Pittsburgh Penguins Practice at Mellon Arena

The main purpose of my trip to Pittsburgh was to interview Penguins goaltender Marc-André Fleury. As Tuesday morning rolled around, I walked from the nearby Doubletree Hotel, where I was staying, to Mellon Arena.

There were teenagers hanging around one of the gates, clearly waiting for the players to appear. They were promptly kicked out, as there’s a rule that you can’t form a line at the arena until four hours before game time. It was not yet 10:30 a.m.

After waiting at Gate 2 with Jordan Staal’s girlfriend and family, we were let in to see the practice. I was given my official media pass and took a seat a few rows up from the net. The local sports media were busy making notes about line changes and rumours flying around the rink. I, meanwhile, took out my video camera and got some clips of the Penguins on their game day skate. See video below.

(Video Notes: The Pittsburgh Penguins taking shots at goaltender Marc-André Fleury at their game day practice on December 30, 2008 at the Mellon Arena. Featuring (in order): Brooks Orpik, Alex Goligoski, Jordan Staal, Matt Cooke, Pascal Dupuis, Miroslav Satan, Ryan Whitney, Petr Sykora, and Sidney Crosby.)

Afterwards, I followed the rest of the media into the locker room to interview the team. The largest cluster was around Sidney Crosby, of course, while the rest buzzed around getting quotes from the other players.

I introduced myself to Marc-André and let him know that I would be interviewing him the next day. He was warm, gracious and extremely down to earth. I then spoke with the Penguins goaltending coach Gilles Meloche, who only had great things to say about Fleury.

On the way out, I got lost (which is usual for me!). I turned around a corner and bumped into Sidney Crosby deep in conversation. I had to interrupt him to get directions out and finally ended up at the exit.

I walked out laughing at myself, greeted by fans waiting at the parking lot gates for a view of their favourite hockey player. They eyed me suspiciously, likely wondering how I got inside and who I was.

Tags: Alex Goligoski, Brooks Orpik, Doubletree Hotel, game day skate, Gilles Meloche, goaltender, Jordan Staal, Marc-André Fleury, Matt Cooke, Miroslav Satan, Pascal Dupuis, Petr Sykora, Pittsburgh Penguins, Practice at Mellon Arena, Ryan Whitney, Sidney Crosby