7:00 PM
Know the Enemy:
Sure, it's just a preseason game, but we've all been waiting for this moment.
Think of how you felt after game seven against Montreal. As you watched the Habs celebrate on Pittsburgh ice, all you wanted in the world was to see the Pens play another hockey game.
Then think even father back than that. Think about when Mario Lemieux first put a shovel in the ground during a ceremony for what would become the CONSOL Energy Center. As you watched that, all you wanted in the world was to see a hockey game in that arena.
And then think about a few other moments from the past. Like the day the Penguins declared bankruptcy, or when the slots license wasn't awarded to Isle of Capri or the time Mario Lemieux himself toured the Sprint Center in Kansas City. At that point all you wanted was a new home for the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh.
Now we have that home.
Everything we've been waiting for during the last few years is now here.
Sure, it's just a preseason game, but it's more than that.
It's a hockey night in Pittsburgh, and it's a great day for hockey.
Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Brooks Orpik
will dress tonight to say hello to the new arena.
Brett Sterling - Sidney Crosby - Pascal Dupuis
Eric Tangradi - Mike Comrie - Evgeni Malkin
Tim Wallace - Mark Letestu - Tyler Kennedy
Ryan Craig - Joe Vitale - Jesse Boulerice
Brooks Orpik - Zbynek Michalek
Kris Letang - Brian Strait
Corey Potter - Andrew Hutchinson
Marc-Andre Fleury
Brad Thiessen
It's our first chance to see the Tangradi-Comrie-Malkin line in game action.
Brett Sterling gets a chance on the first line alongside Crosby and Dupuis.
Johan Franzen - Valtteri Filppula - Todd Bertuzzi
Jiri Hudler - Mike Modano - Daniel Cleary
Mattias Ritola - Darren Helm - Patrick Eaves
Drew Miller - Justin Abdelkader - Aaron Downey
Brad Stuart - Jakub Kindl
Jonathan Ericsson - Ruslan Salei
Derek Meech - Brian Lashoff
Chris Osgood
Thomas McCollum
No Datsyuk, Zetterberg or Lidstrom for the Wings.
Bettman must have paid them to stay home so the Pens have a chance at winning in the new building.
Make sure you give Chris Osgood a nice welcome to the CONSOL Energy Center.
__
Mike Lange will call the game tonight.
For future gameday posts, if you want to send in arena pictures, Photoshops or anything else, send them to
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
.
Make the subject of your email "Gameday."
Tonight, for the first time in Penguins history, the team will play a home game in a venue other than the Igloo. For the first time, thousands of dedicated, excited Pens fans will file through the doors of the CONSOL Energy Center ready to cheer their team to victory.
Across the street sits the Civic Arena. She has done her job well for years and her time is coming to an end. She knows those thousands of fans and hundreds of thousands of other fans just like them. She's been there for the ups and the downs, the highs and the lows. Tonight she'll hear the roar of the crowd when a goal is scored and she'll know she's done her job well. Tonight she will watch as the torch is passed.
The CONSOL Energy Center is the dream we've all hoped for. It's the new palace of hockey in this town. And now it's time to do our job and fill it with noise and make it home. The Detroit Red Wings are in town; the only team to raise the Stanley Cup inside the Igloo. They need to know that this is our new home and that we will defend it.
Is it preseason? Definitely. Tonight's game means nothing in the grand scheme of things, but to us it means more than that. It means welcoming the team to our new building. It means continuing old traditions and starting new ones. It means hockey.
And that's it. Plain and simple, it means hockey. Hockey is back in Pittsburgh. Not Kansas City or Hamilton or Las Vegas. Pittsburgh.
"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."
Do It.
Go Pens.
