by Ingrid Stacia

PPG Paint Arena, home of the the Pittsburgh Penguins. It is the first of the seven games in the 2017 Stanley Cup Final against the Nashville Predators.

The Stacia family sits in the last row of the highest section of the arena, while their cousin and aunt have seats in one of the lower sections. It is their first time seeing a game that is the first in the final round of playoffs. This game was a last minute surprise for the Stacia’s as they were making a short overnight stop in Pittsburgh before driving back to Richmond, Virginia, after a weekend in the mountains with some other extended family members. Kirstin Stacia and Leslie Ritter are sisters who grew up in the Pittsburgh area and that is why the family are fans of the Penguins. The sisters instilled in their children at a young age of what it means to be fans of Pittsburgh, from the Terrible Towels to the Stanley Cup and the Super Bowl. These sports are a big part of the culture growing up in Pittsburgh.

The Grace Ritter and the Stacia siblings, Ingrid, Sonya, and Annika, have gotten jerseys in the Fan Shop in the entry level of the arena. “I want a Fleury jersey!” Ingrid exclaims after learning that her aunt will be buying them jerseys. Her sisters race off to choose their own jerseys. Grace Ritter sticks with Ingrid Stacia while they look at jerseys. They all eventually make it to the checkout line after choosing their jerseys. Grace Ritter has gotten a number 30 Matt Murray jersey; Ingrid Stacia has gotten a number 29 Marc-Andre Fleury jersey; both Sonya Stacia and Annika Stacia get number 3 Olli Maatta jerseys. They also get special Stanley Cup 2017 patches put on their jerseys. The three siblings and cousin wearing newly bought jerseys, courtesy of their Aunt Leslie Ritter and Grace’s mom, go to claim their seats in the arena. Leslie Ritter and Grace Ritter’s seats are in the lower level apart from the Stacias’.

Fans fill the arena and wait in anticipation for the pregame show to start. The pregame show begins with flashing lights and lit up outlines of the previous Cups won by the Penguins on the newly zambonied ice. A new Cup outline started blinking into place next to the other Cups with the year 2017 on the bottom for the potential win of the 2017 season. Five banners were hung in rafters with the previous Stanley Cups won by Penguins on them. Also in the rafters were banners with titles held by the Penguins on them. The referees come out onto the ice first, then the opposing team the Nashville Predators. The Penguins fans are booing loudly at the Predators players.  Finally out shoot the Penguins and the whole arena gets insanely loud.

Yellow t-shirts and Terrible Towels with the Penguins’ emblem on them, had been handed out near the escalators as fans made their way up into the arena. Fans were getting hyped up. Fans were decked out in black and yellow. The arena was already incredibly loud with excitement and anticipation of the game.

The Pittsburgh Penguins were founded through the 1967 expansion of the National Hockey League. The Penguins were so named because how their first arena looked. Their first arena was the Civic Arena and was nicknamed, “The Igloo” because of the large dome. The Penguins used the Civic Arena from the start of the team through 2009. In 2010, the brand new Consol Energy Center was completed to replace Civic Arena. The Consol Energy Center was later renamed PPG Paints Arena in 2016.

The Penguins won their first Stanley Cup in 1991 against the Minnesota North Stars. The next year the Penguins won again this time against the Chicago Blackhawks, which are one of the “Original Six” teams in the National Hockey League. This was the Penguins first set of back-to-back wins for the franchise. The Penguins did not win another Cup until 2009, which was 17 years later. The Penguins beat out the Detroit Red Wings in the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals. The Detroit Red Wings are also another of the “Original Six” teams in the NAtional hockey League. In this time period the Penguins still won many titles, even though they did not win anymore Cups until 2016. In the 2016 Stanley Cup the Penguins won against the San Jose Sharks. Some of the titles the Penguins were as follows, “2012-13 Atlantic Division Champions” and “2013-14 Metropolitan Division Champions”. Individuals on the team have also won many trophies, titles, or places in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Some of the key players in franchise history have earned these things. For example Mario Lemieux, who is the current owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Lemieux played for the Penguins from 1985 through 2006 when he retired. Lemieux’s jersey number was 66 which when flipped becomes the number 99 which was used by Wayne Gretzky otherwise known as “The Great One.” Lemieux was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1997. “Every day is a great day for hockey” is a famous quote by Lemieux, one I actually used for my senior quote in high school (even though I play field hockey). My mother remembers seeing a game Penguins game when she was younger that Lemieux played in. Lemieux was also the reason that another Hall of Famer made it to the Penguins team.

The Penguins picked Crosby in the 2005 draft when Crosby was just 18 years old. Crosby picked his jersey number because of his birthday is August 7, 1987, so naturally he decided to go with 87. Lemieux played with Crosby and was his mentor on and off the ice. Crosby lived with Lemieux until 2010. Crosby has won three Stanley Cups, two Hart Memorial trophies, two Conn Smythe trophies, two Olympic Gold medals, and many more trophies and titles. Crosby’s nickname “Sid the Kid” is in part to his age when he enter the National Hockey league and the fact that he was one of the youngest players ever to be named captain in the National Hockey League.

Another great player on the Penguins was Marc-Andre Fleury who is number 29 and a goalie. Fleury played in 13 seasons for the Penguins. Fleury has also earned the nickname “Flower” by his teammates.

Evgeni Malkin is a Russian hockey player who was drafted into the Penguins team a year or two after Crosby was drafted. Malkin’s jersey number is 71. Since both players have played together for so long they have earned the nickname, “the two-headed monster.”

The Penguins have had one main rival in the past couple years and they are the Washington Capitals. Games between the these two teams are usually played very dirty with lots of fights and penalties. The captain of the Capitals, Alex Ovechkin is usually one of the main instigators of such fights, but Crosby and Malkin both do not like Ovechkin so they start some of those fights as well. “Seeing a person in Ravens or Caps gear was brave in Pittsburgh, when you know how big those rivalries are.” Leslie Ritter said when asked about long standing rivalries with Pittsburgh.  The Capitals and the Penguins have always been neck and neck in the playoffs and they really turn up the heat and the tension during the playoffs.

Pittsburgh has always been a great city for sports fans. There is a saying among fans in Pittsburgh, “You fight one team, you fight the whole city”. This true for the most part. Pittsburgh fans like to “show up and show out”. Members of the Pittsburgh Steelers like Ryan Shazier, Mike Tomlin, and JuJu Smith-Schuster have been seen supporting the Penguins at their home games. Some fans come from all over the globe to see a Penguins game.

Another part of the Pittsburgh legacy is the Terrible Towel. Although the Terrible Towel began as a Pittsburgh Steelers thing, it soon spread to the other two sports in the city of Pittsburgh. The towel is traditionally bright yellow with the words outlined in the traditional black “Myron Cope’s Official” on the top of the towel with “The Terrible Towel” in the center of the towel with “A Pittsburgh Original” on the bottom of the towel. The towel was created by Myron Cope, a broadcaster for the Pittsburgh Steelers, in the 1970s, to help create something that the fans could rally behind and use to show their support of the Steelers. The Terrible Towel soon became a hit with fans and are still used to this day by fans of all Pittsburgh’s teams. But should an opposing team or opposing player disrespect the Terrible Towel, the outcome usually is dreadful, for the opposing team of course. For example when the Florida Panthers were playing the Penguins in the 2016 playoffs, the Penguins were down by two in the third period.The Panthers’ mascot blew his nose into a Terrible Towel. The Penguins then made an explosive comeback in the last few minutes of the game to overtake the Panthers in the playoffs and then on to the 2016 Stanley Cup Finals. This was the first win of the Penguins back-to-back Cup wins. So therefore do not disrespect the Terrible Towel. Other teams both in the National Hockey League and in the National football League have created their own knock off versions, that fail to work. A fan tradition with the Terrible Towels is to take pictures with their Terrible Towel at a place they visit. The below picture is of Kirstin Stacia from a trip to Europe at the Arc de Triomphe. Some impressive fans have even taken their towels places like Mt. Everest or underwater. Terrible Towels can be handed down from parent to kid or bought at a first Pittsburgh sporting event, but they are always a treasured possession by each fan of Pittsburgh. “I got my Terrible Towel at my first Steelers game and have kept it with me each time I watch a game whether it is at home in front of TV or at a game itself,” says Sonya Stacia. The twirling or waving of the Terrible Towels is always a sight to behold.

 

The Stanley Cup is the oldest trophy in North America. There is only one Cup that is used decade after decade. The cup was first created by Sir Frederick Arthur Stanley, lord of Preston. The cup has since been nicknamed “Lord Stanley”. The Stanley Cup or simply “the Cup” has been in use for over 125 years. The Cup is silver with five bands that can hold thirteen teams worth of names on them and a big silver bowl on top.  Although it is not just the team members names that are inscribed upon the Cup, but staff members too. For the team that wins the Cup each season, every player on the team and member of staff gets a day with the Cup. The team gets one year with the Cup before it is won by another team. The most sacred tradition with Lord Stanley though, is when the final game is won in the final round of playoffs, when the players of the winning team get to hoist the Stanley Cup high into the air above their heads in victory. Usually afterward in the locker room drinks are poured in the Cup as another long standing tradition of drinking from the Cup. Now in the present time the Penguins have won the Cup five times, so for each time the Penguins have won the cup the team and staff have their names inscribed upon the Cup, even if their names are already on the Cup for a different season win or with a different team win. The National Hockey League team with the most Stanley Cup wins is the Montreal Canadiens with 23 wins. The Penguins with their 5 wins have a lot of catching up to do.

Back to 2017, the national anthem plays and the starting lineup for the Predators and Penguins are on the ice. The rest of both the teams are standing in their respective benches. After the Anthem finishes a referee skates to the center of the ice with a puck. Both teams get in position to start the game. The starting Goalie for the Penguins was Matt Murray. The starting goalie for the Predators was Pekka Rinne. Crosby faces off with Mike Fisher in the center of the ice. The referee drops the puck. The game begins.