Pittsburgh Penguins parade paints the town black and gold
Andrew Baugh
Sidney Crosby raises the cup during the Penguins鈥� championship celebration parade Wednesday afternoon in downtown Pittsburgh.
In this 缅北禁地 file photo, Penguins left winger Chris Kunitz #14 interacts with young penguins fans during the Stanley Cup celebration parade Wednesday afternoon in Pittsburgh.聽Pittsburgh signed defenseman Matt Hunwick and goaltender Antti Niemi but lost winger Chris Kunitz, center Nick Bonino and defensemen Trevor Daley and Ron Hainsey.
Penguins center Sidney Crosby #87 kisses the cup during the Stanley Cup celebration parade Wednesday afternoon.
Penguins center Evgeni Malkin #71 takes a selfie with an unidentified fan during the Stanley Cup celebration parade Wednesday afternoon.
PITTSBURGH 鈥� On this sweltering June Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of Penguins fans gathered downtown to see the Penguins take their victory lap, a championship parade that started at Grant Street and Liberty Avenue and ended at Point State Park.
Fans, most donning Penguins gear, clogged the sidewalks, hung from parking garages and generally invaded downtown for this parade, which got underway a little past 11 a.m.
Tom Kuhnhackl was the player to begin the procession, while Sidney Crosby, with the Stanley Cup in his hands, was last.
In between, there were Scott Wilson and other teammates slugging beers, there was Jake Guentzel, who brought his family, and there was Marc-Andre Fleury, whose name was chanted as he came by.
Two of the elder statesman, Matt Cullen and Chris Kunitz, came with their kids, while other players threw out shirts and towels as they came by.
Patric Hornqvist, who scored the game-winning goal in Game 6, got perhaps the biggest cheer beyond Crosby, but everybody from Mario Lemieux down to the Penguins Ice Crew were all greeted with applause.
鈥淟ook at this scene, this is what it鈥檚 all about,鈥� Sidney Crosby said, as he took to the microphone on stage at Point State Park.
Crosby and his teammates took to the stage at the end of the event.
The party didn鈥檛 stop there, as a number of Penguins kept drinking on stage, such as Nick Bonino, who came in on crutches but managed to multi-task and drink a beer at the same time.
Along with Crosby, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan was one of only a few who spoke, praising the Penguins fans.
鈥淲e think we鈥檝e got a unique fan base,鈥� Sullivan said. 鈥淓verybody talks about Nashville throughout the Finals, but they鈥檝e got nothing on Pittsburgh (fans).鈥�
As Sullivan wrapped up his comments, he left the fans with a question. After winning the championship last year, Sullivan told the fans at the parade, 鈥淟et鈥檚 do this again next year.鈥� This time around, he offered something similar.
鈥淚 wonder if we could repeat, or three-peat?鈥�