As a way to thank their fans for their support throughout the years, the Pittsburgh Penguins organization gave some of them a special delivery. The Pens sent a few of the team's players to different houses of season ticket holders to personally deliver the tickets to them.
Penguins' captain Sidney Crosby was one player asked to go and deliver the tickets, and took it all in stride as he went to the houses of the fans, who were overwhelmed with excitement to see number 87 at their front door.
"We see 18,000 people in the crowd," Crosby said per CBS Pittsburgh. "We don't always get to meet them personally, so to do that, I think both us the payers and the fans - everyone enjoys it."
Season ticket holders of the Penguins were told they'd get a special delivery from a Pittsburgh player, but were never told which player it would actually be. CBS Pittsburgh reports that one family in the city awaited the delivery from a Penguin, but wasn't sure if it would be Crosby or not.
Sandy Darling and his wife Carole were awaiting a Penguin to show up with the tickets, but were shocked to find out it turned out to be Crosby.
"This is actually his dream come true, to have one of the players bring the tickets," Carole Darling told CBS Pittsburgh.
Sandy's daughter Susie Cohen told CBS Pittsburgh of the turn of events: "[Sandy] has been probably one of the longest season ticket holders in the city and this is his first chance to go one-on-one with a player."
The Penguins had the best record in the Eastern Conference last season, and second-best in the NHL with a 36-12-0 campaign for 72 points in the 48-game lockout-shortened season. The team followed up its stellar regular-season with a deep playoff run, making it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals last year.
After an impressive regular-season, the Penguins disposed of the gritty eighth-seeded New York Islanders in six games before bouncing the Ottawa Senators in five games in the next round. They then got dominated by the Boston Bruins, who swept them out of the Conference Finals matchup, denying the Penguins their first trip to the Stanley Cup Finals since the 2008-09 season.
Crosby was instrumental for the Pens when healthy last year. He played in 36 games for Pittsburgh, posting 15 goals and 41 assists for 56 points and was a Hart Trophy finalist. Crosby would have had a better chance of taking the award away from Washington's Alex Ovechkin if a broken jaw didn't sideline him for a significant amount of time in such a short season.
Crosby's teammate Evgeni Malkin also went around and visited season ticket holders. Last season, Malkin played in 31 games, and scored nine goals and notched 24 assists for 33 points.
With Malkin and Crosby in good health, the Penguins and their fans--including season ticket holders--could have a lot to cheer about this season, and the visits to the homes of season ticket holders instilled the support between the team and its fans.
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