OT: Sudden Death film

[BrookswasHere44]

Watching the movie for the first time in forever and all I'll say is wow!

In the movie at the end of the 2nd their is a scene with the roof of the igloo opened and a fireworks display going on.

I haven't been to the igloo since I was a kid but I don't remember that happening or being a thing. That's fake right?

I feel like I remember it being possible or capable for the roof to open as an old opera house (not sure how much of this I'm making up)

Anyway long story short, did they open the roof for fireworks displays?

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[Harv]

I believe the filming for the movie was the last time the roof was actually opened. Opening it was regularly was expensive and time consuming because it was, well, old. And once they started hanging cables and the scoreboard from the roof it was pretty much sealed til the end of it's time.

They did have talks to try to open it up for one final time before it was torn down but the idea was scrapped because it wasn't worth all the costs of the repairs.

 

[PensPlz]

Terrible idea in the first place to have a retractable roof on an area where the weather is pretty bad in all 4 seasons. Not to mention it was built in a time where the air quality here was highly suspect.

Cool but not practical at all IMO.

 

[spiny norman]

I haven't watched it for a long, long time ... but I actually have the DVD.

 

[Jacob]

I was there once when they opened it. It was during a Phantoms game and it only opened partially as I recall. It was so slow and it sounded like two monolithic boulders sliding across eachother with a bunch of sand and grit in between.

The scoreboard that they installed post-Sudden Death prevented it from being opened since it attached to all the different panels of ceiling. And then I think with disuse and plugging leaks with tar & pitch and whatever else, it wouldn't have ever opened again even without the scoreboard.

It was a pretty incredible structure, but no doubt it eclipsed its life expectancy.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

That's a building that was simply too far ahead of its time.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

I thought the movie was pretty spot on.

 

[UnrealMachine]

This just reminds me how much I despise the new arena. I wouldn't trade my F-section experiences at the Igloo for a front row ticket at CEC.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

Was inside twice with the roof open - once for a Pittsburgh Triangles World Team Tennis match, and the other a concert, I think the PSO. I recall the sound similarly to how Jacob does above (although I only saw it working the one time, the other the roof was already open).

 

[UnderratedBrooks44]

Saw the movie in the theater with my dad and a friend at the time. I think all of us thought it was fairly cheesy. Cool to see a movie with a Penguin motif though.

There was also a movie called "She's Out of Your League" that had a scene at the arena but unfortunately they didn't bother to get any real players. The main character has an interaction with a player and he's just some made up guy with the last name "Ross" or something.

 

[OnMyOwn]

Saw the movie in the theater with my dad and a friend at the time. I think all of us thought it was fairly cheesy. Cool to see a movie with a Penguin motif though.

There was also a movie called "She's Out of Your League" that had a scene at the arena but unfortunately they didn't bother to get any real players. The main character has an interaction with a player and he's just some made up guy with the last name "Ross" or something.

That's a decently funny movie. The on ice stuff was from when we had Hossa. He gets knocked down and they complain about no penalty. Then Laraque scores later.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Did we scratch Van Damn's name on the Cup in 1992? He did come up big for us that series.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Back in those days, hockey wasn't really a part of American pop culture, so the Pens getting love from guys like Jean Claude Van Dam & Snoop Dogg was pretty sweet!

 

[SEALBound]

Did we scratch Van Damn's name on the Cup in 1992? He did come up big for us that series.

I believe they did. IIRC, there was as much dispute over the Conn Smyth that year as there was this year. Luc Robitaille scoring at the last possible second to send the game into overtime was as important of a goal as any Mario Lemieux goal that post season. I still think Luc got cheated.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

That's a building that was simply too far ahead of its time.

By a solid 25 years. It was an engineering marvel when it opened, for sure...unfortunately it sucked at what it was actually designed for and being able to open the roof wasn't an asset in any way for what would become its primary tenant.

I'm glad I got to experience the opening and closing of the roof in person once, at my first experience at the Igloo - a Disney Aladdin on Ice thing.

 

[Jacob]

I saw Sudden Death in theaters and I remember that it looked so dingy and poorly lit/colored/filmed that it made me nauseous. It looked like it was filmed in the 70s.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

I actually was there with my girlfriend for the filming.

They did it on a Saturday and wanted some live people there, and we had nothing better to do so said why not. They gave everyone a free hot dog and coke as payment. They still needed to have hundreds of cutout people in the stands, this was before CGI technology.

Was a cool experience, the Pens played WBS I think in what was like a preseason game.

 

[UnrealMachine]

I actually was there with my girlfriend for the filming.

They did it on a Saturday and wanted some live people there, and we had nothing better to do so said why not. They gave everyone a free hot dog and coke as payment. They still needed to have hundreds of cutout people in the stands, this was before CGI technology.

Was a cool experience, the Pens played WBS I think in what was like a preseason game.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

By a solid 25 years. It was an engineering marvel when it opened, for sure...unfortunately it sucked at what it was actually designed for and being able to open the roof wasn't an asset in any way for its primary tenant.

I'm glad I got to experience the opening and closing of the roof in person once, at my first experience at the Igloo - a Disney Aladdin on Ice thing.

In fairness, hockey wasn't the original primary tenant. Or at least it wasn't designed as primarily a hockey arena.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

In fairness, hockey wasn't the original primary tenant. Or at least it wasn't designed as primarily a hockey arena.

I worded that poorly. The roof wasn't an asset in any way for what would become its primary tenant.

The godawful acoustics mean the building was never good at what it was designed for (the Civic Light Opera).

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

I believe they did. IIRC, there was as much dispute over the Conn Smyth that year as there was this year. Luc Robitaille scoring at the last possible second to send the game into overtime was as important of a goal as any Mario Lemieux goal that post season. I still think Luc got cheated.

I would've given it to Van Dam, not only did he make that crucial save for us in OT, he also defeated the terrorists & saved everyone at the arena from being blown up by a bomb!

 

[Jacob]

Technically they forfeited the game since Van Damme wouldn't have been on the official roster sheet.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

I believe they did. IIRC, there was as much dispute over the Conn Smyth that year as there was this year. Luc Robitaille scoring at the last possible second to send the game into overtime was as important of a goal as any Mario Lemieux goal that post season. I still think Luc got cheated.

Then again, without Robitaille's last second goal, bomb would've exploded at the end of regulation, so maybe Luc did deserve to be Conn Smythe that year.

Sorry Mario, you know I love you for saving the Pens, but you never foiled a terrorist attack.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Technically they forfeited the game since Van Damme wouldn't have been on the official roster sheet.

I can't see Bettman doing that to us.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Yeah, I actually got to witness the roof opening (part way) once. Same as Jacob... it was during a Phantoms game when I was quite young. Also, like Jacob, I was less-than-comfortable with the noises it made and the overall structural integrity of the building as it was happening.

Didn't "Sudden Death" use a bunch of the Wheeling Thunderbird players for the actual hockey scenes? I think they wanted to use footage from an actual Pens/Hawks exhibition but the directors weren't happy with the results.