THE BLACK-N-GOLD NEWS

     Have you heard the news? Maybe not in these parts, lately. It's been a while but Mrs. Black-N-Gold is here for you with the latest edition of The Black-N-Gold News, bringing you all things Black-N-Gold: Penguins, Pirates and Steelers.


                                     THE BLACK-N-GOLD NEWS

PENGUINS

As the season wound down, our Pens edged the Rangers in a 4-3 shootout. That game saw the return of D Ron Hainsey and F Jake Guentzel from their respective injuries. No sooner were they returning to the lineup then it was announced that F Chris Kunitz would be out for an undetermined amount of time due to a lower-body injury. F Josh Archibald was re-called from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to take his place. Get well soon, Kuni!

The Pens clipped the Hurricanes 3-2 in a 3-2 victory. They followed that up with a 4-1 win over Columbus. That game saw the departures of Fs Matt Cullen & Bryan Rust due to the dreaded injury bug.

Our Favorite Black-N-Gold Hockey Team announced that D Kris Letang would not re-join the team for the playoffs. Letang underwent surgery for a herniated disc in his neck. He is expected out for 4-6 months. Get well soon, Tanger. They also designated Rusty as day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

Another move from the Baby Pens. F Dominik Simon was called up to the big leagues.

The Pens clinched home ice advantage for the 1st round of the playoffs with their 7-4 win over the Devils. They'll face the Blue Jagoffs in the 1st round series.

As the regular season came to a close, more call ups were in order. G Tristan Jarry and F Kevin Porter made the trip from WB/S. Then along came Fs Oskar Sundqvist & Jean-Sebastien Dea & D Derrick Pouliot.

The Pens dropped their penultimate game, losing to Toronto 5-3. They ended the regular season in the loss column. They were edged by the Rangers 3-2.

And now the real season begins. As stated above, the Pens carry home ice advantage into the 1st round for their clash with the Columbus Blue Jagoffs. Below is the broadcast schedule. Mark it down.

Congrats to C Sidney Crosby! The Captain won the Rocket Richard Trophy for most goals in the NHL. Sid slapped us silly with 44 goals this season. Keep them coming in the playoffs, Sid!

Dea, Simon, Porter, Sundqvist and Pouliot were all sent back down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton as the Pens get their playoff lineup ready.

Mrs. Black-N-Gold had the honor of attending Game 1, a Pens win, 3-1. Apparently G Matt Murray suffered a lower-body injury during warm-ups. He was replaced by some guy named Marc-Andre Fleury, who pitched a shutout for most of the game. It was announced on Thursday that Flower would get the start in Game 2 on Friday, too. Murray isn't even dressing. Tristan Jarry will be the backup.  The Pens won game 2 last night, 4-1. They now take their show on the road to Columbus with a 2-0 series lead. They'll face off Sunday evening at 6:00pm. We've got 'em on the ropes. Let's Go Pens!!!!

PIRATES

Our Pirates culled their lineup as the season approached. RH AJ Schugel was option to Triple A Indy. Our Favorite Black-N-Gold Baseball Team anointed RH Tyler Glasnow the role as the #5 starter and put RH Trevor Williams and LH Wade LeBlanc in the bullpen. They LH Tyler Webb, their Rule 5 draft pick, to the Yankees. UTIL Phil Gosselin and Alen Hanson made the team. OF/1B Jose Osuna was optioned to Indy. Cs Jacob Stallings and Jackson Williams and OF Danny Ortiz were assigned to the minors.

The Bucs opened the season with a 5-3 loss in Boston. They didn't fare much better in game 2, dropping a 3-0 decision in 12 innings. The series finale was postponed due to inclement weather. The makeup was Thursday afternoon. The Buccs completed the sweep in Boston a week later, losing in the makeup game by a score of 4-3. 

The home opener brought better results. The Bucs edged Atlanta 5-4. They also beat the Braves on Saturday 6-4. They completed the sweep in walk-off fashion on Sunday with a 10-inning 6-5 win.

The Buccos weren't able to find the win column in their series-opener vs Cincy, losing 7-1. The Pirates fell the next game to Cincy, as well, 6-2. Cincy completed the sweep with a 9-2 win. Ugh! Maybe Mrs. Black-N-Gold was being too generous with a projection of 73 wins.

At least the Pirates got back in the win column. Yesterday, they raised the Jolly Roger at Wrigley, clipping the Cubs 4-2. That is their 1st road win of the season and matches their win total in Chcago from last season. Today they go for 2 in a row. Let's Go Bucs!!!!!

STEELERS

Our Steelers have been diligently doing their homework as they prepare for the draft at the end of this month. Our Favorite Black-N-Gold Football Team has been busy hosting potential draft picks. They are as follows:

Texas Tech QB Patrick Mahomes

Tennessee QB Josh Dobbs

Northern Illinois WR Kenny Golladay

Texas A&M WR Joshua Reynolds

UCLA LB Takk McKinley

Youngstown State LB Derek Rivers

Michigan CB Jourdan Lewis

Michigan State S Monte Nicholson

Pitt RB James Conner

Penn State WR Chris Godwin

Florida LB Jarrad Davis

Washington S Budda Baker

NC State S Josh Jones

Vanderbilt LB Zach Cunningham

Illinois LB Carroll Phillips

Pitt QB Nate Peterman

Eastern Washington LB Sam Ebukam

Alabama LB Tim Williams

Villanova DE Tanoh Kpassagno
WVU CB Rasul Douglas
Minnesota CB Jalen Myrick
LB Keion Adams
Tennessee TE Jason Croom
WVU WR Shelton Gibson
North Carolina WR Mackenzie Hollins
Pitt CB Ryan Lewis
Alabama CB Marlon Humphrey
UConn S Obi Melifonwu

The Steelers also took care of business in-house. OL Chris Hubbard signed his restricted-free agent tender.

Good news from QB Ben Roethlisberger. #7 announced that he would return for his 14th season with the Steelers, ending any speculation that he may retire based on his end-of-season comments.

Some Steelers received bad news this week from the league office. Due to their participation in a non-NFL event, an arm-wrestling competition in Las Vegas, LBs James Harrison and Arthur Moats and C Maurkice Pouncey may receive fines from the NFL. It's ok for the Raiders to move to Vegas but players cannot take part in a charitable affair? Sounds like commissioner Roger Goddell is doing more Goddell-like things.

Something that is condoned by the NFL is preseason football. The Steelers announced that their opponents for the exhibition schedule. They'll travel to New York to face the Giants on 8/11 at 7:00pm. Then they're at home at Heinz Field for their next 2. They kickoff against Atlanta on 8/20 at 4:00pm and face Indy on 8/26 at 7:30pm. They closeout the preseason in Carolina on 8/31 at 7:30pm. As more news develops during the Steelers offseason, Mrs. Black-N-Gold will keep you up-to-date. Let's Go Steelers!!!!!!

All of Black-N-Gold nation is in morning following the death of Steelers Hall of Fame chairman Dan Rooney, who passed away on Thursday. Mr. Rooney was 84 years old. Condolences to the Rooney family and Steelers organization. I had the good fortune of meeting Mr. Rooney once. He was a Hall of Famer through and through.