A New Season Begins.

Hockey season has begun. Last night the puck dropped for the first time this season for several teams. The Pens season gets underway tomorrow night. Though, yesterday and today, the Pens' season beginning has taken a backseat to another sports story in Pittsburgh. (I will save the tired line, 'The Pirates being in the playoffs, yes you read that correctly, Pirates are in the playoffs,' because it's been a tad overused.) Last night the Pittsburgh Pirates won their wildcard game and will begin their series tomorrow.
I have to admit, I am pretty excited about the Pirates. Last night, I watched some of the game on tv, I haven't done that since... well, ever. I watched less of the Chicago and Washington hockey game than I did the Pirate game. How could you not watch some of that game? The fans' energy was incredible and I found myself wishing I was there. So, good luck to the Pirates!

Now, back to business. With all the excitement over the Pirates and the Duck, I still am excited a new hockey season has begun. Though, this season hasn't even started for the Penguins yet and there are already some big stories. Today we learned that Vokoun will be out 3-6 months due to the blood clot that was found and repaired recently. He'll be reevaluated after 3 months. Though, there's no hiding that this season could be done for Vokoun, if not his career. That is enough to make some Pens fans worry due to the fact that Vokoun helped us last season in the playoffs when Fleury was struggling. However, one should remember that Fleury seems to do just fine and sometimes great in the regular season. It's the past couple postseasons that have been rather disappointing. And there it is. The elephant in the room, well not really. It's no secret and people aren't afraid to talk about it; the Pens have had several straight years of disappointing playoff exits. Each year seems to become more and more frustrating and disappointing. The Pens have some of the best players in the league and we are continually picked to win the Stanley Cup at the beginning of a season or to make it to the finals, but the reality is that the Pens have failed miserably at accomplishing that goal the past several seasons.

Here we are once again; several media outlets picking the Pens to make it to the Finals, some individual journalists picking the Pens as the Stanley Cup winner. Well, that's all guessing, as it is every year, and look how well it's turned out for us.
I would be lying if I said I did not have high expectations every season for the Pens. With a roster like ours, how could you not? This season, I'm going to need some proof. I don't want another early playoff exit. I will try my hardest not to get my hopes up this season because I am tired of the crushing feeling of defeat by these recent playoff exits. I am ready to see the Pens reach their potential in the playoffs.

I am getting ahead of myself though. The season hasn't even started and I'm talking about the playoffs. There are other stories to get to:
Today, the Pens announced they signed Chuck Kobasew to a 1 year contract after he was invited to camp on a professional tryout contract.
Beau Bennet was recalled from Wheeling today and forward Chris Conner and defenseman Harrison Ruopp have been re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Nick D'Agostini was placed on IR, to join Kris Letang on that list.
With Vokoun out, the Pens are starting the season with Jeff Zatkoff as Fleury's backup.

With every new season comes new issues, injuries, players, storylines, and ups and downs. A new hockey season begins full of promise and potential and that's what I love about the start of a fresh hockey season. All the possibilities. We will see the beginning of hopefully a long season tomorrow night at Consol Energy Center against the New Jersey Devils.

A new season, a fresh start. All the things that happened in the past are in the past. This is a fresh start for the team and each player. Therefore, the slates are clean. No preconceived judgements. You just never know where this season will take us. Well, I'm ready...



Also, I would like to wish Cy, aka Malkamania, a quick recovery! Hope you're doing better Cy and hopefully we see you at some games soon!

Hockey and the fans are back and a lot to look forward to.

After lockouts, one expects that some fans will not return and after such an embarrassing work stoppage for the NHL that officially ended this past Saturday, January 12, one may even expect the number of fans leaving the sport to be greater. It appears that is not the case in Pittsburgh. Practices during this past week during training camp have been well attended and it is expected home game sellouts at Consol Energy Center will continue.

Of course, Pittsburgh is a sports town, even more so when a team does well and has star players. We have yet to see how well the Pens will do, but we know for sure we are lucky to have some of the best talent in the game of hockey on our team. Maybe that's why there seems to be little fallout from the fans after the lockout. Or perhaps, fans have come back because of the attempts by the Penguins to show their gratitude to fans in the form of certain free concession items and 50% off merchandise for the first four home games. Or maybe it's the idea that you don't realize what you have until it is gone. Perhaps taking NHL hockey away for those months left a greater desire in most fans. I realized that I would miss NHL hockey and found ways to fill the void, but it wasn't always easy. Now, a fair amount of fans were realizing how much they missed hockey after the past Steelers' season ended and were left wondering what they would watch then. I have surely missed NHL hockey and can not wait for its return this Saturday. Maybe it's just a pure love of the game that brought many fans back.

Some may want to argue that this shortened season and the team hoisting the Stanley Cup towards the end of June will not be as impressive as if it were a full season. Quite the contrary. These 48 games will be a tad jam-packed into the next few months and while we only see opponents from our conference, there is quite a good bit of competition in our Eastern Conference. The Western Conference will be a good fight as well to the top. This season is sure to bring a lot of excitement.

Though it's the middle of January and not October, that does not change my level of excitment for a new season one bit. The endless possibilities of a new season do not change with a fewer number of games and a later start date. As Pens fans, we have a lot to be excited for:

We are all well aware of how well Sidney Crosby can play and people have been saying that he is back and better than ever from his injuries. If Crosby can get even better, and if there was one player who could keep excelling into even greater excellence, it would be him, then I am ready to see it happen.

Malkin was playing well in the KHL and should be in pretty good game shape already having played in the KHL. He also says he is determined to win the Stanley Cup.

The beginning to a new season means change. Gone is Jordan Staal and in is Brandon Sutter. We will be able to witness what Sutter can offer as a Penguin and I, myself, rather enjoy watching new players on the team show what they've got. With Crosby being back and new players, we won't be seeing the same lines as last year. For instance, for a few days, Eric Tangradi has been on a line with Malkin and James Neal and today, Beau Bennett filled Tangradi's role on that line. In the beginning of a season you see what clicks and what doesn't. The power play has had a new look in some practices with Kris Letang and Neal at the points and Chris Kunitz, Crosby, and Malkin up front.

With some new players and some old, familiar faces gone, new line combinations and special team shake-ups, comes the start of a fresh, new hockey season. While it may be a colder, later start to the season, I don't care about that any more. I'm excited for a new season to get under way and by the looks of it, so is the rest of Pittbsurgh.