The NHL lockout is finally over. After 113 days, the NHL and NHLPA announced that they reached an agreement Sunday morning. Negotiations concluded after 16 hours where the most important issue became pension plans for the players; the same issue that was heavily debated last week, nearly collapsing the whole process and season. Then a hero emerged. No it wasn't Ron Burkle or Mario Lemieux. It wasn't anyone from the Penguins that was rumored to be saving the season last month before ... Read More
Previewing the Atlantic Division
With the announcement of a tentative agreement between the NHL and the NHLPA, hockey fans will finally get to see their team back on the ice in a little more than a week. For the Penguins, the new season is a chance to erase the bitter, eight month memory of being humiliated in the first round of the playoffs by the hated Philadelphia Flyers. That being said, the Penguins still put together a very successful season in 2011-12. Evgeni Malkin won league MVP and led the league in scoring. James ... Read More
The Pittsburgh Housewife Rejoices – Hockey is Back!
Praise the hockey Gods! Now we don’t have to sit around in despair for the next seven months waiting for sports to start up. We get a few months of hockey. Say it with me, folks. HOCKEY! HOCKEY! I was so excited when I read that I actually squealed. I'm not a typical girl - I don’t squeal. In a city that loves hockey, I’m a big hockey fan. A huge hockey fan. I will take a hockey game over football and especially baseball any day. This lockout has gone on too long. 116 days actually. 116 ... Read More
Pittsburgh’s New Years’ Resolutions
]As the sun sets on 2012, many people look back on the year that was and develop new ways to better themselves. It’s an honorable exercise. It takes a tremendous amount of self-awareness to objectively analyze things you wish to be doing differently. For the big three Pittsburgh sports teams, 2012 was a year mired in disappointment and heartache. The Steelers finished with a whimper, losing five of their last seven games to finish at 8-8, on the outside of the playoffs looking in. The ... Read More
Reruns don’t satisfy a girls broken Penguins heart
We all know about the NHL lockout. It has been going on for far too long. One day was too long for me. After recovering from some health issues over the past year, this year was going to be my FIRST year visiting the Consol Energy Center. I was thrilled. I mean completely ecstatic. I had my jersey out and dusted off (The powder blue throwback Crosby jersey, thank you very much). I was hunting down Pens stickers to adorn my cheeks, and I was buying chloraseptic spray in preparation of my sore ... Read More
It’s the end of the world as we know it
No future date has been more spoken of than today, December 21, 2012. People have made careers off it. The supposed end of the long-range Mayan Calendar. Famed American philosopher Terence McKenna had developed a numerological formula he dubbed “Timewave Zero,” in which he charted the ebb and flow of major events over world history. His graph goes off the charts in December of 2012, which he proposed would be the point of singularity; in which everything in the world would occur ... Read More
Mario Lemieux’s legendary achievements on and off ice
Mario Lemieux, a prized hockey legend and courageous man, continues to “put on the Ritz” in our beloved hockey town of Pittsburgh. Most of you may know that Mario Lemieux fought hard on the ice, made ridiculous goals, won Stanley Cups, and saved our beloved Penguins from being taken away from their loyal, die-hard fans. But what you what you might not know is, Mario Lemieux, out of the kindness of his golden heart, called a Pittsburgh woman during her Hodgkins Lymphoma cancer treatments for ... Read More
NHL Cancels 2013 Winter Classic
Earlier today the NHL announced that it would cancel the 2013 Winter Classic between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs. The event was supposed to take place at "The Big House" in Ann Arbor, Michigan; however, a labor dispute between the NHL and NHLPA has forced its demise. Fans who purchased tickets to the event will be issued a full refund. "The logistical demands for staging events of this magnitude made today's decision unavoidable. We simply are out of time," said NHL ... Read More
Sidney Crosby: A professional on and off the ice
A professional is not only defined by what he does on the ice, but what he does off the ice as well. Sidney Crosby continues to show his diligence as a true professional. With the help of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Penguins Foundation, Reebok and Dick’s Sporting Goods, Crosby is holding his fifth season of Little Penguins Learn to Play Hockey program. One thousand kids from all over the Pittsburgh area, between the ages of 4-8 years old, get to learn how the game of hockey is played. But that’s ... Read More
NHL Offers 50/50 Split to Players
Maybe it was the cancellation of two weeks of games or the $250 million the league has already lost in revenue thanks to having no preseason. Whatever it was, the NHL finally "gave in" and submitted a proposal to the NHLPA to split hockey-related revenue 50-50. According to Darren Dreger at TSN, the NHLPA is expected to submit a counter proposal in the next 24-48 hours but all signs point to significant progress being made. Originally, the players were earning 57% of hockey revenue but, ... Read More