Penguins Exorcise their Bad Playoff Final Memories

...and THAT is why hockey is the greatest sport in the world.

according to talk show host Mark Madden. It truly was nice to see a non-Penguins team blow a lead for once.

A hyped-up game from the start of the year, the Penguins and Red Wings were destined for a titanic rematch after last year's finals.

The game was a remarkable drama that built on the strong rivalry that is starting to grow. The leaders of the team, Crosby, Malkin, and Staal you can tell decided to step up their talent and fought off the hard working defensive system that you could tell was frustrating the Penguins. It took an extra effort from an entire team to show the Red Wings that they weren't going to forget what happened in the Finals last year and are now stronger having learned from the experience.

[Via: Mark Madden on WXDX-FM]

Hossa Brothers Find New Homes at Trading Deadline

I had not heard anything all day because of my day job, but once 3pm hit, I was quick in the car to turn on Hardcore Sports Network (Sirius #186) and hear about all the draft day trades.

Anyway, the reshuffling in the league that occurs once every season at the trading deadline is fodder for water cooler talk and no real superstars getting traded other than Hossa to Pens and Fedorov to Caps. Kinda boring. But exciting if you are a hockey wonk like me and know who all the players are.

People here in Pittsburgh are a little giddy with Hossa's arrival but a little saddened with the loss of 2 very popular players in Armstrong and Christensen. Colby was widely known as the "comedic relief" that gelled a group of guys into a team. Colby and Erik grew up in the Penguins organization they both will be truly missed.

This trade has some shades of the trade that was made during the first Stanley Cup bringing over Larry Murphy, Ron Francis, and Ulf Samuelsson, but surrendering a very popular John Cullen. But mostly all Penguins historians suggest that the trade then had built the franchise into what it is today.

Marian Hossa is a great player and I am really glad that he is here so I can once again invest some of my pride in my family's Slovak heritage. Hossa's arrival will only make one dangerous power-play unit even scarier.

The wrastlin' obsessed The Pens Blog looked at the trading deadline as if it were a storyline angle (a.k.a. "WORK") That's true hysteria! That is Def Leppard-esque hysteria!

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In an interesting twist of the day's trading action, Marian's little brother Marcel was traded from the New York Rangers to the Phoenix Coyotes in a 5 player deal. Has this ever happened before? Two brothers traded on the same day?