Penguins Storm Past Red Wings 6-3

I personally have never been in a hurricane, let alone a tropical storm, but you see on TV the devastating rain, the tremendous wind, and sometimes debris in the air.  After last night’s hockey game where it was furious action up and down, a total of 77 shots on goal by both teams, and a total of 9 goals by both teams, needless to say it was a whirlwind of a game.

The Penguins were victorious over the Detroit Red Wings 6-3, with the stand out player last night being Phil Kessel who scored twice.  Again, I won't bore you with a game summary, so I will let you know my takes on the game.

Again, I was very impressed by the Penguins being able to transition out of the defensive zone and into the attacking zone.  While under other head coaches, they would dump and chase the puck, it would seem constantly.  Now under Mike Sullivan, the Pens are able to utilize their speed in the neutral zone and carry the puck into the attacking zone instead of just dumping it in and going after it.

It was nice to see Phil Kessel get on the board twice.  We have to give Mike Sullivan a lot of credit mixing up the lines, allowing Sidney Crosby to be the playmaker that he is, and Kessel the finisher.  Furthermore, it was nice to see Scott Wilson get his first career NHL goal.  The line of Wilson-Porter-Sheary have been doing a tremendous job generating scoring chances, and it was nice to see it finally pay off with a goal.

Last, I think that Fleury's performance last night went somewhat unnoticed.  I feel like he had a spectacular game, stopping 35 out of 38 shots put on net.  The save he made in the second period with him inside his own net and stopping the Red Wings from scoring with the paddle of his stick was astounding.  I know the goal would have been disallowed if it did go in because of goaltender interference.  None the less, Fleury shut the door on that opportunity.  I didn't feel like our defense played that well and let Fleury out to dry on numerous occasions.  Detroit would of definitely scored more goals had it not been for Fleury's play last night.

All in all, I'm glad the Pens took two points out of this feverishly paced game against Detroit.  Hopefully they enjoyed the eye of the hurricane today, because a storm of the Tampa Bay Lightning is ready to strike tomorrow at Consol Energy Center!

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Is this the end of Pitt Basketball?

Heartbreaking, devastating, embarrassing, and saddening.  What does this all add up to?  The disaster which is currently Jamie Dixon and the Pitt Basketball Program.  After a humiliating loss to the  #9  ranked team in the country North Carolina Tar Heels 85-64, there are more questions than answers for Pitt basketball fans like myself.

The Panthers are 17-7 overall, but only 6-6 in ACC play (ranks 9th in the league currently).  With only looking at their overall record you may think that they aren't doing as bad as I'm saying, but you would be wrong.  Here are some of their out of conference schedule (not all):

11/20  Detroit 95-79 W

11/29  Cornell 93-49 W

12/6  Central Arkansas 100-47 W

You can check the rest by looking up Pitts basketball schedule, but their out of conference schedule was weak besides playing now ranked #11 Purdue 72-59.

Including that loss to Purdue, Pitt has lost six more games in conference by an average of 14PPG (Points Per Game) in their seven total losses this year.  Where am I heading with all this?

I believe in my own heart that we have seen the better days of Jamie Dixon, and it's time for him to be relieved of his duties at Pitt.  We are no longer recruiting well in New York City and across the country, and that solely falls at the hands of not just Jamie Dixon, but also the entire coaching staff.  Currently, Pitt is even losing the recruiting battle to a team that can't even get their fans to their basketball games.  That team would be Penn State.  Penn State currently ranks #18 on the Rivals website, where Pitt wasn't even in the top 35.  By the way, they ended their rankings at 35.

In conclusion, for Pitt to succeed in the ACC, they must do a better job in executing their recruiting strategy.  In the ACC, you need pure shooters, good guard play, and a big man that can get the job down low on the boards.  Building a tough and rough team in the Big East might of gotten us far, but in the ACC the players are bigger, quicker, and more athletic than what they faced in the past.  Pitt has seen better days in the past, but those days are turning into weeks, months, and years.  They still have time to save the basketball program, but I believe it must start by the firing of Jamie Dixon. 

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