Pittsburgh Penguins Tickets

Years before the Penguins became a part of the NHL in the first ever expansion in 1967-68, Pittsburgh was the home of the NHL's Pittsburgh Pirates; a team named after the city's long-time baseball team. From 1925-1930 their tickets were printed for home games in Pittsburgh before they relocated to become the Philadelphia Quakers. The Quakers had its franchise dissolved without question after a lackluster performance.

Hockey returned to Pittsburgh in the mid-1930's in the form of an AHL franchise called the Hornets. When the Duquesne Gardens was torn down, the Hornets left the city and then returned for the 1961-62 season and set up shop in the new Civic Arena. In 1967, the Hornets were the AHL Calder Cup Champions and a must have ticket for anyone in the Pittsburgh area. The Penguins soon entered the picture and once again the Hornet's took flight.

While the Penguins did not give their fans much in return for the price paid for a ticket to see a game, the one enduring mark they made in those years was the setting of the record for the fastest five goals by a single team in a game (2 minutes, 7 seconds).

Andy Bathgate, Earl Ingarfield and Ken Schinkel, were all veterans who provided a strong and stable foundation for the Penguins to build upon; all with players who were over 30.

Over the years since the team was founded, the Penguins struggled to grab hold of victory for long enough to buy a ticket to the Stanley Cup finals. Then, 1984 brought a new ticket for hope within the franchise when the Pittsburgh Penguins drafted Mario Lemieux of the Laval Titans in the Quebec Junior Hockey League and brought him into the igloo. Mario immediately established himself as perhaps the next Wayne Gretzky and a major force to be reckoned with. In 1985, he won the Calder Cup as rookie of the year and then the Hart and Art Ross Trophies in 1988.

In 1989, the Penguins drafted Grant Jennings, Ron Francis, and Ulf Samuelsson. The next year, they scooped up Czechoslovakian Jaromir and then Bob "Badger" Johnson was named as head coach. The time was just right and the Penguins won their first Division title in 1990-91. Then, for the first time, they stole the Stanley Cup from their opponent - the Minnesota North Stars.

The dominance of Lemieux continued to improve and take control of the league. He was one of the only players who would interrupt Gretzky's domination of the Art Ross and Hart Trophies. The following season, the Penguins won yet another Stanley Cup with a four game sweep of the Chicago Black Hawks. They followed up the back to back wins by earning the Presidents Trophy for the most points in the league.

Tragically, Lemieux succumbed to a back injury and was also diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. He returned in early March to capture another scoring title. Just prior to the 1994-95 season, Lemieux announced he would take a years leave of absence to recover from his injuries and illnesses. At the end of the 1996-97 season, Lemieux retired as he still held 14 Penguin team records, and still remains in the top 10 all time scoring leaders. He remains as once of the only NHL players to ever average more than 2 points per game average, in addition to surpassing the 2857 goal marker set by Wayne Gretzky. While in a league all his own, Lemieux helped to define the spirit that Penguins and provided a ticket to the future of the organization while maintaining the spirit the rose it above the ground level of its inception.

The new arena that was constructed in the early 60's and it had a roof that resembled an igloo. It was not much of a stretch to iron out the name of the new hockey team. Despite early fears, the fans quickly adopted the Penguins into their civic family, forgiving a lackluster first season that ended with the Penguins in 5th place.