News Flash! We know the Staals play hockey

God bless the Staal family.  They must be tired of telling their story and they must be just plain sick of us.

Henry and Linda Staal have four sons with solid NHL ties. We know.

How many more times are we going to see this story? FSN Pittsburgh, Versus, and NBC need to know that we know.

Back it the day, the Sutter family was hockey's first family and they had six brothers with NHL service.

Watch the video and ask how many times we've seen the complete family archive footage.  There is no more. We've seen it enough.  Same for the overused "STAAL TACTIC" headlines (Yes, we did that once).  Bet if you opened up the family scrapbook, you'd find that headline in the majority of articles.

Make no mistake, this column is in no way a negative reflection on their hockey skills or a slight on family bonds.  We've all heard the story and we should just leave those nice people alone. 

If we ever want an interesting story let's tell the story of Gary Sutter (the seventh brother that never played in the NHL). 

If you have been living under a rock for the last few years, the lockout is over, two-line passes are legal, the Staal family is ... ah, watch the video:

Sid's 100, 200, 300th

Sid checks a few milestones off the list:

Bissonnette bloodies Bradley

Here's tonight's video of the night:

Video of the Night: Godard v. Cote

Nice Rock 'em Sock 'em fight about five minutes into the game tonite. This was the best fight since Gary Roberts schooled Ben Eager.

"Mr. 8.7" Returns to the Air

Controversial (only if your are a Larry Fine look-a-like) Mark Madden returns to the air today. Finally.

Madden's unabashed love of hockey is important to the sport in this city. He's knowledgeable, entertaining and candid.

Getting Madden on the Penguins Flagship station, WXDX, is pure, ahem, genius.

You won't find this in the obituary section today, but, "AM Radio in Pittsburgh is Dead."

New Championship banners

The Penguins new banners are now above the ice at the Mellon Arena and they look very impressive. The NHL MVP and Art Ross banners are a nice touch too.

While some of the purists have complained about the original banners being replaced, we are totally fine with the uniformity of all the banners, knowing that they'll be stunning in the new building.

Our only complaint? Where is the banner for the Pittsburgh Hornets three championships? They hung one in February 2001, but it has mysteriously disappeared.

A Great Day for Hockey

“There is such a feeling of optimism around Pittsburgh Penguins hockey these days, from our tremendous young talent on the ice, to the phenomenal support of our fans, to the extensive community outreach by our players – and it all adds up to a growing bond between our team and the Pittsburgh region,” said David Morehouse, the Penguins’ president.

The video - featuring Scott Blasey (The Clarks) on vocals - speaks for itself. Wow.

The countdown has begun ...

24 hours until the until the Bridgestone NHL Premiere 2008 Stockholm showdown between the Ottawa Senators and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Here are a few dates to circle on the 2008-09 calendar:

October 11 - The Penguins will raise a banner to the top of the dome. It's not the banner we were hoping for, but it is still significant to be the Eastern Conference Champions. The team will not be on the ice when the banner is introduced and they'll be adding banners to celebrate the team's MVP and Hart Trophy winners.

October 14 - First match-up against the Flyers, without R.J. Umberger – of course he wasn't there in the conference finals, either.

October 16 - Forget the Crosby v. Ovechkin matchup. It's all about Malkin v. Ovechkin.



November 11 - The Pens visit Marian Hossa and the Detroit Red Wings for first game after losing to them in the Stanley Cup final. Maybe he saw this article: History doesn't bode well for Penguins


November 15 - Pens will wear their "throwback" blue jerseys in a remake of the Winter Classic against the Buffalo Sabres.

December 23 - Pittsburgh native and Tampa Bay Lightning's Ryan Malone comes home for Christmas. He's bringing some familiar buddies: Gary Roberts, Mark Recchi, and Adam Hall, and oh yea, this year's first overall pick Steve Stamkos.

December 27 - John Barbaro announces: "Montreal penalty, #17, George Laraque - Pittsburgh penalty to #28, Eric Godard, five minutes each for fighting. Time of the penalties. :54 seconds."

Jokes Beaten

The Pens defeated Jokerit in the final pre-season game and are set to face the Ottawa Senators for the season opener in Stockholm.

By our count it was the 29th time in franchise history that the Pens played a non-NHL team in an exhibition game.

Click here to see a list of the non-league exhibition games.