corntigaja: If You Could Ask Brian Engblom Any Question...

...what would it be?

The reason I ask is because I've been invited to speak to him tomorrow at 3:00pm. (AHHHHHHH!) A panel of hockey bloggers has been assembled for a conference call with Engblom, and I happened to be invited to participate. The interview will be available online (I'll post it ASAP). So if there's any question you ever wanted to ask him about NHL or the Versus network, leave it in a comment here at the end of this post, and I'll pick a few of the best and/or most popular ones.

Now I've got a TON of game day photos for you tonight...

Friends of The Show Erika Z. and Kaitlyn went to the game last night against the Wild and sat four rows from the glass! (Kaitlyn's mom scored the awesome tickets.) Here are some of the pictures Erika took - make sure you check out the shot of Staalsy's fight:

A couple of our Friends were lucky enough to attend the Pens v Red Wings game at the Joe Louis Arena on November 11^th - a.k.a. The Jordan Staal Show. ;) They sent in some great pictures of the action in Detroit for us. First up, Friend of The Show Doug sent these beauties:

I was at the game on Tuesday night with my wife Tara. We're huge Pens fans and to be at that game was something I'll never forget. We had the best seats in the house if you're a Pens fan. Right above the Pens tunnel and bench. What a great view of the game! To see the emotion of the players while basically sitting on the bench with them was incredible. When Ruslan scored on the pass from Jordan we almost fell right over the railing we were jumping so much. Absolutely amazing night. The Wings fans definitely didn't like us! This Pens team just won't quit! Hope you like the photos!

WOW! Those must have been amazing seats!!! I just love that shot of Geno entering the tunnel after the game. The poor guy SO looks ready for bed! :)

Finally, Friend of The Show Melissa G. sent in her own account of the game. She is originally a Red Wings fan, but for the past several months, we've been working on bringing her over from the Dark Side (LOL). Here is her recap with her pictures:

My Dad and I got to JLA early so I wouldn't miss anything--he's so sweet! I had seats in the 14th row, across from the wings bench near the blue line. I went down to the Pittsburgh side to watch the guys warm up and try to get some pictures. A friend told me I needed to bring a sign that said, "Jordan & Sidney--you, me and Augusta National..." I didn't, but the more I thought about it, the more I think I should have!! For those of you who don't know, Augusta National is where they play the Masters golf tournament and is a very prestigious golf course which I have dreamed of playing!! (I played college golf) Max Talbot and a few of the other guys were tossing pucks over the glass, which I thought was really cute and sweet! All the little kids were wearing wings gear, so it make me laugh to see them giving them pucks!

The game started and we were really excited--obviously! I wasn't able to go to the Stanley Cup, so being there for this game was really special. I was excited to finally see the Saint in action, up close, and in person! The kid can fly on the ice. He contorts his body in ways that I never knew were possible and defy the laws of physics. His ankle will be at certain level of degree one way and his knees will be at a certain level of degree the opposite way--how his leg doesn't snap, I haven't a clue!! He scored the first goal of the game, as you know, right in front of me!

Darren McCartney got the wings on the board--I was excited to see him get his first goal of the year. If you didn't know already, I'm a die hard wings fan, who appreciates good hockey and throughly enjoy watching the Pens play whenever I get a chance. However, when they play the wings, the wings have my alligence! Steve Yzerman is my hockey God!!

I had my camera out for the 2nd and 3rd periods because all of the action was right in front of my seat. I was really excited to see Jordan get a hat trick. I know he's been working really hard this year, and taking a lot of crap from fans and media for not putting the numbers up that are supposedly expected of him. It was great to see him work his magic. Now if only I could get that kid out on the golf course and really see what he's made of! ::wink:wink::

My Dad and I just laughed as Jordan tied it up with 23 seconds to go. We were both commenting that the defense looked tired and that they were letting Pittsburgh have far too much time with the puck before stepping up and defending--go figure! You give a team like Pittsburgh, who has well over a handful of players with great shots time, and you're going to get burned!! I even stood up after his 3rd goal clapping--he earned it and it was exciting to see!

Overtime was a bit different. I didn't like seeing Brian in the sin bin. It's very unusual for Datsyuk to ever be stripped of the puck so that in and of itself was difficult to watch. But the pass between Staal and Ruslan was a great one and he let it rip in the right spot! I quickly took a couple more pictures of them celebrating, and then it was off to the races to find our bus to take us back to the casino so we could go home!

All in all it was an amazing evening of hockey and a great night with my Dad. We're are both huge sports fans so it was fun to share that with one another. It's a night I know I won't soon forget. I look forward to more meetings like this between these two teams!!

Hope you all enjoyed the game as much as I did!!

--Melissa :) Go Wings and Penguins!!