HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Geno!!

Today is our one and only Evgeni Malkin's birthday.  He turns 31 today ...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, GENO!!

Can You Believe It's Been Almost FOUR Years, Ladies?!!!

Oh my goodness!!  How time flies and so much has happened ... so much great hockey news that I've missed on this blog.

I've found my motivation once again and I'm hoping it lasts a while, so I can work on something that's been a passion of mine for quite some time.  I'm hoping I haven't lost my great followers either and that you've just been in hibernation with me until I decided to take up the blog again!

With so much great news that I've missed, all I can do is start fresh and cover things from here on out.   I hope you're as excited as I am, ladies!!  ENJOY and visit often ... keep me motivated, ladies!! ;)

Adorable Sheary Remains a Penguin

I'm not sure about any of you, but this signing is one that I have been waiting patiently for!

As with many Pens fans, Conor Sheary has become another favorite of mine being one of the few who can keep his own on a line with our Captain.  The kid is small, but strong on many levels and, combined with Sid (and Rusty, super rookie Guentzel or whoever else they decide to throw on the line), a power-packed punchto the opposition.

Unfortunately, as with defenseman Brian Dumoulin who was recently signed long-term by the Pens and shares an agent with Sheary, he could not come to terms on a contract with Pittsburgh which landed them in arbitration.  UPDATE:  apparently the Pens and Sheary worked out a deal before it went to arbitration even though it was set for arbitration.

It was announced today that the two parties agreed to a three-year deal worth $9 million.  That is quite a hefty contract which isn't far from what Sheary was originally asking ($4 million).  And he'll be needing every penny of that money with his upcoming wedding to longtime girlfriend and lucky lady, Jordan Sullivan, on August 18, 2018.

I'm pretty sure you ladies will agree with me, it's good to know we'll be seeing this cutie for another three years on the ice in a Pens uniform!!

Let's Talk Taylor Pyatt

Taylor Pyatt - the newest hottie, um I mean member, of the Pittsburgh Penguins and obviously a very good reason for me to come out of my hibernation from HftL!!  Just look at those mesmerizing eyes of his!!! ;)

For those who are new to HftL, those regulars who need a memory jogger, or those who would just like to read it over again, HftL featured Pyatt as a "Western Conference Hottie" back when he was with the Vancouver Canucks (THANKS to Kena!) - CLICK HERE TO READ.

His NHL career began in 1999 after being selected in the first round (eighth overall) of the NHL draft by the New York Islanders.  Since then he's played for the Buffalo Sabres, Vancouver Canucks, Phoenix Coyotes, and New York Rangers.

He's a big body on the ice at 6'4" and 230 pounds (with a sexy deep voice to match ;) ) that allows him to be exceptional at finishing his checks and good in the corners mucking and grinding for those loose pucks.  Kinda reminds you of a certain former Penguin player named Jordan Staal.  That's not the only thing the two have in common as they both hail from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada (there must be something in the air up there!).

Even at the young age of 32, Pyatt is unfortunately no stranger to tragedy.  Back in 2009, he tragically lost his fiancée, Carly Bragnalo, in a car accident while vacationing with her family in Jamaica just four months before the wedding.  A few years later, Pyatt opened up about the incident in a touching article, DUTHIE: COYOTES' TAYLOR PYATT DISCUSSES TRAGIC ACCIDENT.

And that's Taylor Pyatt in a nutshell - a great addition to the Penguins, but I have a feeling we'll definitely be talking a lot more about him here on HftL!!  In the meantime, you can add your own thoughts and observations in the comments - you know HftL LOVES your input!!! :)

It's A Girl ... Welcome Estelle Fleury!!

FINALLY!!!  The much-anticipated baby of Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury has arrived!!  Welcome little Estelle Fleury!!!  She was born sometime in the afternoon or evening this past Friday.  THANKS to all of you who kept me updated with your comments and emails!! :)

There had been some confusion last week as to if she was born or not (because there was a tweet that started mass buzz about her arrival when it only talked of the baby girl's name).

Apparently, the baby girl was clost to 10 pounds (I can only imagine since Veronique is so tiny!) and she doesn't have Fleury's teeth (and that's straight from the new daddy's mouth!)!!

 

CONGRATULATIONS TO MARC-ANDRE, VERONIQUE AND THEIR ENTIRE FAMILY!!

Marc-Andre and Veronique Fleury to Welcome Baby SOON!!

As you all may know, Marc-Andre Fleury and his wife, Veronique, are expecting their first child any day now (she is due this month).

There have been "conflicting" reports as to her status, but what is known is that Fleury did not make the trip to Ottawa with the team for tonight's game.

Different reports say that she IS "in labor" while another says she's not in labor, but she's close to giving birth while yet another says that Fleury is home for the birth of his child, so as you can see I'm not quite sure what's going on, but it sounds like it could be soon.

Stay tuned, ladies, as you all KNOW that I will keep you posted for sure!! ;)

Did You See This Pic?

That's how the conversation started, innocently enough ... Kena (YES - THAT Kena ... remember her?  The previous WCH writer???!!!!).  Anyway, Kena texted me this pic and simply asked, "did you see this pic?"

Well, have any of YOU seen this pic??  Let's see how many of you react like I did and how many react like Kena did ...

THE PIC:



James Neal (I think - LOL!) welcoming newest Penguins defenseman, Douglas Murray


[Part of] THE CONVERSATION:

Stephanie: "No ... LOL!!"
Kena: "Sweet, huh."
S: If you're referring to Nealy's ass ... YES, SWEET!!!  Sweet Jesus!!
K: Ha ha.  You recognize him from just his ass?  I'm impressed!  Ha ha ha ha ... Poor Sid ...

... CONVERSATION continues ...

K: Although, I have now been made aware of Neal's ass, I will be pre-occupied for a while.  Lol
S: HAH!!

So, ladies, what caught YOUR eye in that pic??  Responses are welcome in the comments ... we'd love to hear from you!!!  You just GOTTA LOVE Under Armor!!! : D

Marc-Andre Fleury to Become Father this Spring!!

This past Sunday, we finally got confirmation that Marc-Andre Fleury and his wife, Veronique, will be welcoming their first child into the world this coming Spring.  It came in the form of a little gem hidden in a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article by Rob Rossi:

Fleury has since made millions, won the Stanley Cup, earned a spot on a gold-medal Olympic team and married his childhood sweetheart. He will become a first-time father this spring.

Although the exact date is unknown, I believe I've read somewhere that it is to be in April 2013.  But does Rossi go as far as to give us a HINT as to the sex of the baby??!!!

That child will one day have a chance to say her father won more games than any goaltender in the history of the Penguins, who opened their 45th season Saturday.

We'll see come April, ladies, won't we?!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO MARC-ANDRE and VERONIQUE!!

Colby and Melissa Armstrong Expecting Baby #2

CONGRATULATIONS to Colby and Melissa
and the Armstrong families!!

Melissa recently announced via Twitter (@MeliArmstrong) that she is expecting baby #2 in July!!  No word yet on whether the baby is a boy or girl, so STAY TUNED ...

It's A Boy (Locklan Ladd)!!

This past Wednesday Winnipeg Jets captain, Andrew Ladd, and his wife Brandy welcomed their first child into the world.  A son they name Locklan Joseph.

"It was an amazing experience. I was there through the whole thing," said Ladd, who missed Wednesday's practice to be in the delivery room with his wife. "Anyone's that had a chance to witness their child being born, it's unlike anything else. I can't really put it into words."

CONGRATULATIONS TO ANDREW and BRANDY!!!

It's A Girl (Valentina Lucic)!!

This past Thursday, Milan Lucic and his wife, Brittany, welcomed a baby girl into the world -- the couple's first child. Valentina Lucic was a healthy 8 pounds and 1 ounce and showed up 10 days earlier than her expected due date.  Both mother and baby are doing well according to the Boston Bruins organization.

The couple were married back in August 2012.

The gorgeous maternity pics on featured here were taken by Susan Bartolini.

CONGRATULATIONS TO MILAN and BRITTANY!!
 

Henrik Lundqvist Rocks Out on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

So King Henrik can rock a guitar, ladies!!

READ MORE ABOUT IT
(and SEE THE VIDEO)
in my article at RantSports.com!!

HftL 2013 Fantasy Hockey League: Calling All Prior Team Managers!!

HOCKEY IS BACK, ladies!!!  And so is the HftL Fantasy Hockey League (FHL)!!

There was such a great response to the league last year (we had THREE LEAGUES!) and there have been a few of you who have contacted me about starting it back up that of course I decided it will be a yearly thing.

Unfortunately, I am looking to just keep the same individuals who played last year to keep the leagues at three (with 10 teams in each) and unless there is at least 10 more new people interested in joining to make another league, I'm not going to be accepting any new -- although I do have two openings in one of the leagues and could possibly at TWO MORE people.

This post serves as a "call-out" to those who played with the HftL league last year. I believe I sent messages directly through Yahoo! only to HftL FHL giving you the option to re-sign; however, I was unable to do the same for the other two leagues (HftL FHL2 and HftL FHL3) and Yahoo! hides the emails addresses of the managers.

Why do I always seem to have issues with this fantasy league every year?!!  LOL

SO ... if any of you are interested in re-signing your team into the leagues, please send an email directly to thesteelcitysportsfan@gmail.com (please include the name of your team), and I'll send you an invite. In case any of you need a reminder, I haven't heard back from or wasn't able to send an invite to the following teams (SO PLEASE CONTACT ME!):

HftL FHL

• ChickacheeSuperstars
• Sharp Attack
• Don't Toews Me Bro
• Bomb d'Addie
• Polar Dragons
• Scotlands Thistle

HftL FHL2

• Saxons
• The Pacificats
• Puckin' Penguins
• Sask. Roughriders
• Puckin' Sin Bin
• O'Puck It
• Ice Hawks
• SFPenguins
• You Me & Dupuis

HftL FHL3

• Rio's Flyers
• Our Staal is Better
• Frozen Yogurt
• Scared Hitless
• Team Mario
• StaalFalls
• Believe in Repeats
• RuffNasty

If any of you have questions or concerns, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME!!

Alex Ovechkin Engaged!!

Washington Capitals captain, Alex Ovechkin, is off the market ladies!!  He and Russian pro-tennis player, Maria Kirilenko, are engaged.  The couple have been dating for a little over a year.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALEX and MARIA!!

READ MORE ABOUT IT
in my article at RantSports.com!!    

PHOTOS / LINK: James Neal for Travis Mathew Golf Apparel

MERRY CHRISTMAS / HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ME (and all the other Pittsburgh Penguins / James Neal fans!)!!!  No hockey for over two months, so this is a BIG TREAT, ladies!!

THANKS to my good friend, Debbie, for sharing the link to these pics that I just had to share with all of you!!  Can you hear me now, ladies, squealing with delight when I discover the great surprise I found when I clicked on the link?!!

The pics were taken by Seth Williams of Seth L. Williams Photography (based out of North Huntingdon) and are from a recent photo shoot at the Longue Vue Country Club in Verona, PA - simply breathtaking (and the beautiful PA scenery isn't bad either!!).

Ladies ... the tattoo!!  I think this one is NEW ... I knew he had one, but I think this one is an addition and, may I say, quite SEXY!!!

Hockey, I MISS YOU!!!!!!

It's A Boy ... Welcome Baby Vitale!!

Pittsburgh Penguins forward, Joe Vitale, and his wife welcomed a son into the world on Thursday, December 6.  His name is Harper (too cute!). How PRECIOUS is the pic, ladies??!!!!!  This is the couples second (I believe) child as Harper joins big sister, Summer, in the Vitale family.

From Joe's twitter (@JoeVitale46):

Feeling extremely blessed after the arrival of our son yesterday! Harper and Mom are both doing great!

CONGRATULATIONS TO JOE and HIS WIFE!!

 

Kris Letang Welcomed His Son to the World!!

For many of you, this may not be breaking news, but you all know that I'm not able to devote as much time to this blog as I used to so (you know my motto here!) BETTER LATE THAN NEVER!!

CONGRATULATIONS to Tanger and Catherine

on the birth of their first child, a son, they named Alexander

who was born last week!!

CONGRATULATIONS should also go out to Mike "Rupper" Rupp for the birth of his and his wife's fourth child (MANY THANKS to D.L. for passing along this info and the adorable pics that she found and passed along)!!  A little girl they named Marleah Grace was born this past summer on August 30th.  From Rupp's twitter account (@Rupper17):

"Thank you all for the great wishes and prayers! We were blessed with our 4th little one yesterday! Marleah Grace"

TONS of 2012 Hockey Engagements, Weddings, and Babies!!

Hockey is seasonal and hockey players lives seem to be cyclic to accomodate that season if you haven't already noticed.  Weddings are in the summer and babies usually come in the fall / winter.

And there has been plenty of activity this past summer just as any other when it comes to weddings and even a few babies and engagements.  A great BIG THANK YOU to all of you (too many to name individually, I apologize!) who have been emailing me the news to keep me updated and HftL's lists complete!!

Since the list is too great to dedicate a special post to each (if you haven't noticed, it's been a long time since I've posted here -- been keeping plenty busy with writing about the Pittsburgh Penguins for RantSports.com!), here's a rundown of the NHL engagements, weddings, and babies that I wasn't able to post earlier as they occurred over the summer months (if I'm missing any, ladies, please be sure to email me or post in the comments - as many as there are, I'm sure I've missed some!):

Carey Price and Angela Webber

ENGAGEMENTS
PRICE, Carey to Angela Webber on August 19, 2012 (wedding date has not been set but will likely be sometime next summer)
PHANEUF, Dion to Elisha Cuthbert (REMEMBER - Sean Avery's "sloppy seconds?!") at the beginning of September 2012 (weekend of the 1-2)

Jordan and Heather Staal
(and families)

WEDDINGS (arranged in wedding date then alphabetical order)
SIMPSON, Craig married Jamie Sale on June 20, 2012 (2009 "Battle of the Blades" skating partners)
STAAL, Jordan married Heather Dysievick on June 22, 2012
DUBINSKY, Brandon married Brenna McGuire on June 23, 2012
ALZNER, Karl married Mandy Flemmer on June 30, 2012 (the couples two doggies were ring bearers!)
CAMPBELL, Brian married Lauren Miller on June 30, 2012
ORPIK, Brooks married Erin Lilly on June 30, 2012
WIDEMAN, Dennis married Lindsay MacDonald on July 6, 2012
BOLLAND, Dave married Julia Zalucki on July 13, 2012
GODARD, Eric married Myrika Schipfel on July 14, 2012

Zach & Alisha Parise

ANISIMOV, Artem married Ksenis on July 14, 2012
GOLIGOSKI, Alex married Amanda Anderson on July 20, 2012
CAMPBELL, Gregory married Katie on July 21, 2012
FLEURY, Marc-Andre married Veronique LaRosee on July 21, 2012
McGRATTAN, Brian married Michelle on July 21, 2012
PARISE, Zach married Alisha Woods on July 21, 2012
RUUTU, Jarkko married Sofia Morelius on July 21, 2012
OKPOSO, Kyle married Danielle Hirsch on July 28, 2012
SEABROOK, Brent married Dayna on August 11, 2012
HALAK, Jaroslav married Petra Ploczekovou on August 25, 2012
LUCIC, Milan married Brittany Carnegie on August 27, 2012 (and the newlyweds are now expecting their first child, a girl)

BABIES
GLEASON, Tim and Candace - Grady Leo born March 9, 2012
RAYMOND, Mason and Megan - Max born April 8, 2012
RUUTU, Tuomo and Emilia - April 12, 2012 (name / sex unknown)
HOLTBY, Braden and fiancee, Brandi Bodnar - Benjamin Hunter born May 10, 2012
CALLAHAN, Ryan and Kyla - Charlotte born May 21, 2012
LUNDQVIST, Henrik and Therese - Charlise born July 10, 2012

ONE OTHER INTERESTING THING TO NOTE ... I recently got an email advising me that Max Talbot has a new girlfriend, Cynthia Phaneuf, whom is a figure skater that represented Canada in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE NEW COUPLES, NEWLYWEDS, AND PARENTS!!!

 

PLEASE ALSO NOTE THAT
HftL's ENGAGEMENTS, WEDDINGS, and BABIES PAGES HAVE BEEN UPDATED
and I'm ALWAYS in the process of updating
(with those events that have occurred outside of 2012)

Mike Modano and Willa Ford Getting Divorced

That's right ... the infamous hockey couple are calling it quits after FIVE YEARS of marriage!!

Everyone knew it was going to happen, but no one really thought it would take FIVE YEARS!!!

I wish them both the best ... hey, Mike, CALL ME!!!

READ MORE ABOUT IT
in my article at RantSports.com!!

It's That Time of Year Again -- ESPN Magazine's The Body Issue (and Brad Richards)

YES ... Brad Richards, ladies!!!  And I just have time enough to post this pic but it really doesn't need any words ...

CONGRATS to all you B-Rad lovers out there ... you lucky ladies, you!!!

ENJOY, ladies (OMG - YUM!)!!!  Feel free to drool in the comments section!! ; P

If you want to see more pictures, be sure to visit ESPN's The Body Issue gallery!!!!  The magazine will be on newstands this coming Friday, July 13th (THANKS, Debbie, for the "heads-up").