Behind the Pens Bench

This is EXCITING (and something I hope can be a weekly thing here, but we'll see how it goes)!!! I've been lucky enough to stumble upon a "Pens insider" who is willing to share some stories but wishes to remain anonymous for a few obvious reasons, so I ask that you PLEASE be respectful of this (PLEASE do not email questions to me or for the anonymous source as we are unable to answer and I will not reply to such emails) - thank you for your consideration!!

With that being said, I give you this week's stories from "behind the Pens bench!"

• As many know, the Flower is quite a prankster. Well apparently last night (Thursday, 01/28), he decided it would be fun to lace the shoes of Chris Connor backward. (Starting with the top so that the "tie" is at the very front of the shoe. Well Connor was quite perplexed post game and couldn't figure out why his shoes wouldn't loosen so he could get his foot it. Finally, he looked closely and started to laugh. MAF owned up to the prank and they both got a good laugh over it. Sid chimed in that "That's the reason we hide our shoes in our hockey bags. Flower is a sneaky little bastard." [They teased him] about getting "tied" [the rest of the night].
  
  
• today (Sunday, 01/31) was the Pens vs Wings matchup and it was an afternoon game, unlike the normal 7 or 7:30 start. Well as many know, hockey players are superstitious as a group, and a few of the guys aren't wild about afternoon starts. The training staff was ready for the "afternoon apprehension" that was present this morning when the players arrived. The mood was quiet before the game, everyone was focusing on the task at hand.
  
  Well, of course, after the game, everyone in the locker room was pretty excited to beat the Wings again. Apparently there was a little too much excitement as a bit of a clothing war broke out. Jerseys, socks, and the ever popular pants were being tossed around with reckless abandon. The fun finally stopped when the media came in for their post game interviews. After all the commotion had subsided, a certain winger couldn't find his street socks. TK was looking everywhere and even asked MAF if he had hidden them. (He didn't). Finally someone had the brilliant idea to check the "dirty sock" bin, and there they were, still paired and folded over. Everyone started ragging him for using "non-standard" ammo. The running joke now is that TK was using the SuperSecretSock Grenade.