6 posts tagged “stanley cup playoffs”
Interesting blog I read today:
Hillary Clinton and the Pittsburgh Penguins
There are some similarities between the Stanley Cup finalists Pittsburgh Penguins and Hillary Clinton. Both thought they had destiny on their side. Both found out that the label Destiny assigned them wasn't "Winner" (oh sure - "Winner in Life" - like that really matters to them right now).
A vocal part of the crowd at the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh reacted during the Stanley Cup presentation to the Detroit Red Wings much the same way that die hard Hillary supporters did upon hearing the inevitable news that Obama was the nominee- they booed (putting it nicely).
A picture of Hillary sitting on the floor, in stunned disbelief, will never see the light of day, if it exists. However many of the Penguins were all over the ice getting their photo snapped. As the camera zoomed in on Marian Hossa and various Penguins as reality was setting in (including Evgeni Malkin at center ice), I yelled at them through the television (like they could hear me) "Get up! It's not your turn anymore!"
And finally - there's always next time. What? You thought I'd say "It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game"? Yeah right. That'll make it all better. "There are no losers here..." is being replaced by "close only counts in horseshoes".
"Congratulations" to the victors, and "Better luck next time" to the also-rans.
Admit it. You all have superstitions that you have to do for important games of your favorite team! Now that the Stanley Cup Playoffs are over, here are ours revealed!
First is the playoff beard and hair. Can't shave during the playoffs! (Doug only, of course!)
This is Wednesday night during the last game after not cutting hair for over two months and only a couple slight trims on the beard.
Doug had the laptop on during games with two different websites up........one showing shots on goal and the other with every stat imaginable about the game.
The TV was on the game...........HD of course!
Yinzburgh vs Motown shirt on the wall
Closer view
Shrine under TV included Iceburgh and Mario Lemieux bobbleheads, stuff Pittsburgh Penguins Zamboni, Pens vs Flyers rally towel, and a little help from Myron Cope and his Terrible Towel. Before the game Bonnie would ask Mario if the Pens were going to win or not and tap his head to see if he said yes (he always did!).
Sacrifice in any Language shirt on the wall
Both of us had to be in our special seats with our special shirts on and Doug also had his specal cap on.
We both had to have our rally towels that we got at Round 1 Game 1 that we attended. Mine had the BBQ sauce on it from the wings I ate while watching one of the games at the Hall of Fame Club at PNC Park!
The Iron City light had to on...........
The Steelers helmet neon light had to be on and Bonnie's Pittsburgh Penguin Build-a-Bear monkey had to be watching the game.
And then when it was all over, Doug shaved!
We left the Pirates game and walked to Mellon Arena to watch the Penguins game and the only bad thing was they lost..but the experience was incredible! We figured there are many more Pirates games, including many we have tickets for this season.........but this was a once in a lifetime experience maybe.
Madness at Mellon Arena
The Times
By Bill Vidonic, Times Staff
Published: Saturday, May 24, 2008 11:00 PM EDT
PITTSBURGH — It didn't matter a single bit that the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings weren't in Mellon Arena Saturday night.
The fans screamed so loud, their eardrums vibrated.
They clapped so hard their hands grew sore.
They hooted and hollered until their throats were raw.
And when the words "It starts now" appeared on scoreboard television screens, they thundered with a roar that probably could be heard all the way to Detroit.
It was a hockey night of historic proportions in Pittsburgh in the opening round of the Stanley Cup finals Saturday. Although Game 1 was being played in Detroit, the Pittsburgh Penguins opened up Mellon Arena so that fans could watch the game on the scoreboard that hangs at mid-ice.
Folks paid $5 a ticket, with all proceeds going to the Mario Lemieux Foundation.
It was a decision that no one regretted. Nearly 30 minutes after the puck was dropped, fans were still buying tickets and streaming inside. Club officials estimated at least 13,200 general admission tickets had been sold.
Some fans lined up before 2 p.m. to ensure they'd get the best seat in the house.
For Danielle White, 24, of Robinson Township, the night at the Igloo didn't quite have the same ambiance that she gets during a regular game, when she has tickets in the front row, near one of the goals.
Saturday, she was in the front row once again, but she smiled as she said she'd make do without hearing the hiss of the skates on ice or the thuds of bodies hitting the boards.
"If we need the feeling, we'll throw someone against the boards and make them shake," said White, who attended the game with her brother, Chad White, 16, of Murraysville.
For Jim and Susan Weido of Beaver, it was a cheap family night, spending $30 for six tickets. If they had been trying to buy a ticket to actually see the Pens and Red Wings in the arena, that $30 wouldn't even have come close to paying for a single seat.
"We would have paid $1,500 for a ticket," Susan Weido said. "We're diehard fans."
They, along with their kids, Louis Didio, 19, Andrew Didio, 16, and Jordan Didio, 12, and Louis' girlfriend, Rachael Curtis, 17, of Brighton Township, did the night up in true Pittsburgh fashion, eating at Primanti Bros. before heading to the arena.
Louis Didio described the atmosphere of the night as "electric."
Even before fans got inside the arena around 7 p.m., they partied outside, the smell of beer filling the air as several people hoisted an aluminum foil copy of the Stanley Cup and started the chant, "We want the cup!"
Told they couldn't bring the cup into the arena, they ended up batting the cup around over the heads of fans until it broke, with bystanders laughing and booing at the desecration.
With the team not in town, why head to the arena? Why not head to a favored bar or stay at home on the couch, to check out the game on a high-definition television?
Ashley Frioni, 24, of Hopewell Township, said simply, "That's just the way it is."
She was with Jessica Egan, 26, of Monaca, who was at her first Penguin game.
Neither of them cared that Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin weren't in the house, though.
"It's an adrenaline rush," Egan said. "I'm here to show my support for the team."
Jesse Edwards, 16, of Hopewell, said, "It's just the feeling of being around the fans. There's nothing else like it."
He added, "Pens fans are the best. They're like no others."
Tickets are also being sold for fans to watch Monday's Game 2 inside Mellon Arena. The Pens will return to Pittsburgh for Game 3 on Wednesday.
Bill Vidonic can be reached online at bvidonic@timesonline.com.
Ben Roethlisberger will try to bring home another champion in Detroit.
This time, the Steelers quarterback will do it in the supporting role of a fan when he roots for the Penguins in the Stanley Cup final at Joe Louis Arena against the Detroit Red Wings.
"I plan on making a trip to Detroit and plan on being at all of the home ones if I can," Roethlisberger said after practice yesterday.
He, coach Mike Tomlin, football operations boss Kevin Colbert and other Steelers players have attended many of the Penguins' NHL playoff games, in addition to regular-season games at Mellon Arena.
"I love watching them play," Roethlisberger said. "They have a great chance. It will be a good series. I don't want it to go to seven because I hope they can sweep it, but a Game 7 and us winning it would be pretty sweet."
Roethlisberger became the youngest quarterback to lead his team to a Super Bowl victory when the Steelers beat the Seattle Seahawks two years ago in Detroit, where Steelers fans were estimated to make up 75 percent of the neutral-site crowd.
It will be a little different this time, since the Red Wings make their home in Detroit.
"I know they will be there in full effect," Roethlisbeger said of Penguins fans. "It was great for us because there were so many fans there. It's so close. It will be good for the fans."
Tomlin said he quickly became a Penguins fan since arriving in Pittsburgh last year. He attended one of their games, in fact, during one of his interviews for the job.
"It's awesome. I'm like another emerging hockey fan. My boys enjoy it, we enjoy going to the games. Man, they have an opportunity to win the Stanley Cup, and I'm excited like everybody else is in Western Pa."
As if the May calendar weren't already packed with graduations, weddings, final exams, vacations and Mother's Day, along come the Penguins, elbowing their way into the schedule with up to seven Eastern Conference playoff games against Philadelphia.
Not that anyone's complaining about the prospect of another national championship for Pittsburgh and the excitement that goes with it. But all these late entries into the best-laid plans are creating some serious dilemmas for hockey fans with their eyes on the Stanley Cup.
Pity poor Rose Reinhart, for example. She's associate provost at California University of Pennsylvania, which is having its graduate school commencement tonight -- the first playoff game against the Flyers.
"If I could get out of it I would in a heartbeat, but it's my job to read the names of the graduates aloud, so I'm stuck," said Dr. Reinhart.
"There are about 125 students," she added. "I'm planning on reading the names really fast so we can get out of there quickly and catch the rest of the game. And I'll be wearing my lucky Penguins shirt under my cap and gown."
John Unice of Mt. Lebanon has what he calls "the mother of all scheduling conflicts" -- he and his wife are expecting twins any day now. A season ticket holder, he's been able to make the games so far and is hoping the babies delay their appearance for an away game.
"If not, I'm in trouble," he said, "because I understand the TVs at Magee Womens Hospital don't get Versus," the cable channel that will carry most of the Penguins games.
Nic Pakler, a Pittsburgh native working on Wall Street, is in a bit of a fix himself. He promised his girlfriend nine months ago that they'd travel to France and Belgium May 9 to 17 -- a time period covering the first four games and possibly the entire series, depending on the outcome.
"I should have known better," he said with a bitter laugh. But Mr. Pakler has a tool that wasn't available the last time the Pens won the Stanley Cup in 1992.
"How will I deal? I have my BlackBerry, or shall I say my hand-held Pens portal," he said. "Each time my girlfriend turns her back to get a closer look at a Monet or Rodin, I will take a closer look at a Malkin or Roberts. I will shed a small tear, overwhelmed with sadness that I am not watching the game in high-definition with surround sound.
"My girlfriend will turn around, see my watery eyes, love me for an instant as she thinks I am moved by the artwork, and then hate my guts as she watches my tear land on the screen of my BlackBerry."
John Beighel of Kennedy thought it was safe to book a Mediterranean cruise for May 17 to June 2. It never occurred to him that the young team he was watching early in the season would catch fire.
"There's no canceling the cruise," he said, "but I will need to make sure the ship has ESPN or a news station to catch the scores or highlights. Better yet, maybe it has Internet access."
His missing the games might actually be a good thing for the Pens, he said. "I was in Italy when they beat the Blackhawks in 1992, so maybe this is a good omen."
As for his tickets, "I'll let my sons fight over them."
Mark Hanna, organizer of the New York City Pittsburgh Penguins meetup group, postponed a trip to Ireland by a week so he could see the Pens/Rangers series. Now he's in a pinch because he's going to miss part of the Flyers series.
"My girlfriend is on the verge of breaking up with me because I'm going to the bars with my group for every game," he said. "I come home late and a little tipsy. I haven't sent in a reply for a wedding invite yet because I don't want to be stuck in a suit listening to bad '80s music while the Pens are skating to victory."
Ric Peralta of Los Angeles has a dilemma of his own. His daughter is being baptized on Sunday, which will also be his wife's first Mother's Day.
"At least they're both Penguins fans," he said, "but I'll be going a little nuts waiting for the family gathering to end so we can go watch the game."
Even the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center had to bow to the Penguins schedule. The medical giant had planned to put its new sign atop the U.S. Steel Building on April 20, but it needed the Mellon Arena lot as a helicopter staging ground and the Pens games interfered. The date was postponed a week, but the uncertainty of the schedule intervened again. UPMC spokesman Frank Raczkiewicz said they may try again this weekend.
Several people said they've moved, rescheduled or canceled major events that conflict with the playoffs. Some have rearranged their work hours or called in sick. A handful of law students say they're blowing off studying for their final exams. A golfer is giving up a pre-paid trip to Pebble Beach in California. And fans living in Europe report that the time difference is wreaking havoc with their sleep.
"The 1 a.m. face-off time means I go to bed around 4 a.m., barring overtime," said Steve Binder of Vienna, Austria. "Which is nice, when the alarm clock goes off at 6 a.m."
Michael Firda of West View is getting married this weekend in -- of all places -- Philadelphia, hometown of his future wife. The rehearsal dinner is Friday night, so his mother moved the location to a restaurant with a TV.
Chris Slezak had a big Mother's Day weekend planned for his mom's visit to Dallas. Now he's canceled Friday dinner reservations at a five-star restaurant in favor of a friendlier sports venue, and Sunday's spa day has morphed into a Penguins tailgate party. He swears his mom is a true-blue Pittsburgher who doesn't mind the changes.
Two fathers said they'll be angling to work the playoff games into family trips to mouse country. Lee Middleton, a Pens fan living deep in Flyers country, will be at Disney World with his wife and two children, ages 4 and 2.
"I've asked my wife's permission to slip out the nights the games are on," he said. "She sort of gave me a laugh. I'm taking that as a yes. What she doesn't know is that the Pens are on three times while we're down there."
Pat Bramble, a native of Wheeling, W.Va. who lives in Las Vegas, will be in Disneyland for his daughter's seventh birthday this weekend. He's plotting an early arrival on Friday so he can catch the game at ESPN Zone in Downtown Disney, and an early departure on Sunday so they can be home by game time.
Michael Janicki of Woodbridge, Va., has already suffered for his Pens loyalty. While attending a Shakespeare play when he really wanted to be watching the Rangers game, he had his cell phone confiscated by an usher who saw him checking his text messages -- even though the ringer was off.
"At intermission I got it back and took it into the men's room," he said.
Judy Majeski of Washington, Pa., a season ticket holder for more than 10 years who met her husband at a Penguins game, summed up the feelings of many fans.
"The problem isn't the Pens games conflicting with my schedule," she said. "It's my schedule that conflicts with my Pens games. There's nothing like playoff hockey. It's our life."
