Absolutely, hands down, without a doubt, my favorite month of the year is October. I love the changing of summer to fall. Halloween is, in my opinion, the very best of holidays. I mean, honestly, who odesn't love the excuse to dress up and beg for candy? But there is one other factor. October marks the start of hockey season.
I may blog to save my family from my obsessive opinions. There are about two topics on the face of the planet that I obsess about more than any other: hockey and horses. Considering that I make money from one obsession, I'll leave that for my day job. For now, I'll be going on and on about hockey.
Popular or not, I am a diehard Pittsburgh Penguins fan. I also appreciate watching a good Red Wings or Blackhawks game, but there will never be a conflict of interest. If, as this evening, the Pens are playing one of the other teams I like, I will still be pulling for my team. So, in summary, I am a huge Pens fan, no questions asked.
Now that the groundwork has been laid, I'll go into a few details rather than rant to my family. They tune me out pretty quickly from now until May.
Anyone who follows hockey and doesn't live under a rock, is well aware of the changes that swept through Pittsburgh after their rather frustrating exit to the New York Rangers last year. I'll admit, for whatever haters want to argue, that I appreciate Dan Bylsma. He had a certain swagger and a quick mind for offense. However, there are more than one similarity to be drawn between him and Sean Peyton down with the New Orleans Saints. After five years of explosive offense and no defense, Pittsburgh decided to make a change. Blame Marc Andre Fleury all you want, but if your defense has the consistency of Swiss cheese and your offense conveniently forgets how to fall back and help protect their own zone, then any goaltender is going to have trouble. This is just a rough summary of all that went wrong for years. But as I sit watching the last preseason game for the Pens, I have to think one thing was not fixed in all of the shuffling. We have a strong defensive corps, I love Olli Maata. Our offense has always had stars in reserve, also adore Geno Malkin, and I will always be a supporter of Flower. So, what is my problem then? Stretch passes. Freaking, bloody stretch passes.
In a nutshell, stretch passes were the downfall of Disco Dan. It is somewhat justifiable that such talents as Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin will want to how just how talented they are. But when the whole damn team starts to play like that, you are destined for failure. I cannot quantify how many times I screamed at the television watching Pens games last season. Pass after pass would get intercepted. Professional hockey teams and coaches are not a bunch of idiots. They study game film, make plans, and then execute them. When everyone in the league knows you're prone to passing up center, they're going to sit there and pick you off like low hanging fruit.
Haveing watched two periods of the new fangled Pens, I really think the top line of Crosby and Kunitz needs to be reminded of this rather pertinent fact. I'll save my ire for a few games into the regular season. After all, this is only Sid's first game. But I am not inclined to think kindly of Sidney until he really does something to change my mind. Again, this will come as something of a controversial point to most hockey people, but I largely hold Sid responsible for the melt down of the Rangers series. The player that I really thought put himself on the line night after night during that incredibly difficult series was Brandon Sutter. Sid just seemed to quit at one point, and for that, I'll hold my opinion. This is a true rarity for me. Take it while you can.
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