hockey: A trip to the Ice Bowl

Wow, what at trip! The 2008 Winter Classic certainly exceeded my expectations of this much-hyped outdoor hockey game in Buffalo between the Penguins and Sabres. It had it all: winter weather, a packed stadium and, of course, an exciting shootout.
Read on for my impressions of the drive, the stadium, the fans and the game.

The Trip to Buffalo
I woke up at 5:10 a.m. on New Year's day (20 minutes before my alarm went off, preventing me from waking up Mr. Penguin!), and piled on most of my layers (pictured here). Papa Penguin arrived at 6:45 a.m. and we hit the road, stopping for rest stops once in Pa. and once in New York (at Angola, which certainly seemed like the official rest stop of Penguins fans, both before and after the game).

With just some light flurries and a little gusty wind, we arrived in sight of Ralph Wilson Stadium in 3.5 hours--not bad at all! I spotted a sign for $15 parking, so we pulled in, crossed a field and another parking lot and arrived at the at 10:42 a.m.

The Stadium
Ralph Wilson Stadium is not a pretty place. Papa Penguin (who hates Heinz Field) said that it makes you appreciate the home of the Steelers a lot more. Since the gates hadn't opened yet, we walked around a bit, taking a look at the fan experience stuff they had going on outside. Unless we missed something major on the other side of the place, there is nothing around the stadium. It's in the middle of a freaking suburb: a lot of smaller homes with yards and a tiny college campus. I know people tailgate, but how can you have a stadium with virtually no restaurants or bars within walking distance?

Inside didn't get any better. Bleak and outdated, the concrete structure housed just one type of concession stand (at least on the 300 level) with just typical stadium grub. They did offer a soup of the game, which was actually decent and was nice to warm up with before the game started. I didn't go back to the concourse once the game started, but apparently lines for the concession stand and restrooms were a mob scene.

When we headed out to our seats in Section 336, we were a little shocked (and dismayed!) to see metal bleachers. Now we've suffered metal bleachers before, at Heinz Field and Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, but didn't think that a football team in Buffalo, NY, would make their fans suffer through cold winter Bills games freezing their booties on metal seats. And really, a very large potion of the seating throughout the stadium featured the bleachers. Fortunately, a quick drying with napkins took care of the water, and the puddles collected on the concrete actually were more of a problem cold-wise.

We did, though, have a pretty good view of the rink from our seats. I definitely found it strange watching a hockey game from so far away, but I could see all the action.

But honestly...has no one in Buffalo suggested that this place be replaced?

The Fans
For some reason, I hadn't really thought about the fact that this was still a home game for the Buffalo Sabres. I guess because of all the talk here in Pittsburgh about fans getting tickets, and since the game wasn't at HSBC Arena, it felt like more of a neutral site in my mind. I didn't consider that even with thousands of Pens fans making the trip, the rest of the 71,000-plus crowd would far outnumber us Pittsburghers.

But the atmosphere was great. Sabres fans are true hockey fans, and despite some good-natured booing, were quite friendly. We had a bunch of Penguins fans near us, but were pretty mixed in with the Buffalo faithful as well. I had so many people, Sabres fans, Penguins fans and even some Canadians, come up and talk to me (usually to compliment me on my Christmas present, a Winter Classic Crosby jersey).

Thank you, Buffalo, for being so welcoming!

The Weather
I think the weather affected the players on the ice more than all of us in the stands. It snowed lightly most of the game, and the wind didn't really pick up until the end. It made the ice choppy during the game, but in the stands, I felt pretty warm under all of my layers. After all the talk and worry about the weather in Buffalo, the weather on the trip home ended up being the biggest problem.
The Game
Oh yeah, there was a hockey game going on. With choppy ice slowing the puck down and lots of stoppages, the game moved pretty slowly, even though it was enjoyable. The Penguins jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Colby Armstrong knocked in a Sidney Crosby rebound. The Sabres tied it up with a Brian Campbell goal in the second period, in which they dominated play. Goalie Ty Conkin kept the Pens in the game though, and it took overtime and a shootout to put the victory away. Kris Letang (now 4-4 in shootouts) beat Miller before Crosby claimed the victory.

Box score

The Drive Home
We made it to Orchard Park in 3.5 hours; it took seven to get home. After warnings and fears about weather in Buffalo, it was the weather outside of Buffalo that caused problems. We made it back to I-90 in less than 10 minutes--no traffic at all!--and then stopped again in Angola for gas and food. When we got back to the car, the bad snow had already started and wouldn't let up.

The miles and miles of headlights in the slow low, crawling traffic on I-90 and I-79 did show, however, how many Penguins fans really had made the trip up to New York. When we finally took a much needed break at a Sheetz in Grove City, the place was packed with Penguins jerseys. The poor ladies working there--not staffed for such an onslaught so late on New Years night--were baffled. But we made it home safely, and the weather can't overshadow what a great trip we had.

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Preparing for the Winter Classic

That's my wardrobe for tomorrow's Winter Classic in Buffalo.

I look like a goalie wearing it all. Hopefully it will keep me warm enough!

I'm hitting the road at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning for the trip. Let's go Pens!

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hockey: Penguins hang on to beat the Islanders

Phew. That was a close one. For five minutes there, I though the Penguins decided that they didn't want to win that game.

On a five-minute power play with a one-goal lead and 5:54 left in the game, you would have that that the Pittsburgh Penguins would have no problem putting away the New York Islanders. Instead, they tried their best to let the home team tie it up. I guess maybe they wanted to give Kris Letang a chance at another shootout goal.

But they did hold on to win, 3-2, and the Penguins' Tyler Kennedy was the story of the night, scoring the game-winning goal and two assists. Letang, showing off his defensive strength with a couple of great hits, impressed me as well.

Officials ejected the Islanders Chris Simon from the game after he intentionally stomped on Jarkko Ruutu's foot while Ruutu was down on the ice near the benches. That led to the five-minute power play disaster, which according to the Post-Gazette, led the Penguins to hold a players-only meeting after the game.

Next up for the Penguins, another division game against the New York Rangers in Madison Square Garden. Division wins are important for the Penguins right now, as they try to climb in both the division and conference standings.

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hockey: Penguins fall to Senators, 4-1

In their first game at home since a four-game road trip and a highly emotional game in Philadelphia, the Pittsburgh Penguins lost to the Ottawa Senators by a score of 4-1.

Tyler Kennedy scored the lone Penguins goal, and Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza each scored two for the Sens.

The Penguins played pretty evenly, if not better than, the Senators through the first and second periods, though their power play looked pretty awful.But they came out flat in the third period and gave up two goals before Spezza put the game away with an empty netter with less than a minute to play.

The Penguins have proved lately that they thrive in coming from behind in games, but last night, they couldn't find that spark. I do wonder why Therrien didn't pull Dany Sabourin out of the net sooner if he wanted to put the extra attacker on. He could taken him out a good 30 seconds or more before he did (play was whistled dead just as he did take him out and then called timeout). It's not likely that you'll score two goals once you pull the goalie, but you have a better chance of it the more time you have on the clock.

The Penguins hit the road again starting Saturday, with games against the Islanders, Rangers and Bruins. Since their road record (8-7-0) is better than their home record (7-7-2), hopefully they'll be able to regroup and head back to Pittsburgh for some home wins over the holidays.

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hockey: Boo you, ignorant fans

Dear handful of Penguins fans--er, idiots:

Do not "boo" the Canadian national anthem. Surely you learned from last year's playoff series against the Ottawa Senators that booing the national anthem is not akin to booing the team. So I can only imagine that, last night, you were booing either:

a) Jeff Jimmerson
b) Sidney Crosby

We all know you weren't booing Jimmerson. So, Crosby then? Or maybe it was Colby Armstrong, Jordan Staal or Georges Laraque.

When you boo a national anthem, you're insulting any and all citizens of that country. And that includes more than half of the Penguins roster. Do you think Crosby wants to hear his country's anthem booed by his own fans before a game?

For that matter, you're not offending the eight members of the Senators roster who are not Canadian. If you really want to get under their skin, pay Jeff Jimmerson to sing the Swedish, German, Russian and Czech Republic anthems as well for a completely comprehensive show of disrespect. Of course, you'll need to boo the U.S. anthem as well.

Get the picture? Stop booing "O Canada."

(For the record, if the song was "O Philadelphia," I'd be 100 percent in support of your booing.)

Sincerely,
Lady Penguin

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hockey: Penguins fall apart against the Flyers

I don't get Versus, so I couldn't watch last night's game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers. I play basketball on Tuesday nights (when I'm not at Pens games, of course), so I couldn't even listen to the second half of the game.

I think I'm glad.

The Flyers routed the Pens by a score of 8-2. Losing this game, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't that big of a deal. If the Penguins had won, they would have matched a franchise record by winning all four games on a road trip. That's a pretty tall order. They could use some more wins within their own division (the Pens' Atlantic division record now stands at 3-8-1), and will need to figure out a way to avoid going 0-8 against the Flyers in the clubs' next five games against each other.

The story today isn't about the score, or about the two hat tricks by the Flyers Joffrey Lupul and R.J. Umberger. The story today is about the out-of-control mayhem that ensued in the last half of the game (apparently shortly after I walked out the door).

156 minutes of penalties. The Pens received 81 of those in the third period alone. This mess of a game heated up even more afterward, with both teams taking stabs at each other.

The Flyers' coach John Steven was quoted as calling the Penguins "undisciplined." This from a man whose players have received 52 games worth of suspensions for dirty hits this year. I agree with Coach Therrien's response. The man's in no place to criticize.

Yes, the Penguins may have been undisciplined and frustrated last night, but overall, I don't think they're an undisciplined team. This game was out of character for them, though you always expect tempers to flare in a game against the rival Flyers. Therrien blamed the Flyers for the mess, accusing them of being disrespectful by using their fist-team power play until with a five goal lead in the third period.

Certainly, it seems the Flyers are intent on paying back the Pens for the 0-8 record against them last season. And so far, the Flyers are in control.

Box score

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football: Steelers embarassed by Patriots

Yeah, the Steelers could have beaten the Patriots. But they didn't. Not even close.
Things didn't look hopeless in the first half, which the Steelers left trailing only by four points. But the second half was another story. The Patriots doubled their points total, while the Steelers failed to score at all.

It definitely seemed that Patriots were taking it to Steelers safety Anthony Smith (he of the infamous "guarantee"), especially on a 63-yd touchdown pass to Randy Moss and a Brady-Moss-Brady-Gaffney flea flicker play for a touchdown.

And so the Pats are still unbeaten. And with their next two game against the Jets and Miami (seriously??? do the football gods hate the rest of us), they've got a great chance to go for their perfect regular season in week 17 against the Giants.

(I'm crossing my fingers that the Colts can knock them out in the playoffs!)

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