Pens Must Soldier On Without Their Sarge

The defense of any championship is a daunting task. Not only must the defending team battle the hangover from spending a whole summer drinking from the chalice of victory,  but they also must face a litany of other challenges. At the forefront is the extra-spirited effort to be expected from each opponent the next season.  What better way for a team to measure its mettle than to see how they stack up against the best of the best? There are also the inevitable roster changes due to the salary cap and the constant veil of

Penguins Little Big Man Wrestles With Fame

       As the saying goes, good things come in small packages. A diamond ring or an ounce of gold.  Those are precious but readily available to anyone with enough money to purchase them.  The Pittsburgh Penguins found their little diamond in the rough in the 4th round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. <!–more–> Listed in the Penguin media guide at five feet eleven inches, (cough, chuckle, cough) the gritty winger from Sault Ste, Marie, Ontario has found his niche on a championship team. He is 1/3 of arguably the best 3rd line in the NHL. Teaming with center and roommate Jordan Staal and rough and tumble winger Matt Cooke, the 23 year old Kennedy has made an impact and opened eyes around the NHL. His shot is accurate and he shows deft stick handling in tight spaces.

His first goal in the NHL against the New York Islanders was reviewed by video. Quite possibly because nobody actually saw him the first time.  But the reviews on many of his goals that came after that have been glowing. And everybody sees him now.  In his rookie season, 4 of his 10 goals were game winners. In last season’s Stanley Cup run, 3 of his 4 goals were clinchers, including the final tally off a beautiful tic-tac-toe play in Game 4 of The Finals. In the Penguins 6 victories this year, Kennedy has had the decider in 3 of them. 

In Pittsburgh, we love our cult heroes. Max Talbot of the Pens was the leader of that pack until he had to go all big-time and score 2 goals in game seven of The Finals against Detroit.  He’s still a “superstar” to the fans thanks to his crazy jokes, pranks and car commercial acting brilliance. Penguin fans everywhere eagerly await his return from off-season shoulder surgery.  But Tyler Kennedy’s stature has been lifted by his play of course, but also by his being aligned with a semi-famous WWE wrestler named Ken Kennedy. The WWE is famous for it’s ring introductions, referred to as “promos” in the squared circle business. When Ken Kennedy, who has since departed the WWE, was introduced to the crowd at matches by himself or a ring announcer on WWE’s show “Raw.” It was a very simple gimmick.  Here is “Mr Kennedy, Kennedy,” the speakers boomed. Simple, but catchy.  At the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh, when number 48 scores in front of the home folks he hears the same thing. They even have video of the wrestling Kennedy to stir the crowd into more of a frenzy.  At first, the Penguin forward had no idea what the big fuss was all about, or where it started. He would find out soon enough.

Mark Madden, the controversial and colorful radio jock in Pittsburgh was the first person to tie together the Ken and Tyler Kennedy laces as far as I know. I heard him make the reference on his show long before fans and the Penguins organization jumped on the wagon with both feet. So, it’s only fair that he be credited properly. I recall texting “Mr Kennedy”  to my niece after he scored a goal a couple seasons back. Her reaction was “huh?” Understandable as she and most sane, intelligent women don’t watch wrestling. And as yet, the catch phrase and the Ken/Tyler Kennedy marriage had yet to be blessed officially.  Madden did some work in the wrestling business as an announcer for the now defunct NWA and other factions and has many friends and connections in the industry.  He often had wrestlers on his show.

When wrestlers tangle, it’s fake, a mere put-on for the cameras and crowd.  Ken Kennedy’s every movement in the ring was scripted and the outcome pre-decided. But last January, in a regular season battle in Toronto, hockey’s Mr Kennedy got into it a match with behemoth Leafs defenseman Luke Schenn. Schenn had just plowed Evgeni Malkin into the side boards near the Penguin bench and fell awkwardly.  A clean hit. But Tyler didn’t much like the fashion in which Schenn was tugging on the Pittsburgh Superman’s cape. So he came off the bench looking for trouble. Schenn is listed at 6 feet 4 inches and 220 lbs,  and unlike the generous media profile of Tyler’s dimensions, he is every bit of that. The fight was basically one-sided. Schenn threw Tyler around like a rag-doll and popped a few right hands at him. But then Tyler came up off the canvas and tussled with the rugged Leafs defenseman some more. Even landing a couple shots of his own.  The other Kennedy would have been proud.  Scoring punch, toughness, and a guy who licks his hockey stick for good luck. A new cult figure emerges. All wrapped up into a small container named Tyler Kennedy–that’s Mister Kennedy to you.  Eat your heart out Max Talbot.

Pens Week 1: The Good, The Bad and the Flyers

It started with a performance of New York, New York.  On Friday, 10/02/09 the defending Stanley Cup Champion Penguins hoisted their banner, then hosted the Rangers in their season opener.  What followed was a solid, pedestrian effort to beat back the broadway blueshirts 3-2 behind a solid performance by goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.   

Then it was off to Long Island then next night to face the new NHL “kid”–John Tavares. A player who’s already living up to the hype of the first overall pick.  The Islanders have a descent mix of veteran forwards like the hard-shooting Mark Streit, Trent Hunter and Doug Weight.  And young guns like the slick, St Paul Minnesota sophmore Kyle Okposo who scored 39 points in his rookie season last year. That earned him an alternate captaincy this year. And of course there is Tavares. All he did was drop 3 points on the Pens, adding 2 assists to go along with his first NHL goal.  The Pens were outworked for much of regulation, but looked strong in overtime, taking the play to the Isles. During the game, they took a number of dumb penalties. It took another good effort by Fleury, especially in the shootout to secure the win.

Then came Wednesday against Phoenix. There’s an old saying about setting traps for Coyotes.  You might not want to step in them on your way to hunt another pack of animals.  The Pens looked like a team that collectively had one skate in Mellon Arena and the other in the Wachovia Center, readying themselves for their game the next night in Philadelphia.  Starting the first of many back-to-back games thanks to the Olympic break in February, Pittsburgh was outplayed, outworked and had their other skate chewed off by the visitors. A team that doesn’t even have an owner.  Their former coach, Wayne Gretzky jumped ship. But along came Dave Tippett to be the head guy.  He instilled a disciplined, trapping style. And The Pens  skated right into it.  Phoenix added some real solid guys like Ed “Jovo Cop” Jovanovski and Adrian Aucoin on defense.  They have a real good two-way leader at forward in Shane Doan who could be on the Canadian Olympic squad. Matthew Lombardi is a fast and furious forward.  And the ageless Robert Lang was plugged in to help their power play.  Their backstop is Ilya Bryzgalov is a big and talented goalie who shutout the Pens 3-0 Wednesday. With all due respect to him, a couple pylons may have done the trick that night.  The only bright spot for the Pens was backup goalie Brent Johnson, who turned in a solid effort in a losing cause.

So, after Wednesday’s performance,  the Penguins had nowhere to go but up. And up they went, in class, as they faced the undefeated (3-0) Flyers in their loud and obnoxious fan-filled home barn. All it took to get re-energized was one look at those orange jerseys which apparently were a better eye opener than the orange juice Wednesday morning. The Pens and Flyers waged a typical battle of Pennsylvania backyard brawl. The first of 6 this year. When it all ended, the Flyers, including their twisted tough guy Scottie Hartnell had bitten off more than they could chew. The unrest all started at the end of the game when the Flyer forward Brad Richards intentionally ran into Fleury. If you peeked inside Hartnell’s locker, you might find some fava beans and a nice Chianti.  Reebok officials will neither confirm nor deny that they are working on chicklet-proof  hockey gloves. Fleury was once again the calm amidst the debauchery. He held the fort for the win to bring his record to a perfect 3-0 on the young season.

PEN PLUSSES:  Def. Alex Goligoski has looked like he aged about 5 years in comfort level in only his second year in the league. He’s routinely making smart plays in the defensive zone. moving the puck quickly to forwards up the wall and looking every bit the heir apparent as the top point man on the power play when Sergei Gonchar hangs up his skates.

Tyler Kennedy, the little engine that could. What more can you say about this guy? Grit, energy and tenacity comes in small packages apparently. Another huge goal (the game winner) against Philly. The 3rd line of Staal-Cooke-Kennedy has been the ultimate effor line for the Pens.

The entire 4th line:  Craig Adams is a unique blend of rugged and smart. (They don’t let dummies into Harvard last time I checked) At least not intentionally.  Having him for the whole season should be valuable.  Throw in Mike Rupp and Chris Bourque and that whole line appears upgraded.

PEN MINUSES:  Disturbing Penalty trend alert!!  The Pens have racked up minor penalties at an alarming rate through the first 3 games. 72 minutes worth and 14 each by Chris Kunitz and Evgeni Malkin. Not too smart for 2 top 6 forwards. Brooks Orpik already has 4 minors also.   And when things don’t go well, Sid still shows he’s a kid and takes dumb frustration penalties. A little edge is good. A lot of the great players have a little hot blood in them.  As great as number 87 is, that temper needs to get tempered because at times it costs his team minors that are purely selfish. Lesser players would be banished to the end of the bench for such actions. He needs to check that a bit if he wants to have his jersey retired one day like another great center who recently had that honor–Joe Sakic

Next up:  Pens at Toronto, Saturday, 10-10-09 at 7pm