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October 28, 2002
A COUPLE OF SNOOTY FANS HEAD INTO PITT
By Matt Petersen
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PITTSBURGH -- Off to the land of the Three Rivers, and
we finally encountered our first honest fan named
Jason with a few nice things to say to us
Californian’s. I innocently asked him to compare being
a hockey fan in Pittsburgh to one in California, and
he pulled no punches.
“Pittsburgh people are hard working people. Like, out
in Los Angeles, you’re probably rich people who like
to eat caviar during games,” said our friend Jason.
“But out here, we just like to see good old fashioned
physical hockey.”
Hey, finally some candid talk from a blue collar
hockey fan. Overall, we thought the fans were
fantastic in Pittsburgh. They were in an especially
candid mood on a night where ex-Pen Jaromir Jagr was
visiting with his new club the Washington Capitals.
Boo’s rained every time Jagr touched the puck, and
from our seats in the upper level of the Mellon
Center, the fans had some choice words for how Jagr
should be put into the boards. Jagr dazzled on the
night, but was held pointless in a losing effort,
including a point-blank shot on net with under ten
seconds that would have sent the game to overtime.
Pen’s netminder Johan Hedberg (an ex-Shark product)
was superb between the pipes in the 3-2 win, and put
on the finest showing by a goalie that we’ve seen thus
far. With 40 saves, he almost single-handedly won the
game for the Pens whose defense became a little porous
down the stretch. Fans bellowed “MOOOOOOOSE,” -- his
nickname from his days with his minor league club, the
Manitoba Moose -- with every save the young goalie
made.
But barely overshadowing the Moose’s performance was
seeing the sensational Mario Lemieux in his home
whites. After taking an errant puck in the face in the
second period, he came back on the ice (after a
prolonged stay in the trainers room, taking 22
stitches to his upper lip) to net a booming slap shot,
and assist on an Alexei Kovalev goal. Lemieux also had
an assist in the first period that added three more
points to his outstanding early season point total of
21 after nine games.
So our time at the Igloo, er, the Mellon Center capped
our time with the great Mario Lemieux. We were buzzing
on our way out since we figured that it could be the
last time we’ll see him live, and what a way to go
out.
The next day, we walked around a drizzly downtown
Pittsburgh that has been given a face-lift of sorts
lately with Heinz Field (Steelers) and PNC Park
(Pirates) now sitting splendidly among the landscape.
We saw how new buildings can really invigorate a
downtown area, but we think the Pens should hold on to
their great old stadium just down the Monongehela. We
sensed a certain character, an attitude in the Igloo,
that new stadiums just don’t provide. Although fans
here might have a different way of looking at it, we
say “Keep the Igloo!”
We didn’t have too much time to spare. We had to head
east for Toronto, and were looking forward to getting
there. Our half-day in Pittsburgh was great, and even
though there was no caviar for us at the game, we
won’t hold it against anybody.
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as they embark on their quest to set a World Record
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Game #9 10/28/02
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