Pittsburgh To Celebrate Penguins' 50th Anniversary
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Tickets are already on sale for the upcoming season. In less than 50 days, the Pittsburgh Penguins begin their fourth title defense of the Stanley Cup, in what will be the team's 50th season.
"Raising that fourth banner is just such an event in itself. It's going to feel like it did during the AMPA series, during the Sharks series. I am getting chills talking about it right now. It brings you back to what the Spring and Summer were like," said Pittsburgh Penguins Vice President Tom Kalna.
The team's brand new road jersey will help them ring in their golden anniversary. It went on sale Thursday. However, they can't keep shirts of other Pittsburgh heroes on their shelves -- the ones honoring local stars who will play for america in the upcoming world cup.
"You see as a Pittsburgher, these guys -- they loved the Mario and Sid years. They have grown up and they have become pros and here they are on the international stage and the Saad, Miller and Gibson -- that stuff is going to go pretty quickly," Kalna said.
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There hasn't been a lot of time to get ready for these big celebrations because the season went so long.
"When you drive eight weeks into the playoffs and you have weeks of celebration after. Bringing the cup out afterward, bringing it to sponsors, it has made summer more challenging but the reality is look at what we get to do on a daily basis. We are so fortunate," Kalna said.
And while the Penguins are the only defending Stanley Cup Champion, there will be three other teams celebrating the big 5-0 with them this year.
"You compete so fiercely on the ice with your rivals but we have talked to philadelphia; we have talked to l-a; we have talked to St. Louis -- the other teams celebrating 50 year anniversaries and we have shared some plans back and forth. We are looking for some things to do when we play each other in both rinks to add to that celebration," Kalna said.
But none quite like Oct. 13 when the Pens open the season by raising a banner for raising the cup.
