Mario Lemieux, Sidney Crosby, Jaromir Jagr, Evgeni Malkin, Scotty Bowman, Paul Coffey, Ron Burkle, “Doc” Emrick, Gary Bettman and Craig Patrick are among the featured interviews in a new documentary about the 50-year history of the Pittsburgh Penguins, set to be released in mid-November.
The Pittsburgh Penguins captured the Stanley Cup at the end of the 2015-2016 NHL season. Defenseman Derrick Pouliot, a former Weyburn athlete, plays with the Penguins.
“Pittsburgh is Home: The Story of the Penguins” will debut in an exclusive event for season ticket holders on Tuesday, November 15 at the PPG Paints Arena at 7 p.m.
“Pittsburgh is Home: The Story of the Penguins” is a two-hour, 45-minute film. It will be available to the general public from November 18-22 at SouthSide Works Cinema. There will be four showings each day, with all proceeds benefitting the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation.
The TV premiere will be Friday, November 25 on ROOT Sports, immediately following the Penguins’ game at Minnesota. Starting on Monday, November 28, the entire film will be available online.
“It’s been an amazing process to work on a project that presents the history of our franchise in an entertaining, thought-provoking and compelling way,” said Leo McCafferty, the Penguins’ director of marketing, who served as the documentary’s director.
“We started with original owner Jack McGregor, followed the team through a series of ups and downs through the years, and ended with the fourth Stanley Cup championship in June 2016. It was quite a ride.”
The narrator of “Pittsburgh is Home: The Story of the Penguins” is actor Joe Manganiello, a Pittsburgh native. Other interview subjects include Ron Francis, Bill Guerin, Jim Rutherford, Marc-Andre Fleury, Pierre Larouche, Eddie Johnston, Les Binkley, Darius Kasparaitis, Mike Lange, Kris Letang, Ken Schinkel, David Morehouse, Mark Recchi, Ray Shero, Brooks Orpik, Paul Steigerwald, Larry Murphy, Jordan Staal, Rick Tocchet and Max Talbot.
The film also features rarely-seen footage from Penguins history.
At the start of their 2016-2017 NHL season, the Penguin welcomed 27 alumni from the first decade of the franchise to commemorate the “Early Years” as part of the team’s 50th season celebration.
“A lot of things have changed over the years,” said general manager Jim Rutherford — who played for the Pittsburgh Penguins from 1971-74. “The arena has changed, the players have changed, the names of the players have changed, but one thing will never change — the great memories that we have made in this organization.”
The special guests were also thrilled to see how the franchise has grown over its 50 years from a team facing bankruptcy and empty seats to a thriving organization with over 400 consecutive sellouts and four Stanley Cups.
While the alumni spent the day at current rink among this season’s players and fans, they mostly reminisced about their days with the Penguins organization.
