Pens Points Wednesday: A Very Penguin Christmas

Today's post will be a short one, because I have to clean up the carnage Santa left behind. Surprise surprise, many Pittsburgh Penguins-themed gifts were left under our tree. This one caused the most happiness, while this one caused the most squealing. She loves her Flower, he loves his Nealer.

Technically today is not Christmas for me, because Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas Day on January 7 per the Julian calendar that pre-dates the Gregorian calendar. My husband and I adopted the earlier Christmas as well and now celebrate both, the first one as the "presents" holiday lest our kids feel gypped due to all their friends getting gifts before they do, and the second one as the "quiet" holiday as it is observed in Eastern Orthodox cultures.

Anyhow, there aren't many hockey-related news as the league is on a 3-day hiatus. I guess the only thing worth noting was that the commish upheld Shawn Thornton's 15-game suspension for attacking and injuring Brooks Orpik. He has one week to appeal to an independent arbitrator. Brooksie will be back in game action this Friday against Carolina, so we wish him a merry Christmas and 2014 and beyond full of health and free of any lingering symptoms.

In addition to Brooks Orpik, we wish a quick return to health to all our injured guys: Evgeni Malkin, Paul Martin, Rob Scuderi, Kris Letang, Beau Bennett, Tanner Glass, Andrew Ebbett, Jayson Megna, Pascal Dupuis (all fingers and toes crossed for good news), and most especially Tomas Vokoun.

Whether or not he comes back this season and whether or not he plays another game for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Vokie has etched a permanent imprint on the hearts of all Pens fans forever. Maybe if he'd been in goal Monday in Ottawa things would have gone the way they went in this playoff game this past spring. Here he is recording his 50th career shutout on March 28 against the Jets. Love you always, Tomáš.

From all of us here at PensBurgh, a very merry Christmas to everyone!