1) Lemieux on Casey
-It's the only time in my life where I've witnessed something and was left absolutely dumbfounded. I remember watching the deke and the goal, and my exact words were "What... what just happened?" I didn't even cheer, or get to blow-up like a maniac... I was seriously confused by what I had just seen.
2) Crosby Lottery
-Having followed the Ovechkin hype for two years prior to losing the lottery, I put my faith in the Hockey Gods that Malkin was the right guy for us, and that they had something bigger and better in store for us. The following year, it was agonizing watching them open each envelope. When the final one had our logo on it, I jumped up, ran down the hallway and put my fist through the door. Blood everywhere. So happy.
3) Lemieux on Belfour
-Huge GWG on a comeback, in the big opening game of the biggest stage, between two streaking giants. I jumped and slammed my feet so hard into the floor that I sprained both my ankles. IIRC, this was the moment that gave me the confidence that we are never out of a game, that I've carried with me through all these years, and it's the reason I always believe.
4) Lemieux on Snow
-This moment was the moment that made me fully appreciate Mario for what he was... an author of the most beautiful of fairytales. When he took that stretch pass, I stood up, and when he buried it... I cried. His whole career was encapsulated in that tally, and it was a glorious bittersweet moment.
5) Lemieux unretires & Jagr goal
-The news of Mario's return and the Jagr goal 33 seconds into the Leafs game was some combination of what it must feel like to having a loved one return to your life, after years of thinking they were dead... and what it's like to be vindicated after years of being told you are wrong. And with Jagr burying Mario's feed 33 seconds into the game, it was an affirmation that Mario is, was, and always will be the greatest player of all-time.
HM: Lemieux announces team stays
-I can't not mention this because it was the by far the greatest moment of "relief" I've ever felt. As I'm sure many of you did, I also spent a lot of time really worrying about the worst-case scenario. Towards the end of it, I had come to realize that for as much as I loved hockey, and for how important it was in my life, I loved the Penguins even more, and if they had moved, it would probably be the end of hockey for me. It would have been worse than that time Bo & Luke Duke left the Dukes of Hazzard. The Kansas City Penguins would have been Cousin's Vance and Coy.
Here's my Top 5 Worst Moments, because I've always believed we're equal parts great fortune and hard luck. The epitomy of "take the good with the bad", and the franchise with the most luck, both kinds, of any pro-sports team to ever exist:
1) Volek on Barrasso
-This moment put an end to my dream that we'd string a bunch of Cups together, and that Lemieux would do what Gretzky never could. I don't think there's ever been a moment in a hockey game that has absolutely torn my heart out, the way this one did. I remember balling uncontrollably on the floor, I'm sure I sounded like a mortally wounded animal. My family were compassionate enough to leave the room and stay away until I was done grieving. It was horrible.
2) Lemieux leaves Rangers game
-46 straight games with a point, and Mario couldn't finish. I was devastated. So much of my early years involved being the lone guy in Lemieux vs Gretzky debates, and I felt like I was in Plato's Allegory of the Cave. I wanted Mario to take this from Wayne more than most people can understand.
3) Lemieux announces Hodgkin Disease
-Very similar to #2WM, Lemieux was absolutely beasting on the league, and I was confident he was going to wreck Gretzky's 215 point season. This press conference was so cruel to me as a fan, and it was also scary as hell knowing that there might be dire consequences for my hero and idol.
4) Steckel blindsides Crosby
-There's not much to elaborate on here. And as much as I wasn't surprised by the result, and the ramifications, because it's very much in-keeping with the Hockey Gods way of taking "personal accolades" away from my heroes, in favour of "stacking Cups"... it still was one of the darkest moments for me as a Pens fan. Sid was supposed to be the Penguin's Anti-Mario, and have a long, hard-working, healthy and prolific career.
5) Primeau on Tugnutt
-This wasn't a "devestating" moment for me, as much as it was a bunch of smaller losses all at once. First of all, going into the 3rd OT, I knew that the game was going to cost us any hope of winning the Cup. I've always felt like once you get into a deep OT game, you're pretty much going all-in and cashing out. You just can't recover physically from a 120 minute long game, and expect to have strength and health to succeed in the 2 or 3 playoff rounds after. I knew both the Flyers and Penguins were basically eliminating each other from the playoffs regardless of who won the game, as it dragged on. By the start of the 3rd OT, I honestly, seriously, wanted to forfeit, in my mind, it would have been the smart thing to do. And the longer the game went on and I watched our cup hopes evaporate, the more I wanted to "at least" win this game. Losing a "historic" game (longest modern game, IIRC) sucked. Losing it to the Flyers sucked. Losing a shot at the Cup by playing that game sucked. Losing after having watched 7 or 8 straight hours of so many close-calls and near-misses, which were all just so emotionally taxing, sucked hard.
HM: Robopenguin unveiled
-I was so upset. Not only was it messing with the very reason I chose the Penguins as my team (our awesome logo), but it also kicked-off a series of terrible design decisions culminating in the silver-gold gradient pukefest we called jerseys.