Day off in the burgh

Hello everyone from sunny Pittsburgh on a welcomed day off for us after a pretty tough first week of training camp.  Hard to believe it was only 2 weeks ago that we were on a bus to Kitchener to start the rookie tournament, feels like a month ago.  It’s hard to keep track of the days and dates right now, you go day by day by the schedule for your group, skate, workout, eat, sleep and do it all again.  We had a meeting this morning to go over some special teams work and then were free to do what we want, for me that means catching up on some laundry that has been piling up over a few weeks, tough to live out of a suitcase!

Over the past few days we made a trip to Wilkes Barre for the black and gold game which was a lot of fun.  The fans in Wilkes Barre were ecstatic to see their favorite Penguins and it made for a great atmosphere.  I had never played in Wachovia Arena, just practiced their last year.  The rink has a lot of character as the fans really seem like they are right on top of you, not too much different from playing at Matthews Arena the past 3 years.  Speaking of which I have heard nothing but rave reviews for the renovations that have taken place there.  Talking to some of the players as well as coaches they are excited for the new facilities that they have to work with and good for them they deserve it.  Practice day for us here tomorrow before relocating to the practice rink for next week as the G20 summit invades downtown Pittsburgh.