"He's never seen a game here," Ryan Whitney said. "I said, 'Get ready.' "
Whitney didn't expect his father to dress in a way that would draw attention, like wearing his son's jersey - "He'll just have regular clothes on," Whitney said. "You won't even know he's a Penguins fan" - but he didn't rule out him interacting with Flyers fans.
And not necessarily in a way that would require intervention by a neutral party, let alone the security staff.
"He'll have fun," Whitney said. "He'll probably make some friends up in the stands. Who knows?"
Death in Staal family
Penguins center Jordan Staal will return to his hometown of Thunder Bay, Ontario, today for his paternal grandfather's funeral.
A private plane arranged by former Penguin and Flyer Mark Recchi will carry him to Canada, and Staal is expected to return tonight.
"I want to be there," Staal said. "There are bigger things than hockey."
Staal's brother, Eric, left the Canadian team at the world championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia, yesterday to attend the funeral.
Let there be light
Could have been a conspiracy. Maybe it was a conservation effort. Or perhaps someone simply forgot to throw a switch.
Whatever the reason, the lights above the playing surface at the Wachovia Center were not turned on until 11:27 yesterday morning. That was just 3 minutes before the scheduled start of the Penguins' game-day skate and well after most of the players had gone out to loosen up.
After skating around in near-darkness, for 10 or 15 minutes in some cases, the players responded to the lights coming on by cheering loudly and tapping their sticks on the ice, a universal gesture of approval in hockey.
Shero praises Parent
Penguins general manager Ray Shero was assistant general manager in Nashville in 2005 when the Predators invested a first-round draft choice in defenseman Ryan Parent.
