No Grinder Left Behind

When Colby Armstrong was traded away during last season's "blockbuster" deal, the Penguins lost a player that put his heart into every second he played. Armstrong was not the best skater, he didn't have the hardest shot and he didn't pass with the eloquence of "The Great One". Colby Armstrong was, however, one of the hardest workers on the ice at all times. Because of this, Armstrong found himself skating next to Sid "The Kid" Crosby during a large part of his games.

In case the fans haven't caught on, Penstation is a big supporter of using grinders to compliment the Pens high octane offense. During the Blues game, Max Talbot did just that for The Kid. We fully expect Talbot to be playing opposite of Satan on the Penguins first line tonight. Handlebars Talbot may be an A&L Motor Sales "Superstar", but he has always been a star to his cult-like following of fans.

Talbot's hard work is represented best by his game 5 goal in last year's Stanley Cup Finals. Penstation is looking for more hard work to come from Max during his time alongside Sid. Talbot has scoring potential with Sid, but will do his best work grinding the boards behind the cage and getting the puck to Sid and Satan. Look for Talbot to light up the ice tonight when the Penguins take on the Edmonton Oilers at 7pm EST.

By the way, you will be able to catch Talbot's goal again when FSN Pittsburgh plays game 5 during its Thanksgiving replay classics. The network will also air the Winter Classic '08 game along with all of 2008's instant Penguins classics (Pens).

Matt@Penstation

Penstation@Robinson Tonight

Penstation will be at Robinson Mall tonight for the unveiling of the Penguins 3rd jerseys. I am trying to put together a prize or two for a drawing at the event, but we will see what happens. I will be passing out flyers with the new Penstation.info address on it to encourage even more viewers to make Penstation.info a common stop for their Penguins reads. We will be getting lots of pictures and I will try to get a few questions in with some of our favorite Pens!

If anyone will be at the event, drop us a line at Penstation.Blog@gmail.com to meet up.

***Edit*** There is a good chance that we will not be able to make it due to a prior arrangement. The unveiling of the jerseys takes place from 6-7pm and we were only going to make an appearance sometime during the 6:00 hour due to the previous engagement. Sorry for not being able to be there, but Penstation will be at the Steeler game this Sunday in full force. We are talking about hot dogs and beverages in one of the lots surrounding the stadium. Stay tuned for an official announcement regarding Sunday's game and tailgate info.

Matt@Penstation

Brodeur Out 3-4 Months

Dominant Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur will be out for 3 to 4 months after requiring surgery to be performed this Thursday. Brodeur suffered damage to his left bicep earlier this week during a Devils win. The Vezina Trophy winner had a 51 consecutive games streak until he was forced to sit out of Monday's game.

This is now 2 goaltenders out in the Atlantic Division. Hopefully no more go down, but the division of tender supremacy is wearing thin. We'll see how this plays out, but the Devils and the Islanders will be without their big money makers for quite some time.

Matt@Penstation

A Change for Everyone

ABC News and CNN have both reported that Senator Barack Obama will officially be declared President - Elect. It appears that Obama will win in a landslide victory; he is already projected 300 electoral votes with several states yet to report.

Now that this is all over with, Let's Go Pens!

Matt@Penstation

Penstation.info

As of this morning, Penstation.info will now forward to Penstation.blogspot.com. You don't have to change anything or update bookmarks if you don't like. Depending on site growth in the future, Pensation could move off of blogspot and into a private hosting environment. For now, continue visiting penstation.info or penstation.blogspot.com for your Penguins blogger needs.

Thanks for the wonderful support in the early going!

Matt@Penstation

Be Heard in 2008

I know that this isn't a normal sports topic, but we'll jump on the ESPN bandwagon. This could very well be the most important election in United States history. For those of you that live in the US, it is very important to exercise your right to vote today. It is not a matter of who you are voting for and this is not the right forum for pitching political opinions, but it is the right forum to make sure everyone makes a decision for themselves and goes to their local voting center to see that their vote counts.

May the best candidate win. Good luck America.

Matt@Penstation

MLS Penguins; More Blues Again Wednesday

For those that haven't heard, Miro Satan and Jordan Staal are soccer stars. The Penguins held a limited practice at Southpointe's Iceoplex this afternoon. Instead of lacing up on the familiar ice side of the rink, they kicked around a soccer ball on the turfed side. From the sounds of things, Miroslav Satan and Jordan Staal are quite the footballers.

While I think playing a variety of sports is always a good idea, I don't think putting your star player and injured captain in a soccer net is particularly smart. According to friends that were at the practice, Sid had a noticeable limp and probably should have omitted practice today. I didn't hear whether or not he was being an aggressive goaltender, but hopefully Staaly was scoring so many goals (5) because The Kid was standing still. Oh well, all is good.

Most of you already know that the Pens will be "unveiling" their 3rd jersey for this season. You also will already know that it is the familiar powder blue jersey Sid and his crew wore in 2008's Winter Classic shootout thriller. The unveiling is taking place at Robinson Mall's Dick's Sporting Goods. Be there Wednesday (5 November 2008) from 6:00 to 8:00pm to witness the event. On hand will be players models Letang, Kennedy, Goligoski, Bissonnette and Godard. I am going to do what I can to be there for the event (taking pictures of course), but would love to know if some of you readers are going to make it out there. Toss me an email at Penstation.Blog@gmail.com and let me know who's going to be there.

Let's Go Pens!

Matt@Penstation