Face-off 2010 David Arrigo
Welcome to the PNC Legends Level Welcome to the PNC Legends Level, which salutes some of the greatest achievements in Pittsburgh Penguins history and showcases a collection of extraordinary art.
David Morehouse CEO & President Pittsburgh Penguins
Legendary moments are almost always the culmination of hard work, resilience and extraordinary achievement. Over the past several decades Pittsburgh Penguins fans have been fortunate to witness and share some of the game’s greatest moments, cherished moments of historic significance and remarkable milestones. From Mario Lemieux becoming the first and only player in NHL history to score five goals, five different ways in the same game … to three Stanley Cup championships … to the opening of this state-of-the art facility … these legendary moments define the drama and excitement that is Penguins hockey and provide a snapshot of what we may continue to see here at CONSOL Energy Center. PNC and the Pittsburgh Penguins share a commitment to excellence and achievement, which are clearly reflected in every moment savored here. On behalf of the Pittsburgh Penguins and PNC Wealth Management, we hope you will take a few minutes while you are here at CONSOL Energy Center to remember the greatest moments in Penguins history and together celebrate the game’s greatest athletes. Every moment is a singular achievement in an extraordinary story of one team, one city.
Jim Rohr
Chairman & CEO PNC Financial Services Group
The PNC Legends Level is dedicated to the legendary moments of the Penguins five-decade history. These classic moments are displayed around the PNC Legends Level for your enjoyment. Each Legendary Moment display includes details about the historic achievements of our greatest players and their milestones in team history.
First to 50, First to 100 A Cup for a New Generation 5 Goals 5 Ways Winter Wonderland A Goal For The Ages The Sid Lottery
The Building Came Unhinged
The Comeback
Going Overtime in Game 7
The Opening of CONSOL Energy Center
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FIRST TO 50, FIRST TO 100 March 24, 1976 There always has to be a first time and on March 24, 1976, it was two “firsts” on the same night. In a 5-5 tie against the Boston Bruins before a crowd of 15,966 at the Civic Arena, Pierre Larouche became the first player in Penguins history to score 100 points in a season, and Jean Pronovost became the first to ring up 50 goals. Larouche, who entered the game with 99 points, wasted little time on his date with destiny, opening the scoring with a goal at 17:09 of the first period to give the Pens a 1-0 lead and the place went bonkers. It was his 45th goal to go with 55 assists. Pronovost, who entered with 49 goals, let the suspense linger a bit longer, until the third period, but he sent the crowd into a frenzy with No. 50 at 11:01 of the third. It was somehow fitting on this special night that Prony’s 50th came off
Top: Heinz History Center Bottom: Pittsburgh Penguins archives
assists from his Century Line linemates, Syl Apps and Lowell MacDonald. Larouche finished the season with 53 goals and 111 points both of which established new team records in the Penguins’ ninth season of existence. Pronovost finished with 52 goals and 104 points. And fans here started to get the idea that up-tempo offense might be a part of the franchise’s DNA.
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1 2 3 4 5 Photo: Jim Kubus
FIVE GOALS, FIVE WAYS December 31, 1988 Of all the phenomenal accomplishments in his career, Mario Lemieux’s most unique feat came on December 31, 1988 against the New Jersey Devils when he became the only player in NHL history to score five goals five different ways in the same game. Before a New Year’s Eve crowd of 16,025 at the Civic Arena, Lemieux perplexed the Devils by scoring at even strength, on the power play, shorthanded, on a penalty shot and into an empty net in an 8-6 Penguins’ victory. The goal rampage began at 4:17 of the first period when Le Magnifique scored a “mundane” even strength goal. He followed with a shorthanded goal at 7:50 of the first and a power-play goal at 10:59 of the first
before connecting on rare penalty shot at 11:14 of the second. Then, as history beckoned, Lemieux squeezed an empty-netter onto the scoresheet with one second remaining in the game officially, at 19:59 of the third period to become the first and only NHL player to score “five goals five ways.”
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Celebrating one extraordinary moment after another. We can help you achieve your family’s wealth planning goals so you can savor life’s extraordinary moments.
Call H. Scott Cunningham, Regional Managing Director, 412-762-7235 or David Klasnick, Sales Director, 412-762-7813 or visit us at pnc.com/wealthmanagement
PNC Wealth Management is a proud sponsor of the Pittsburgh Penguins®.
PARTY WITH THE PENGUINS ENJOY FIRST CLASS AMENITIES WITH YOUR GROUP OF 40 TO 160 IN THE CANADIAN CLUB PARTY SUITES. YOUR GAME EVENT INCLUDES:
Delicious Buffet Dinner Special Penguins Gift for All Guests Flat Screen Televisions Great View of the Action For more information on this exciting new club, call 412-642-PENS or premiumseating@pittsburghpenguins.com
Photo: David E. Klutno / Sports Illustrated / Getty Images
A GOAL FOR THE AGES May 17, 1991 It began as a simple play, really. Phil Bourque sending a short and seemingly insignificant pass to Mario Lemieux in the Penguins’ defensive zone during Game 2 of the 1991 Stanley Cup Final. It ended as a goal for the ages. Lemieux stomped the accelerator, swooped through the neutral zone, split the mesmerized defense pairing of Neil Wilkinson and Shawn Chambers and began throwing fakes at the momentarily helpless goaltender Jon Casey. Moments later, Lemieux tucked the puck into the back of the net, and a Civic Arena crowd of 16,164 was on its feet, in full roar a bit bedazzled by what it had just seen.
For the record, the goal came at 15:04 of the second period, and it gave the Penguins a 3-1 lead en route to a 4-1 victory that tied the series. For posterity, it became the signature goal of Lemieux’s spectacular career and one of the greatest goals in Stanley Cup Playoff history.
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“THE BUILDING CAME UNHINGED”
Photo: Bruce Bennett Studios / Getty Images
May 26, 1992 Mere seconds remained in regulation time of Game 1 of the 1992 Stanley Cup Final at the Civic Arena. The Penguins, who once trailed the Chicago Blackhawks, 4-1, had clawed back to tie the game at 4-4, and now they were on a power play. The crowd of 16,164 already was in a frenzy as Ron Francis won the draw back to Larry Murphy, who launched a shot at the Chicago net. Goaltender Ed Belfour made the save, but the puck squirted into the left circle, where, as if pre-ordained by the hockey gods, Mario Lemieux was waiting to pounce. All it took was a flick of Lemieux’s wrists. Bedlam!
The dramatic goal at 19:47 of the third period gave the Penguins a 5-4 victory and set off maybe the wildest, loudest celebration in the history of the old arena. Said one longtime observer, “I think the building came unhinged.”
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THE COMEBACK December 27, 2000
Photo: Christopher Horner / Tribune-Review
son Austin, Lemieux made the decision to return to the lineup as a player and become the first player-owner of the modern era. The target date was Dec. 27 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Good luck if you didn’t already Lemieux had retired as a Pittsburgh Penguin in have a ticket. 1997 at the tender age of 31, having battled cancer and multiple back surgeries in a career The mood that night at Mellon Arena was beyond electric. A sellout crowd of 17,148 marked by breathtaking performances and already wedged in its seats by the pre-game two Stanley Cups. He’d won six NHL scoring warmup. Lemieux’s retired No. 66 jersey was titles, three MVP trophies, two Conn Smythe removed from the rafters in a stunning preTrophies as MVP of the playoffs. He had game ceremony, and his flair for the dramatic nothing left to prove. reappeared early as he recorded an assist 33 generated at BeQRious seconds into the game. Oh, and in the interim, he’d assembled a group of investors to buy the Penguins out Lemieux finished with a of bankruptcy and now was the first former player to serve as owner and chairman of the goal and two assists in a 5-0 Penguins victory, board. but the stats and the Coming back? details didn’t matter. The rumors were true after all. He was back. Yes. After a three-and-a-half year absence, feeling revitalized and inspired by his young The buzz started in early December, first as a rumor, then as an unconfirmed report, until it took a city and the sports world by storm. Mario Lemieux? Coming back?
GOING OVERTIME IN GAME 7
Photo: Doug Pensinger / All Sport
May 10, 2001 It doesn’t get much more dramatic than winning Game 7 of a playoff series in overtime.
playoff career, who fired the decisive shot that ended the series and sent the Penguins to the Eastern Conference finals.
The only time it’s happened in the history of the Pittsburgh Penguins was Game 7 of the 2001 Eastern Conference Semifinals against Buffalo and the Penguins, as underdogs, were on the road.
His wrist shot from the left circle past Dominik Hasek at 13:01 of overtime set off a wild celebration that saw Kasparaitis belly-flop to the ice, kicking his feet in the air as his teammates mobbed him. Penguins 3, Sabres 2.
Anyone trying to predict an OT goal-scorer that night would have gone for one of the spectacular talents on the roster: Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Alexei Kovalev, Martin Straka. Almost no one would have selected a hard-nosed, bone-crunching, stay-at-home defenseman from Lithuania named Darius Kasparaitis. But the hockey gods have a sense of humor. So naturally it was Kasparatis three goals in the regular season, one goal before this in his
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THE SID LOTTERY July 22, 2005 It all came down to a ping-pong ball at the 2005 NHL Entry Draft Lottery. A ping-pong ball to define the future. All 30 teams had a chance at the first pick in the first draft following the lockout, a pick that would yield 17-year-old Sidney Crosby, the most ballyhooed Canadian prospect in a generation. The Penguins, who had finished dead-last in the overall standings in 2003-04, the final season before the lockout, had only an incrementally higher chance than other teams to land the pick. The ping-pong balls to determine the order were selected in a private meeting led by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and representatives of all the teams but the results were kept secret for a brief time so the NHL
Photos: © Getty Images
could dramatically unveil the draft order on live television. It went in inverse order, from No. 30 on down, until only two teams remained, Anaheim and the Penguins. And then they went to a commercial.
Finally, Bettman returned to the podium with a card to unveil the winning team’s logo, and announced that the first pick of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft would go to … the Pittsburgh generated at BeQRio Penguins. Hello, Sidney Crosby.
WINTER WONDERLAND January 1, 2008 It snowed. That is the everlasting memory of the NHL’s first Winter Classic between the Penguins and the Buffalo Sabres on New Year’s Day 2008 at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo. It snowed.
Photos: © Pittsburgh Penguins / Gregory Shamus
came down to a shootout, and ultimately, it came down to Sidney Crosby. He was born for these moments. Even in the snow.
As Mike Emrick called it on NBC … “The game on his stick right here … SCORE! The idea was to return the sport to its roots, and the NHL succeeded, with a big assist from PENGUINS WIN!” the weatherman. Flurries fell in the morning and throughout the game, turning what had been an empty NFL stadium into a picture generated at BeQRious post card of hockey on an outdoor pond with the exception that these were NHL players, and there were 71,000 fans in the stands. The shovels came out to clear the ice on occasion, and the pace was slower than an indoor game without snow but no one cared. The teams were tied at 1-1 after regulation time and a five-minute overtime period, so it
A CUP FOR A NEW GENERATION June 12, 2009 The text message came from owner Mario Lemieux to each player the morning of the game. “This is the chance of a lifetime to realize your childhood dream to win a Stanley Cup. Play without fear and you will be successful!! See you at center ice.” And so the Pittsburgh Penguins headed into Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Final at Detroit with an inspiring directive and, if possible, some added motivation. “No question, getting that from Mario, it meant something special to us,” Marc-Andre Fleury said. It did. And so they went out and won a Cup for a new generation of Penguins, and
Photos: © Pittsburgh Penguins / Gregory Shamus
Penguins fans, as Max Talbot scored two goals and Fleury stopped 23 shots including a bullet from Niklas Lidstrom in the final seconds, a classic save for the ages. Around Joe Louis Arena, an astonishing number of Penguins fans who’d found their way into an enemy rink to chant “Let’s Go Pens” throughout the game “we felt the love” Talbot said let loose with a final, raucous cheer.
at BeQRio Evgeni Malkin won the Conngenerated Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs, Sidney Crosby became the youngest captain in NHL history to lead his team to a Cup and in the end they fulfilled their destiny. They saw their owner at center ice.
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THE OPENING OF CONSOL ENERGY CENTER October 7, 2010 Pittsburgh had a word-class hockey team and world-class fans. What it needed was a worldclass arena to complete the hat trick. It all came together on the night of October 7, 2010 – the first NHL regular season game in the history of CONSOL Energy Center, the city’s cutting-edge entertainment center and the new home of the Pittsburgh Penguins. A crowd exceeding the seating capacity of 18,087 soon saw a solitary figure appear at center ice for the dramatic opening ceremony, and it was only fitting that Mario Lemieux – the Penguins’ owner, the greatest player in the history of the franchise, the man who epitomizes hockey in Pittsburgh and the driving force behind the arena project – would be the one to christen the new palace.
Following the final game at Mellon Arena, which had been home to the Penguins since their inception in 1967, team officials had melted the ice, and the small bottle in Lemieux’s right hand contained some of that water.
In a unique Pittsburgh version of the “passing of the torch,” Lemieux poured the water onto center ice, symbolically transferring all the excitement and magic and history of Penguins generated at BeQRio hockey to the new arena. And the roar was deafening. Indeed, destiny had a new home.
legendary Art On the PNC Legends Level, guests will view Pittsburgh Penguins-themed art throughout. The Penguins’ world-class collection is a collaboration with Pittsburgh gallery owner James
Frederick of James Gallery. The mission was to create unique art forms depicting action, recording history and entertaining a diverse audience. James Gallery engaged an eclectic team of artists, graphic designers and fabricators to achieve the vision of the Penguins organization.
The result is a collection that emphasizes the speed and strength of the sport of hockey and the legends of this organization. James Gallery commissioned Pittsburgh graphic artist and photographer, JEANINE LEECH to develop a selection of photographic manipulations. Produced in large scale on highgloss aluminum panels, her images depict energy and speed inside the frames. The manipulated images portray the excitement of the game, maintaining focus on the player. MICHAEL LOTENERO, contemporary Pittsburgh Pop artist, combined illustration and fine art techniques to develop a series of hockey icons (skates, pucks, sticks, goalie mask and goal). Massive silkscreen-like murals are strategically placed, allowing multi-level vantage points. Lotenero’s images define the expansive arena walls, providing a stage for
the Penguins’ franchise players. His signature hand drawn outline technique is showcased on the series of images.
James Gallery engaged Pittsburgh designer STEPHEN STREIBIG to develop and fabricate the Legendary Moments installation series that punctuates the suite level along with a unique glass award wall, flanking the entrance to the executive offices. Concepts were realized in steel, sandblasted glass, LED lighting, and hand silk-screened prints, large format photos, archival objects, sports prose and tension cables.
Stephen created a dimensional piece, Frozen Moment, that focuses on a hockey puck streaking on a collision course toward the poised and alert Marc-Andre Fleury. A dark, abstracted iceberg lurks in the background of a frosty, transparent image conveying intensity and gravity reflected in this decisive moment.
2011-2012 PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
HOSPITALITY & VIP PACKAGES
| EXECUTIVE FIRST STAR EXPERIENCE | • Ten (10) seats together on the FedEx Level (lower bowl) close to the action • Pre-game event held in the California University of Pennsylvania Conference Center • First Star collectible gift for each guest
| CANADIAN CLUB PARTY SUITES | • 40 – 160 people • Includes buffet meal and soft drinks
| LINE CHANGE VIP EXPERIENCE | • Four (4) seats directly next to the visiting team bench • Pre-game game meal in the Lexus Club • Each guest receives a collectible gift
| SUITE 66 | • Twenty-six (26) tickets together near the Penguins bench • Access to private lounge featuring Mario Lemieux memorabilia • Upscale meal and open bar
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT THE PREMIUM SEATING DEPARTMENT: 412.255.1922 | premiumseating@pittsburghpenguins.com
Celebrating one extraordinary moment after another. We can help you achieve your family’s wealth planning goals so you can savor life’s extraordinary moments.
Call H. Scott Cunningham, Regional Managing Director, 412-762-7235 or David Klasnick, Sales Director, 412-762-7813 or visit us at pnc.com/wealthmanagement
PNC Wealth Management is a proud sponsor of the Pittsburgh Penguins®.
GREG SHAMUS, recognized as one of the top professional photographers in the sports industry and current Penguins team photographer, along with his predecessors, provided the foundation for the collection displayed on PNC Legends Level. THAD CHRISTIAN, motion artist and film /video editor, collaborated with James Gallery to develop a variety of art collages and murals on PNC Legends Level and throughout the CONSOL Energy Center (Captain Morgan Club, the Mario Mosaic and Locker Room graphics). Motion studies provided the insights for Slap Shot and Save, a dynamic mural flanking the entrance to the parking garage. Thad’s knowledge of the game and aesthetic ability, were instrumental to create multi-layered graphic situations that engage the players and the television audience during game interviews.
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
2011.12 SCHEDULE
Game dates, times, opponents, promotions, drives, collections and special days are subject to change due to national television broadcasting agreements.
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