Last night was the fourth edition of Pittsburgh Penguins Wives Association's Pens and Pins event at Crafton-Ingram Lanes. The event, which is the brainchild locally of Brooks Orpik's girlfriend, Erin Lilly, is not only a great cause, but a great time. Erin, along with the Pittsburgh Penguins Wives Association, and the Make A Wish Foundation and Manager of Special Events, Stephanie Pugliese have done a fantastic job of making this a premiere event for any Penguins fan. Last year, in addition to giving many Wish Kids a wonderful evening with their heroes on ice, the event raised more than $47,000 dollars for the Make A Wish Foundation of Western Pennsylvania. This year's event topped that by raising more than $54,000 for the cause, along with giving 18 Wish Kids and their families an evening to remember with the classiest group of athletes you will ever meet. The concept is that each group of 4 bowlers is captained by a current coach or player for the Pittsburgh Penguins, so that each group has very direct access for the evening to at least two Penguins players the way the lanes are set up. In reality, you wind up getting to speak with and mingle with many of the players, all night long. Each and every one of the players takes the time to mingle with the fans, and if you are smart enough to follow the policy of only getting the T-shirt you are given signed, or the one jersey you are allowed to wear on your back signed, everybody is happy. It is very rare to have the opportunity to speak at length in such a relaxed casual atmosphere with members of your favorite team. I would belabor the history as I have full posts on each of the past two years on the blog, but as a refresher, in the two years prior to this that we have gone to the event, we have gotten to bowl with Matt Cooke and Pascal Dupuis respectively. Cooke, despite his on ice reputation, was a pretty soft spoken, thoughtful, nice guy who talked a lot about his family and the transition from Vancouver to Pittsburgh. Duper, was just as you see him on Root Sports interviews, happy go lucky, funny and very friendly. He even called one of my daughter's friends at home that night when we told him that he was this girl's favorite player. The call moved the girl to tears. At any rate, my point is that it is even easier to be big fans of this team when you get to interact with them personally. This year we hit the jackpot in terms of star power, bowling on a lane with Marc Andre Fleury, and adacent to Jordan Staal, Evgeni Malkin, and Sidney Crosby. It was intersting to me to get the chance to speak directly with those guys, as other than Sidney Crosby once, I had never really spoken to any of the other guys on our lane prior to this event. Geno, was much more open and outgoing than I had ever imagined. He was able to kid around with everybody in the mix, and gave me a couple of minutes early in the event to talk about the season he is having. I found him to be very intense and sincere about his desire to carry this team to the Cup, and very modest about the performance he has delivered thus far this season! His main response to the statement of how other worldly his play has been was along the lines of, "Thank you, I'm hope I can keep playing dis goot!" Getting a little one on one time gave me a whole different perspective on what seems to be a maturing player, who can put a team on his back and take it DEEP into the post season. Jordan Staal, was very much at ease goofing off with Fleury and Malkin, but a little more reserved at first when speaking to us. Once you start speaking with him though, he is another very self deprecating, humble guy, who seems to want to just contribute to the overall well being of the team. We got to talk about the toughest teams to play against this season in the East, NYR, and Boston, the success of his family in the NHL, and the status of his younger brother Jared, who is seeing diminished ice time at the AHL level. Staal is one of my favorite Penguins, and nothing from our encounter did anything to change that, it only enhanced it. Fleury made me, a long time fence sitter, come completely over to the "love Fleury" side. Fleury, as polarizing a sports figure as we have when it comes to whether he is an elite goalie that is Hart Trophy worthy, or a mediocre goalie riding the strength of his overall team, is just a downright nice guy, who you would enjoy hanging out with any day of the week. Despite all of the people who ultimately invaded our/his space seeking photos and autographs, Marc stayed very friendly with all, and still gave my girls and I a lot of one on one time. We talked about everything from specific players, his love of the shootout, his love of cars, boating, and the stretch run ahead of us, and it was as easy going as talking to an average Joe on the street. We could agitate him when he missed a shot bowling, bet him on missing a split and he gave it back to me about my complete lack of games, as did Geno Malkin. Fleury really gave my daughters the VIP treatment, and that I will never forget. So, though I have sat right in the middle on elite, Hart worthy goaltender v above average goalie, who has elite victory totals and a championship due to the caliber of the TEAM, I am certainly not in the middle in terms of my admiration for the Marc Andre Fleury the person. I also had some brief conversations with 87, and I did not know what to think of the chances of him coming back. He is certainly not going to tell a hack like me something that the media cannot get out of him relative to his status, but I got what I would call CAUTIOUS optimism as a feeling relative to his coming back this season. He was very non commital on the topic, stating that he "is getting there" and that he hopes to play this season. All four players seemed to be very sincerely interested in the Wish Kids and their families even getting a little emotional at times during the evening. There are some other members of the Penguins organization that I have to give a quick shout out to. Coach Disco is a family favorite here. After a great evening at dinner which occurred two months ago, we were surprised to walk up to Coach and be greeted with first names for me and one of my daughters, as well as a question related to our banners at our seats not being there the past few games. He also asked when and if we would do our annual behind the bench night, and gave my daughters several minutes of his time to start the evening. They both love the guy, and given the way he has treated us in a couple of encounters, it is hard not to feel the same. My oldest was star struck to spend some time talking to Kris Letang, and getting the photo opportunity that came with it. If I heard that he is beautful one more time, I may have lost my mind! I got to ask about the effects of his new offseason work out routine, developed by an MMA trainer meant to add strength, but to really add endurance and cardio. He felt that this program is why he looks fresh while logging 25 minutes or more of ice time each night against the opponents' top line. My youngest thinks Tyler Kennedy is beautiful.......like Tyler a lot, but no comment there, and got her picture taken again this year, but without tears for the first time! Cooke was his usual fun self, and made us all feel good again, remembering the family, as did Pacal Dupuis, Coach Granato, and my main man the AA Enforcer all remembered the family and gave us some quality time chatting. AA signed my hat, "When in doubt, knock them out!" Finally, we had a few occasions to chat with Chris Kunitz, my pick for unsung hero of the team, and he is another guy who simply could not be nicer. All in all, another very memorable evening for my family mingling with our favorite sports personalities and more importantly contributing to a great cause. Seeing the smiles on the faces of the families and children tied to Make A Wish, knowing that we had contributed to the event was very satisfying to us. We will back next year, and hopefully the event can crack the 60K barrier. Thanks again to Erin Lilly, Stephanie Pugliese, the Pittsburgh Penguins Wives Association, and of course the Penguins themselves for making a difference in so many lives.
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