Kansas City Penguins?

The Royals were off yesterday, so instead of grumbling about Billy Butler hitting into more double plays, I thought I would also take a day off and write about one of my other loves instead.

That other love of course is the Pittsburgh Penguins. As someone who was born and raised in Kansas City (Blue Springs represent!), why should I love the Penguins, a city that is 840 miles away? I have never even been to P-burgh, or whatever the locals call it (P-town? The burgh? Steel town? The town that Wiz Khalifa wrote a song about?). 

No matter. All that really matters is that they have been the only hockey team that I truly loved. I tried rooting for the Blues for a while, but they have never won a Stanley Cup and probably never will, despite the fact that they have TJ “Sochi” Oshie who is a real American hero. Anyway, ever since I was a young child, I have loved the Penguins, starting when I received my first hockey stick (circa 1990 or so). It just so happened that the Penguins were all the rage with Mario Lemieux destroying NHL defensemen, NHL goalies, and EVEN FREAKING CANCER! Also, Lemieux’s teammate Jaromir Jagr had the most gorgeous mullet ever (see photo below) and was super exciting to watch, especially after the Penguins won the Stanley Cup in ’91 and ’92. To make matters even better, a few years ago when the Penguins had bottomed out and were the worst team in the NHL, there was talk that MY FAVORITE HOCKEY TEAM WOULD MOVE TO KANSAS CITY!!!!!!!! Greatest thing ever, until Superhero Mario Lemieux stepped in and saved the team again. As much as I would have loved to have the Penguins in KC, I am ok with them staying in Pittsburgh, and hope to get travel there someday. 

I especially enjoy watching them now since they have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, two of the best players in the NHL, and they have made the playoffs for 8 straight seasons, winning the cup against the hated Red Wings in 2009 (one of the best days of my life). Watch this clip of Marc-Andre Fleury’s save in game 7 of the Finals that preserved the win for the Penguins. That clip should give you goosebumps unless you are a turd from Detroit. 

 

Last night the Penguins beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3 to advance to the second round of the playoffs. They will play either the Rangers or the Flyers. I really hate the Flyers and would love to see the Pens bounce them back to Philly, but the Pens totally sucked against them this season, losing 4 of the 5 games they played. So I will pull for the Rangers. I don’t need any more near heart attacks after the Pens almost blew a 4-0 lead last night, allowing the Blue Jackets to score 3 unanswered goals in a 5-minute span in the third period. Not cool. If the Penguins had lost, that would have been almost as bad as the KC Chiefs choking up a 28 point lead against th…

Never mind. That was the worst day of my life. I need to move on and focus on the present, which is that my favorite hockey team is going to the second round of the playoffs, an extremely mythical land that my Kansas City teams can only dream about. *SIGH*

Go Pens!