by Rob Rossi , Pittsburgh Tribune Review

As per the collective bargaining agreement, not a single game will be played Dec. 24 and 25. However, several clubs, including the Penguins, are on the schedule for Dec. 23 and 26 ? leaving team employees including coaches, players all the way to assistant equipment managers precious hours to celebrate Christmas.

In the once-described "coolest game on earth," getting home for the holidays is as rare as it is inconvenient.

"Last year was my first (Christmas) at home in eight years," said Eric Godard, a first-year Penguins right wing whose family resides in British Columbia. "All my family was there, and it was like when I was a little kid.

"That made me realize how much I missed it, but it's hard to get home with only two days off."

Equally hard, many players feel, is taking two days away from an in-season training regiment, though Penguins left wing Matt Cooke suggested that shouldn't be an excuse for any player to miss Christmas with his family.

"It's not an issue with me," Cooke said. "I think you can get back into the swing of things pretty fast. It's only two days. How many Christmas do you get, especially with young kids?"

The Christmas season comes and goes in the blink of an eye for an NHL player.

"I didn't even notice it was Christmas," Penguins right wing Miroslav Satan said. "We were busy last week - since the start of the month, really, with all these road games. Now we have three games before Christmas, two days off and two games, back-to-back, the next day.

"It doesn't feel like Christmas. You won't even have time to realize it went by."

Satan, also in his first year with the Penguins, said he tries not to "pay much thought" to the Christmas memories his chosen career has cost him.

Teammate Philippe Boucher, who joined the Penguins Nov. 16, knows the feeling. He hadn't seen his wife and children until Friday, when they arrived from Dallas.

Regrettably, not spending quality time with his family around this holiday is the rule.

"The actual day, Christmas, you can be around your kids, wife and the extended family," Boucher said. "The things leading up to Christmas, the moments with your kids, those are what you miss out on. You're traveling a lot in the weeks leading up, you hear your wife tell you a story about something you missed and ? well, it's just tough.

"We are fortunate to get paid very well to play a game we love, but you can't make up for missing those moments. That's probably why we spoil our kids with Christmas presents."

Many North American-born players opt to fly home - some via a charter plane, most commercial - even if only to spend less than a full day with parents, siblings and extended family.

Atlanta right wing Colby Armstrong's parents planned a lengthy getaway around the chance to spread season's greetings to their NHL son in Atlanta.

"They're in Florida, and then they're coming up," Armstrong said. "I know a lot of Canadian boys that do that with their folks and their brothers and sisters. It's, like, 'Just come to the States, go somewhere warm, and we'll meet up at Christmas.

"It's not like being at home, but it's better than nothing. I mean, we could be playing like they do in the NBA or NFL."

All they want for Christmas ...

The Trib polled Penguins players about their all-time favorite Christmas gifts. Here is what they say ...

Mark Eaton: waffle blocker pad (goalie equipment)

Rob Scuderi: Crossbows and Catapults (board game)

Ryan Whitney: Miami Hurricanes Starter jacket

Brooks Orpik: autographed Ray Bourque Boston Bruins jersey

Matt Cooke: "My wife said, 'Yes'"

Pascal Dupuis: an apple and orange in a construction sock

("My dad used to tell me that was all he got for Christmas ? an apple and orange in a construction sock," Dupuis said. "So my brother-in-law and I got each other that one year, and now I have a collection of construction socks.")

Philippe Boucher: new Hockey skates

Kris Letang: clothes from my mom

Dany Sabourin: original Nintendo gaming system

("I wanted one bad, and I got it one year, which was great," Sabourin said. "My uncles came over for Christmas, and they even let me play it - never let me win, though.")

Sidney Crosby: road Hockey goalie equipment

("My mom made me take it off after five straight days of wearing it," Crosby said.)

Eric Godard: turkey

("That's all I wanted," Godard said. "I loved the Christmas turkey.")

Petr Sykora: Bauer Hockey skates

Jeff Taffe: BMX bicycle

Jordan Staal: snowmobile

Alex Goligoski: combo mask for Hockey helmet

("It was so cool," Goligoski said. "It was a cage and a shield.")

Max Talbot: stuffed monkey puppet

("I used to put my hand up it and make the monkey talk," Talbot said.)

Face off

Columnist Joe Starkey and beat reporter Rob Rossi are in the circle and ready to debate ...

Should Penguins general manager Ray Shero's gift to Sidney Crosby be a shiny new winger?

STARKEY SAYS ...

Happy Holidays, Rossi. Coal in your stocking again this year? I know you'll disagree, but seeing as the Penguins' championship window is wide-open RIGHT NOW, Shero should seriously look into acquiring a sniper. Obviously, finances come into play, as does the question of what the Penguins are willing to give up. I'd have to think long and hard before trading Ryan Whitney, for example, because I think he's going to be a star when he gets his own power play. But you have to give up something to get something, right? As for first-round picks and prospects, the Penguins better be willing to part with as many of those as necessary to get Sid his gift. It's called living in the present. Get it?

ROSSI RANTS ...

So 'tis the season to spread folly, huh, Joe? I cannot argue with you that Crosby is a more valuable asset with a stud sniper; his playoff chemistry with since-departed Marian Hossa was something special to watch. However, even trading Whitney wouldn't give Shero enough room in his Santa sack to fit a worthy winger for Crosby under the salary cap ? especially with a cap that will soon no longer benefit from a strong Canadian dollar. Shipping off assets every season for a short-term fix is no smart move for a GM, so here is to Shero enjoying silent nights from now until the trade deadline. Merry Christmas, my friend!

Hat trick

Rob Rossi's thoughts and observations as the Penguins beat writer:

SARGE IT

D Sergei Gonchar is cautiously optimistic he can return to the lineup by early-March, though he remains under doctor's orders not to use his left arm. Gonchar's left shoulder was separated in the club's first preseason game. He is "doing (his) best to stay in shape" despite limited upper-body movement. Not having use of his left arm is no picnic for his wife, who is pregnant with the next addition to the Gonchar family - another baby girl.

MR. NO SHOW

WWE superstar Ken "Mr. Kennedy" Kennedy did not make it to Pittsburgh this past Monday for a live broadcast of the "RAW" television show. That proved a disappointment to RW Tyler Kennedy, who hoped to meet the popular pro wrestler whose catch phrase Penguins fans have adopted. The WWE and Penguins are attempting to arrange another date for Ken Kennedy and Tyler Kennedy to film a vignette that would appear on the Mellon Arena video board during home games.

FOUR FOR STAAL

That would be years, not millions. With both sides privately optimistic a contract extension can soon be agreed upon, indications are the Penguins will lock up C Jordan Staal for at least four more years. This would allow him to become an unrestricted free agent in 2014. The Penguins are free to sign Staal to an extension at any point because he is playing the final year of an entry-level contract. They cannot re-sign other impending free agents until Jan. 1, 2009.

The future

The Penguins' minor-league report is written by Jonathan Bombulie, who has covered the Baby Pens for The Citizens' Voice in Wilkes-Barre since the team's inception in 1999. He can be reached through e-mail.

STOCK UP

Paul Bissonnette

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL) ? Winger

6-foot-3 ? 220 pounds

In his first 10 games after being sent to the minors, Paul Bissonnette picked up 10 fighting majors and not a single point. Could he have kept up that prodigious pugilistic pace all season? "If I want to just be labeled a meatball, yeah," he said. "But that's not the case. I know I can play. I want to play." Bissonnette has gone a long way toward proving that lately, recording three goals and two assists in his past four games coming into this weekend. It's the first multi-game point streak of his AHL career.

When he was waived at the beginning of training camp, Ryan Stone thought he'd never pull a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey over his head again.

"I just don't know if they really have anything in mind for me with the big club," Stone said in late September.

When he asked for a trade at the start of last season, Bissonnette figured his days with the Penguins were numbered, too.

"I just don't see myself ever playing a game in the NHL for the Penguins," Bissonnette said in June of 2007.

Both have already been proven wrong this season, and Baby Pens coach Dan Bylsma thinks there's a lesson to be learned there.

"There's really not a dead end in our organization," he said.

FINNISH YOUR DINNER

While American children look to the skies to see if they can spot Rudolph and friends pulling Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve, Baby Pens winger Janne Pesonen knew exactly where to find reindeer when he was growing up in Finland.

They were on the dinner table.

"It's great. It's better than moose," Pesonen said. "We eat it a lot when we have traditional Finnish food ? reindeer and mashed potatoes, pickles, lingonberries."

CRUSHING BLOW

When Tyler Kennedy went down with a knee injury earlier this month, Baby Pens winger Chris Minard looked at it as his best chance yet to prove himself in the NHL.

But in five games, he was a minus-4 with no points and was unceremoniously sent back to the Baby Pens last week. It sounds like he considers it a crushing blow.

"I felt useless. I felt like a failure," Minard said. "I have to come here and play hard and hopefully get another chance."

CUP CRAZY

Baby Pens defenseman T.J. Kemp has been excused by the team to miss four games at the end of this month so he can play for Team Canada in the Spengler Cup in Switzerland. The Spengler Cup is the world's oldest club tournament outside of North America, and Canada annually sends a team of pros playing in the AHL and in Europe.

Kemp, a smallish 27-year-old from Mercyhurst College in Erie, has been sixth or seventh on the Baby Pens' depth chart most of the season.

What's on deck

The week ahead for the Penguins:

Monday

Penguins at Sabres

7 p.m.

TV: Versus

Tuesday

Penguins vs. Lightning

7:30 p.m.

TV: FSN Pittsburgh

Friday

Penguins at Devils

7 p.m.

TV: FSN Pittsburgh

Saturday

Penguins vs. Canadiens

7 p.m.

TV: FSN Pittsburgh

NHL Game of the Week

Friday ? 8:30 p.m.

Flyers at Blackhawks

Philadelphia takes the Eastern Conference's deepest group of forwards into the Windy City against Chicago's cornerstone kids.

TV: None

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