Thursday, October 29, 2009

Re: Kunitz

3 ASS = 1 GOAL

I thought we should all remember and treasure that fact...

Monday, October 19, 2009

2009-2010

Errey Blog is on an indefinite hiatus due to work/school overload. Might be back for the second half of the season, might not. We'll see. I'll put up anything mind-blowing. Other than that, hiatus.

With that, I leave you my favorite quote of the year to this point:

"I love stuff. Don't you?"

Monday, June 15, 2009

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Wait...what? Pt. 2

Anyone else think Datsyuk gave Pierre McGuire a handjob after hearing this quote?

"His hand skills are excessive!"

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Wait...what?

Pierre McGuire: "I think about the thickness of Brian Trottier."

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Playoffs

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm taking the playoffs off as I'd rather just watch the games and enjoy them without having to worry about writing/typing stuff down. That and I've ended up watching the games in a lot of random places.

Side note:
How did Mike Green get nominated for the Norris Trophy? I thought you had to play defense to be considered the best defenseman...

From his Sportsnet.ca profile:

Scouting Report

Assets
Is a tremendous skater and a natural point producer from the back end. Likes to initiate contact and is cool under heavy fire.

Flaws
Is mistake-prone in the defensive zone, which negates some of his overall effectiveness. Needs to add a little more discipline to his game.

Career potential
Power play quarterback.


Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Games 81 and 82

Out of town. Whoops...

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Game 79; Pens vs. "Bolts"

Steiggy: "Eaton got out of the way of a big hit there!"
Errey: "Did he?" (as Eaton lies on the ice after getting slammed into the boards)

"He looked like an antelope there, Staal. And Stamkos was like a deer in the headlights!"*






*As soon as I heard this one, I kept hoping the animal comparisons would continue. In my mind all I could think of was this:
"Zero hour, Michael. It's the end of the line. I'm the firstborn. I'm sick of playing second fiddle. I'm always third in line for everything. I'm tired of finishing fourth. Being the fifth wheel. There are six things I'm mad about, and I'm taking over."

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Game 76; Pens vs. Rangers

"They want to test those anger management classes he's been going through!"


"Did you say 'Korpikoski' or 'cup of coffee?'"


Side note: does anyone else love Wade Redden (not to mention his contract) being on the Rangers as much as I do?

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Game 75; Matt Cooke's mustache vs. Flames

"Come on...I'm a plumber!"


"You're playing with fire...Flames!"


"Waffles are kinda round now, aren't they?"


Steiggy (on Hal Gill/Snuggies): "I didn't think they made Snuggies that big!"

Game 73-74 - Whoops!

Busy. Just watch this video as it's guaranteed to be funnier than anything said during the games...


Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Game 72; Pens vs. Thrashers

On Sykora: "He kinda looks like a leprechaun, doesn't he?"


"Is that Larry Murphy to Paul Coffey? 55 to 7?"

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Game 64; Pens vs. North Stars

"[Bylsma] knows how the west was won..."


...and now Women's College Basketball is on FSN. Way to go, FSN!

...and we're back!


"Malkin's a bullet out there!" (editor's note: "Shoot me!")


On the camouflage uniforms worn by the Baby Pens: "Steiggy, you'll never get caught for too many men on the ice wearing those!"


"He roped him here in Dallas, didn't he?"


"What was that promo, the Ax Men? That was one of the Ax Men going to the box right there, Jordan Staal."

Friday, February 27, 2009

Game 63; Pens vs. Hawks

Steiggy: "I haven't seen Jordan Staal make this many plays in five weeks!"
Errey: "Now they're going to have to find someone else to play with Crosby!"


"These guys are finding each other like bread and butter out here!"


"All the fans want their hard hats back!" (Side note: the only thing better than a home hat trick on a hat giveaway night is a hat trick that gets taken away by replay review after half the crowd unleashed their free hats)

Game 62.5; Intermission...

Three things:

1) Is anyone else being haunted by this commercial that came on about eighty times last game?



2) Several thoughts on the Whitney trade:

a) I like it. We are a better team now than we were before the trade.

b) Kunitz is a decent player. Will he make up for not being able to resign Hossa? No. Is he better than pretty much every winger on the current roster? Yes. Would you rather see him than Dupuis, Talbot, Minard, etc. on the top two lines? Yes.

He's not the dream sniper everyone wants for Crosby, but it's questionable whether we have the assets or cap space to get such a player (any such deal now would involve Crosby, Malkin, or Staal+others).

c) Tangradi has a lot of potential for the future as a top winger. Second in scoring in the OHL behind only Tavares is a good sign. No success is guaranteed, but whatever.

d) Whitney was expendable as we have Gonch, Letang, and Gogo. We did not need four puck moving defensemen who do not play a physical game (well, Letang hits everything he can, but he's not that big).

3) I had this long winded response today to several friends after they directed my attention to today's Bills Simmons article on ESPN.

Here's the key quote that caused me to flip out (he also suggested Pittsburgh was a good city for an NBA team to move to, which I disagree with):

"Looking at the big picture, the league won't struggle even 1/10th as much as the NHL in years to come -- of all the wildest predictions I heard in Phoenix, the craziest came from a connected executive who predicted that fifteen NHL teams would go under within the next two years (and was dead serious)"

My points of rebuttal to this article are as follows:

a) I will never trust unnamed NBA sources who are "connected" and "know something" about the NHL. This is especially true in an article written by an NBA diehard who admits often and frequently he stopped caring about hockey 15 years ago.

b) The NBA will never work in Pittsburgh. Where are all the sponsorships going to come from? Like it or not, we are a small city with only so much money to go around. We already have three professional sports franchises and the Pens have gone bankrupt multiple times.

Sure, a new arena might be attractive, but it's a small city where a team would be fighting for attention with three well-established teams, two of whom have had recent success, a strong fanbase, and promising futures.

c) Correct me if I'm wrong since I'm doing this for memory, but aren't attendance, revenue, and television ratings trending in opposite directions for the past couple of years for the NBA and NHL? Since the lockout, the NHL has raised it's profile every year (despite nearly every non-hockey writer trying to mock it back into obscurity while ignoring actual numbers). The NBA has faced decreased ratings every year for their playoffs. They might still be higher than NHL ratings (and probably are), but they are trending in opposite directions from what I remember. I'd love to see the numbers come out for the NBA Finals this year if it was San Antonio vs. anyone other than Cleveland or Boston. It would be fun watching every NBA supporter writing it off as not meaning anything while turning around and saying the opposite about the NHL.

d) Phoenix is definitely screwed. I concede that point. Nashville cannot be far behind. Perhaps the two Florida teams are in the same boat (though the Panthers are rebuilding their fanbase this season it seems). I'm not sure if I'd be able to get to 15 teams that are potentially "going under" (read: "sold to Balsillie until Bettman prevents it") though, but let's try:

  1. Phoenix
  2. Nashville
  3. Tampa
  4. Florida
  5. Buffalo
  6. Atlanta
  7. Carolina
  8. Islanders (even the Islanders not so much. They seem to be pulling a Lemieux in an attempt to get a new arena.)

After this it gets murky and I start throwing in teams like the Devils, who despite attendance issues, have never seemed to be on unsound financial ground...or Detroit simply because they're located in Detroit.

e) The NHL doesn't have many super ridiculous contracts for washed up players receiving $20+ million per season or role players making $15 million (Starbury, Kidd, and Iverson: $21m, Shaq: $20m, Kirilenko: $15m) . To be sure, there are some terrible contracts that teams would love to get out of (I'm looking in your directions Wade Redden, Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, and Daniel Briere), but due to the hard cap and player maximums, no role players are making $15m per year in the NHL, no matter how much Glen Sather would like to sign Robbie Scuds to that type of contract.

Also, no luxury tax in the NHL due to the hard cap.


Okay...enough of my defensiveness that I dive into every time non-hockey fans write about the game without any basis other than personal feelings or unnamed sources (note: this also occurs every time Mike Milbury talks). I'll save the rest of my defensiveness for the next time the NHL comes up on PTI and I end up throwing a beer bottle at the television...

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Game 62; Pens vs. Isles

"Jon Sim, there's been a lot of roadkill involved with him around recently."


Finally...Letang on the PP with Gonchar. Imagine...you put a right handed defenseman on the left side with Gonchar working the center/right and a left hander working the right side boards (Malkin), then you have a one-timer threat on each side and the PK cannot just concentrate on stopping the shot from one side...


"It's a good thing the ice is not frozen all the way, Steiggy. That was good swimming there by Eaton."


Tom Fitzgerald's mustache has a buyout clause???? Come on! It's almost March Mustache Madness!

Game 61; Pens vs. Caps

Fuck Mike Milbury...

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Game 60; Pens vs. Flyers

"Nice job, Greg Louganis."

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Game 59; Pens vs. Habs

"Is that glove not working on Carey Price?"


"Sometimes north-south is like a game of Pong when you're playing the Canadiens. They come right back at ya!"


"Unless you're Evgeni Malkin and have three lungs..."


"I can't play chess, but is that what happens in a chess game when you lose a couple of your big guys it just opens right up?"


Errey: "You know, just like a train. You know, it's like...you had the caboose, and you had this. What are all the parts of a train, Steiggy? Help me out!"
Steiggy: "You have the engine, the dining car..."
Errey: "Dining car....hahahahaha. That's where you'd be!"


"This game went from a chess match to 52 card pickup!"

Monday, February 16, 2009

Game 58; Pens vs. Isles, or Smell You Later Therrien

"You talk about books...Bylsma and books...he read that one like a cheap novel, that pass!"


Potash: "Now I'll let you sing again, Bobby."
Errey: "Peewee, peewee, peewee" (YES! More singing!)


Steiggy: "Billy Guerin had the patience of Job there..."

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Game 57; Pens vs. Leafs

Terrible.

Wasn't able to pay attention to much of this game. I did, however, hear Errey singing the peewee song. It was amazing. However, I did not write it down. Anyone have the video clip?

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Game 56: Pens vs. Sharks

"Paul Coffey. Take a look at his toes now. It's not a pretty sight...sorry Coff..."

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Friday, February 6, 2009

Game 54; Pens vs. Columbus

"That was a pure picklestabber there. [...] and there goes that $300...twig."

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Game 53; Pens vs. Lightning

"It looks like he stuck his finger in a...socket, didn't he...Jeff Reed?"


"How does [Roethlisberger] dance? He's got the quickest feet for a big guy!"


Steiggy: "...and Jeff Reed, who gets his hair done at Consol Energy..."
Errey: "hahaha...ohhhh...I love it..."


"You mentioned road kill, it's all over the place here on the Mellon Arena ice!"


So to clarify, does Malkin have an indomitable spirit?


"Well, feeling a little shame now, Mr. Roberts. He was drinking the water and it wasn't Fiji!"


Steiggy: "He has that frisky look about him, like a horse that wants to run forever."

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Game 52; Pens vs. Habs

Tired + drifting mind = I got nothing...

Anyone?

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Game 51; Pens vs. Leafs

Pass...


Steelers side note: did anyone else watch the post-game and notice how worried David Johnson was about the dumpster fire in the middle of Forbes Avenue? It was bordering on an obsession and he kept making the guy in the chopper talk about it. Phenomenal. Don't worry David, it's not going to spread to anything else...

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Game 50; Pens vs. Devils

"That man is a big, scary fella!"


"Bobby Holik. He may be using wood sticks, but he's as thick as a brick."


"There's Eric Godard! He was like Godzilla the other night in that fight! I gotta tell you, oh my God was he scary! The demolition man, Eric Godard... Grabbing those cars and...throwing them up, and stomping on anything. I love it! He is a wrath...of destruction whenever he is out there."

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Game 49; Pens vs. Rangers

Errey: "I would've shoe checked him!"
Steiggy: "Tell them what a shoe check is so they know what you're talking about..."
Errey: "Well...you know...you get under the table, throw a little ketchup, some HP sauce, A1 Sauce, HP in Canada...House of Parliament...but you throw a little something on their shoe! And then you tap the glasses. I shoe checked Bob Johnson in the Stanley Cup Finals!"


Ryan checks in from the game with this gem of an overheard quote: "Oh yeah! How was your big sex weekend?"


"Is that a sixth goal or a sick goal? Are you kidding me?!?!?!?"

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Game 48; Pens vs. Whalers

"Evgeni Malkin stayed with this puck like nobody's business!"


"Boy...you talk about thick guys!"


"He looked like Arturs Irbe with that pillow! That mattress inside!"


Note to crowd: why were you booing the home team at the end of a 2-1 game when Cam Ward played lights out in the third period to prevent a tying goal?

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Game 47; Pens vs. Rangers

Two things:

1) Good signing of Wade Redden in the offseason, Rangers. So with that contract, did you think you were signing the Wade Redden of 3-4 years ago? You know, the one that made the Sens pick him over Chara because they couldn't keep both? Six years for $39 million... Don't worry Rangers fans, he only has another 5 seasons taking up a large chunk of the salary cap. And he only apparently has a partial no-trade clause (he wanted a full one, but apparently Sather only would let him submit a list of teams he would be willing to go to if they occasion ever came up that they wanted to trade him). Plus, there were rumors (unsubstantiated and probably untrue) in Ottawa that he was a coke fiend...

2) How does Mike Milbury still have a job? He has been consistently awful for the past several seasons a commentator (before anyone says it: no, it's not because he criticizes the Pens. I don't care about that. His opinions on the sport in general are abysmal.)

This is like Matt Millen becoming an NFL commentator despite his terrible front office tenure (Good idea NBC. Are we supposed to take him seriously and listen to anything he has to say now?). Just to refresh some of Mike Milbury's greatest hits as Isles GM:

17-Nov-96: Islanders trade Darius Kasparaitis and Andreas Johansson to the Penguins for Bryan Smolinksi.

6-Feb-98: Islanders trade D Bryan McCabe, C Todd Bertuzzi and a third-round draft pick(LW Jarkko Ruutu) to Vancouver for Trevor Linden.

30-May-98:
Islanders trade RW Jean-Pierre Dumont & NYI 5th round pick in 1998 Entry Draft (later traded to PHI. PHI selected Francis Belanger) to the Chicago Blackhawks for C Dmitri Nabokov.

20-Mar-99:
Islanders trade G Tommy Salo to Edmonton for F Mats Lindgren & EDM's 8th round choice in 1999 Entry Draft(D Radek Martinek).

24-Jun-00: New York Islanders traded Olli Jokien and Roberto Luongo to the Florida Panthers for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha.

23-Jun-01: Ottawa Senators traded Alexei Yashin to the New York Islanders for Zdeno Chara, Bill Muckalt and 1st round selection (Jason Spezza) in 2001. (We should also add the subsequent 10-year deal they signed Yashin to right after this)

Milbury's Legacy:

Were it not for a series of owners who skimped on payroll and some outright dumb trades by Milbury, there might be a second dynasty on Long Island today. Consider the following roster:

Goal: Roberto Luongo, Defence: Bryan McCabe, Wade Redden, Zdeno Chara and Eric Brewer. Forwards: Olli Jokinen, JP Dumont, Todd Bertuzzi, Jason Spezza (selected by Ottawa with the first round pick moved by Milbury for Alexei Yashin), Tim Connolly, Taylor Pyatt, Raffi Torres, Michael Rupp.

He also passed up the chance to draft either Dany Heatley or Marian Gaborik in 2000 to select Rick DiPietro, which wouldn’t have been necessary if he’d held onto Luongo.

Almost all of those players were moved, not because they were expensive to retain since almost all of them were just young, affordable players back then, but because Milbury just couldn’t resist making deals.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Game 46: Pens vs. Coach Bombay

Errey: "You know he was pitchforking that hay in Regina, Saskatchewan!"
Steiggy: "Yeah...and Jordan Staal was lifting those...big...slabs of sod in Thunder Bay..."


Errey: "We need Hot Lips Houlihan!"
Steiggy: "We were gonna try to play the theme from MASH tonight, but you're not allowed to do that."
(camera shows Chris Stewart)
Errey: "Who's that?"
Steiggy: "That's Chris Stewart."
Errey: "Well I know, but in the MASH theme of things..."
Steiggy: "I guess Kadar is Radar."
Errey: "Who's Alan Alda?"
Steiggy: "Dan Potash sounds like Alan Alda sometimes when I hear him on the radio..."


"This is just what the doctor ordered...no pun intended there..."


"His wife can glide! Kristi Yamaguchi, are you kidding me?!?!?!?"


"You know Ducks can't fly in this weather! They should be down south!"


On some dude's hat:
Errey: "You're not going to find that in the OC!" (editor's note: don't call it that...)
Potash: "You know what though, you wear that in LA and you start a trend. It may be 90 degrees, but if Paris Hilton wears that, everyone will wear it."
Errey: "The question is, how is Paris going to wear it?"


On Cooke barely missing a hat trick:
"We would've had that hat we were looking at!!! It would've been on the ice!"


"You've got golfers on your mind with Bobby Jones. You've got Mickelson out here, of course you've got golfers!"


Errey: "Oh man...It's beautiful...and that (Parros' mustache) is beautiful!"
Steiggy: "You ever been to Scenery Hill?"
Errey: "I don't know, but I had a 'stache like that once. Well it was kinda a rip off of that. THAT is a mustache!"
Steiggy: "You can see it from Scenery Hill!"
Errey: "Actually...I got lost there once. Got off the wrong exit trying to find an...indoor soccer facility."


Errey: "It's like that old hockey pic everyone's got in their rec room! The wide stance!
Steiggy: "Atually, he looks like Darkwing Duck* to me. A guy...the mascot for the Ducks who comes out of the ceiling. Is that his name?"
Errey: "I have noooooo idea."





*Actual name of Ducks mascot: Wild Wing. Whether or not he kidnaps small children during games is unknown.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Game 45; Pens vs. Caps

"He scored a beautiful goal last night...like butter! Carving through a couple of defensemen."


"Isn't it great to have that internet out there?"


"He is a wild stallion, there's no question about it."


To summarize tonight's game: "There goes Sidney Crosby..."


"There was a delayed penalty and then they pulled their goaltender...can you get seven guys on the ice, Steiggy?"

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Game 44; Pens vs. Flyers

"Thank you Mr. Shero for the new contract. The handcuffs are off. He's got buttery hands!"


"It's time for our Subway sandwich...and it's a knuckle sandwich!! Courtesy of Eric Godard. You got about 10 meatballs on that one, too."


"Staal and Kennedy...they looked each other in the eyes there. I'm not trying to get soft with you here..."


"You're not going to see Brooks Orpik upset the apple cart here..."


"The ollllld Ulf Dahlen move..." (editor's note: I have not heard that name in years and was unaware he even had a "move")


Jesus...this is the most times Ulf Dahlen's name has been used in the past 5 years...

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Game 43; Pens vs. Nordiques

"Joe Sakic. Quit messing around with those snow blowers, Joe."


Has anyone been keeping track of how many times the phrase "center drive" has been used the past three or so games? Estimated count: 372


Steiggy: "Hal Gill with the reach around on TJ Hensick."


"There's a lot of girth out there."

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Game 42; Pens vs. Preds

"Who knows what goalies think about? I try not to think about what they think about, Steiggy."


Errey: "They're a different breed, goalies. Except, if you're listening Wendell Young, you were pretty normal."
Steiggy: "Really?!?!?!?"


"It went off Jason Arnott, did it not?" (much funnier with the name being pronounced "Are-Not" all night)


"You were drinking your saki there, weren't you?"


Third period at Hough's, so I got nothing else...

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Game 41; Pens vs. Thrashers

"And then he's going to be called for a...hold. He likes him! It's just a hug!"


"That's Crabb! Clawing his way into Sidney Crosby's territory!"

Monday, January 5, 2009

Game 40; Pens vs. Rangers

Stupid Versus...

But just so more people see this clip...