Sidney Crosby, Pascal Dupuis, Maxime Talbot and a few Capitals players did their best impression of Jeff Reed, the Steelers kicker, at Heinz Field on Tuesday afternoon. However, instead of kicking the ol’ pigskin through the uprights, the players did an NHL version of field goals.

With a puck on the edge of their stick and placed at the base of a ramp, each player took turns snapping shots high into the stratosphere and between the two rising yellow poles.

The three Penguins and their two Capitals counterparts (David Steckel and Mike Knuble) competed in three friendly rounds of varying distances – from the future near blue line, red line and far blue line.

“That was a lot of fun,” Talbot said. “I felt like I was in Jeff Reed’s shoes for one day. It was not easy to do that. I do not have the strongest forearms, but I think it was a great event.”

“It’s not easy to do that,” Crosby said. “It’s nice to do something like that to spice things up like that. That’s probably something none of us will ever get to do again.” Continue reading »

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby hoped to wait until CONSOL Energy Center was completely finished before he stepped foot inside the Penguins’ new home. With most of the major construction complete outside of a few nuts and bolts here and there, the Penguins superstar made his first visit to the arena on Tuesday afternoon, as he and Penguins Hall of Fame owner Mario Lemieux christened the ice surface.

Crosby and Lemieux became the first people to skate at CONSOL Energy Center when they each hit the ice together shortly after 2 p.m. The pair emerged from the Penguins locker room in their warmup gear, walked to separate doors on the Penguins bench and skated onto the ice in unison as Penguins’ employees and construction workers looked on.

For Lemieux, it was the culmination of all the years of hard work he and his ownership group devoted to make the CONSOL Energy Center a reality for the city of Pittsburgh, while Crosby was appreciative to have the chance to be one of the first people skate on the CONSOL ice.

“It felt great to be able to skate for the first time with Sid,” Lemieux said. “I think it was pretty special for all of us. It was a long time coming. We worked hard to get this accomplished. I’m glad we were able to do this today.”
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(I’ll get the photos up later)

One of the most important “firsts” in the history of CONSOL Energy took place today – Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby were the first to skate on the ice at Pittsburgh’s sparkling new arena.

The Penguins’ owner and captain came out of different doors on the Penguins’ bench so that their skates actually touched the ice at the same time.

“That was pretty special,” said Crosby, who got his first look at the new arena. “There are going to be a ton of things that happen here, so to go out there and be the first ones on the ice, that was pretty special. I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to skate with Mario.”
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We are still six months away from the drop of the puck between the Penguins and Washington Capitals at the 2011 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic at Heinz Field, but the details surrounding hockey’s grandest stage will begin to take shape as the NHL holds an introductory media conference on Tuesday.

Headlining the list of speakers expected to address the media at noon on Tuesday are NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, Penguins chairman Mario Lemieux, Penguins president David Morehouse, Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and Steelers president Art Rooney II.

Among the highlights of Tuesday’s media conference, which will be streamed live on PittsburghPenguins.com in addition to being broadcast nationally on NHL Network, are the unveiling of the 2011 Winter Classic logo and a mockup of where the ice rink will sit on the Heinz Field surface.

NBC and VERSUS play-by-play announcer Doc Emrick will be on hand to serve as the event’s emcee.
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Penguins captain Sidney Crosby won his fourth straight ESPY Award as the Best National Hockey League Player Wednesday night.

Winners are determined by online fan voting, which was conducted at espn.com

Crosby has now won more ESPYs than any other NHL player since the awards were created in 1993. He broke a tie with current Penguins owner Mario Lemieux, who won the ESPY three times (1993, 1994 and 1998).

In addition to Crosby’s individual honor, the United States-Canada Gold Medal Game at the 2010 Winter Olympics won the ESPY Award for Best Game. Canada defeated the Americans, 3-2 in overtime, on a game-winning goal by Crosby 7:40 into the extra session to capture the gold medal on home ice.