Jonathan Bombulie stories
Take 5: Goaltending could be all over the map when Penguins, Flyers collide
Stuart Skinner has given up exactly 100 playoff goals over the last two seasons. That’s a lot. Dan Vladar has played exactly 48 minutes, 38 seconds of playoff hockey in his NHL career. That’s not much. Goaltending is always an unpredictable variable in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but there’s a...
Penguins Take 5: Kyle Dubas has trade deadline dilemma. Patch holes or stay the course?
Egor Chinakhov has been a revelation with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Tristan Jarry has been the opposite of that with the Edmonton Oilers. Offseason additions from Anthony Mantha and Justin Brazeau to Parker Wotherspoon and Arturs Silovs have the Penguins unexpectedly in position to make the playoffs. In other words, Kyle...
Analysis: Goaltending, special teams woes at heart of Penguins losing streak
When December dawned, the Pittsburgh Penguins were one of the NHL’s surprise teams, off to a 14-7-5 start, flirting with the top of the Eastern Conference standings, defying the preseason predictions that pegged them as also-rans at best. Less than three weeks later, the Penguins are trapped in an 0-3-4...
WPIAL Class 2A preview: Seton LaSalle roster changes leave title race wide open
As of the middle of July, there was a clear favorite in WPIAL Class 2A football this season. With 2,000-yard passer Anthony Smith throwing to game-breaking receiver Khalil Taylor, Seton LaSalle was looking like the team to beat. But sometimes life gets in the way, even at private schools. On...
With bevy of returning starters, Washington looks poised for bounce-back year
Editor’s note: Trib HSSN will publish team-by-team previews for one conference per day until the start of the high school football season Aug. 22. Due to production schedule conflicts, the Charleroi preview will be published later in the week. Mike Bosnic has been at this a while, entering his 17th...
Little bit of rebuilding won’t faze resurgent Ellwood City
Editor’s note: Trib HSSN will publish team-by-team previews for one conference per day until the start of the high school football season Aug. 22. There are two aspects to the turnaround of the Ellwood City program that help make it one of the best stories going in WPIAL football. First...
Western Beaver ready to shine under Friday night lights
The book (and movie and TV show) wasn’t called “Saturday Afternoon Sunshine.” It was “Friday Night Lights,” and that’s a concept Western Beaver will become much more familiar with this season. The Golden Beavers have been playing at Rich Niedbala Field at the high school in Industry for 63 years....
Steel Valley gears up for championship run to close out Barksdale era
Since 2021, when Donald was a freshman, there’s always been a Barksdale in the backfield for the Steel Valley football team. It’s been a run to remember. Over the past four seasons, the Ironmen have gone 42-8 with a WPIAL championship in 2022, a runner-up finish the following year and...
After dream season, South Park ready to see next generation take over
Editor’s note: Trib HSSN will publish team-by-team previews for one conference per day until the start of the high school football season Aug. 22. South Park is coming off a dream season. Led by a dominant offensive line and superstar running back in Erie Doerue, the Eagles defeated Seton LaSalle,...
Gavin McKenna gives Penn State 1 of the most hyped recruits ever, not just in hockey
Two days after 17-year-old hockey star Gavin McKenna announced his intentions to play for Penn State in the fall, the school confirmed the news via press release. “His arrival to Hockey Valley is extremely significant not only to our hockey program, but to Penn State athletics and to college hockey...
2 major champs, Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm, under par after 1st round at Oakmont
Ten players are under par after the first round of the U.S. Open at Oakmont. Just two of them are former major champions. Brooks Koepka shot a 2-under 68 and Jon Rahm carded a 1-under 69 to reside on the first page of the leaderboard, not far behind first-round leader...
Can big-hitting Bryson DeChambeau be fearless at Oakmont? He’s going to try
As Bryson DeChambeau walked out of the media tent toward a waiting golf cart, two faces squeezed through a partition in the privacy fence surrounding the paved lot, one on top of the other. After they yelled to get his attention, the faces disappeared and a hand holding a hat...
Penguins Take 5: Unpredictability of goaltending haunts Kyle Dubas
When he held his first news conference after being hired by the Penguins on June 1, 2023, Kyle Dubas was asked about his team’s goaltending situation. Tristan Jarry was headed to free agency, so Dubas was going to have to make some moves at the position. “Goaltending is vitally important,”...
Take 5: Metropolitan malaise plagues Penguins
Hockey fans who believe in omens could have seen this coming before the season was 20 minutes old. In the first period of their season opener Oct. 9, the Penguins gave up a pair of goals to Jacob Trouba, of all people, and went on to lose 6-0 to the...
Penguins Take 5: Alex Nedeljkovic knows who deserves an assist for his goalie goal
The goal Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic scored during a 5-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night, naturally, was unassisted. He picked up a puck dumped in by Sabres forward Peyton Krebs and threw it the length of the ice for the 19th goalie goal in NHL history....
Who are the Penguins’ greatest players of the 21st century?
As far as centuries go, the 21st has treated the Pittsburgh Penguins pretty well. No team in the NHL has scored more goals (5,737) or held more Stanley Cup parades (three) since Jan. 1, 2000. It stands to reason, then, that their Quarter-Century Team should be something to see. Each...
