2008-09 Home Closer

What a game! Another 6 goal game resulting in a win for woodstock and me! :D


I got to see another great Penguins victory, took a ton of photos, sat 4 rows up and one section over from a row of Pittsburgh Steelers players, met the G ladies (1WingAngel, Nicole G., and Mama G.), and had bar-none the smoothest drive home from Pittsburgh I've ever had in my entire life (← that's not a joke). WHAT A GLORIOUS NIGHT!! :)

When we got there, we saw a month of progress on the new arena. The second photo shows where the new arena (far left) will be in relation to the current arena (the base of the dome can be seen on the far right).



It is always nice to be in house for the Penguins award ceremonies. Here are my pictures of this year's winners:








The only thing that would have made it better would have been winning one of the sweet prizes. The Pens gave away T-shirts (in addition to the ones they gave us at the door), a dune buggy cart, flat screen TVs, a washer and dryer set, spa trips, concert tickets, autographed Pens gear, playoff tickets, shopping sprees, and - the best prizes - the shirts off their backs.


The complete domination on the ice + the fan appreciation theme = a fantastically entertaining atmosphere. The home closers are without a doubt the best regular season games to attend - unless, of course, one of those regular season games just happens to be played outdoors. ;)

Prior to the Boys hitting the ice, they showed the following video on the ice:



One of the reasons I love the Penguins so much is that Pittsburghers are amazing people. I don't know if I always remember to mention it whenever I tell you about my trips to the city, but I'm mentioning it now because there were so many things that happened that reminded me why I love Western Pennsylvania so much. Even the little things that Pens fans do for each other, like helping guide one another into the horribly cramped parking spaces, make the entire experience all the better. There were folks all over the Mellon collecting for the Fallen Heroes Fund for the slain officers. It was amazing. People were just stuffing money into the collection jars. We raised some serious cash for the officers' families.


The tribute to the officers was moving. Some d-bag arse in the seats behind us yelled, "Let's Go Pens!" during the moment of silence, but literally everyone else in the arena was respectful. You could have heard a pin drop. The Pittsburgh Police Honor Guard gave Jeff Jimerson, whose performances are always clutch anyways, a little something more. It was great to be in the building to see it.

This is the only picture in today's post that I didn't take. But when I saw it, I couldn't have a post about this game without it. This is a shot of Siddo, Duper, Bylsma, and Syko during the aforementioned moment of silence. As with all other pictures on this post, click to enlarge.

Our seats were really close to the seats of Jeff Reed, Chris Hoke, and Jason Capizzi of the Pittsburgh Steelers.




At the end of the game, we stuck around to watch the Boys give the shirts off their backs to lucky fans. Our seats were up underneath an overhang (we couldn't even see the jumbotron) and behind the protective netting behind the goal, so we knew we wouldn't be getting any of the T-shirts the Boys were tossing into the crowd. But even so, we stayed to watch them because, every year, they seem to have so much fun with it. Before last night, I would have said that Colby Armstrong was the player who I thought had the most fun skating around throwing T-shirts at people, but that title now belongs to Matt Cooke. He grabbed an armful of shirts from the table and started launching them in rapid succession. He looked like he was having a blast. :) Saint Siddo was having a good old time, too. Actually, they all did. Check out the Cheshire cat grin on Jordan Staal's face in the second shot:







Finally, Geno and Siddo were the final two to give their jerseys away:



After the final giveaway, woodstock and I headed out to PenStation (← which I finally realized I've been spelling incorrectly all this time, haha!) where we met up with the G ladies. All three of them were extremely sweet, and it was wonderful to meet them. We chatted for a bit, and woodstock took a photo of us with our Roamers. (Look for that one on the Roamer blog soon.) I really like meeting the Friends of The Show. :)

When it was finally time to hit the road, we didn't hit any traffic whatsoever. No construction, no accidents, nothing! The easy drive home was a great way to end a fantastic evening. I'm so glad I'll be doing this again in about a week!

GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!

Because Once Is NEVER Enough

I've decided to post some photos and a video of Siddo's shootout dominance and Flower's netminding pwnage for you to enjoy one more time... or as many times as you choose to replay it! ;) First, the photos - all of which can be enlarged for a sweet new wallpaper:

In case you've forgotten, Sidney got the first mark on the board.

Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

Saint Siddo FTW!!!

The Boys congratulate The Kid on his game winning shootout goal.

FLOWER POWER!

And here's the icing on the cake:



OUTSTANDING!!! Speaking of standing(s), I've added a widget to the right side of The Show so we can watch the Boys steadily move up. ;)

GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pens v Devils

I got a few more photos from the All Star Game. This first set comes from Friend of The Show Lorie P. who said, "I'm from Montreal, and I got to go to the all Star Game. It was amazing to be at! I met Guy Carboneau Thursday night at the Jamboree, but I didn't have a camera with me, no sight of Crosby though." Enjoy Lorie's pics (click all the following pics to enlarge):


Lorie also sent in two short videos of the massive crowds gathered around as the players emerged from their bus:





Next, we'll hear from Friend of The Show Jamie M.:

I was just reading your post on the All Star game. I was also at the red carpet ceremony and was located outside at the front of the gate. I was extremely lucky enough to be located at the very front where as the players came off the bus I was one of the first people they seen. (If anyone has video of them getting off the bus I am the one wearing the yellow winter jacket and blue Winter hat; I was shown on the large screen during the skills competition when they showed a clip.) The players were released off the bus in pairs and each was provided with a Sharpie for autographing. I brought my father to the game and skills competition for his 50^th birthday, and we had the time our lives.

I am a HUGE Crosby fan and collector. The only piece I brought hoping to get signed was Crosby’s 2003 Shattuck St. Mary’s High School yearbook. I was very excited when Crosby came off the bus and soon as he stepped off I asked him to sign the book. I told him I was one of his biggest fans and he smiled and nodded.(I am sure he hears that all the time.) He was very rushed but did take a second to sign and it is now one of the nicest Crosby pieces I own.


I was also lucky enough to get an All Star hat signed. The first person to sign it was Roberto Luongo which is on the bottom right in the right side view picture. Ovechkin's is at the right side almost on top of the hat of the right view pic Mark Messier's is on the middle back and is the long one that you can pick out the M. I was surprised to see Mark but told him it was great to see him there. Carey Price's is the one on the back in the silver pen. Vincent Lecavalier is the silver one on the front bib of the hat. Jay Bouwmeester is the one on the hat you can barely pick out the number 3. In the top left hand corner of the left side view pic is Shea Weber.

There were a couple I was unsure of but the signatures on the hat I am aware of for sure are:

Vincent Lecavalier
Carey Price
Mark Messier
Roberto Luongo
Shea Weber
Keith Tkachuk
Mark Streit
Alex Kovalev
Jay Bouwmeester
Sheldon Souray
Alex Ovechkin
Keith Tkachuk

Are you kidding me?! What I wouldn't give for a hat like that! Check it out:



Thank you so much to Lorie and Jamie for sharing these great pictures and videos with us! :)

GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fan Photos - From The All Star Game!!!

Have I got a treat for you!

Friend of The Show Dave S. was lucky enough to attend the All Star Game!! He was kind enough to give me an all access pass to his game day photos and passed along a few details in his e-mail:

I've got a bunch of pics to share with all of you from the All Star Weekend. Some are out of order because we had two cameras in play all weekend, but the pics comprise of the All Star Practice on Saturday morning, the Red Carpet ceremony and Jamboree, the Skills Competition, and the game itself.

At the Red Carpet ceremony, both Malkin and Crosby were the nicest guys I noticed in that they actually talked and responded to people.

I think we waited about 3.5 hours up front at the gate before Geno and Sid made their way down the red carpet. I worked out a deal with the Habs fans in front of me: they let me up front for the Penguins, and I make sure nobody pushes them out of the way the entire night. We each made good on our deal and I was furthermore lucky enough to have both of them come my way and not pass me over. The odds were pretty low considering the amount of time they were allotted to do their walk and signings, and everyone was trying to shove jerseys, pictures, cards, ticket stubs, etc. up front for receival.

Geno signed my Stanley Cup Finals puck and asked me if I'd like him to sign my jersey too. It was a Crosby jersey but I had him sign the crest anyway. I told him he ruled and he said thank you. Sid signed the puck but not the jersey. I asked him to and he said something in length to me but was simultaneously turned around by security (they were rushing the players down and off the carpet all night) and didn't turn back around before heading off.

The only other signatures I got were Scott Neidermeyer, and Mike Babcock on the other side of my Cup Finals puck.

Here are Dave's incredible pictures (click to enlarge):


A hundred thousand thank yous to Dave for sharing these with us! What an amazing experience that must have been. :)