Wednesday, March 23, 2016

THE BLACK-N-GOLD NEWS

     Have you heard the news? It's all over town. If you missed it you'd better sit down 'cause Mrs. Black-N-Gold has the news for you. Yes, it's time to check in on our Pittsburgh Penguins, Pirates and Steelers with Mrs. Black-N-Gold's latest edition of The Black-N-Gold News.

                                             
                                             THE BLACK-N-GOLD NEWS

PENGUINS

It was announced last week that Pens D Olli Maatta would fulfill his military duty to Finland after our Pens season is complete. Here's hoping Olli doesn't have to go for a long time. 

In case you've been under a rock for the past week or so (or in the Finnish military), the Pens are on a bit of a roll. They blew away the Hurricanes last Thursday night by a score of 4-2. 

Prior to Saturday's faceoff in Philly, the Pens made a roster move. They sent F Dominik Simon back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. They re-called F Oskar Sundqvist. 

The Pens then went out and pounded Philly into submission in front of the Philly home crowd, 4-1. This was a huge win for the Pens. Philly entered the game as the hottest team in the league, on an 8-1-1 run. The Pens held them to just 17 shots on goal. That was Philly's worst effort of the season. 

The Pens returned home for Sunday night's game against the league-leading Washington Capitals. Best record in the league? No problem for the Pens who crushed the Caps 6-2. They held Washington to a season low 18 shots on goal. Another big win for the Pens. Unfortunately, D Brian Dumoulin had to leave the game thanks to a cheap shot from the Caps. He is listed as day-to-day. Get well soon, Doom!

There was also a report this week that the date for the Philly-Pens game at Heinz Field next year has been changed. The faceoff is now set for Saturday, February 25, 2017. Another chance to kick Philly's butt. 

Our Pens are now riding a 6-game winning streak, thanks in no small part to C Sidney Crosby. The Captain was named First NHL Star of the Week for his performance. That's the 2nd time Sid has received the honor this season. Congrats to #87!

The Pens are now 40-24-8 with 88 points. They've moved past the New York Islanders for 3rd place in the Metro Division. They're just 2 points behind the New York Rangers for 2nd place. They have a big showdown at MSG Sunday night when they faceoff against the Rangers. But don't look ahead! First there's a game against the New Jersey Devils at Consol Energy Center Thursday night. After that, they'll travel to Detroit to faceoff against the Red Wings on Saturday afternoon. Buckle up baby, we're getting closer to the playoffs. Let's Go Pens!!!

PIRATES

As our Pirates continue their tune-up in Bradenton for the regular season, roster moves were made to work towards the 25-man roster. The following players were optioned to Triple A Indy: 1B Josh Bell, OF Wily Garcia, INFs Alen Hanson, Max Moroff and Gift Ngoepe and RHs John Holdzkom and Nick Kingham. They also assigned the following players to minor league camp: INFs Dan Gamache, Juan Diaz and Adam Frazier.

The Bucs also lost LH Jesse Biddle on a waiver claim to the Braves. They put Biddle on waivers last week to make room on the 40-man roster for INF David Freese.

More moves are expected as Opening Day draws near. Less than 2 weeks away! Let's Go Bucs!!!!!

STEELERS

Since signing free agent TE Ladarius Green last week, our Steelers have not been heard from in the free agent market. They have, however, lost several players to other teams. NT Steve McLendon signed with the Jets. LT Kelvin Beachum defected to Jacksonville. LB Sean Spence and CB Antwon Blake went to Tennessee. LB Terence Garvin signed with Washington. Most of those players were on the defensive side of the ball. GM Kevin Colbert has expressed an interest in going defense in next month's draft.

The Steelers announced that they'd be willing to give up a home game in the future for an opportunity to play in Mexico. The NFL has a desire to play south of the border within the next 3 years. The Men in Black-N-Gold have a large following in Mexico so it's no surprise that they'd forgo a home game to play there.

WR Antonio Brown competed on the season-opener of "Dancing with the Stars" this week. AB and his partner kicked off their season with a Quickstep, earning 21 of a possible 30 points. It wasn't bad but in Mrs. Black-N-Gold's humble opinion, AB's got some work to do if he wants to fill Hines Ward's Mirror-Ball-winning shoes. Business better start boomin' quickly. Let's Go Steelers!!!!!!


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