2011 Pittsburgh Penguins Preview

The offseason is slowly coming to an end and for Pens fans across the country, it comes as bitter sweet relief. On one hand the boys of winter will be back on the ice and we have 82 games to look forward to. On the other hand we may be entering the season without our captain Sidney Crosby. It doesn't need to be said that 2011 has been nothing short of torture for Pens fans right from the start, and it's possible that the adversity still hasn't ended. 


Hockey is a different breed of sport, and adversity is a vital ingredient in molding great hockey teams. Nothing in this sport is ever given to you, and nothing comes easy. It's a long season and we know all too well of the obstacles that are certain to occur. We as fans need to have faith that the Pens as a team can overcome the adversity and find a way to win, much like they did last year. The adversity may come early this year. Actually it may come very early, and be the biggest challenge the Penguins have faced since the lockout. Sidney Crosby realistically may not be able to lace up his skates when the puck drops for the regular season. This could be the story-line of the entire season: Will the Pittsburgh Penguins overcome the absence of Sidney Crosby? Would our beloved Pens be able to overcome the long-term loss of the world's best hockey player? After the jump we will take a look at the 2011-12 Pittsburgh Penguins and try to answer that question. 

Pens Rookie Tournament Roster

The Penguins have released their roster for the upcoming rookie tournament taking place September 9th through the 13th in Oshawa, Ontario. The roster includes top prospects, Eric Tangradi, Simon Despres and Joseph Morrow.  The Penguins prospects will be coached by John Haynes and Alain Nasreddine. The Penguins prospects will play in three games and the schedule is as follows and all three games will be streamed live on Penguins HD Radio and on the Pens website. The Pond will have updates on how the team has performed during this tournament.

September 10 vs. Ottawa @ 2:00p.m.
September 11 vs. Toronto @ 2:00p.m.
September 13 vs. Chicago

The Roster

Goalies:
Patrick Killen
Maxime Legace

Defensemen
Robert Bortuzzo
Simon Despres
Alex Grant
Scott Harrington
Reid McNeil
Joseph Morrow
Joe Rogalski
Philip Samuelsson
Carl Sneep
Brian Strait

Forwards
Jessey Astles
Brandon DeFazio
Stefan Fournier
Brian Gibbons
Tom Kuhnhackl
Nick Peterson
Zach Sill
Eric Tangradi
Daniil Tarasov
Paul Thompson
Dominik Uher
Keven Veilleux
Ian Walters

Crosby Breaks Silence Makes Contact with Penguins.

Huge news broke at around 9 p.m. tonight from the Penguins regarding Sidney Crosby's status. After the outcry resulting from lack of information from Sid and his representation, we've finally heard what we are all waiting for...

The Media's Execution of Sidney Crosby

As the summer draws to an end, speculations about Sidney Crosby begin to rise. Multiple reports out of Canada have Crosby not being ready for training camp and there have been articles calling for Sid's retirement. While these ridiculous reports are common from the Canadian media, it is inexcusable for the Pittsburgh media to start turning on Sid and scrutinizing him during the offseason. This is what is occurring, and quite frankly it may be time for most of these beat writers in the city to focus their attention to the Steelers preseason preparation. 

CrosbyWatch: Sid's Brain Takes the Spotlight (Again...)

This offseason has taken more turns than any of us have anticipated. First we stayed up all hours of the night for a week hoping that a past hero would return for one final go for the flightless birds, only to then chose to pull on the sweater of our most hated rival. Then we lose Max Talbot to the same team. Up next the Pens provided us footage of Evgeni Malkin training back in Russia as if he was Ivan Drago. Well OK maybe not to that extent, but your imagination runs rampant during the offseason. We also found out, very recently, that Islanders fans are having a meet up to watch the cage match between the Pens and Islanders, as if it was a great hockey game. However, the one story that has been kind-of-but-not-so-much on the back-burner was Sidney Crosby's brain. That was until today.

The Pond is Back

After a very busy July, The Pond will be back up and running. Not that anyone cares, because I don't think there are many readers, but we will be back for the long haul. Feel free to follow The Pond on Twitter. Really can't tell where this blog where go, but it will be about the Pens and the NHL as it has been in its short history.