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. :)

Luxury Boxes Are Sweet

I know this from experience because the company my husband works for has one at the Mellon Arena, and we've gotten the tickets for it about a half dozen times in the twelve years he has worked for them. The view is almost like an overhead view from a blimp (though not quite that far away, haha!). The TVs in the suites are tuned to the broadcast of the game, so you just have to turn your head for an instant replay if something spectacular happens. There is so much leg and elbow room, and the box we occasionally have the privilege of using even has a couch!

The best part is that there is a very real chance to bump into a legend in the hallway or one of the injured players from the current roster, who often watch the game from Mario's box. In the few times we've been blessed to watch a game from the box, we saw the likes of Mario himself and Joe Mullen. Once, ex-Pen Robert Lang (who at the time was nursing a hurt wrist) was trucking down the hallway and put his hands on my shoulders to gently guide me out of the way and said, "Pardon me, ma'am." and winked at me.

The reason I bring the suites up is because Friend of The Show Lauren H. got to have her own experience of a lifetime in one of these luxury suites. Here is her recap of her incredible day - oh, and she took along a very special little guest:

I had the opportunity to attend Saturday’s game against Vancouver, and even better, I got to enjoy the game from a luxury box! I had never sat in a luxury box at the Igloo before, and it had been a dream of mine since I was a little girl!





My dad’s company insurance is through Highmark (a major sponsor of the Penguins) and his Highmark rep was the one who invited us to sit in their box! It was definitely an experience I will never forget!

Sitting in the box was surreal – I’d always dreamed of what it would be like, and it pretty much met all my expectations! At one point, Ryan Whitney walked right by our box on his way upstairs to the press box, but we were all had our attention directed towards the ice and the person who did see him go by couldn’t remember his name (!!!!) and he was gone by the time we all ran out into the hall (by we, I mean my siblings and I). My sister is a huge Mario fan, so we had our eyes open looking for him the whole game. We *think* me *might* have spotted him a box directly across the ice from ours, but then we also heard that his box was located on the same side as ours, so we’re not sure if it was really him, and our camera wouldn’t zoom in any more to confirm it.




One of the highlights of the day was meeting Iceburgh! I’ve been to tons of Penguins games over the years, but today was actually the first time I got to meet and get my picture with Iceburgh!

[snoop: Look closely to see who's between Lauren and Iceburgh!! Thank goodness this mascot encounter wasn't as risky as the last one! ;)]

We were trying to figure out why he would be up wandering around among the luxury boxes, but then after the game as people were leaving, I noticed a big group of kids walking toward the elevator at one point, and I immediately thought of the luxury box that Sid purchased for kids and I thought that *maybe* those kids had been Sid’s special guests and that Iceburgh had paid them a visit! :) I don’t know if that’s really the case or not, but I like to think it is!


The fight 25 seconds into the game was great!!! I hadn’t seen any good fights lately (I was still at class when the Gronk dropped the gloves a few nights ago) and this one was definitely one for the books! Too bad it cost the Cookie Monster a game misconduct. :( Hearing John Barbaro list off all the penalties was kind of amusing.

[snoop: What a photo!!!]

I was very sad that I wouldn’t get to see Fleury play, but I was slightly consoled by the fact that I was going to get the rare opportunity to see Roberto Luongo play in person – I’ve heard so much about him and the Pens don’t play them often. Unfortunately, he suffered an injury early in the game and had to be helped off the ice by his teammates. We had FSN on the TV in the box, but it was muted, and the best we could figure is that he suffered some type of groin injury. After he left the ice and Sanford came out to replace him, my brother-in-law and brother and I got into a conversation about backup goalies. We were explaining to my brother that since Fleury is out right now, Dany, our backup goalie is playing, and they called up John Curry from WB-S to backup Dany. Since Vancouver’s backup goalie was now playing, he asked what would happen if something happened to him, something I was curious about too. My brother-in-law informed us there would be a brief pause in the game to give another player (most likely a defenseman) time to suit up in goalie pads and come out to tend goal! The thought of this was really amusing and as much as I hate to see players get hurt, I would love to see something like this happen in a game!


The game itself was just weird. That’s the only way I can describe it. The Penguins didn’t seem to have too much desperation and the Canucks’ playing didn’t really blow me away either. None of the goals were too impressive – the whole game was just weird. And where the heck did this rivalry come from?! The Boys of Winter were definitely playing more on the physical side today, and the scrums were all pretty fun to watch.


The Highmark rep who invited us said he loved watching the game with all of us, and we would have to do this again sometime! Of course, we all agreed whole-heartedly! So, with any luck, this won’t be the last game I get to enjoy from the box!






Also, they showed a video clip that I really hope they decide to post on PensTV for everyone to enjoy. It was Dupuis, Max, and Sid sitting in the locker room and it went like this:

Max: Hi! I’m Max Talbot!

Sid: And I’m Sidney Crosby and we’d just like to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving!

Max: Don’t eat too much turkey.

(Dupuis doesn’t say anything, but has this big goofy grin on his face the whole time. Sid was smiling too – a nice change from his usual serious self!)

So many childhood dreams came true today and the whole experience was quite surreal!

Thank you SO MUCH, Lauren, for taking these pictures and sharing the memories of your amazing day with us!! I'm glad you had such a good time. I hope you get to take more pics like these from that box again sometime, too! ;)