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Penguins remedy Stanley Cup hangover
By The Canadian Press
December 24, 2009
Pittsburgh, Pa — The Stanley Cup celebrations were barely two weeks old when Sidney Crosby started thinking about a remedy for the championship hangover.
The Pittsburgh Penguins captain went on vacation with teammate Max Talbot shortly after the Game 7 victory over Detroit and was already looking ahead to this season. Just like that, another long championship pursuit had begun.
“I remember that trip with Sid,” Talbot recalled Tuesday. “It was a celebration and everything, but (he was saying) ’Let’s do it again’ — that was his first thought. That’s a big reason why we don’t have a hangover right now.”
Indeed, the Penguins are off to a start that suggests they’re as hungry as ever to win the Stanley Cup. With only Wednesday’s game against Ottawa remaining before the Christmas break, Pittsburgh is hovering around the top of the Eastern Conference with a 25-11-1 record.
There’s no doubt in Talbot’s mind why things have gone so well.
“This guy, Sid,” he said, motioning towards Crosby’s locker. “Sid is the main reason.
“He would never let himself or let us have a bad start. I don’t think we’re satisfied as a group in winning one.”
It’s interesting to see how few reminders there are of last year’s championship season. Another banner hangs in the rafters of Mellon Arena and a small Stanley Cup adorned with “2009” has been put up in the dressing room, but there aren’t really any massive tributes to be found.
The Penguins appear to have turned the page.
While the team’s roster experienced a few changes over the summer, the core remains the same — Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Brooks Orpik and Marc-Andre Fleury, all signed through at least the 2011-12 season.
“Our chemistry is still the same, it’s still solid,” said Fleury. “The guys that came in are great fits.
“Everyone is getting along very good with everybody. On the ice, I think we’ve shown we’re built to win again — that’s the main thing.”
A major hurdle in winning another championship appears to be the New Jersey Devils, who beat the Penguins 4-0 on Monday night. The league-leading Devils have already won three games against the defending champs this season.
Even still, the Penguins were upbeat at practice Tuesday and appeared to have put the latest defeat behind them.
“I think our attitude and our preparation was all there,” said Crosby. “We’ll forget about it.”
Staal isn’t likely to forget an incident during the second period of Monday’s game when he was struck in the nose with the puck. It was a scary moment for the 21-year-old centre, who left a trail of blood while being helped off the ice by a trainer.
He got stitched up and returned in the third period with a full face shield. The incident might prompt him to put on a visor once the cut heals.
“It’s obviously something that I’ll think about a little bit more,” said Staal. “I wore a visor in junior. I don’t mind wearing it so we’ll see what happens.”
The decision to return to Monday’s game earned him a little respect from his teammates.
“That was pretty gutsy,” said Crosby. “As players, we were really happy to get him back. He’s a tough guy, he’s got three brothers who have probably done worse than that.”
One of Pittsburgh’s major strengths has been its ability to avoid a long losing streak. The team has only dropped more than two games in a row once since Dan Bylsma was hired as coach on Feb. 15 — and the four-game skid in early November came when the Penguins were decimated by injuries.
A victory in last year’s Stanley Cup has given the team the confidence that it can rebound.
“It only changed what we think,” said Talbot. “We’re getting more experience as the same core group. We’re more laid back when we lose a game like last night (against the Devils), we know that it’s not the end of the world. We know it’s still a long way from the playoffs and the Stanley Cup.”
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The History of the Stanley Cup
The hardest pro sports trophy to win also leads the pack in history. Now that we have a better idea of where the Stanley Cup is going this season, it's time to see where it has been.
1. Purchased by Frederick Arthur, Lord Stanley of Preston, 16th Earl of Derby, for 10 guineas (equivalent to $48.67) in 1892.
2. Initially called the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup, its first winner, in 1893, was the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association team.
3. The original trophy was just the top bowl, measuring 7 1/2 inches high and 11 1/2 inches across. The bottom section was added in 1909.
4. The first team to have its players' names engraved on the trophy was the Montreal Wanderers, in 1907.
5. In 1924, the Canadiens added a silver band between the two rings. All teams had their players' names engraved from this point forward.
6. A year later, the Victoria Cougars added the angled band between the bowl and the first ring.
7. Each winner followed suit, adding different-sized bands to the trophy through 1929. For 10 years after that, silver bands of identical circumference were applied.
8. The Stanley Cup became an NHL-controlled trophy with the 1927 winner. Before that, teams from various leagues vied for its ownership.
9. As sections were added, the trophy developed so that its base had the same circumference as the first ring, giving it a cylindrical or tube-like appearance. By the mid-1940s, the Cup had grown to almost 3 feet high.
10 The Cup changed in 1948 when it was constructed as two, separable pieces, the base being much wider. Teams that didn't have their names engraved (winners from 1908, 1910, 1911 and 1918-23) were added to the shoulder of the Cup.
11. In 1958, the Stanley Cup became the one-piece, barrel-like trophy it is today.
12. The original collar -- the portion between the rings and the barrel -- was replaced in 1963. The original bowl was replaced in 1969.
13. When the Penguins filled the last spot on the bottom band, in 1990-91, the top band -- listing winners from 1928 to 1940 -- was removed and the remaining bands moved up. The next band is set to be added in 2005.
14. A replica of the Cup was built in 1993. The replica, and copies of the rest of the NHL's storied trophy collection, is on permanent display at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. The real Cup, in all its renovated glory, travels to promotional gigs and its annual hoisting.
15. The Cup measures 35 1/4 inches tall and 18 inches across the base and weighs 32 pounds. -- Paul Grant; Source: Total Stanley Cup
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Sidney Crosby Pens tale about date with Stanley Cup
By Garth Woolsey
December 24, 2009
Sidney Crosby, only 21 years of age, this past week was named winner of the Lou Marsh Trophy – for the second time. He has given himself a tough act to follow but no one would be surprised if he won the award for Canada's top athlete again, and again.
This latest laurel is the result of Crosby, as team captain, taking his Pittsburgh Penguins to Stanley Cup victory last spring. One of the winners' perks is getting to spend a day with the Cup itself, an occasion in The Next One's case that is commemorated by this book (note the price – the 87 cents, of course, duplicates the number on his Penguins sweater).
It is every hockey-playing kid's dream to share the Cup with family and friends. Since 1995, the NHL has made it a tradition to allow members of the winning team to do just that.
Crosby, being Crosby, made his day extra special, complete with Sea King helicopter and armoured personnel carrier rides and rallies in his hometown of Cole Harbour, N.S. Oh, it happened to be his birthday, too.
Crosby "wrote" the book himself, but he is a man of few words. It is mainly about the feel-good photos, taken by Brad McCaughan.
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It was a very good year for Brodeur
By Tom Gulitti
December 24, 2009
The question seemed to be a natural one, but there was no obvious answer.
After Martin Brodeur posted his NHL record-breaking 104th career shutout Monday in a 4-0 win over the reigning Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins, the Devils goaltender was asked if there were any records left for him to break.
"I don’t know," Brodeur replied. "You guys will tell me."
As far as regular season records, there aren’t any of real significance. In 2009 alone, Brodeur has become the NHL’s all-time leader in regular season wins (he now has 580), shutouts, games (1,032) and minutes played (60,962). He also holds the NHL’s single-season win record after having 48 in 2006-07. With a league-high 23 wins in the Devils’ first 35 games, he’s on pace to break that record and finish with 53.
Although Brodeur has surpassed Patrick Roy’s records for regular wins (551), games (1029) and minutes (60,235), he still has a bit of ground to cover to break Roy’s record for most playoff wins (151) and most postseason games (247).
Brodeur has 98 career wins in 176 postseason games. He is tied with Roy for the most playoff shutouts with 23.
After Brodeur broke Terry Sawchuk’s nearly 40-year-old NHL shutout record on Monday, it was suggested Brodeur go after Ken Daneyko’s Devils’ record of 1,283 regular season games, but the 37-year-old Montreal native seemed reluctant to try to take that distinction from the player known as, "Mr. Devil."
"I don’t know about that," he said.
Brodeur has always been appreciative of his teammates’ efforts and often points out that, though his name goes in the record book, he couldn’t have done it without them.
"It’s something that I really appreciate throughout the years – the commitment that my team is making," he said. "I’m definitely getting the fruit of it with breaking records, but shutouts, you don’t do it by yourself."
Brodeur compared the final minutes of Monday’s game to a playoff game. His teammates were going down to block shots, unselfishly chipping the puck out of the defensive zone rather than risk an offensive rush, doing whatever they could to stop the Penguins from scoring one goal.
"You could tell the guys were really focused and knew exactly what was going on," Brodeur said.
His teammates took as much pride in Brodeur getting the record as he did.
"He’ll be the first to admit it. He can’t do it all by himself," captain Jamie Langenbrunner said. "Some nights he may, but I think we did a lot of good things to help him."
Forward Patrik Elias, who has played more games with Brodeur than any current Devil, was almost ho hum about being part of history, as he said, "again."
"I think we’re going to get that question a few more times," Elias said. "But it was nice. You saw the way we played even the last shift. We just wanted to get it done."
With the shutout record behind them, the Devils might turn their attention to capturing their first President’s Trophy, which goes to the NHL team with the most regular season points. With three more days off for Christmas before resuming play Saturday in Washington, the Devils are first overall with a 26-8-1 record and 53 points.
They are 3-0 against each of their closest competitors in the East – the Penguins (51 points) and the Capitals (50).
"It’s a long year," Brodeur said. "There’s streaks. It’s only 35 games or so played for everybody. There’s a lot of real estate to cover until the end of the year and the playoffs. "It’s how good you are in the playoffs that really counts."
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