AS PROMISED - MORE on Thursday's Ceremony!

John and I had a late start Thursday morning leaving for Pittsburgh and got stuck in alot of traffic because of construction all around the area.

We arrived just as Paul Steigerwald started the ceremony and asked the crowd, "have you ever seen a more beautiful slab of dirt?" Making reference to the mound of ceremonial dirt placed in front of the podium from which he spoke.

The picture to the left is a broad view of the entire construction site taken after the ceremony (from Washington Place entrance).

Pictures to the right:

1. The view when entering the construction site from Washington Place
2. 2 paths were made leading up to the site of the ceremony: one for the general public and the other for "important people" which were given a commemorative hardhat as they entered (and got to walk on a green carpet of synthetic grass - OOOOOOOOOOOHH!)
3. a closer view of the area where they handed out the hardhats
4. closeup of the commemorative hardhats which read: "New Pittsburgh Arena, Groundbreaking, August 14, 2008"

After Steigerwald gave his introduction, he introduced Jeff Jimmerson to sing the National Anthem which I thought was SO appropriate and what made it a true Penguins event (along with all the fans chanting "Let's Go Pens!" every-so-often)! The picture below of Jimmerson was taken from the Penguins webpage (as I said previously, my view was blocked and I couldn't get good pictures until after the ceremony ended).

PA Governor, Ed Rendell, was first to speak and was followed by Allegheny County Executive, Dan Onorato; Pittsburgh Mayor, Luke Ravenstahl; and lastly, Pittsburgh Penguins CEO, Ken Sawyer (surprisingly, Mario did not speak even though the crowd chanted, "MA-RI-O" throughout the ceremony).

They ended with the group of them shoveling dirt onto the commemorative shovels and pitching it to mark the "official" start on the new arena's construction (picture courtesy of Pittsburgh Penguins webpage).

The shovel handles were made out of the shafts from replica hockey sticks like the one Sidney Crosby uses (sort of like he was there in spirit); also paying tribute to Sid are the number of seats the new arena will hold for hockey games - 18,087! Cool!

All-in-all it was a great day for ALL of us - the Penguins, the fans, and the city. I'm so glad I was able to be there to add to the collection of memories I have being a Pens fan! And, I think the words of a Penguins icon is most fitting,

"It's a Great Day for Hockey"
- Coach Badger Bob Johnson