SB Nation User Blog: Hooks Orpik

Thursday links: Goligoski back tonight? The Noted One on Crosby's line and shutouts everywhere

Hooks Orpik — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:15:49 -0000

First, word on the street is that Alex Goligoski might be back in the lineup tonight...

Be afraid, rest of the NHL, The Noted One is playing on Sidney Crosby's line now. [Post-Gazette]

Marc-Andre Fleury talks about bouncing back from adversity and bad bounces. [National Post]

Pascal Dupuis is a man of many talents. [Penguins.nhl.com]

Nick Johnson's return to the lineup netted him 2 goals and the Baby Pens defeated Syracuse 6-0 last night. [Citizens Voice]

It's been a low-scoring and shutout filled week. [NHL.com]

Speaking of shutouts, will anyone ever touch Martin Brodeur's 104 shutouts? [From the Rink]

The weather wasn't co-operating in getting the Penguins to Montreal. [Tribune Review]

The Oilers are trying online broadcasts. Given those always searching for internet feeds around Pensburgh, I'd say hopefully the Pens look into this sooner than later. [Puck the Media]

This is a little bizarre: The Habs called up a minor league player named Ryan White, but apparently they didn't go through the correct process in time, so officials made him leave the bench. Now the league is looking into a six-figure fine for Montreal. [TSN]

Jordan Staal's stock is up for Team Canada, but there's still a host of great players playing well in front of him. [CTV]　

John Tavares or Tyler Myers to build a franchise around? [TSN]

Sidney Crosby is #1 in the league in scoring important points. [The Hockey News]

Florida's radio guy Randy Moller is the pop culture Mike Lange, and he's back with more hits. [Puck Daddy]

Tuesday afternoon links: Letestu back to AHL, Hit kings and Witt gets hit by a car

Hooks Orpik — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:58:41 -0000

Mark Letestu did well in his recent NHL cameo, but now he's back to Wilkes-Barre. [Post-Gazette]

Wheeling Nailer defenseman Cliff Loya checks in on how the season is going down there. [Faceoff Factor]

The Penguins are racking up the hits [Penguins.nhl.com]

Ode to Noted. [Pens Universe]

Edzo's Mellon memories. [Empty Netters]

Hurricanes captain Rod "The Bod" Brind'Amour was a healthy scratch last night, is he about at the end of his rope? The once solid defensive center has a combined plus/minus of-42 since the beginning of the 2008-09 season. [WRAL Sports]

Florida Panthers just can't stop nailing each other. [Kuklas Korner]

The top 10 goon moments of the decade. Some ugly moments here [Puck Daddy]

Islanders' defenseman Brendan Witt gets hit by a car, dusts himself off saying "I'm okay, no big deal". Witt's expected to play tonght. [TSN]

"Forgotten Miracle" remembers the first great American team

Hooks Orpik — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:17:18 -0000

(As an aside, let's try our hand as a film critic..)

"Forgotten Miracle" sheds some light on a subject that's unfortunately not very well known. The 1960 US Olympic team had a lot of "firsts". They were the first American team to defeat the Soviets. They're one of only a handful of teams to have beaten the Canadians. They were the first American hockey team to win the gold medal.

Despite all of this there is no major Hollywood movie like "Miracle" to document the 1960 team. There was no dramatic call by a sportscaster like Al Michaels to spawn a famous catchphrase, in fact the 1960 games were the first ones televised.

"Forgotten Miracle" rights that with it's hour-long story about the Americans. In many ways it mirrors the 1980 sqaud: the ever present Massachusetts v. Minnesota regional battles, the tough coach drilling his players relentlessly, the long odds and seemingly untouchable opponents to beat before finally winning it all on home soil.

But the 1960 team doesn't have the names of their stars etched in the collective memory of the public, or even many hockey fans. Which is a shame, since they're considered to have been perhaps the best US team ever iced. They never lost in the Olympics, which is quite impressive considering how strong the Canadian and Soviet teams were.

These men, even to this day carry a confident, quiet pride about what they did. It's touching to watch them re-count the events of 50 years ago.

If you enjoy stories about "old time hockey", some nice illustrations and a good original soundtrack, "Forgotten Miracle" is definitely something you should check out. Here's a link to the main webpage for more information. If you're a student of the history of the sport, you'll learn something for sure, in an entertaining format. And I think we all deserve to remember the first forgotten US gold medal team.

Pittsburgh connections:

Herb Brooks was the final cut of the 1960 team. He'd, of course, go on to coach the US in 1980 and go on to coach the Penguins and be involved as something of an advisor/consultant to players and executives alike until his 2003 death.

Pens comeback falls short, lose to Carolina 3-2

Hooks Orpik — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:26:26 -0000

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

Did you know these guys are.......both sponsored by Bauer?

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Hurricanes vs Penguins coverage - Canes Country

For the opening goal, Andrew Alberts (he of 2 goals in his 291 NHL game career before tonight) walked in and had a lot of room when BFF's Erik Cole and Brooks Orpik were tied up right out in front. The Canes would extend the lead to 2-0 when Jussi Jokinen took a great pass by Joni Pitkanen and drove right past Jay McKee and Mark Eaton. Carolina would take a three goal lead when notorious Penguin-killer Ray Whitney dangled around in the offensive zone while no fewer than three Penguins (Ruslan Fedotenko, Kris Letang and Max Talbot) remained stationary.

The tide would turn though, Letang made an excellent pass up to Bill Guerin, who flipped it over for Sidney Crosby. Crosby made one of those unique plays where he kinda chopped at the puck and it winded up in the net. The next shift the Noted One buried it to make the deficit just one.

And just like that, there would be no more scoring. The Penguins pressed and pressed but Carolina goalie Manny Legace was up to the task and wouldn't allow any more. Almost unbelievably, two months into the season this is the Hurricanes first win away from the RBC Center.

Guerin did a good job waking the Pens up with a fight against Gleason. Gleason's hands must be sore after ringing a lot of punches of Guerin's helmet.
The difference of the game turned out to be the power-plays. The Pens anemic PP went another "0 fer" night, this time 0 for 3. Carolina was 1-5. Also the fact that the Canes were able to earn two more PP's by their hard work and puck possession helps too.
Marc-Andre Fleury had an odd night. Didn't seem like he was seeing the puck too well. His defense wasn't helping him out much either in the early going. The whole team was in something of a funk or haze for a while there, it was strange.
If you didn't know Sidney Crosby missed last game with a sore groin, you'd never know based on his play. A solid 26:32 of icetime, he fired 4 shots on goal, a hit, a blocked shot, a takeaway, a giveaway and a 55% winner on 22 faceoffs.
In fact, every member of the Pens (except Jay McKee) was credited with at least a shot on goal. It wasn't for a lack of throwing rubber at Legace that Pittsburgh didn't win.
Credit Carolina for blocking shots; 17 in all. They knocked down six of Letang's efforts. They may be in last place, but they certainly didn't roll over and die.
Not many signs of life (again) from guys like Max Talbot and Ruslan Fedotenko. The wingers have to come through and these guys aren't having much luck.
0-1-1 since waiving Chris Bourque, is the glue of the team gone? (Kidding, kidding).

Being the defending Stanley Cup champs means you catch efforts like this. Doesn't matter if the team across the ice is in first place or last, they're looking to take down the Pens. Luckily for Pittsburgh they have a few days to figure things out and get ready to go to Montreal; where guys like Crosby, Letang and Pascal Dupuis always love to play. Hopefully that shot in the arm can carry through.

Carolina Hurricances v. Pittsburgh Penguins [Open Thread]

Hooks Orpik — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:36:13 -0000

IN PITTSBURGH @ 7:30pm ET

RADIO FEED ON WXDX.com

Hurricanes BLOG: Canes Country

Let's bounce back with the captain, people.

Monday links: Crosby's back, Easy December, Jordan performing, props for Dan and Ray

Hooks Orpik — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:41:13 -0000

Sidney Crosby declared himself good to go for tonight's game against Carolina. Chris Kunitz and Alex Goligoski also took to the ice, another step back in their return to the lineup. [Penguins.nhl.com]

The Penguins have no reason to complain about the schedule: they are tied with six teams for the easiest load in the month of December (games, wise). And for Pittsburgh eight of the thirteen games they play will be at home too. [From the Rink]

Grading the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton forwards to this point [Faceoff Factor]

Trending up: Jordan Staal. [Tribune Review]

Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby rank third and fifth, respectively, league-wide in a points per shift metric. [OGA]

Believe it or not, Dan Bylsma (who's been on the job about 10 months) is the 2nd longest tenured coach in the Atlantic Division. My new career: real estate agent to NHL coaches. [Empty Netters]

Ray Shero hasn't been on the job that long either (about 3.5 years), but he's ranked #6 on a list of general managers of the decade. [Puck Daddy]

Latest debunked announce cliche: Goalies don't need to see more shots to get in a groove. [Behind the Net]

THN hints at a lot of changes in their "People of Power" list, to be released later this month. [The Hockey News]

THN re-did the 2005 draft. Crosby went #1, natch, but Kris Letang (drafted 62nd overall) jumped up to 7th overall [THN magazine by way of HFBoards]

Flyers/Bruins won't be the only game to be played on the outdoor rink, as heated rivals Boston College and Boston University will go at it on Jan 8th. Bill Guerin and Brooks Orpik are BC guys, while former Pens Ryan Whitney and Chris Bourque spent time at BU. For this alone, BC is a lot more popular with the Penguins fan base. [NHL.com]

You'll never guess who Mark Streit would like to line up with a hit (hint: rhymes with Ron Ravery). [Fanhouse]

If you're a Twitter-head like me, check out Mirtle's list of NHL players that you can ~~stalk~~, err follow on it. [From the Rink]

The Flyers and Ray Emery are in struggle mode. Most thought they'd get through more of the regular season than this before these articles would pop up, it's still satisfying. [Philly.com]

Blackhawks defeat Pens 2-1 in OT

Hooks Orpik — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 03:32:01 -0000

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

Niemi was in the zone and saw the puck all night long.

Browse more photos »

Blackhawks vs Penguins coverage - SB Nation blog Second City Hockey

Sans Sidney Crosby, the Penguins had to dig deep when they faced a Chicago Blackhawks team that used much of the skill and style that Pittsburgh's gameplan.

Much of the night featured a lot of skating, a lot of fast-paced hockey going in both directions and stellar goaltending play by Marc-Andre Fleury (29 saves on 31 shots) and Blackhawks' backup Antti Niemi (32 saves on 33 shots). Old "friend" Marian Hossa opened the scoring when he went hard to the net, collected the puck and put it past Fleury.

The score would remain 1-0 Chicago for most of the game, neither team could solve the defenses of their opponent. Until Dan Bylsma called a timeout with about 1:40 left and let assistant coach Mike Yeo draw a play up. They pulled the goalie and stationed Jordan Staal all the way out against the far boards on the blueline, in an ominous lurking position. Recent call-up Mark Letestu won the faceoff, Evgeni Malkin wheeled the puck around and threw it to the net. Staal swooped in and beat Niemi on the second chance.

It wasn't to be for Pittsburgh on this night. In OT, Kris Versteeg got to a loose puck in the crease before Tyler Kennedy could neutralize him and ended it.

Without their leading scorer, Pittsburgh struggled to generate points, but it wasn't for a lack of effort or shots. 33 shots on goal were fired at Niemi, led by Bill Guerin's 6 and Kennedy's 5. While taking nothing away from Niemi, who was solid, a bunch of the Penguins shots were coming from low percentage angles and distances.
Minus Crosby (one of the top faceoff men in the league), the Penguins used nine different forwards for at least one faceoff. Out of all of them, only one had a better than 50% night.
And that was Crosby's lineup replacement of Mark Letestu. Letestu had a solid night, in addition to his clutch offensive zone faceoff win, he did win 56% of his 16 draws, he had 4 shot attempts (1 getting through, 1 hit a post) and a hit in 13:52 of ice-time. Acquitted himself very well on this night.
Speaking of, it showed some stones and intuition by the coaching staff to use a guy in his 3rd career NHL game in an important faceoff against old veteran John Madden, who's made a career out of doing things like winning defensive draws. Mike Yeo is an easy (and reasonable) punching bag for Penguins fans....But the unusual and creative play he drew up for the last moment worked exactly to perfection. So you have to tip your cap to him tonight.
Chicago also earned a cap tip for their hard fought win. They're a good young team with a lot of skill up front, but some of their defensemen shined tonight: Brent Seabrook has 9 hits and 2 blocked shots, Duncan Keith frustrated Pens all night and skated a game high 31:24. Brian Campbell had the primary assists on both goals.
For teams that don't see too much of one another, unpleasantries were exchanged early and often; highlighted by Keith getting a shot on Matt Cooke that upset Cooke. The hit was to the head, away from the play, and from behind; similiar to what just got Cooke suspended for two games. If the league is truly serious about policing shots to the head, they need to review this tape.

So in a somewhat disappointing fashion that the Penguins claw back into the contest with time running out, just to have Versteeg unleash the dagger in OT. First OT/shootout lose of the year as well. Against a goalie in a little bit of a groove -- Niemi was working on 150+ minute scoreless streak -- it's a night where you have to get out taking what you can get. It's only one point against a similiar team.

Pittsburgh puts Chris Bourque on waivers. That is all.

Hooks Orpik — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:01:33 -0000

Pittsburgh puts Chris Bourque on waivers. That is all.

TSN's Bob McKenzie sums it up pretty well on his Twitter account, on't you think?

Billy and the Kid: Pens beat back the Avs 4-1

Hooks Orpik — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 03:01:49 -0000

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

7 days ago: Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (29) can't stop a first-period goal by Colorado Avalanche's TJ Galiardi during an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

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Avalanche vs Penguins coverage - Mile High Hockey

The newspaper will say 4-1 tomorrow, but that really doesn't do justice to how tight a game it was. For the majority of the game, real estate was tight to come by. The television guys accurately called it "marking up" as if guys were playing defense like they were on the soccer field. There wasn't much open room for good chances. The difference was a quick whistle and the Penguins power-play finally coming through.

T.J. Galiardi opened the scoring for the Avs on the power-play when he steered Darcy Tucker's effort past Marc-Andre Fleury. Jay McKee was in front of the net with Galiardi and has to do a better job to take the man or the stick out of the play.

It appeared Colorado would take the lead into the intermission until the impromptu line of Mike Rupp - Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin struck. Malkin upped the puck up and Rupp and Crosby passed the puck twice and #87 put it in an empty cage past a beaten Peter Budaj. 1-1 at the first break.

There'd be no more scoring until the third period; which was a huge break for Pittsburgh. It appeared Galiardi had his second goal of the game, between Fleury's legs, but the referee from the side angle whistled the play dead, all the while the puck was in motion, and in the back of the net. Unfortunately it's a play that can not be review. It ought to have been a goal. But it wasn't. Just a bad break for Colorado. Things have a funny way of evening up in a long 82 game season and hopefully they'll get the good end of a call soon to make up for it.

With the game still 1-1, the Penguins got a two man advantage. They couldn't quite take advantage of it, but Crosby faked a shot and wired a perfect pass to Bill Guerin for a slam dunk goal.

That effectively ended the scoring, with Jordan Staal and Crosby tacking on empty netters to make the score look wider than it was.

Pittsburgh was no doubt lucky to catch a break on the disallowed Colorado goal, but they also earned the win by out-shooting the Avs 14-1 in the final period of a tie game. They were the better team late.
Crosby set up the goal with a new tool in his offensive arsenal: the fake shot. Teams have to respect him pulling the trigger, he's now tied for second in the league in goals.
Last year, it took until January 30th before Crosby got to 19 goals....This year he's there on December 3rd, almost two months better.
The Pens racked up 38 hits, everyone on the roster aside from Mark Eaton and the two goalies recorded at least one hit.
Ruslan Fedotenko is starting to turn things around...4 shots on goal (and 3 more misses, including a post) show he's firing away. When he shoots, he plays well and produces. He's getting there.
That T.J. Galiardi is quite impressive. In addition to his goal on he night, he had a should-have-been goal and won 71% of his 17 faceoffs.
Matt Duchene might be the future, but the future was not tonight. No points, a plus/minus of -3 (even though he was on the ice for both empty netters), two shots on goal in 18:50.
Paul Stastny, he of a Team USA future, also had a rough night in the final stat-line: No points, -3 (again on ice for both EN), just one shot on goal and only won 36% of his 28 faceoffs.
Both goalies played well, Budaj was tested more than Fleury, but both did well and did not allow any soft goals. Any time the two goalies combined for three goals against, you can be sure both made some saves.
Evgeni Malkin had a somewhat quiet night, but still rang up three assists and helped the power-play get on the board. It was a good night.

It was a good night indeed. Crosby and Malkin put three points in their pocket and the team gets 2 of their own in the standings. It was a quirky, hard-fought one that wasn't easy it looks at the end of the day. But it's still a win.

Now onward to Saturday...I hear an old friend is ready to say hello again...Perhaps you remember him..

On the Pens: trades that won't happen, rest and the new mustache man

Hooks Orpik — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:48:59 -0000

--If you haven't heard (and you're lucky if you haven't), the seemingly annual "Penguins make a major trade to Los Angeles" rumors have kicked up. The Pensblog did a good job debunking why it won't happen, but here's another.

Back in 2006 everyone knew that Jonathan Toews, Nicklas Backstrom, Jordan Staal and Phil Kessel would probably be solid NHL players. All of those mentioned have higher offensive skill and ceiling than Staal. Given his choice of the lot, Ray Shero took Staal. And quite honestly (and salary cap aside), I don't think he trades Staal straight up for any one of them today. He likes Staal; plus he's got Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to be the skill centers.

Now that Staal is under contract until 2012-13, it's even harder to imagine the Pens would deal him. He's 21 and a dynamic two-way center that's coming into his own more and more.

Further, the Pens are 19-9 and near the top of the standings of the Eastern Conference, even with their beat up team. Why the need for a major shakeup that would bring new players into the lockeroom and change the chemistry by removing popular players?

A major trade like that just doesn't make sense right now, so don't hold your breath -- unless of course you created that rumor in the first place...

--A couple weeks ago Alex Goligoski was sporting a mustache for losing a shootout competition. Then Ben Lovejoy had to go climbing all over Florida's arena in full gear. The mustache is back, and this time it's going to be Tyler Kennedy with the upper-lip caterpillar for the next month. Gotta keep things interesting over an 82 game season, eh?

--Quirk in the schedule: Pittsburgh has been idle since Monday night's game against the Rangers. Last night Colorado had to play 65 minutes in Miami, then fly up to PA. Advantage Pens tonight? Not if they get too full of it: the Avs scored two goals in the final minute last night to tie the game. As the old cliche goes, Pittsburgh can't let up tonight and think they've got an easy win.

--No news on the injury path. Goligoski and Chris Kunitz are still off the ice. Kunitz was said to be out for two weeks almost three weeks ago, so his timeline may be close. Goligoski with his aggravation of his groin injury could be any length of time. Gotta get back to practice for a few days before game action, so both are probably doubtful to come back any time soon.

--Interesting stat that shows as Crosby goes, so do the Pens:

In 19 games the Penguins have won this season: Crosby has 17 goals, 14 assists and a plus/minus rating of +20.
In the 9 games the Penguins have lost: Sid has 0 goals, 2 assists and is a -12.

--Puck Daddy says Brooks Orpik "called out" Alex Ovechkin when Free Candy said: "To be honest, I thought he was getting suspended when he hit Kaleta from behind last week ... If you look at how he hits, it's all or nothing. He takes 10 strides before he hits guys."

Don't see this as calling him out, so much as telling the truth. After all, Orpik knows first hand what it's like to be the target of AO taking runs at guys (even if it's only 5 or 6 choppy strides before he hits him here).