Arena, fans aglow as Penguins raise Cup banner

The ticket, flight and hotel room alone cost Diane Miller nearly $1,000, but none of that mattered a lick as the clock approached 8 p.m. Thursday.

When the glowsticks inside PPG Paints Arena began flickering, like confetti inside a gigantic cereal bowl, Ms. Miller wasn’t thinking about the logistical difficulties of traveling here to attend the Penguins’ Stanley Cup banner-raising season opener with her sister, Angie.

“As soon as I found out when they were raising the banner, I called my sister and said, 'You have to go with me,' ” said Ms. Miller, 46, of Dunedin, Fla. “We were there for the whole Stanley Cup run, and I wanted to see it come full circle."

These ladies weren't alone. Inside and outside the newly named arena, desires to witness something special and the we-just-had-to-be-here tales were plentiful.

Ms. Miller, whose sister lives near Uniontown, arrived at Cambria Suites several hours before puck drop to revel in the madness, the likeness of Sidney Crosby tattooed on her forearm and custom-made Penguins tennis shoes on her feet. She relished, too, the idea that the Penguins would raise their banner against the rival Washington Capitals. And she was more than willing to foot the bill to get a $300 for a ticket in section 110.

While the Penguins have yet to ultimately win the Stanley Cup on home ice, they have had four of these watch-it-rise-to-the-rafters nights. And they took a step toward another title Thursday with a 3-2 shootout victory against the Capitals.

Jeannette native Chris Getto was snapping a photo of his 5-year-old son, Michael, a few minutes before gates opened, his son's first Penguins game dutifully recorded by an iPhone. The Gettos travel home every year to coincide with Fort Ligonier Days, which start today.

Couple with that the chance to hoot and holler during the 2 minutes, 9 seconds it took the Penguins’ fourth Stanley Cup banner to reach the rafters, amid billowing smoke and lights? Yeah, sold.

“It all worked out,” Mr. Getto said.

Shadyside residents Ian Huggard and Madisen Morse stood along Centre Avenue, admiring the building and its new signage, eagerly anticipating what they were about to experience inside. They paid “four times face value” for their seats in the upper bowl.

Mr. Huggard called ticket prices “jacked up” but didn’t question for a second the cost incurred to shower co-owner Mario Lemieux with his approval, the biggest and most obvious cheer of the evening.

“Watching their turnaround last season was special,” Mr. Huggard said. “We had to be here.”

Could you blame Randy Carper for making the plunge, either? The 61-year-old Cranberry resident moved east, to Gettysburg, in the middle of the 2000s, leaving town not long after the Penguins’ playoff chances.

Mr. Carper plunked down money for season tickets, though, when he moved back two years ago, and he always has wanted to attend a banner-raising ceremony. Toss in an exciting team, one no longer for sale, and nearly identical to last year's championship version? Deal, Mr. Carper said.

“That's a really nice thing,” Mr. Carper said. “It's the same guys, so you get to honor them again.”

Perhaps Mr. Carper really wanted to hear Nick Bonino’s name repeated with a Punjabi twist. Or Phil Kessel, still a Stanley Cup champion, fight off a smile when his teammates razzed him during pregame introductions. Or Sidney Crosby, scratched with a concussion, surprisingly showing up in uniform and toting the Stanley Cup.

“The excitement really hasn’t ended from last year,” Mr. Carper said. “This is kind of the final celebration, the start of next year.”

That excitement pulsated through an emotional pregame ceremony, one with Mike Sullivan’s booming Boston accent bouncing around the Paint Bucket and his “just play” mantra driving a highlight video.

After the video and introductions concluded, Penguins players huddled around the blue line, just a few feet from where the banner was unfurled, and watched in awe as many leaned against their sticks.

The moment was extraordinary, a once-in-a-lifetime mental picture for them and everyone in attendance to capture, but it also represented a turning of the page, because the 2016-17 season was about to begin.

“We know it’s going to be a special moment when we’re on the ice, looking up at the banner,” Carl Hagelin said after Thursday’s morning skate. “After that, it’s the start of a new journey this year. We have an opportunity to do something great.”

Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.