After a disappointing end to the final year at the Mellon Arena, our family was eagerly awaiting the start of the 2010-2011 season. First, we were sure the Penguins would rebound from an early playoff exit to win the Cup, and it was the opening of the eagerly awaited Consol Energy Center. The CEC was touted as a state of the art building and the beginning of a new era in Penguins hockey. Our family got the surprise of a lifetime when we got a call in early September to let us know that a Penguins player would be delivering our season tickets! The family was excited to find out who it was that would come to our home, and we had so many what if sessions. What if it is Geno? What if it is Staal? How about Crosby? As it turns out it was an unsung hero of the team, Chris Kunitz who came to our home with our season tickets to open the 2010-2011 season. What a great surprise, and one heckuva nice guy. Our whole family and a couple of friends got to enjoy meeting Kunitz, along with beat writer Rob Rossi, and my ticketing agent, Amanda Gurney. We even got to give Chris the hockey jersey that represented the 10th anniversary of my company, Litigation Solutions, Inc.! Coon could not have been a nicer guy or better guest. The season itself got started on 9/22 as we got to see the unofficial opening of the CEC in preseason, as the Penguins beat Detroit 5-1. The official opening was not as kind to Pittsburgh as the Flyers came to town to open the building officially on 10/7/10, defeating the Penguins to start the new era in CEC by a score of 3-2. The Penguins would lose the next couple home games as well to Montreal and Toronto, before winning their first regular season home game at CEC on 10/15/10, a 3-2 OT win against the Islanders. What a strange year it became for our Pens. We started the year without Jordan Staal who was recovering from complications to his surgically repaired foot, and a broken hand. Staal would not make his debut until the Winter Classic on January 1st. Sidney Crosby tore up the league, scoring 66 points in the first 41 games, a 132 point pace, and adding a 25 game points scoring streak from 11/5 to 12/29. During this stretch, the red hot Crosby scored 50 points! Then came the Winter Classic, a supposedly second grand night in the inaugural season of the CEC. We rented a room right next to Heinz Field and took in all of the ambience for two straight days. Just like opening night, this big event was spoiled. First destroyed by rainy weather, then by the loss to the hated Capitals, but as it turned out, a hit by David Steckel may have changed the season for Pittsburgh. His blind side hit to Crosby, followed by a hit by Viktor Hedman on January 5th ended the season for Crosby, and put Pittsburgh behind the eight ball. Soon afte,r Evgeni Malkin had his season ended by torn ligaments in his knee, and the Penguins were without both heads of the two headed monster for the second half of the campaign. Their vaunted 3 center model had all three centers on the ice for about 5 PERIODS all year. A season of supposed highlights now looked like a lost season. But the experts who predicted the death of the Penguins were wrong. The Pens, despite all of their injuries found a way to not only stay afloat, but they remained a premiere team in the league, and Dan Bylsma added the Jack Adams Trophy as Coach of the Year to his resume! We were there for every game! Late in the season Shero moved Alex Goligoski to Dallas for James Neal and Matt Niskanen, a move that addressed the team's need for a scoring winger, and added a solid defenseman to the lineup as well. In a low risk, high possible reward move, the Pens added Alex Kovalev for a 7th round pick. Kovalev just flat out sucked, and James Neal struggled to put the puck in the net despite playing solid hockey. After a promising start to the playoffs that saw the Penguins take a 3-1 lead in the series against Tampa, they lost in 7, with another painful blow in a game 7 occurring on home ice in a 1-0 loss to the Lightning. My wife and I stood in the Consol until just about every fan had left soaking in the last minutes in our new building. Year one at CEC saw a loss on the home opener, a loss at the Winter Classic, the loss of Malkin and Crosby as major downers. It also saw the opening of a grand new building, half a season of the best hockey played in recent years by any player, the addition of James Neal, and the character of a team I have not been more proud of bringing home a Jack Adams for Dan Bylsma. In the end, the season started and ended with one goal losses on CEC ice, and the dream of a return to the Finals would have to wait at least one more year. On a positive note for us, the NHL network came out to the house and did a special on our fanatical love of the Penguins, but it was little solace.
As we awaited the start of the 2011-12 season, again the fan base of Pittsburgh was filled with hope. We had James Neal with a full camp under his belt, and both Crosby and Malkin coming back for the season, right? Mostly. Nealer wasted little time in starting what would be a breakout campaign for him that ended in 40 goals and 81 points, by scoring the first goal of the campaign on 10/6/2011 in Vancouver. Geno, after a mediocre start, won the Art Ross Trophy netting 50 goals and 109 points, and will likely walk off with the Hart Trophy at league MVP as well. Chris Kunitz anchored the top line hockey doing all of the little things that go unnoticed and added 26 goals and 61 points on top of that. Duper had a career season with 25 goals and 50 points despite playing all over the lineup, and Jordan Staal in only 62 games added 25 goals and 50 points. Crosby returned on 11/21 v the Islanders on a night I will never forget, and tortured them for 4 points. The CEC was rocking like Old Lady Mellon, and gave our family an evening we would never forget. Unfortunately, his return was short lived before another injury on 12/5 put him out for most of the rest of the season. He played a total of 22 games and added 37 points for Pittsburgh. Crosby missed most of the year, and players like Letang and Staal missed 20 or more games, yet the Penguins thrived again, amassing the second most points in the conference at 108 points, good for a fourth seed. As far as our family, we again had many great nights at the CEC, and surrounding Penguins hockey. The first night was a dinner we won at Alla Famiglia on 12/14/11 where we got to take the Bylsmas and Sheros to dinner with our kids! I kid you NOT! There are more details and photos in other posts on this blog, but in short, we got to see first hand how classy these families are, and I got to ask some questions. The one that stuck out to me, and in the end proved prophetic was when I asked which players that they have lost in trades or free agency would they most love to have back, and they BOTH felt the Rob Scuderi and Hal Gill were the two players they wished they had made a different decision on based on how the salary cap worked out. One of the most memorable nights of my adult life! Disco had plenty of "life advice" for my kids. We also support Pens and Pins, having bowled with Matt Cooke and Pascal Dupuis in the previous two years. Both men were great to talk to, and actually remembered us year by year, as did Chris Kunitz. I also do some side things for the kids there, and this year, as a thank you to us, we were bowling on a lane with Fleury, but included in the two lane area for us were also Crosby, Malkin, and Staal! Four of the nicest kids around, and if interested, you can read about all three years with the Pens and Pins on other posts on this blog. I had the pleasure of befriending Peter Neal, before knowing who he was early in the season, and got to enjoy lots of hockey banter with the father of one of my favorite players. In an interesting moment, as I was bemoaning what I thought was a fanbase who totally undervalued GoGo, Mr. Neal asked me if I had disagreed with the trade. I answered that as much as I liked Goligoski, I loved this Neal kid and what he brought to the table. At this point, Peter Neal revealed his identity by smiling and saying good, because James is my son!! Finally, ROOT Sports filmed a spot that debuted on March 5th, and ran through the playoffs that was filmed in our basement. Pretty cool to see your family on TV as part of the promotions tied to our favorite sports team. Anyway, we went into these playoffs healthy and full of hope for a return to glory. In the end, a late season lack of attention to detail, poor goaltending, and poor defensive play led to another early exit from the playoffs for the Penguins. I found this exit to be the most disturbing as a fan, as the team was healthy, and considered a favorite to win the Stanley Cup. They did draw a tough match up, but losing in the first round again has the Penguins needing to think about how they formulate their lineup going forward. As a family, I can tell you that again from September until April, the Penguins were the focal point of our social lives as we attended almost every home game, and hosted many parties in our Penguins game room. We even had a few nights in the early season by the fire outside watching the Pens in Vancouver and Calgary! We eagerly await the start of the 2012-13 campaign, ready for the roller coaster ride that is part of being a fanatic about a sports team, and I continue my quest to gather interesting Pens memorabilia to load up our Penguins room with. Going back over the three posts, it becomes readily apparent the prominent role the Pens have played in our lives, and the lives of many of you. I hope you enjoyed this post, and that you continue to check in from time to time. We will really heat up again in September, but will post from time to time in the summer! LETS GO PENS!!
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