18000 watches internal scrimmage = hockey town

[Lesky]

Over 18000 at a scrimmage :handclap:

Impressive turnout - I guess Penguins fans are not holding a grudge after the lockout?

Tim Braden had fresh ink of a skating Penguin on his right forearm and Brandon Sutter‘s name and No. 16 on the back of his black T-shirt.

He was ready for the Penguins.

So were more than 18,000 fans who packed Consol Energy Center on Wednesday night for a Penguins scrimmage, one that a week ago did not exist on a schedule.

“Our fans just announced en masse that Pittsburgh is also a hockey town,” Penguins CEO David Morehouse said. “I‘d like to say I‘m surprised, but I‘m not.”

For the first NHL “game” in Pittsburgh since April 20, Morehouse ordered the arena‘s luxury suites be opened to accommodate fans who otherwise would have been turned away.

Admission and parking was free, so was the love for hockey.

Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/penguins/3308888-74/penguins-fans-braden#ixzz2IGbp2av4

http://triblive.com/sports/penguins/3308888-74/penguins-fans-braden#axzz2IGaGuudA

[Lesky]

Posted this on HFboards to brag a little about the Penguins fan support

http://hfboards.hockeysfuture.com/showt ... st57744883

[iWonTheCup87]

Posted this on HFboards to brag a little about the Penguins fan support

http://hfboards.hockeysfuture.com/showt ... st57744883

you realize what you started over there? This just made the pens look bad because its as if you are claiming we are hockeytown. So much hate in that thread, you stirred up the hate nest.

[nocera]

Apparently, in Boston, you had to "buy" tickets to their scrimmage. Was free, but wasn't first come first serve. The unforeseen consequence of this was you had scalpers charging people for tickets and people who reserved tickets not bothering to show up.

Also, good on the Penguins for opening up the suites.

[Digitalgypsy66]

I almost posted about the Wild's free scrimmage only drew 13K, but they made the tickets only available to season ticket holders and capped it at 13K.

I was wondering if other teams fans would call us sheeple for filling the barn again, but now I know the answer. Being isolated from most hockey fans, and staying away from other team's message boards, I don't honestly care what other fans say...

[ajh2298]

I dont think teams should ever do a complete "free" event like this. Make admission a couple of bucks for adults and free for children or a couple of canned goods and give the $$ or food to the food bank or something. I would rather that place have 10,000 people in it and give a check or a few truckloads of food to somewhere it could use it than 18,000 people in it for free.

[DontToewsMeBro]

To the Penguins organization, that is in essence, still free. Giving money to charitable organizations is something individuals can do on their own time without the Penguins involvement. I thought it was a great move and made for a great atmosphere from what I could tell watching on TV.

[Fire0nice228]

I dont think teams should ever do a complete "free" event like this. Make admission a couple of bucks for adults and free for children or a couple of canned goods and give the $$ or food to the food bank or something. I would rather that place have 10,000 people in it and give a check or a few truckloads of food to somewhere it could use it than 18,000 people in it for free.

Free is the only thing they can do that people wont ***** about, and even then I'm sure some of those that rolled in right at gametime complained about having to sit in the upper level

[penny lane]

I dont think teams should ever do a complete "free" event like this. Make admission a couple of bucks for adults and free for children or a couple of canned goods and give the $$ or food to the food bank or something. I would rather that place have 10,000 people in it and give a check or a few truckloads of food to somewhere it could use it than 18,000 people in it for free.

people who never will have the chance to pay the dollars to see Sid or Evgeni; a hockey game, did. Absolutely no harm.

D Molinari tweeting Montreal ONLY had 17000 come out for their practice...

Dave Molinari ‏@MolinariPG
Hearing from many Canadiens fans that it's extremely cold in Montreal. Who possibly could have seen that coming there in mid-January

[JS©]

Not gonna complain about since it's the risk I ran for showing up so late, but the part about the Penguins not turning people away....yeah, that's false. I was part of a rather large group that was turned away shortly after puck drop.

[Kovy27]

I dont think teams should ever do a complete "free" event like this. Make admission a couple of bucks for adults and free for children or a couple of canned goods and give the $$ or food to the food bank or something. I would rather that place have 10,000 people in it and give a check or a few truckloads of food to somewhere it could use it than 18,000 people in it for free.

You do realize that the NHL is doing things for the fans for the cluster **** that was the NHL Lockout. Right?

[Kovy27]

btw...Dejan took credit for the Pens opening up the suites on his twitter. He also said that he created the Internet, not Al Gore and the Pirates suck.

[Lesky]

Posted this on HFboards to brag a little about the Penguins fan support

http://hfboards.hockeysfuture.com/showt ... st57744883

you realize what you started over there? This just made the pens look bad because its as if you are claiming we are hockeytown. So much hate in that thread, you stirred up the hate nest.

I did not realize this - the thread was even deleted while I slept. What the heck happened?

[IamtheWaris]

Not gonna complain about since it's the risk I ran for showing up so late, but the part about the Penguins not turning people away....yeah, that's false. I was part of a rather large group that was turned away shortly after puck drop.

I don't think he meant every fan would be accomodated. He meant that some fans who would have otherwise been turned away (ones who showed up earlier than you) were allowed to enter due to press boxes being opened.

[Ossa]

The Penguins‘ Black & Gold scrimmage registered a 6.67 Nielsen rating for Root Sports Pittsburgh on Wednesday night. That bested all prime-time programming on any network or cable station. About 210,000 regional viewers watched the scrimmage, Nielsen reported.

http://triblive.com/mobile/m/msports/mp ... bylsma-nhl

Posted this on HFboards to brag a little about the Penguins fan support

http://hfboards.hockeysfuture.com/showt ... st57744883

Just posted a thread on HF about the Pens TV ratings for the scrimmage. People aren't too happy on there. I'm sure it will be locked shortly

[JS©]

Not gonna complain about since it's the risk I ran for showing up so late, but the part about the Penguins not turning people away....yeah, that's false. I was part of a rather large group that was turned away shortly after puck drop.

I don't think he meant every fan would be accomodated. He meant that some fans who would have otherwise been turned away (ones who showed up earlier than you) were allowed to enter due to press boxes being opened.

There was a carefully worded release that said nobody was turned away that I was referring to.

I'm not even mad. I showed up late by free ticket standards and I knew that's the risk I ran. But to say that nobody was turned away isn't entirely accurate.

[JS©]

Just posted a thread on HF about the Pens TV ratings for the scrimmage. People aren't too happy on there. I'm sure it will be locked shortly

Of course. The mods that run the Penguins board are a bunch of d-holes.

[canaan]

So what? Its a frontrunner city and the pens are currently near the front. Pittsburgh is mostly a bandwagon town. Were no better than any other city; slightly worse I'd say because the provincial chest beating is obnoxious and paper thin.

/realtalk

[Nuge]

So what? Its a frontrunner city and the pens are currently near the front. Pittsburgh is mostly a bandwagon town. Were no better than any other city; slightly worse I'd say because the provincial chest beating is obnoxious and paper thin.

/realtalk

Yep

[Lesky]

The Penguins‘ Black & Gold scrimmage registered a 6.67 Nielsen rating for Root Sports Pittsburgh on Wednesday night. That bested all prime-time programming on any network or cable station. About 210,000 regional viewers watched the scrimmage, Nielsen reported.

http://triblive.com/mobile/m/msports/mp ... bylsma-nhl

Posted this on HFboards to brag a little about the Penguins fan support

http://hfboards.hockeysfuture.com/showt ... st57744883

Just posted a thread on HF about the Pens TV ratings for the scrimmage. People aren't too happy on there. I'm sure it will be locked shortly

Link please can not find the thread

[ulf]

Imagine if directv didn't black the scrimmage out.

[Pitt87]

The Penguins‘ Black & Gold scrimmage registered a 6.67 Nielsen rating for Root Sports Pittsburgh on Wednesday night. That bested all prime-time programming on any network or cable station. About 210,000 regional viewers watched the scrimmage, Nielsen reported.

http://triblive.com/mobile/m/msports/mp ... bylsma-nhl

Posted this on HFboards to brag a little about the Penguins fan support

http://hfboards.hockeysfuture.com/showt ... st57744883

Just posted a thread on HF about the Pens TV ratings for the scrimmage. People aren't too happy on there. I'm sure it will be locked shortly

Thats impressive... These numbers usually end up underreporting some demos, so the number probably is even bigger...