How you became a Penguins fan ?

[Ozz]

I got into hockey in the early 90s, and my local Bruins were on pay TV which I didn't have. So I watched whatever games were televised, and the combination of the Cup win, Mario, and the exciting new Jagr were it for me. I didn't even dislike anybody back then, I didn't get to watch enough of anyone.

 

[froods]

I honestly don’t know. I don’t have a specific moment. I just remember being a kid and couldn’t understand how Mario was so good and the team was so bad. Like 5 teams didn’t make the playoffs.

 

[3074326]

Played hockey when I was a kid and had many 'favorite' teams (including the Pens). Mario sealed the deal when I saw him in person. Pens were the closest team though, which is why we made the drive.

Jackets didn't exist for another decade. People in Columbus don't seem to understand that sometimes. I had 10 or so years of fanship with a team featuring Lemieux, Jagr, Francis, Coffey, etc etc etc and saw a couple titles.... **** no I'm not rooting for someone else instead. lol

 

[Gold Diamond]

Born and raised in Greensburg, PA. It was Steelers, Pirates, Penguins. Was a casual fan in the early 90's, so I don't remember that much about the 1st 2 Cups, but as I got older, I started to be interested in hockey - the only sport I never learned to play growing up. I started following the Pens during the 96 playoffs, and have followed them religiously for the past 22 years.

 

[FreeBobbyFarnham]

Got a Mario Lemieux video cassette on my 8th birthday. Been a fan ever since.

 

[Beauner]

I was exposed to every sport pretty early (I was 2 when I went to my first baseball/hockey games). Apparently even for a 2 year old I was extremely attentive as to what was going on during the games. I probably fell in love with the sport before I even really knew what the Penguins were and who Lemieux/Jagr were. But living in Pittsburgh it didn't really take long to understand and fall in love with the team.

 

[Shady Machine]

My dad and uncles grew up in Penn Hills and played hockey as kids. My Grandpa was a referee in Pittsburgh youth hockey in the 60's and 70's. I grew up near Irwin PA and was a Pens fan as long as I can remember (born in mid 80's). Learned to play hockey on a makeshift ice rink in my back yard during the 92 Cup run.

 

[Ms Maggie]

My sons started playing when they were little guys so I developed an interest. Being from Pittsburgh naturally became a Pens fan. About mid 90s I think.

 

[Shaffer]

Proximity and Parents. Basically had no choice lol

 

[Gurglesons]

Born and raised in a State College. Penguins were better than the Flyers when I was growing up.

 

[BladeRunner66]

A foolish, almost blind old scientist inadvertently dropped a radioactive isotope on me while experimenting with mutating genes in 1984. When he went to sleep early, i got out of my swimming tank and awkwardly fell on a remote control that turned an old TV on. First thing i saw on the almost broken machine was this blurry image with weird sounds running on:

That woke the old man up and seeing how fascinated i was with hockey, he went to get me a bowl of sardines while my mutant brain quickly learned the language spoken by the strange talking box.

Years later before passing on he gave me a parting gift, a giant keyboard that i'm now using to write this with my flippers.

 

[SUBdrewgANS]

as a kid I loved hockey, but didn't really "follow" it. I was too young to really understand how standings, rules and all that worked. I would just watch it when it was on.

I grew up in the Harrisburg area, which is geographically closer to Philly, but I got the Pittsburgh sports channel FSN Pittsburgh. That was the channel I found hockey on the most. I don't recall the season I really started to actually follow hockey the Penguins. The first jerseys I remember them wearing were the pigeon jersey, so it was in that year range.

I had a huge Jagr poster on my wall that my grandpa gave me, so he was my first favorite player. I unfortunately really started to actually follow the team in the early 2000's.. Boy I had no idea what I was in for! haha I dove right into those dark dark years.

 

[Lukin1978]

The first time I watched Lemieux make everyone else look like amateurs.

 

[RSPens]

From BC, Canada...was a fan of the Flames, but there was just something about this Mario guy and since he was my favorite player I decided to like the team that drafted him. This decision came when I was 5 (probably my only memory from that age) in 1987.

 

[OLDPENSFAN]

It was November 1967, I was 7 years old and my cousins got tickets to the first season for the Pens. I didn't know any thing about hockey but the city was bubbling over about this new team in town. It took about 5 minutes for me to fall in love with the Penguins and sport of hockey. After that game I was hooked for the rest of my life. I have seen over 500 Pens games in the last 50 years. I live in DC and I am hating life right now but I know that Pens will bounce back. Every year I see at least 10 Pen games. ( In DC, Pitt or Philly) I will tell you how much of a Pens fan I am: Valentine's day 1987, Pitt vs Van, I proposed to wife between the 2nd and 3rd period. All I remember was that she said yes and final score was 4-4. The rest of the game and night I was in a state of panic, because I just asked my wife of 30 yrs to marry me. When the Civic Area was going to be torn down I contacted the Penguins front office and asked for the two seats (Section d, row 9, seats 1,2) I was sitting in when I proposed. I never heard from them. I will always be a Pittsburgh guy especially a Penguin fan until I stop breathing.

 

[icon6668]

Jagr on the cover of NHL98 on PC . That was my first move into following the NHL (not might ducks movies). I then found about #66 a year or so later and have followed them ever since.

 

[shills]

I went to my first game in the 77-78 season, sat a couple rows behind the bench and was hooked ... the speed, the fights, the excitement of a goal being scored. They were still wearing the blue uniforms, but I thought the logo of the skating Penguin was cool. I was 7 years old.

I remember being real into the 81-82 season. Collecting hockey cards. Loved Randy Carlisle, Michel Dion, Paul Baxter, Rick Kehoe. Loved that they were wearing black and gold too.

Then #66 came along and everything changed even more ... I couldn’t get enough hockey ... or Mario! Got his autograph at a signing at Giant Eagle that rookie year. Still have his growth chart poster giveaway.

I was there for 5 goals / 5 different ways ... the 1990 All-Star Game ... will never forget the first Cup ... or any of them ... or when they won the lottery for #87.

Haven’t stopped loving the Pens since that first night and it has been a thrill ride ever since!

 

[Peat]

I grew up in the hockey wasteland that is the UK so I never got a chance to love the game early. But nearly 5 years ago now), I met a girl online with whom I really clicked. We'd joke about how I was going to get a mail order bride and she'd say she'd be a perfect one as she baked cupcakes and loved sports. Well, we kept on talking and talking and that joke got steadily out of hand until the point we agreed to "date" and for me to come visit her.

Shortly afterwards she informed me that I was now a Pittsburgh Penguins fan.

Saw my first game in March 2014 against the Caps (I am still 3-0 on seeing the Pens play the Caps in person). I wasn't truly suckered in until I visited the States for 3 months at the beginning of 2016. In retrospect, I probably picked the best possible time or worst possible time to get into hardcore Pens fandom. It'll probably never be as good again.

 

[Hans Klopek]

he went to get me a bowl of sardines while my mutant brain quickly learned the language spoken by the strange talking box.

Sardine? (nice story)

I grew up in the hockey wasteland that is the UK so I never got a chance to love the game early. But nearly 5 years ago now), I met a girl online with whom I really clicked. We'd joke about how I was going to get a mail order bride and she'd say she'd be a perfect one as she baked cupcakes and loved sports. Well, we kept on talking and talking and that joke got steadily out of hand until the point we agreed to "date" and for me to come visit her.

Shortly afterwards she informed me that I was now a Pittsburgh Penguins fan.

So how does the story end, did you ever marry the girl, did you ever go exploring?

 

[BladeRunner66]

Sardine? (nice story)

Thanks, sardine = A young pilchard or other young or small herring-like fish.

Slurp!

 

[EVGENIMERLIN]

Stepdad is from the Burgh and when he and My mom got together it was the first cup run. I was hooked on that team. We've always been super close, but it was definitely Hockey that bonded us at first.

 

[71GenoMalkin]

Mario. Late November 1984. I'm a born and raised Calgarian. My dad was a huge Habs fan, and Guy Lafleur was all he ever talked about. It rubbed off on me and I wore #10 playing minor hockey. In late November I was watching Hockey Night in Canada and Guy was doing an interview and was going on about this kid from Montreal that had smashed his junior records and was going to be a star. I was only 8 years old, but when Guy announced his surprise retirement, I recalled that interview in my mind and shortly after saw a different interview with Mario who said he idolized Guy growing up etc etc. The connection was made. If Guy was retiring, I needed a new favorite player and Mario was it. In the 34 years since, I can honestly say that I have never once waivered, not even during the lean years.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mario a few times at Flames games. I snuck into a Pens practice in 1991-92. Craig Patrick saw me wearing my Pens hat and started talking to me. I was afraid he was going to ask me to leave. Quite the contrary. I said that I was here to see Mario. He informed me that he was not practising but to wait for a few minutes in my seat by the Pens bench. A few minutes later, he told me to follow him. Just as we turn the corridor, Mario was standing there in a white Pens robe holding a stick. He shook my hand, signed my hat and handed me the stick he had just signed. That stick is now framed and hanging proudly in my home. It's the Penguins forever for this wannabe Yinzer.

 

[Lomez]

I live in Pittsburgh. That's it. It's what you do. Yes, boring, so I was going to make up a really interesting story to compete with some of the really great posts in this excellent thread, but I concluded that might be churlish.

 

[SouthGeorge]

From birth. I had no choice. This is how a lot of babies are born in Pittsburgh. They do the same with the Pens too.

 

[MartinS82]

Was playing hockey for a couple of years in So Cal before "The Trade". Had to be cooler than all the bandwagon Kings fans so I started up a strong "Lemieux is better than Gretzky" campaign. Never looked back.

Been a hardcore Pens fan since 88/89...seen them play live probablly 30+ times (including a regular season game in Sacramento). Never set foot in Pittsburgh - it's my Mecca, and one day I will make make the trip.