Penguins Continue Celebration With Championsip DVD Release Party

HOMESTEAD, Pa. -- The Pittsburgh Penguins continued the celebration of the franchise's third Stanley Cup (and first in 17 years) on Monday night with the release of their championship DVD at the Loews Waterfront Theatre in Western Pennsylvania.

In attendance were current Penguins Kris Letang and Tyler Kennedy, former Penguin player and current radio analyst Phil Bourque, team President David Morehouse, 400 or so lucky Penguins fans that won tickets to the VIP event, and the NHL's most terrifying mascot, IceBurgh.

Also in attendance? The Stanley Cup.


That's about as close as I could get, which is kind of a shame because I wanted to look it over in great detail and see if it was the actual Stanley Cup, or one of the backups (hint: Look for "Ass Man" or the "New York Ilanders." If you find them, it's the real deal).

About an hour before the showing, Letang and Kennedy arrived for their "red carpet interviews," and after their live TV appearances on the local news, they gradually worked their ways over to the rest of the assembled media, most of which, surprisingly, consisted of bloggers. In case you're wondering how in tune NHL teams are with the hockey blogosphere, consider Penguins vice-president of communications, Tom McMillan, appearing to be genuinely enthused to talk to, and share a laugh with, the folks from The Pens Blog.

Letang was the first player to work his way over to the scrum and talked about his summer (not much rest yet) and the early stages of free agency. Basically, it still hasn't hit him that his name is going to be engraved on the Stanley Cup.

"I don't think so, not yet," said Letang. "My friends, my family, we always talk about it so I always remember all the little details, like Max's (Talbot) two goals, and all of these little things. So you're always thinking about it and I still get excited when I think about it."

He also discussed the recent departures of defensemen Hal Gill and Rob Scuderi in free agency, and the impact that might have on next year's team.

"Yeah, obviously they did a great job and they were our shutdown defenseman for the whole playoff," said Letang. "Shutting down (Alex) Ovechkin, (Mike) Richards, (Jeff) Carter, (Eric) Staal, obviously that whole Detroit team. It's tough, but that's the way the NHL is right now. We'll have to fill in with some other guys, but we'll have a good team again."

As for his plans with the Stanley Cup: just some time with the family, followed by an appearance at a charity event for the Luc Bourdon foundation.

Kennedy, 22, talked about how he was looking forward to seeing the final seconds of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final in Detroit, and how he recently watched Game 4 on tape at his uncle's house. He already had the luxury of spending his 24 hours with the cup.

"I had it last Friday," said Kennedy. "I went to my cottage, went to a couple restaurants and things like that, but mostly just shared it with my family, which was just huge. When you see your grandparents lift the cup it's pretty special."

Also in attendance on Monday? The Conn Smythe Trophy. That Maple Leaf on the top looks like it's about to fall off at any moment.


The bottom row in the front features the most recent winners. The second one from the right already has Evgeni Malkin's name on it, while the one directly to its left features last year's winner, Henrik Zetterberg.