The Battle of NPI: Win the Cup, Lose a Co-Blogger?

(Mostly x-posted to No Pun Intended)

The Cup Finals are finally here and as luck would have it, it's come down to my Detroit Red Wings and Elly's Pittsburgh Penguins. As luck would further have it, the two of us will be hanging around in hockey hotbed Toronto this weekend trying to sway Sherry's unfavorable opinions of our teams. (Hey, it's only fair, last season we had to listen to 1,001 reasons to pick the Ottawa Senators all weekend.)

Regardless of the outcome, we at NPI think the highlight of this series is that it is going to have to be some amazing hockey. The two best teams in the league facing each other head on, the likes of which each other has never seen - not since preseason. Whichever team takes this series is going to have to be nearly perfect to do it. I fully admit to not knowing as much about the Pittsburgh Penguins as I maybe should, but in matching up the teams it's astonishing just how even these Cup Finals look like they may be.

Offensively, everyone is talking about the one-two punches of Sid the Kid and Evgeni Malkin vs. the Eurotwins and Selke finalists, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. There's basically no arguing these are the two most exciting, skilled combinations in hockey. Both duos have 40 point between them (20 goals and 20 assists for Pav and Hank, 13 and 37 for Sid and Geno), and both have proven themselves absolutely deadly. Perhaps because neither of the Eurotwins singlehandedly saved hockey (I kid), they don't seem to get the league-wide attention Crosby and Malkin do - but perhaps this will be the season that ends that. The Penguins pair is glamorous and offensively gifted, but the Red Wings duo excels at both ends of the ice, as obvious by their twin Selke nominations, and may be the more well-rounded. Either way, neither can be taken lightly.

Of course these aren't the only weapons for either team - Pittsburgh is finally getting their money's worth out of 20-point Marian Hossa, and the Wings, until he was sidelined with concussion symptoms, had a 12 goals in 11 games scorer in the Mule, Johan Franzen, as well as Tomas Holmstrom being a pest in front of the net. And of course something must be mentioned of the WWGRD phenomenon creating Gary Roberts - just not sure what that something should be (I'm a fan of the bracelets, for the record - but I'm going to have to boycott them through this series). Each team has established secondary scoring and substantial depth.

Both teams look strong on the defensive front. The Penguins who were originally thought to have a suspect blueline going into the playoffs added Hal Gill to compliment Sergei Gonchar among others. The Wings, however have the unflappable Nicklas Lidstrom (if they take the Cup this year it will be his fourth with the team, an honor he shares with the Grind Line and Holmstrom) and his new partner Brian Rafalski who combined are at least among, if not, the best defensive pairs in hockey. And then there's Niklas Kronwall and new addition Brad Stuart - don't call the Wings a soft team. These two will hunt you down. They will find you. And they will smear you across the boards. This defense has been a huge part of the Red Wings' success - they've seriously limited their opponents shots on goal, and if you can't get the puck on the net, you can't put it in, either.

And finally, the goaltending. Veteran Chris Osgood, a cup winner but often criticized as being the winning goaltender on a team that could have taken the cup with a pylon in net, fighting to prove his goaltending worth against relative newcomer, though not without any credibility to his name, Marc-Andre Fleury. Osgood (10-2, 1.60 GAA, .931 SV%) stole the start from Dominik Hasek and has been stellar ever since, but surely the Wings defense has played a huge part in that. Fleury (12-2, 1.70 GAA, .938 SV%) has been the Pens go-to goalie from the beginning and likely the stronger overall between the two, not to mention he's managed an admirable 3 shutouts so far, but he's also got inexperience working against him. Osgood should be on a mission - if he takes the Cup this year will it redeem him against all the trash talk he's heard since his last victory? The worst goalie to win a Cup is one thing, but I'm not sure you can argue the worst goalie to win two cups.

When it comes down to it, either team could have the advantage. Which will wind up on top, the youthful Penguins or the renewed Red Wing dynasty? Will Elly and I stay friends? Will the series be everything that's being predicted of it? We can only hope.

If you don't hear from either of us ever again following this weekend, I'm sure Sherry will have news on our hair-pulling, trash-talking, beer-consuming weekend exploits and the violent deaths they ended in - cheer for the Wings in my memory, will you?

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Does Vermont count as strange?

I work in a sports bar, and although that's still home, we do get a lot of interesting traffic (and since all my trips out of state recently have been hockey related, seeing a Pens fan at the Kettler Iceplex isn't such a big surprise). I've met some neat people in my time there, and some hockey fans as well, but aside from meeting a Dallas fan last year, my best find was a local that was wearing a Luongo Panther's t-shirt, and having a nice little chat with him about Mr. Roboto.

Does meeting John Leclair's college roommate while walking my dog count?

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Holy freakin' crap

Did the NHL listen to us?

Is this possible?

Is it actually...not pink?

That's right ladies, for just 70 big ones you can have your very own women's jersey. It is fitted for a female shape, not heinous and pink, devoid of any obvious rhinestones or glitter, and is sadly lacking in customization. It is, of course, made of the Brand Spanking New Omg I Must Have It Now wonderful material of the new millennium, but that is to be expected. The ditty on the page mentions the word 'cute' and 'accenuating your shape', which I will manfully (womanfully?) ignore in the face of the absence of sparkles.

Is this a good thing? Does that mean that the NHL is trying to take steps to bring in more fans of the double X chromosome persuasion? Could this in fact be some sick plot by the male leaders of the hockey world to just pat us on the head while still thinking we all come to try to get into players' shorts (and if they're the Washington Capitals it might not be that hard, considering that they were slit up the thigh. Flashy, boys!) or are forced there by our hockey-devoted boyfriends/husbands?

Thoughts, ladies?

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Better late than never?

With all the talk about playoff hair, it reminded me that I haven't posted my superstitions or playoff stands for this week. So...here's a go at it.

I actually just started thinking about what my superstitions are since reading about the topic here. Really, I don't have a lot of them. I think the biggest thing that a fan can do for their team is just to really believe in them. Do I think the Pens have a chance at winning the Cup and beating out (most likely) Anaheim? Sort of. Will I still cheer my heart out and use every fiber of my being to try to pump in just a little bit extra oomph through the television screen into Sidney Crosby's head? You betcha. The minute the fans start to think, 'Eh, well....it'll be nice to watch a game, even if they're going to lose' is the minute that it all starts to go downhill.

The only actual superstitious thing I've done lately is wear the same shirt without washing it. And yes, that is a little weird, but as a disclaimer, it's about 3 times too big for me and there's always something else underneath it, and I only wear it for the games. Besides, I live alone with my pets, and they really don't care. I think I am going to shave, though, waitressing with hairy armpits will probably drop my tips substantially.

As for the playoffs, here's how I think it'll go down for the first round:

-Pens/Sens= Penguins win it in 7
-Sabres/Isles=Sabres in 6
-Thrashers/Rangers=Rangers in 4
-Devils/TB=Tough one, but Devils in 6

-Flames/Wings=Flames in 7 (Speaking of playoff beards, Kipper needs to grow one. All of his magical powers reside in his beard)
-Sharks/Preds=Sharks in 5
-Canucks/Stars=Canucks in 6 (maybe 7)
-Ducks/Wild=Ducks in 4


How do other people feel? Have your teams lived up to your expectations? I'm happy with how the Pens have played for the most part (don't get me started on the 1st game, though), and the Senators have been absolutely unreal. Thoughts?

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The Boys Are Back In Town

Ladies and gentlemen, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

How I would love to be at tonight's game against the Sabres. Reports say that they are going to announce it at tonight's game to make it official, and hopefully go over some more details of the deal...such as where they're going to be playing while the arena is being built (most likely the Igloo). I would really like to hear it from Mario, on air and live, to make this seem real. We've been waiting years now for this (eight I believe? Ellie can correct me if I'm wrong), and it just wouldn't seem right without a public showing by him.

Versus is airing the game tonight at 7:30 pm, and I can only imagine how pumped the Penguins and all the fans in the Mellon are going to be. Go Pens!

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