The Penguins will host the Carolina Hurricanes tonight; and the Hurricanes will return the favor tomorrow evening, as the teams will meet in a holiday weekend home-and-home series. It might feel like a holiday for many of the players, as they will renew some old acquaintances on both sides of the ice. Penguins General Manager Jim Rutherford held the same position with the Hurricanes from their inception in 1997, winning a Stanley Cup in 2006. Current Carolina general manager Ron Francis played ... Read More
Archives for November 2014
Penn State fans should give thanks
It’s the time of year when people start giving thanks, reflecting on the good things in life, and moving on from the bad. Penn State fans should be especially thankful as the football season wraps up and the holiday season begins. This has been a great year for Penn State football; although the win-loss record isn’t exactly where fans would like it to be, the Nittany Lions have had more than their fair share of good tidings this year. Let’s start from the beginning: After Bill O’Brien ... Read More
Pirates Top 10 games of 2014
There are many things we should be thankful for this holiday season. For Pirates fans, it was another season above .500 and playoff appearance. The fine folks and I at PSN put together our top 10 games of the 2014 season. 10) Payback against Milwaukee - June 6th The Pirates put 15 runs on the board against the Brewers in the first game against them at PNC Park since the Easter Sunday brawl. Russell Martin went 3-for-3 with a double and four RBI and Andrew McCutchen and Jordy Mercer provided ... Read More
James Conner’s status still in air for Miami
Saturday night, the Pitt Panthers football team will essentially be playing a playoff game as a win vs. the Miami Hurricanes will get the Panthers bowl eligible while a loss will send Pitt home with a disappointing 5-7 record to a 2014 season that many felt had some promise coming in. With that game just two days away, the Panthers still don’t know if they will be taking the field with one of their best offensive weapons. Pitt head coach Paul Chryst has yet to confirm the status of running ... Read More
Penguins fans rated best in the NHL
The Pittsburgh Penguins' fans have done it again. For the third year in a row they have been named the NHL’s best fans by Forbes Magazine. So what makes the Penguins fans so special to win such an award three years in a row? Forbes based their study upon five measurable calculations: hometown crowd reach, television ratings, arena attendance as a percentage of capacity, merchandise sales, and social media reach. The data covers the last three years. “One thing for sure about our fan ... Read More
Pitt rebounds with nice win over Kansas State
After being thoroughly outplayed by San Diego State in the second round of the Maui Invitational by San Diego State, it was going to be interesting to see how Jamie Dixon's Pitt Panthers responded. They responded in very positive fashion by playing their best overall game of the season in a 70-47 victory over a solid Kansas State team Wednesday in the third-place game of the Maui Invitational. James Robinson had 14 points and six assists and led four Pitt (4-2) players in double figures. ... Read More
Comeau’s hat trick leads Penguins to victory
Toronto may have brought the snow, but the Penguins created the heat as they beat the Maple Leafs 4-3 in overtime in Pittsburgh on Wednesday. Blake Comeau scored a hat trick for the home team, including the game-winning goal in overtime. “I passed up to [Kris Letang] and he did a good job of giving it back and going down the middle," said Comeau on the overtime goal. "I had some space up top and I tried to white-out the guy that was in front of me. I shot the puck and I saw [Sidney Crosby's] ... Read More
Pens go for sweep of Leafs without Beau Bennett
Penguins forward Beau Bennett will miss “a couple of weeks” with a lower-body injury, head coach Mike Johnston said after morning skate on Wednesday. Bennett injured his right knee after a collision with Boston Bruins defenseman Kevan Miller in the second period of Pittsburgh’s 3-2 overtime win on Monday. [youtube width="560" height="315" link="http://youtu.be/drqcXNaCJ08"] It is the third injury to affect Bennett this season. In May, he had surgery to correct a poorly healed wrist ... Read More
No time for slip ups in the ultra-competitive AFC North
As the 2014 season began, it was clear that the AFC North would be one of the tougher divisions in football. The Cincinnati Bengals were coming off an 11-win season and division title, and though the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens struggled through 8-8 seasons, both teams are perennial contender’s year in year out. Though the Cleveland Browns ended the year at 4-12 with seven straight losses, they were beginning to show signs of no longer being the pushover everyone had grown ... Read More
Steelers soft schedule has them poised to end playoff drought
Many look at the fact at all four teams in the AFC North currently being over .500 and believe it is the best division in football. That very well may be true, but all four AFC North teams can thank a very weak out of division schedule that featured the AFC and NFC South, as a major reason why they are all in the position that they are in right row. Of the eight common non-division opponents all AFC North teams have played, or will play the rest of the season, only the Indianapolis Colts ... Read More