down in the PREseason many times. Comrie, despite turning 30 years old on September 11th, still plays like a kid fighting for a roster spot. Once again, hungry like the wolf. Adding that kind of grit to a line that already includes Chris Kunitz and the superstar grinder himself, Sidney Crosby, is only going to make great things happen. On top of it all, Crosby still has two guys ready to drop the gloves at a moments notice on his line to stand up for him.



Bring the pain.