Obama to bail out Detroit again

President Obama announced Sunday that he will bail out another failing Detroit business: the Red Wings. "It's apparent with the Detroit Red Wings play in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals that they need help from this administration," Obama said. "We have to be proactive, we can't wait for things to spiral out of control." Detroit lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals on their home ice in front of throngs of disappointed fans.

General manager Ken Holland was thankful for any help he could get. "Let's face it," Holland said, "we're not the team we once were, Pittsburgh is younger and more financially sound." Ironically, it was Pittsburgh that almost lost its franchise a few years back but with young stars like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin the Penguins are a team on the rise. "We only have ourselves to blame," a humbled Holland said, "bad deals have left us in this position and the only way out is help from the government." Details of the deal have yet to be finalized but one of the major points of the agreement is naming rights. "The Hockeytown brand will now reside in Pittsburgh," Obama said "we can't honestly call a team that loses game 7 on home Ice Hockeytown." Philadelphia Flyers officials could not be reached for comment but it's certain that Pittsburgh's in-state little brother won't be happy with the news of the new Hockeytown.

Rematch!

Unless the Red Wings have a cataclysmic collapse the Pens will get a rematch of last year's Stanley Cup finals. And yeah, Sid touched the Prince of Wales Trophy whopidy do, the Pens are winning it this year because they have the Devil on their side!

Nobody beats the Devil!

The rematch is on!

I didn't actually think the stars would align themselves but not only did the Pens move past Carolina in the standings but they moved into 4^th place past the Flyers this weekend. If either the Hurricanes or the Flyers registered a point in their final regular season game either would have finished ahead of Pittsburgh but while the Pens were beating Montreal and the Islanders, Carolina was losing both their games to Buffalo and New Jersey.

That moved Pittsburgh into 5^th place but the good luck didn't end there, the two final wins tied Pittsburgh with Philly in points (both had 99) but Pittsburgh won the tiebreaker after the Flyers blew a third period lead to the Rangers yesterday.

Sean Avery and Blair Betts scored third-period goals to rally the New York Rangers to a 4-3 win over the Flyers on Sunday, spoiling Philadelphia's shot at home-ice advantage against Pittsburgh in its opening playoff series.

The Flyers (99 points) needed only a point in the finale to secure the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference and home ice in the best-of-seven series with Pittsburgh. Instead, the rematch from last season's conference finals will start in Pittsburgh.

So now we get the turnpike series renewed and it should be interesting. The fact that Pittsburgh is even in the playoffs is amazing considering they were looking from the outside in just a short time ago.

The Penguins climbed an astounding six spots in the conference standings by going 18-3-4 over the final 25 games of the season. They were 10th and out of the playoff picture when interim coach Dan Bylsma took over Feb. 15.

Let the hate build; Wednesday it all starts again.

Go Pens!

Hockey season closes: Time to renew the hate

Oh you remember the delicious Conference finals of last season, don't you? Yes you do. If you're a Pens fan you're nodding hard enough to give yourself whiplash and if you're a Phlyers fan you're clicking the back button enough times to lock up Internet Explorer and cursing yourself for clicking on that link to The Nittany Line. It doesn't matter which side of the state you root for it was a great time last season, nothing is better (or worse) than a Pens/Flyers playoff series. Well fear not oh loyal Pennsylvanian supporter, we may not have to wait this season for the fun. Here are the current standings.

Carolina is firmly in fifth place two points ahead of Pittsburgh with the same number of games left to play (2). Philly is tied with Carolina but has a game in hand so that means Philadelphia, barring some cataclysmic play, will finish in fourth place and will play the fifth place team in the first round of the playoffs. That team could be Pittsburgh, and oh wouldn't that be great? Unfortunately, it probably won't be the Pens because they would have to win out and Carolina would have to lose both of their games. Carolina is two points ahead of Pittsburgh and they have the tiebreaker because they have more wins, but it would be great to have an opening round matchup with Philly just to renew the hatred once more. But it's more likely that we'll have the stale matchups of Carolina/Philly and Pitt/New Jersey, but we can all hold out hope that the impossible happens.

Go Pens!

Pens headed to the Stanley Cup finals

So it took five games but the Pittsburgh Penguins routed the Flyers in Game 5 and are on their way to the Stanley Cup finals. Flyers fans can be proud of their team they overachieved through much of the playoffs and were one series away. Considering this team was the worst in hockey just a year ago Philly has come a long way. I now implore all Flyers fans to jump on the Pittsburgh bandwagon and root for the Pens like they were your own. Who would you rather win the Stanley Cup, Pittsburgh or Detroit? I think that's an easy question to answer. Before this series even started I had a gentlemen's agreement with my Flyer friends that whoever won we would ban together and root for the PA team against Detroit and I invite everyone to do the same. Go Pens!

Your Penguins moment of Zen

You take a 2-0 series lead not by a goal from Evgeni Malkin or Sidney Crosby, no you get a third period game winning goal by 4^th line winger Maxine Talbot. Suck on that Philly.

Turnpike series

Marian Hossa dispatched the New York Rangers in overtime yesterday and Philadelphia took care of Montreal Saturday setting up an all Pennsylvania Eastern Conference finals. Sure a trip to the Stanley Cup finals is at stake but there's so much more to this series. It gets down to the root of what PA sports is all about, it's Philly vs. Pittsburgh; neighbor vs. neighbor; brother vs. brother. While I'm a diehard Pens fan I openly rooted for Philly to make it to this point and my Flyers friends returned the favor and rooted for the Pens as if they were their own team. Now...

it....

is....

ON!

Even if you're not a hockey fan I highly suggest you watch this series, these two teams have developed a deep seeded hatred for one another. The regular season series was filled with fights and overall animosity, add the playoffs and... well... it's not for the faint of heart. Let me put it to you this way, there will be blood. If I don't end up in a fight with one of my Flyer friends I will be surprised. It's going to be a fun ride.

Go Pens!!