Author Archive for J. OzVath

Losing Hockey for Dummies

The Penguins suffered their fifth consecutive loss Sunday and sixth in seven games in an embarrassing defeat at the hands of previously slumping Florida. The Penguins have gotten away from their brand of hockey and continue to try to force a style of play that is not going to result in anything positive. [...]

Sanction not Cherry the Answer to Head Shots

Greg Wyshnyski, the editor and major writer of Y!’s Puck Daddy blog wrote a piece this morning on Don Cherry and asked the question should the flamboyant one join the charge against head shots in the league and drop his “old time hockey” mantra.  Greg answers his own question “no“, but for different reasons than [...]

Short Term Memory Loss in Montreal

We all knew it was going to be this way the moment the boos began to rain down in the Bell Center last night.  Late in the 3rd period against the Penguins Referee Chris Lee blew the play dead in front of the Pittsburgh net a sheer fraction of a second before Scott Gomez put [...]

Headshots Are Ok If You Don’t Like the Guy

At least that is what Rafal Ladysz of The Hockey Writers will have you believe today.  His piece today speaks about Duncan Keith “doing the world a favor” by going after Matt Cooke last Saturday.  Mr. Ladysz speaks of the deliberate nature of the blow to the head that Keith handed Cooke.  Oh of course [...]

Mike Rupp is Cash Money

When Mike Rupp signed his 1.65M/2yr deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins this past off season GM Ray Shero thought he was bringing in a 4th line forward with a solid physical presence.  He surely got that.  What he didn’t bank on was that once the shackles of New Jersey’s trap were removed from Rupp’s wrists, [...]

Introducing the MCI Worldcom Cup

Think that title is a stretch?  It’s not so much of one as long as people keep piping up about wanting to rename the NHL awards.  This isn’t a new topic of discussion.  The CBCs Elliotte Friedman wrote on it a while back and Y!’s Puck Daddy contributor Sean Leahy brought it up again this [...]

Shots from the Point: 12/05/09

In this Edition: Sid sidelined with a Groin Injury – Matt Cooke is Back, Chris Bourque is gone(?) – & SCF preview?
Matt Cooke Back
Penguins forward Matt Cooke returns to the lineup tonight after serving a two game suspension for his high hit on Ranger’s forward Artem Anisimov last Monday.  Cooke’s return means that the highly [...]

Wheel of Morality turn turn turn…

Y!’s Puck Daddy contributing Author Sean Leahy broke the news over Twitter and the NHL quickly confirmed that Pittsburgh forward Matt Cooke will be suspended 2 games and will be fined $29,268.30 (yeah nice round number there) for his high hit on Rangers rookie Artem Anisimov Saturday night at the Igloo.  The hit came in [...]

Shots from the Point: 11/29/09

In this Edition:  Matt Cooke and Anisimov, Jay McKee’s return schedule and the CBC calls Tenks dirty and in this case they are right.
Matt Cooke and Artem Anisimov
In the Saturday night opener of a home and home with the New York Rangers winger Matt Cooke took a run at Rangers rookie Artem Anisimov.  I have [...]

Practice What You Preach

In the early 3rd period of Saturday night’s Flyers game against the Atlanta Thrashers, Colby Armstrong laid a shoulder check into Philadelphia forward James van Riemsdyk (JVR).  Armstrong would get a five minute major for Charging and an additional five minutes for Fighting with Flyers goon Arron Asham immediately after the hit.  It was a [...]

All the Kings Horses & All the Kings Men

It’s been some time since there has been really good news on the injury front for the Pittsburgh Penguins and while I wish no ill to Derek Engelland or Ben Lovejoy, I am also very happy to hear the news this morning that they are headed back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
The Pittsburgh Penguins have re-assigned defensemen Deryk [...]

Cherry’s Mouth is Louder than His Suits

Don Cherry and his eyesore suits have rubbed me the wrong way twice already this young season.  He is generally accepted as a book end authority on NHL hockey.  He does possess a wide range of experience, though most of it not at the NHL level, and that experience ended in 1972.  His total NHL [...]

The Linesman Must Report…

In the Overtime period of the Penguins 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers Monday night, something out of the ordinary occurred.  Panthers’ forward Nathan Horton was assessed a double minor for high-sticking Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik.  The call of the penalty was not odd, but where it came from was.  The linesman “made the call” [...]

Yes I’ve Been Watching Tenks

Seeing as how there is apparently not going to be any form of update from the Penguins prior to tonight’s game with the Panthers and my own schedule today I thought I would respond to something  that happened earlier this morning.  Someone dropped the comment today on Twitter that Ruslan Fedotenko is doing a fine [...]

NHL’s Visor-Instigator Sends the Wrong Message

In Saturday night’s tilt between the Atlanta Thrashers and the Pittsburgh Penguins a rule that is little known and inconsistently enforced across the NHL was cited to add more penalty minutes on Thrashers Captain Ilya Kovalchuk following a fight he started with Penguins Forward Matt Cooke.
75.2 Minor Penalty – A minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct [...]

Shots from the Point: 11/22/09

In this Edition:  A Tyler Kennedy Sighting and the Atlanta Thrashers TV and Radio teams owe Matt Cooke an apology.

Tyler Kennedy Sighting (and he practiced)
In the Penguins Game Day Report against Atlanta a 2:17p update was posted which is odd for Pens Report.  They usually cash it in until the warmup following the post [...]

Liveblog: Penguins vs Thrashers Gameday – Update 2

Update 2 – Post-Practice Wrapup
Dan Bylsma also confirmed that Brooks Orpik would return to action tonight, however he would not set D-pairings in stone saying that he and Assistant Coach Mike Yeo would get together this afternoon and get them set.   The Penguins did not practice in their forwards or defensive pairings at practice, likely [...]

Where in the World is Tyler Kennedy?

In a very brief exchange with Penguins PR representative Erik Easley this morning I took the opportunity to ask about Tyler Kennedy and his expected return.  The response was pretty much what I expected, and no offense to Erik, he’s just towing the company line of non-disclosure on injury. I wouldn’t  be doing my job [...]

Powerplay at Center of Pens Woes

The Penguins dropped a 6-2 3rd period collapse to the Ottawa Senators Thursday night.  A game that saw the Penguins garner 5 powerplays.  The boxscore would show the Pens were 1-5, a respectable 20% for the game.  However the lone Powerplay goal came when the Senators  had already packed it in for the night up [...]

Chris Bourque the Anti-Player

If you have watched a Penguins game while looking at the #pens hashtag on Twitter lately, you may have noticed that finding a Pens fan who has a kind thing to say about Chris Bourque is the same as hard as finding one who things Kris Draper had a point about handshakes or some nonsense. [...]

Liveblog: Penguins vs Senators Gameday – Update 3

Pittsburgh Penguins at Ottawa Senators
Scotiabank Place, Ottawa Ontario. 6:30pm CST (FSN)
Penguins 2nd in Atlantic Division/ 4th Eastern Conference
Twitter Play by Play Follow: @SLBD_InGame
Twitter Pens News Follow: @SLBD_PensNews
Update 3 – Eaton a Game Time Decision, Lee Called Up In Case
Head Coach Dan Bylsma spoke with the media (11:43am CST) after today’s morning skate and stated that [...]