The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20080706041457/http://www.penguinjersey.com/Common/open.php
Click on an image below to take you into a few of our special sections.
You can always find your way back here by clicking the HOME button
in the upper left section of every inside page.
Penguins
(NHL) From Columbia Blue and Penguin Pete to Vegas Gold and Iceburgh
Hornets
(AHL) The city's AHL team that won three championships and won the hearts of the Ol' Time Hockey fanatics
Pirates
(NHL) Not everyone knows that Pittsburgh had an NHL team 40 years before the Penguins
Yellow Jackets (USAHA) Pre-Depression era squad that won back-to-back international titles
Phantoms
(RHI) Professional roller hockey? These guys – and a gal – rolled in the Igloo for one season
Forge
(NAHL) The city's first real junior team where current NHLers got their start
Shamrocks
(IHL) Pre-Hornets team that was here in 1935-36. Check out the cool jerseys
Arena Histories The new arena has three tough acts to follow
Multimedia Some classic videos and rare photographs that capture the spirit of the game
Odds & Ends Where great bar bets are born – and where they go to die
They embarrassed us last year. I think we learned our lesson.
GARY ROBERTS
Reflecting on his two goal performance against the Ottawa Senators in Game 1 of the playoffs
1957 - Pittsburgh Penguins center Ron Duguay was born.
1976 - Pittsburgh Penguins left wing Greg Crozier was born.
1995 - Ron Francis wins the Frank Selke Trophy and the Lady Byng Trophy.
- Jaromir Jagr named to the NHL First All-Star
Team and Larry Murphy selected to the NHL Second All-
Star Team.
2001 - Letter Of Application to The Bureau of Historic Preservation was filed to protect the historic status of the Civic / Mellon Arena.
The final installment of Penguins uniform patches has been updated into the patch history section. Click on the photo to learn more about the details of the patch and the uniform set used for the six games against the Red Wings.
The white Final jerseys were made available to the public and a few are still available as well as the jerseys from the first three rounds.
It's over. The Penguins were eliminated by the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup final.
It was a wonderful season and we are a little sad - not entirely because the Pens lost, but because there's no more hockey this season. This was a special season in so many ways.
Petr Sykora scored with 10:03 remaining in the third overtime to help the Penguins stave-off elimination to a victory to force a Game 6 back at the Mellon Arena.
Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 55 shots - several "hockey card saves" - to earn the number one star of the game.
All of it was made possible by Maxime Talbot's goal with 0:35 left in regulation.
The city leaders have managed to let politics interfere with the will of the people. This time they have managed to let the spirit of the city get derailed by the spirit of the law.
The Pens and Reebok wanted to decorate the side of Fifth Avenue Place with two giant, 40 x 85 foot banners (think Godzilla-sized Fatheads) of Sidney Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury and the city's lawyers said, "no."
Some city council members and Mayor Luke have been walking on eggshells over a recent billboard controversy. Back in the beginning of April, the city placed a six-month ban on new billboards. So, the Pens banners featuring Reebok's poster children - technically, are advertising.
Rules are rules.
God knows, every politician in this city has bent the rules since the time Washington passed through these parts.
Council President Doug Shields' alternative? "Get a bed sheet and hang it off your front porch."
The Penguins banners would have been hung for a whopping two weeks and would have been strategically positioned to showcase two superstars, the skyline and, yeah, Reebok.
Imagine next Wednesday, while the national broadcast begins with a tight shot of Crosby on the banner and the camera pulls back to the wide shot of the city and the voice of Mike Emmerick squeaks, "From the confluence of the Monongahela, Ohio and Allegheny Rivers..."
This is how the city shows spirit to the first team to recognize the city's 250th anniversary with a patch on their uniforms?
The Penguins honored the city all season with the patch instead of their own 40th anniversary patch. (The Steelers, by the way, recognized their 75th Anniversary with a patch, and nothing for the city.
Let's hope that the leaders get their acts together. Let's hope that the team does well in the playoffs...keep in mind that the moratorium for banner hanging will be lifted by October 1 and there shouldn't be any fuss when the team wants to hang another banner on opening night.
Okay, some of you have figured out that the Pens are involved in something big. Not a hockey fan? Don't understand the scenario involved to win that thing called the Stanley Cup?
Here's some things to help you sound knowledgeable around the water cooler:
• The Pittsburgh Penguins will play the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup final.
(Don't say "finals," that is an NBA trademark)
• There's no recent history between the two teams since they didn't face each other in regular season.
• The Penguins were the number two seed in the East and the Wings were number one in the West. Detroit had the best record in the NHL for the regular season and won the President's Trophy. Winning the President's Trophy isn't an automatic claim to the Cup; since the Trophy was first presented in 1985-86, only six of those teams have won the Cup.
• There is only one real Stanley Cup and it's the oldest trophy in North America. The Penguins have won the Cup twice, but they do not have two trophy's in the team office. Detroit has won ten Stanley Cup Championships, not ten Stanley Cups.
• Players from the winning team have their name engraved on the Cup and each player gets to host the trophy for one day over the off-season.
• Take a nap in the afternoon. Each game is played until the bitter end. No shootouts, no ties...just SUDDEN DEATH. They will play period after period until one team scores.
• The Penguins have only lost twice so far in this year's playoffs and they are a perfect 8-0 at home.
• Pittsburgh has three of the top five point scorers in the post-season: Sidney Crosby (21), Marian Hossa (19), and Evgeni Malkin (19).
• Detroit has two of the top five scorers: Henrik Zetterberg (19) and Pavel Datsyuk (18)
While the Penguins players were still sleeping the morning after securing a trip to the Stanley Cup final, the equipment staff was busy altering the spring formal wear.
By early morning had all of the home and road jerseys were adorned with the 2008 Stanley Cup patch. Click on the patch to see the details on this an all of the other patches used by the Penguins throughout the 40-year history of the franchise.
The Penguins' are a young, rested team and have only played in 14 games to reach the Stanley Cup final.
Having the home ice advantage in the first three rounds of the Eastern Conference is the NHL's path of least resistance.
The Penguins will be in the comfort of their own homes watching tonight's Game 6 between the Dallas Stars and the Detroit Red Wings.
They have all publicly said that it doesn't matter to them which team they'll face, but tonight you can bet that they'll be cheering for the Stars to win in the second, or fifth, overtime to send it to a Game 7 in Detroit.
More time and energy are needed to to figure out how the West is won. Dallas has logged some serious time and travel this post-season; Detroit has been more economical in time played, but have spent roughly a day on an airplane in the past few weeks.
Pittsburgh has only played two extra games this postseason, and both were in the comfort of the Mellon Arena.
The Penguins needed to show some backbone and thwart any Flyers uprising, or suggestion that the Eastern Conference final would be extended. Pittsburgh systematically and emphatically destroyed the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-0, in Game 5.
Series over. On to the Stanley Cup final.
They started early on the Flyers and wasted very little power play time to send the message. Ryan Malone started the scoring just 0:12 seconds into a power play to put the Pens up, 1-0, just 2:30 into the game.
Before the game the Pens needed to show they could put a team away. Today, they showed they had a killer's instinct. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all 21 Flyers' shots for his third shutout of the playoffs.
After the game they showed the poise of a well-focused team. Captain Sidney Crosby looked uncomfortable near the Prince of Wales trophy.
"That's not the one we want to be holding," Crosby said in the post game press conference.
Pittsburgh is now 12-2 in the playoffs and a perfect 8-0 at home with a lethal combination of offensive skill and a tenacious defense.
The Penguins won't be wearing the 2008 Eastern Conference Champions hats and t-shirts, and neither should the fans. How many people do you see wearing Buffalo Bills NFC Championship shirts?
(Click the photo to see the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review photo gallery.)
Daniel Briere's photo was removed from the side of a milk carton tonight.
He accepted a challenge Philadelphia coach John Stevens sent his way. Briere scored a big goal to give the Flyers a little wiggle room on their way to a 4-2 victory over the Penguins. Briere and goaltender Martin Biron did the heavy lifting to stave-off elimination from the playoffs.
Jordan Staal, who spent the series off day flying home to Thunder Bay, Ontario to attend his grandfather's funeral, scored two third period goals to shrink the Flyers lead to one.
Click on the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's photo gallery - work produced by Chaz Palla & Christopher Horner - these two shooters have been having a great playoff season.
Not so random numbers...
• The Penguins are one of only four teams in the history of the NHL that won 11 out of their first 12 games.
• Sidney Crosby leads the NHL in scoring with 19 (4+15).
• Evgeni Malkin is tied for second with 18 (8+10).
• Marc-Andre Fleury leads the playoffs with 11 wins.
The Mellon Arena was glowing in white again tonight for the opening of the Eastern Conference Final duel between cross-state rivals – and continued a streak of 62 consecutive sellouts.
Not much orange to be found, except a few seat backs that were visible for the first few minutes of the second and third periods between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers.
Outside, the crowd grew again despite the inclement weather. The crowd outside the Mellon around 8:45 p.m. was dangerously close to the crowd at PNC Park for the Pirates-Braves match-up. Two fans outside the arena were clutching their Willie Stargell bobbleheads when Evgeni Malkin scored with 6.5 seconds remaining in the second period.
Inside? Basically a sea of white - except for the few Philly fans. The largest Flyer representation had to be in section C-27 where the Umberger clan was parked in two rows. RJ's parents, Rick and Roseann Umberger, were very noticeable walking through the concourse. Many fans couldn't help but notice them. Most of the comments addressed to them were cordial enough while some people made jeers just because of their jerseys. Only one fan knew exactly who they were and still made some off-color remarks.
That person must have been role-playing as a Philadelphian. Class act.
Not since The Italian Stallion was filmed has this much attention been given to Rocky's clothing issues.
Rocky was dressed in a Sidney Crosby shirt and was blindfolded with Pens logo t-shirt.
Certainly not an original idea - last week some brave Canadiens fans slipped a Habs sweater on the Philadelphia icon - but this week Penguins fans responded to a dare on a craigslist posting and here's the photographic evidence.
No need to worry about protecting any of the statues here in Pittsburgh. A Flyers fan that attempts to cover the face of Willie Stargell or Roberto Clemente will only be doing the right thing to prevent further embarrassment of viewing the circus inside PNC Park.
Pittsburgh doesn't have a statue dedicated to Darren McCord from Sudden Death ... he actually had some playoff experience...Tolliver!!!!!
We somehow thought that Game 4 might end with Jaromir Jagr handing off the torch to Sidney Crosby like Wayne Gretzky did for Jagr when The Great One ended his career at Madison Square Garden in 1999...
Didn't happen. Series now at three-games-to-one. Game 5 on at the Mellon Arena on Sunday.
Fact is, Jagr didn't quit – scored two goals and had one assist to make goalie Henrik Lundqvist's 29 saves hold up for his second shutout of the playoffs.
Hidden stats: The Penguins have been so balanced in scoring only defenseman Hal Gill is pointless.
And, um, the only Penguins player without a penalty this post-season? ... Georges Laraque.
The Penguins are perfect in the playoffs. Tonight's 5-3 win over the New York Rangers wasn't textbook playoff hockey, but it was good enough to erase a sloppy second period to take a stranglehold on the series.
This is not like the New England Patriots flirting with a perfect season. They don't have to be perfect; tt is reassuring to know that the Pens can still afford to loose three games in this series, and three games in the next two series.
It is also reassuring to know that of the 11 teams that started 7-0 in the the playoffs – eight went on to win the Stanley Cup. Strangely, the last team to pull that off was the 1994 New York Rangers.
Marc-Andre Fleury is starting to focus like a championship caliber goaltender. His play between the pipes has been spectacular. His play between the legs of opponents has been perfect.
Just ask Martin Lapointe, or Sean Avery.
Fleury, usually the mild-mannered netminder, has "grown a set" by delivering a stick to the "set" of Lapointe and Avery.
Unsportsmanlike? Yeah, so what? Just ask players that stood in front of Billy Smith, Ron Hextall or Tom Barrasso if they ever felt comfortatble in front of the crease? It's part of the edge a goalie needs to focus on the bigger Cup.
Fleury is starting to develop a swagger and other players are starting to notice.
"Even if you are wearing a (protective) cup and you get hit like that, it hurts like hell," Bob Errey commented after Lapointe was rung up in the first series.
The Penguins spotted the New York Rangers a 3-0 lead in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Looked like all the Rangers had to do was dot the "I"s and cross the "T"s.
But Jarkko Ruutu erased the shutout and the rally started. Four unanswered goals, capped by a Sidney Crosby slapper that bounced of Evgeni Malkin's shin into the net behind Henrik Lundqvist with 1:41 left in regulation.
The game had the same feel as the Game 1 of the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals against the Chicago Blackhawks when Jaromir Jagr tied the game late and Mario Lemieux beat Ed Belfour with 0:12 seconds left. By the way, that was the only other time the Pens erased a three goal deficit in the postseason.
The White-Out won't soon be erased from our memories.
Highlights from the Pittsburgh Penguins four game sweep of the Ottawa Senators. Posted by steelcityassault... No commentary needed here ... great editing...great song!
Someone in the Ottawa Senators organization thought an oversized image of the handshake after last years Pens-Sens series would intimidate the Penguins.
The image is placed near the Pens dressing room in Scotiabank Place.
The Penguins established a post-season franchise record for putting 54 pucks on net tonight (in regulation) against the Ottawa Senators, surpassing the mark of 49 set on April 26, 1970 against the St. Louis Blues.
Speaking of a lot of pucks, the Penguins introduced the 19th Official Game Puck in team history.
Not many people will get an up close peak at the pucks. In our "unofficial tally," we counted at least 18 pucks that left the playing surface from the ice or were flipped over the glass when an errant puck made its way onto a team bench in Game 1 & 2.
Look What Gary Roberts Did: He scored two goals and played a very physical game to help the Pens dominate the Ottawa Senators, 4-0, in the series opener.
Roberts started writing the final chapter in for his career's storyline with an impressive, opening round playoff game against his favorite whipping boys.
Roberts has tortured the Senators by scoring 14 of his 32 playoff goals against the very team that tried to acquire him at last season's trade deadline.
The Hollywood-like script started a mere :68 seconds into the game when Roberts pushed a backhand past Ottawa's Martin Gerber from six feet out and later scored from the edge of the crease.
This was Roberts second game back after missing three months with a broken leg and a high-ankle sprain. Not quite the legend of Toronto's Bobby Baun, who returned from a broken leg to score an overtime goal in the 1964 Stanley Cup Finals, but Robert's grit has become legendary.
Roberts played like there is no tomorrow, because there might not be an NHL tomorrow after this season. Roberts turns 42 next month and he's simply adding to his legend with performances like tonight. Roberts became the oldest player in NHL history to score two goals in a playoff game.
The 26-stop shutout turned in by Marc-Andre Fleury was crucial, but Roberts rang the opening bell and answered the call. He deserved to be named the Number One Star.
It's not a coincidence that Roberts has "WARRIOR" branded on his stick and gloves. He plays the role well.
The next banner chase will start on Wednesday night so it could be possible to see a Game 7 there on April 22...the same day as the Pennsylvania presidential primary.
We'll see how different this year's Pens will match-up against Bryan Murray's Senators who are mired in mediocre goaltending and are without captain Daniel Alfredsson, Mike Fisher & Chris Kelly.
Click the link above to visit an online museum dedicated to Pittsburgh Hockey History. We feature the history of Pittsburgh Penguins, Hornets, Pirates, Phantoms, Forge, and Shamrocks. Inside you will find an assortment of artifacts and information from many contributors. We hope that one day this collection could be the inspiration for a museum inside the city's newest hockey arena.
The final installment of Penguins uniform patches has been updated into the patch history section. Click on the photo to learn more about the details of the patch and the uniform set used for the six games against the Red Wings.
