Finally, Hockey Season!

It has been a long off season since that fateful day that the Penguins lost in game 7 of the playoffs to a hard-working Montreal Canadians team. A lot has happened in the time since then. On a personal level, I ran face-first into the working world after a four year fairy tale called college. I'm not sure what my expectations were for working full-time, but I certaily look forward to the weekends more. In the Steel City, the NFL decided to attempt to ruin the Pittsburgh Steelers season by suspending quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for six games (subsequently reduced to four) for allegedly forcing himself upon a girl in a bar restroom. The Steelers foiled this plan by going 3-1 (narrowly missing going 4-0 by losing to the hated Ravens on a last minute touchdown) with a glut of quarterback issues. For those of you foolish enough to think that Charlie Batch should start when Ben comes back, please refer to his horrid performance against the Ravens and ask yourself whether you want to see the Steelers have a chance to win another Super Bowl or if you want to see a player further punished for something that he was not even proven guilty of. Admittedly, Ben needed a wake-up call to clean up his act, but the guy wins games. And that brings us to the long-awaited start of the NHL regular season.

The Pittsburgh Penguins will bring a slighly altered look to the ice this season. Among the losses are offensive-defenseman Sergei Gonchar, old-leader Bill Guerin, and occasional-scoring winger Ruslan Fedetenko. Each of these losses takes something different away from the Penguins, however, they more than made up for the losses with their offseason acquisitions. Added to the blueline will be Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek. These defensemen will join a solid core from last season to provide a strong blueline in front of netminder Marc-Andre Fleury. On the offense, Mike Comrie comes to the team as a verastile center/winger to potentially provide support to Crosby. Along with Comrie are a host of young, talented forwards vying to make the team. The question remains whether the Penguins can regain their 2008-09 form and bring home another Stanley Cup.

The potential of the Penguins this season looks good. Their offensive core remains mostly unchanged from last season (assuming the healthy return of Jordan Staal at a reasonable time) and the defense has added talent to make it very strong. Only time will tell if the Penguins can repeat thier Stanley Cup winning performance from two seasons ago, but it will definitely be a season to watch. Now lets hit the ice.