Goose Egg for Sid at All-Star game; Pens roller coaster ride coming back up

Well, hope he had fun anyways.

All of the hype surrounding Sid's first All-Star game, the matching up of Sid and Ovechkin on the 1st line, the new uniforms, yadda, yadda....

Well, it kinda went off like a dud, if you were looking for fireworks anyway.

Neither Sid nor Alex really had any flashes of their collective brilliance during the game, although Alex did get a tap-in goal late in the game.

But Sid was either bottled up or was the subject of poor passes the entire game, and never really got off a good shot.

I read some articles today that said the Western Conference's D-men had already agreed that they would simply clutter up the middle of their own zone in order to eliminate the chance of the usual spectacular cross-ice passes.

Thanks for playing along, boys.

And, not unexpectedly, I thought that the line that had the most chemistry, and therefore looked the best, was the one with Lecavalier and St. Louis.

A lot of the hockey articles today also mentioned that Gretzky had a goose egg in his first All-Star game.

At least Sid's got that going for him.

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It's also been widely reported that Gov. Rendell had a lengthy conversation with Ron Burkle Tuesday night discussing some of the details that had been a sticking point during last Thursday's heated negotations.

Everyone needs to understand, Rendell and Burkle are longtime buddies. They've negotiated business deals for many years.

Does anyone SERIOUSLY think this isn't going to happen ??

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Demolition will begin in February on 11 buildings that will be cleared in preparation for the construction of the new arena.

I say again, still think it's not going to happen ??

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And finally, Noah Welch probably has worn out the PA highways (dunno how those guys make the trip, I-79 to I-80 to I-81, or Turnpike to I-81 ? Who knows) going up and down from Pittsburgh to Wilkes-Barre. So a couple of days after being sent down, he's now on his way back up. I guess the thinking is that they want the extra D-man just in case Eaton isn't quite ready.

Trib's Conte: New arena deal may come next week

Andrew Conte, who has been on top of the Pens arena and ownership situations since day one, reports in today's Tribune-Review that "talks between the Penguins owners, Lemieux and billionaire investor Ron Burkle, and Gov. Ed Rendell, county Chief Executive Dan Onorato and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl went so well there could be a deal as soon as next week, sources said".

This follows comments made from Mario after last night's meeting with local officials which he described as "very optimistic" and "very positive".

Hopefully we'll continue to get more promising news as the days go on.

K.C. offers Mario everything but the kitchen sink, but he's still "very optimistic" about new 'Burgh arena deal

Five words.

The proof is in the pudding.

All over the hockey 'Net world this afternoon, the only phrase you saw was "free rent", emanating from today's meeting with Kansas City's Sprint Center representatives. The Pens would indeed play rent-free if they accepted the offer proposed in their meeting today in K.C.

Then, the Pens' boys hopped on Ronny Burkle's private plane and headed back to Pittsburgh, were they met this afternoon with Gov. Rendell, County Exec. Dan Onorato, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, among others.

Mario briefly met with the media after the meeting, using terms that he was "very optimistic" after the meeting and that the meeting was "very positive".

Those are his words folks, not mine (I know, I know, hence the quotes, duh).

So what I'm saying is for those who may be making hotel reservations for Kansas City for next October's season opener, ya'll need to chill out. No one outside of those two parties knows what's in the fine print of that K.C. proposal. Unless you're 18 years old, you should know by now that nothing in this world is free.

In addition, and more importantly, anyone paying close attention to the arena and/or ownership situation has seen and read that Mario Lemieux has been extremely careful about how he is wording his comments and his statements to the media. Monsieur Lemieux absolutely would not be throwing out words like "very optimistic" and "very positive" towards the new arena deal just to blow smoke up the collective asses of Pens fans.

He and his ownership group are doing what they need to do in terms of exploring ALL of their options. Although it's unpleasant to see photos of Lemieux in K.C.'s arena and watch press conferences in K.C. discussing a possible timeline of the Pens playing in K.C. next season, it's the necessary due diligence that businessmen MUST DO with a multi-million dollar investment.

But this deal will get done, my friends. Is it possible they're still headed to K.C. ?? Absolutely, I'm not that naive.

But the deal is on the table, the terms have obviously been sweetened for the Pens, it's a matter of time.

Monsieur Lemieux will, once again, save the Pens, and in Pittsburgh.