Penguins notebook: Weekend events will honor teen who died from rare condition. She has not had to much while trying to honor her late son, Ryan.

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1 Daily Clips 9/6/13 Penguins notebook: Weekend events will honor teen who died from rare condition About Rob Rossi By Rob Rossi Debbie Heitzenrater is usually not one to ask for help. She has not had to much while trying to honor her late son, Ryan. The outreach has been incredible, Heitzenrater said Thursday on the eve of a weekend youth hockey tournament and 5K run to raise funds for the Heitz 61 Foundation. People we don't know have sent s asking how they can help, and someone came up the other day just to shake my hand. Ryan's story really impacted people. Ryan Heitzenrater died in March from complications of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, a rare cellular condition that most commonly afflicts young infants and children. A healthy and active 13 year old, Heitzenrater played youth hockey with the son of Penguins coach Dan Bylsma. His diagnosis last January was a shock to the family, Debbie Heitzenrater said. Along with her husband, Doug, and elder son, Brandon, Debbie Heitzenrater started the Heitz 61 Foundation to help other kids and keep Ryan's spirit alive. The nonprofit foundation's mission statement is to promote higher education and encourage physical well-being and teamwork in sports. It aims to distribute scholarships and grants, and events such as the ones this weekend will help, Debbie Heitzenrater said.

2 Bylsma will drop a ceremonial opening-faceoff puck for the eight-team Bantam club hockey tournament that begins Friday. Two pubic skates are scheduled Saturday. The 5K, for which 370 participants were registered as of Thursday morning, is slated for 9 a.m. Sunday. All events will be at the Robert Morris University Island Sports Center, and a Chinese auction will include various items from the Penguins. Bylsma said this weekend is definitely important to me and my family. When Ryan passed there was an immediate discussion of wanting to do something, Bylsma said. Everybody decided it would happen in the fall. OPENING LOSS The Penguins lost, 4-1, to Ottawa in their opening game of a rookie tournament in London, Ontario. Left winger Cody Sylvester scored for the Penguins, who will play Toronto on Saturday. AROUND THE BOARDS Tickets for regular-season games go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday. About 2,500 seats are available for each of the 41 home games.... An open practice will be part of the Mario Lemieux Foundation's 6.6K Run and Family Walk, set for Oct. 6. Penguins taking look at three young goalies By Dave Molinari / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

3 LONDON, Ontario - It was, as debuts go, fairly ordinary. Forgettable, even. Goalie Tristan Jarry certainly didn't do anything in a 4-1 loss Thursday against Ottawa in the opener of a four-team prospects tournament at Budweiser Gardens to make the Penguins regret trading up so they could invest a second-round draft choice in him a few months ago. Neither did his performance convince management that it has to clear a spot for him on the major league roster sometime in, say, the next 72 hours. Jarry allowed two goals - both close-range rebounds - on 10 shots while playing 27 minutes and two seconds after replacing Eric Hartzell, who had given up two goals on 13 shots as the starter. "He had some good saves for us," said Wilkes-Barre/Scranton coach John Hynes, who is coaching the Penguins' prospects. Hynes first watched Jarry during development camp this summer and appears to like his potential. "This was the first time I've seen him in live game action," Hynes said. "He's a very talented player. "He has good instincts, he's athletic. He's a big body, takes up a lot of the net."

4 Jarry, who is 6 feet 1, 183 pounds, acknowledged that he was "a little nervous" before getting into the game because he was intent on "making an impression on the coaching staff, all of the management" during this tournament, but said that he "started to settle down a little more" and "feel comfortable again" after he had been in for a while. Splitting games the way Hartzell and Jarry did is a formula the Penguins apparently will follow throughout the tournament, which includes games Saturday against Toronto and Sunday vs. Chicago. Matt Murray, a third-round draft choice in 2012, is scheduled to start against the Maple Leafs, with Hartzell taking over midway through the game. That presumably will leave Jarry and Murray to share the workload against the Blackhawks in the tournament finale. Although the Penguins are optimistic about the promise of all three goalies, they also are cognizant that potential doesn't always translate to productivity, especially for goaltenders. "It's a difficult position to project for the National Hockey League," said assistant general manager Jason Botterill, who doubles as Wilkes-Barre's general manager. "But we're excited about having these guys in our organization and how they've developed over the last couple of years." The Penguins have moved aggressively to upgrade both the quantity and quality of the goaltenders in their developmental pipeline over the past few years. They've had a run of former collegians like John Curry and Brad Thiessen who could be outstanding in the American Hockey League and were capable of filling in at the NHL level, if needed, but the depth chart hasn't exactly been crowded with candidates to make a serious run at work on the major league team.

5 Spending early round draft choices on the likes of Jarry and Murray and signing Hartzell, a highly regarded free agent from Quinnipiac, were moves intended to address that shortcoming. "It's something our organization has talked about, adding more depth to that role," Botterill said. "We never want to be in a situation where we're forcing a pick, but we've always told [amateur scouts] that it's a priority. We're happy with the depth we have right now." And there are two other names worth remembering: Jeff Zatkoff, an accomplished minor league goalie, is entering his second season in Wilkes-Barre, and Sean Maguire, a fourth-round draft choice in 2012 is coming off a strong freshman season at Boston University. "[Maguire] was sort of a platoon for most of the year," Botterill said. "But in most of the important games in the playoffs, [he was] taking on more of a No. 1 role." Perhaps someday Maguire will fill that niche with the Penguins. Or maybe Jarry will. Or Murray. Or Hartzell. Which of them is most likely to do that is virtually impossible to predict. But the Penguins seem confident they've put enough into drafting and developing qualities goalies that one of them will. NOTES - Forward Cody Sylvester, one of eight forwards on tryout contracts competing for the Penguins in the prospects tournament, scored their only goal against Ottawa, knocking in a loose puck from the left side of the crease on a power play with 3.4 seconds left in the opening period.... Hynes' assistants for the tournament are Bill Guerin and Alain Nasreddine.... Although there are no tournament games today, the Penguins prospects will practice this morning.

6 The Adams family deals with ALS two ways By Shelly Anderson / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Forward Craig Adams is skating with his Penguins teammates at informal sessions this week in advance of training camp next week, but he will have a different priority Saturday morning. Adams and his wife, Anne, will be co-chairs of the Walk to Defeat ALS at Point State Park. It is their second time serving in that role, but this time it is with heavier hearts. Anne's father, Paul Cellucci, died in June of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Cellucci, who was 65, was a former Massachusetts governor and United States ambassador to Canada. "It's a personal fight for us," Adams said Thursday after skating with several teammates. "It's a terrible disease, as anyone who knows anything about it knows. It's a disease that has no treatment and no cure. We're working hard to not only help people who are living with ALS to improve their quality of life, but also to help find a cure." Registration at Point State Park begins at 8:30 a.m., with the walk beginning at 10. City-County SEA fails to win $18 million grant for Civic Arena site By Mark Belko / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

7 A bid to secure an $18 million federal grant to help install streets and utilities at the former Civic Arena site has failed, complicating the efforts to prepare the land for a proposed residential, office and commercial redevelopment. Pittsburgh-Allegheny County Sports & Exhibition Authority officials learned Thursday that the arena project was not among the 52 in 37 states to be awarded a federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant. The SEA, the Penguins and local political leaders had hoped to use the $18 million to help pay for the construction of streets, utilities and other improvements at the 28-acre site in the lower Hill District. Part of the work involves re-establishing a street grid that was lost half a century ago when the Civic Arena was built. "It's a disappointment and a setback," SEA executive director Mary Conturo said. SEA officials wanted to couple the federal grant with $15 million in state redevelopment capital assistance to pay for most of the infrastructure work, estimated at close to $40 million. The publicly funded site work is paving the way for the redevelopment being proposed by the Penguins, one that is expected to include 1,200 residential units, 621,962 square feet of office space and 200,101 square feet of commercial space. Without the federal funding, the SEA may have to take a more piecemeal approach to the infrastructure, Ms. Conturo said. "We'll have to re-prioritize what parts of the project we're doing and in what order," she said. The SEA will continue to look for other ways to pay for the improvements. Ms. Conturo said the agency wouldn't have been in the position to start the infrastructure work until the first quarter of next year even if it had received the grant.

8 City Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle, who represents the Hill District, said the SEA may have to start the site work on the lot closest to Crawford Square and work its way down the hill toward Downtown as more funding becomes available. "It's a disappointment. However, we have the state funding that will allow us to get started on the upper portion of the site as soon as we get a developer on board to start the housing," Penguins CEO David Morehouse said. City Councilman Bill Peduto, the Democratic nominee for mayor, added that there are "other tools in the toolbox" that could be used to help with the infrastructure. But he added that having the Penguins pay for part of the improvements could become "part of the formula." He also noted it may be possible to apply for another TIGER grant when the next round of funding becomes available. On Wednesday, Mr. Peduto, the prohibitive favorite to become the city's next mayor, said that if the SEA and the Penguins secured the $18 million grant, he didn't want the team coming to the city asking for more public funding. He noted the SEA and the team already have received the $15 million in state help and are seeking a state loan. He also pointed out that the Penguins are getting $15 million in tax credits to buy the land needed for redevelopment. He also urged the team to use a portion of whatever money it does receive to make improvements to other parts of the Hill, particularly the Crawford Street corridor and Fifth Avenue. The team fired back Thursday, saying that while it hasn't committed any of its own money to pay for site improvements, it has spent millions of dollars on market studies, planning activities and building community consensus to lay the groundwork for development.

9 "There's a host of activity that goes into the front end of this that requires a lot of investment by us to get it ready for development," said Travis Williams, the team's chief operating officer. Mr. Morehouse said the public infrastructure funding that the Penguins have asked for is no different than what other developers have gotten, including those in Mr. Peduto's East End district and on the South Side and North Shore. Mr. Peduto said those that have received public aid in his district have gone through a community-based development process. He said it's one reason his district has seen population and economic growth and higher property values. Even if the SEA had gotten the TIGER grant, the Penguins would not have ruled out requesting more public help, Mr. Morehouse said. "We wouldn't close off any opportunity to try to find public money to help induce development. Our overall goal is to develop that site. If it's going to take some kind of incentive to develop that site, we're for the incentive," he said. As for using funding to pay for improvements beyond the arena site itself, Mr. Morehouse said the TIGER grant would have paid for improvements to Crawford Street and Bedford and Centre avenues and Washington Place. But he ruled out putting the team's own money into making infrastructure improvements on Fifth across from the Consol Energy Center, an area Mr. Peduto wants to see improved. "We'll put money into private investment. We're not building streets. That's not required of any other developer," he said.

10 Mr. Morehouse said the team already has been reinvesting in the Hill by contributing $1 million to a grocery to open this fall, lining up $3 million from corporate sponsors to invest in the Hill, and ensuring that 40 percent of the jobs at the new arena and a new hotel and restaurant went to Hill residents. He said he is not opposed to extending benefits beyond the 28 acres and is willing to meet with Mr. Peduto to discuss the issues that have been raised. Mr. Lavelle feared that if Mr. Peduto, as mayor, tried to limit the amount of public funding that goes into the arena site, it could deter development and relegate the space to parking. But he agreed that mechanisms like tax increment financing should benefit more than the 28 acres itself. Mr. Peduto reiterated that he wanted to see public benefit beyond the site in return for public investment. "If the Penguins were to go to a bank and ask it for a loan, the bank would have certain requirements to benefit its shareholders. If you're going to the public asking for public subsidies for private development, it would only make sense that there would be something that would be able to come back to benefit the community," he said. Fleury hoping for different results with Penguins this season Goaltender won't say much about his summer sessions with sports psychologist, though By Shelly Anderson Ask Marc-Andre Fleury about certain things, and he lights up. For example, he might be one of the few new dads who would gush over a 10-hour-plus drive he made Wednesday from Montreal to Pittsburgh with an infant in tow.

11 Daughter Estelle was born in April, just before the playoffs -- or, in hockey terms, just before the Penguins goaltender again struggled in the postseason. The playoffs are not a favorite topic for Fleury, who Thursday joined several teammates at Consol Energy Center for an informal practice in preparation for the start of training camp Wednesday. Fleury said he had a fairly routine summer in terms of his offseason workouts, but this offseason was different in some respects. He returned to town with some new ideas he developed in counseling sessions and ready to work with a new goaltending coach. After Fleury was replaced by backup Tomas Vokoun in a playoff run that ended when the Penguins were swept by Boston in the Eastern Conference final, there was widespread speculation that Fleury would or should be traded. Instead, coach Dan Bylsma and general manager Ray Shero gave Fleury a public vote of confidence, emphasizing that Fleury would remain the club's No. 1 goaltender. Fleury appreciated the backing but wants to prove things in net. "It's nice," he said of Bylsma and Shero's words, "but I want to get in there. I want to play. I want to win. That's the only way to do things." There's only one place he wants to do that. "I love this place," Fleury said of Pittsburgh. "I've been here for my whole career. I want to stay here. I want to win here. That's my goal."

12 Winning hasn't been a problem in some respects. Fleury, 28 and the first overall pick in the 2003 draft, has assembled win totals of 40, 37, 35, 36, 42 and, last season, 23 in a schedule shortened to 48 games by a lockout. "I think I've been getting more consistent through the years, and that's a big thing I wanted to improve," Fleury said. "That's good, but, at the end of the day, what people remember is the playoffs. That's where you make a name for yourself." Fleury backstopped the Penguins to the 2008 Stanley Cup final and then to the 2009 Cup title. Then, the playoff version of Fleury went cold. Since the Cup win, Fleury is in the postseason with a 3.18 goals-against average and an.880 save percentage, and the Penguins have won just three of seven playoff series and have not made it back to the Cup final despite being perennial favorites. Hockey Canada apparently took notice. It did not invite Fleury to its Olympic orientation camp last month. Fleury did not play in the 2010 Vancouver Games but made Canada's team as its No. 3 goalie. Team Canada's braintrust will be watching players closely over the first half of the NHL season, and there still is a chance he could be picked for the team that goes to Sochi for the 2014 Games. At Shero's request, Fleury underwent counseling this summer with someone believed to be a sports psychologist. Fleury was reluctant to divulge details of those talks -- "I don't want to get into it," he said -- but he called it "a different approach" and offered a little insight about what he came away with.

13 "It was good -- different tools and different stuff you can use and think about," he said, adding that he might tweak his pregame mental preparation. "What we talked about with the guy was to maybe try to use my time a little bit differently, maybe a little more time to myself to get ready." Fleury also will be talking a lot to Mike Bales, promoted this summer from goaltending development coach to the club's goalie coach specifically at the NHL level. "We met in Montreal for lunch," Fleury said. "I saw him [previously] at training camp, around the [locker] room, but we didn't talk a lot. So it was good to get together and talk a little bit in the offseason." Fleury worked for years with Gilles Meloche, who has moved into a scouting role with the team. Fleury said it seemed he and Bales found common ground easily. "I told him little things I wanted to improve on and do a little differently, and he was all good with it," Fleury said. "We'll go over my game and see what I can do differently." They will have training camp plus more than six months of the regular season to work on things before the playoffs arrive. NOTES -- Individual-game tickets for Penguins home games go on sale at 10 a.m. today through Ticketmaster and at the Consol Energy Center box office.... The Penguins will open their Oct. 6 practice exclusively to participants and volunteers in the team's charity 6.6K run and family walk. Visitwww.mariolemieux.org for details. Penguins tickets go on sale this morning

14 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Individual-game tickets for Penguins home games go on sale at 10 a.m. today throughticketmaster and at the Consol Energy Center box office. Visit the PG's Penguins hockey page for a preview of the schedule. Pens Players to Watch at the Rookie Tournament By Michelle Crechiolo Here are a few Penguins prospects for fans to watch over the next few days at the 2013 rookie tournament at Budweiser Gardens in London, Ontario. DEFENSEMEN Pittsburgh is by far the deepest at defense, with seven of the nine blueliners being draft picks of the team. Three of them Brian Dumoulin, Reid McNeill and Philip Samuelsson have all seen playing time at the AHL level. They are certainly players to watch, but we ve singled out five others for certain reasons. SCOTT HARRINGTON, NICK D AGOSTINO AND HARRISON RUOPP These three are all players to watch since they are all looking to make the transition to professional hockey this upcoming season. They have no more eligibility remaining with their respective junior and college teams, so they will all either be playing with Wheeling, Wilkes- Barre/Scranton or possibly even Pittsburgh this season. This tournament is an opportunity for them to showcase themselves to Pittsburgh s staff before attending NHL training camp next week.

15 It s definitely real now, admitted D Agostino, who just finished his senior season at Cornell. I m not going back to school in August. We re all trying to make the jump to Pittsburgh. Harrington played four seasons with the London Knights, where he served as team captain in And he knows perhaps better than any of Pittsburgh s prospects how to win, as he has had an illustrious career so far with back-to-back Ontario Hockey League championships, Memorial Cup appearances and bronze medals at the World Junior Championships with Team Canada. In addition to that, he has physically matured since being drafted in the second round in 2011 and is now 6-foot-2, 205 pounds. He s just a solid, steady and reliable defensive defenseman, and those are an asset on any team. Ruopp, who played the past four seasons in a shutdown role with Prince Albert of the Western Hockey League, is a defender sort of in the mold of a Brooks Orpik. He s a punishing defender who revels in the physical aspect of the game. At 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, he can certainly lay some bruising hits. Finally, D Agostino who served as a tri-captain for Cornell last season is a player who can skate and has the ability to contribute on the power play. In , six of his career-high eight goals came on the man-advantage. "I think it s the same for any guy at this tournament right now," he said. "We all want to come in here and it gives us a chance to play in front of our scouts, our coaching staff in Wilkes-Barre, in Pittsburgh too, and make a real good first impression. That s what we want to come in here and do. We want to catch somebody s eye before main camp because you have very few opportunities to perform in front of that group." OLLI MAATTA AND DERRICK POULIOT Pouliot and Maatta are both first-round picks of the Penguins, chosen eighth and 22nd overall, respectively, in the 2012 NHL Draft. And both players will be seeing their first real game action

16 with the Penguins over the next few days, since the team did not attend the tournament last year and they were not able to attend NHL training camp in because of the lockout. They are both such elite prospects with so much potential, so it will be interesting to see how they respond to the level of competition. It s the first time playing with this level of players, against them. I m excited, Pouliot said. Looking forward to (today) and it s going to be fun. I mean, this is a chance to show what we have as players and we plan on doing it. Maatta is an intriguing prospect for a number of reasons. Physically, he is NHL ready at 6-foot-2, 206 pounds. And his game appears to be mature enough for the NHL, too. He said the coaches told him he is a smart player, I m a good skater and I play an all-around game. I don t try to do too much. I m not a flashy player like (Kris) Letang or one of the best D-men. I just play my game, do the easy plays, and play like that. And he s already accomplished so much in just two seasons with London of the Ontario Hockey League, helping the team win its second-straight league championship and Memorial Cup berth while leading the Knights D-men in scoring both seasons. But although Maatta is mature for his 19 years of age, he realizes he has a lot of work to do in order to crack the NHL roster especially with the amount and caliber of defensemen he s competing with. So he s using this tournament as a chance to get acclimated a warmup for training camp. It s good to see what kind of game is it like and I get to experience more the speed and tempo that it s going to be, he said. And it certainly doesn t hurt that that the tournament is taking place in his home arena. For me, I m confident here. It feels like home. So it s a good thing. Pouliot, also 19 years old, just finished his second season with the Portland Winterhawks. He averaged more than a point per game during the regular season before leading all WHL blueliners with 20 points (4G-16A) in 21 playoff games as Portland won the league championship and a berth in the Memorial Cup. He s an exciting prospect because he is in the mold of a player like Kris Letang, with the skating, offensive skill and ability to quarterback the

17 power play. He still has room for growth, but looking forward to seeing how he plays the next few days. FORWARDS TOM KUHNHACKL After the Penguins drafted Tom Kuhnhackl in the fourth round of the 2010 NHL Draft, he went on to show exactly why Pittsburgh selected him as he had a fantastic season with the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League leading the team with 39 goals in 63 games. However, Kuhnhackl s next two seasons after that were derailed by injuries and a suspension. He spent one more year with Windsor before turning pro for the campaign, but his season ended on Dec. 2 with an upper-body injury causing him to see action in only 13 games with WBS and Wheeling. Kuhnhackl comes to this rookie tournament ready to put all the frustrations of the last few years behind him and prove again why the Penguins chose him to be a part of this organization. The 21-year-old Germany native has a tall, athletic build (6-foot-2, 172 pounds) and possesses offensive instincts he s displayed a scoring touch and likes to shoot the puck. He s somebody the Penguins staff can see competing for a spot in Pittsburgh in the future. For me, it s a great opportunity because I didn t play last year because of my surgery and all that stuff, Kuhnhackl said of his approach to this tournament. It s great for me to just get back to playing a couple games before NHL camp starts. I just want to go out there, have fun and play hockey. (The coaches and staff) haven t said anything yet, I haven t talked to them. I think that they don t want to put any pressure on me right now because I didn t play the last couple years. I think they just want me to go out there, play my game, score a couple goals and we win this tournament. We're looking for big things from Tommy. He's got a big frame. He's a big kid. He's a good athlete. He shoots the puck a ton. We're looking for big things. We need him to make the next step. Bill Guerin

18 ADAM PAYERL Why should Penguins fans know Adam Payerl? Well, WBS head coach John Hynes said earlier this summer that Payerl could compete for a spot on Pittsburgh s NHL roster right now. And Penguins assistant to the general manager Tom Fitzgerald also singled him out as someone who could potentially contribute as a bottom-six forward in the near future, especially with the departure of lineup regulars like Matt Cooke and Tyler Kennedy. Why do the Penguins like him? He's big, can skate and can shoot the puck. He bangs, crashes. He's a guy you believe could fill a role on the bottom of the lineup, Fitzgerald said. Payerl definitely has an NHL-ready build at 6-foot-3, 218 pounds. He sees himself as a power forward that will bring a physical element every night, but I think I contribute in all aspects of the game. I think I can fill any role that needs to be. He has one season of professional hockey under his belt, playing 44 games with WBS and 4 games with Wheeling last year. He sees this tournament as an opportunity to make an impression, for sure. I mean, it s the first real skate since last season, so I think the coaches are expecting a lot of things from myself and a lot of players, obviously. Especially going into the main training camp next week, where the coaches will be expecting a lot from him there as well. JAYSON MEGNA After signing with Pittsburgh as a free agent the summer of 2012 following his freshman year with Nebraska, Megna had what WBS coach John Hynes called an exceptional AHL training camp. He played 56 games with WBS in an injury-shorted season, and like Adam Payerl, he s

19 another guy that the coaches have mentioned as someone who could potentially contribute in Pittsburgh. Megna has a decent-sized frame at 6-foot-1, 195 pounds, but it s his speed that makes him such an attractive prospect. He s another one of those guys who made big strides last year, said player development coach Bill Guerin. I wouldn't put him as a big numbers guy, but definitely effective. With his speed, he'll give people fits. DOMINIK UHER Dominik Uher embraces his role with this organization to grind opponents down as a bottomsix forward with an energetic, physical presence. I really want to bring the energy on the ice. I want to bring a physical presence and I want to be responsible with the puck, make good decisions and just focus on that, he said. Uher is just 20 years old, but played a full professional season in appearing in 54 games with WBS and 4 with Wheeling. So he may be young, but he is a professional, and the Penguins staff likes what they have seen so far. Dom Uher is another guy (that could make an impact). He s a very young pro. He was one day from being back in junior hockey last year, so his year this year was almost as his rookie year to help him come through the pro side of it. And he s got one year under his belt. Tom Fitzgerald GOALTENDERS ERIC HARTZELL Hartzell has seen and shared the ice with everyone in the Penguins organization from the prospects to the NHL players, but has yet to play in real game action with the club. After signing his first contract, a one-year deal, back in April after his season with Quinnipiac ended, Hartzell was eligible to play in regular-season games but not the playoffs since he was signed after the trade deadline. He did not end up seeing any game action with the Penguins. This tournament

20 is certainly an opportunity for him to prove that he is capable of stepping in and winning games for the team. TRISTAN JARRY The Penguins traded up to get Jarry in the second round of the 2013 NHL Draft. He is an exciting goaltending prospect, as he posted the lowest goals-against average (1.61) and highest save percentage (.936) in the Western Hockey League (WHL) while suiting up for the Edmonton Oil Kings last season and assistant director of amateur scouting Randy Sexton said of Jarry, We see a potential starting goalie. He s got the technical foundation and the size we think to be a starter. So when he was still available, we asked Ray to make the trade to move up to get him. He is one of the newest members of this organization and is the only member of the 2013 draft class to be at this tournament, so it will be interesting to see how he performs in one of his first opportunities with the Penguins. Senators 4, Penguins 1: Notes and Quotes By Michelle Crechiolo LONDON, ONT. - The Penguins prospects may have lost their opening game of the 2013 rookie tournament to Ottawa 4-1 on Thursday afternoon at Budweiser Gardens, but Wilkes- Barre/Scranton head coach John Hynes wasn't displeased with his team's performance. If you look at the way that we played and the work ethic we had, we really had carried the tempo, carried the play for the majority of the game, said Hynes, who is overseeing the tournament with WBS assistant coach Alain Nasreddine.

21 A big difference in the game was in the second period we played very well and we didn't get rewarded for it then. Then as the game went on we continued to play well but we just didn't find the back of the net. But overall it was a good performance. We really liked how the guys competed and for the most part how we played. Free-agent invitee forward Cody Sylvester, who just finished his fifth season with the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League, scored Pittsburgh's only goal on the power play when he banged home a rebound off a Scott Harrington point shot. The Penguins finished with a advantage in shots. Here's the lineup Pittsburgh used Tom Kuhnhackl - Jayson Megna - Cameron Brace Cody Sylvester - Richard Nejezchleb - Jean-Sebastien Dea Scott Simmonds - Connor Rankin - Carter Rowney Bobby Farnham - Liam O Brien - Matia Marcantuoni Derrick Pouliot Philip Samuelsson Olli Maatta Scott Harrington Nick D Agostino Clark Seymour Eric Hartzell, Tristan Jarry Scratches: Harrison Ruopp, Brian Dumoulin, Reid McNeill, Adam Payerl, Dominik Uher, Matt Murray. Here are our notes and observations from the game - GOALIES SPLIT DUTIES

22 The Penguins dressed goaltenders Eric Hartzell and Tristan Jarry for this game, with the two of them splitting duties. Hartzell started in net for Pittsburgh, making 18 saves on 20 shots before getting replaced by Jarry with just over six minutes remaining in the second period. He allowed two goals on 12 shots in the loss. The Penguins traded up to select Jarry in the second round (44th overall) of the 2013 NHL Draft, and he is the only member of that class at this tournament for Pittsburgh. So not only is Jarry the newest player in this organization; he is also by far the youngest as he is the only one with a 1995 birthdate. And this competition is certainly different than what he had been experiencing at his junior team's training camp, the Edmonton Oil Kings, last week. All of that being said, Jarry performed well in his first game with the Penguins despite his situation. He said going in he felt nervous, but eventually he settled down and felt comfortable. He let in the third goal early, but recovered to make some big stops for the Penguins, especially on the penalty kill. It's a little bit faster than what we're used to coming out of main camp back home with the Oil Kings, he said. So it's a step up from that and I think it's good to test me out. He's a very talented player. He has good instincts, he's athletic and he's a big body in net, Hynes added. He takes up a lot of the net. So he had some good saves for us today. - HARRINGTON, MAATTA PAIRED UP Olli Maatta and Scott Harrington had skated together in this arena the last two seasons as teammates with the London Knights. But on Thursday, they partnered up on the blue line in Budweiser Gardens not in the green and gold of their junior team, but in the black and gold of the NHL club that drafted them one year apart. The two of them have done so much for London these past two seasons. Harrington captained the Knights in , with Maatta serving as his alternate. The two of them anchored

23 London's blueline, leading them to back-to-back Ontario Hockey League championships and Memorial Cup appearances. And they've become close friends through all of that, so it's been special for them being teammates not just in London, but in Pittsburgh too - and hopefully continuing their success together in the NHL someday. Maatta laughed that he was happy when he found out he'd be paired with Harrington, saying We've been playing in London two years and have had a great two years. I think we are real good friends and it's absolutely great to have him with me here. I really enjoy playing with 'Harry.' He's a great player so it's easy to play with him. Harrington agreed, saying We just saw we were put together and I think we were pretty happy about that. It's always nice when you can play with someone you know and somebody you're good friends with. It's cool and especially being in this rink, it's pretty special. The coaching staff opted to pair them together hoping that would make the two of them more comfortable in their first game. They had played together before, and it was just something we thought would give them a good chance to be able to have a good first performance, Hynes explained. And it did. Having Scott playing with me, I felt more comfortable and it was easier to get into the game with a partner you know, Maatta said. The two of them got the assists on Pittsburgh's only goal, and combined for a few plays that proved their familiarity with each other. - POULIOT IMPRESSES

24 In just one game, it's easy to see why the Penguins took Derrick Pouliot with the eighth overall pick in the 2012 NHL Draft. Forwards are going to love playing with him, Penguins assistant to the general manager Tom Fitzgerald said of the offensive defenseman that summer. Pouliot is going to be that smooth, Brian Campbell-type of skater that can get you out of your end, be quick on our retrievals and put the puck on our forward's sticks. He did all of that on Thursday. Pouliot was partnered with Philip Samuelsson (yes, he is Ulf's son), and it seemed like the two of them played the most minutes out of all the pairings. Pouliot kept making plays that stood out on both ends of the ice - especially on special teams. At one point on the penalty kill he went behind his own net, boxed out his guy on the boards and kept him pinned there while clearing (even though he fell to his knees at the last second). On the power play, he ensured the puck left his zone quickly and he made plays under pressure on the other blue line. Off the start I was a little shaky, maybe, Pouliot said of his play. Still settling into things. But as the game went on I thought I jumped up in the play more, created some chances and was pretty good defensively, too. Pouliot played on the top power-play unit, manning the point with Maatta. Pouliot quarterbacks the power play for Portland, and that ability transitioned to Thursday's game. It was good. That's what I love. I love to do that, Pouliot said. I think that's one of the stronger points of my game. So I try and be the best I can out there at that. Be the best player on the ice on the power play and all-around. - DEFENSIVE DEPTH ON DISPLAY We talk so much about how stocked the Penguins are when it comes to defensemen - honestly, Pittsburgh may have the deepest collection of young, talented and promising blueliners in the league. In addition to the guys who are already at the NHL level, like Robert Bortuzzo and Simon

25 Despres, some of them - like Brian Dumoulin - have made the jump to the American Hockey League. But guys like Harrington, Maatta and Pouliot have yet to do so. So while we've been covering them for some time now, for the most part we have only seen them on the ice at development camp in the summer. This tournament is our first real chance to see some of these elite defensive prospects play together in competitive situations, and we got that on Thursday. It was a treat to watch the three of them in this game and how they handled all situations. And hopefully, someday we will see all of them wearing black and gold at the NHL level for Pittsburgh. - TEAM LEADERS Defenseman Philip Samuelsson, who is among the most experienced players on Pittsburgh's rookie tournament roster, was awarded the "C" for Thursday's game by the Penguins coaches. Forward Jayson Megna, who just finished his first season of professional hockey with WBS, served as the alternate captain. "It's pretty cool," Megna said. "I didn't really expect that, but it was nice to be able to come in here and be a little bit of an older guy and looked at as a leader. Kind of tried to take some guys under my wing tonight and kind of let them know what they're doing right, what they're doing wrong and things to work on. It was definitely a nice responsibility to have." - KUHNHACKL CRASHES Megna's linemate Tom Kuhnhackl played well on Thursday, his first real game action in months as his season ended on Dec. 2 with an upper-body injury. What was noticeable about his game is the way he constantly drove to the net from the left wing, ready and in position for any rebounds from shots and to make life more difficult for Ottawa's goalie and defensemen. There was a scary moment late in the game when Kuhnhackl crashed hard into the post during one of those beelines to the bue paint. He stayed down on the ice for a short while, but was able to shake it off and remain on the bench. After the game Hynes said "as far as I know at this point he's fine. Maturing stars looking forward to NHL's big events

26 By Corey Masisak - NHL.com Staff Writer NEWARK, N.J. -- Not that long ago, a collection of talented young hockey players were trying to find their place in the NHL and ascend to the top of the sport. It was an infusion of phenoms who added excitement and intrigue to the League after a lockout erased the entire season. These fresh faces were a new hope for the hockey community, destined to someday carry the NHL to unforeseen heights. Those teenagers who offered so much promise are now grown men who have delivered on it. Eric Staal won the Stanley Cup first, in Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry were next in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, Patrice Bergeron, Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar all followed with championships before Toews and Kane won again in Alex Ovechkin has yet to win the Cup, but he does have three League MVPs and is one of the most captivating figures in the sport. Ryan Kesler, Claude Giroux and Zach Parise have come within two wins or fewer of winning a title. All of those players were drafted between 2003 and All are in their mid-20s or about to be. They were once the future; they are now the present. "You're excited because the expectations now are even higher, and that isn't a bad thing," 26- year-old Crosby, the first pick of the 2005 NHL Draft, told NHL.com Thursday at Prudential Center during the 2013 NHL Player Media Tour. "You kind of crave those expectations to be there every year and compete and win. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Part of you also feels like, 'Wow, it has been eight years already and it has flown by.' It does go by quick. A lot of us came into the League together. You know those first few years are done and the expectations are higher and we're getting older, but it is exciting to know that now is the time to go out there and find ways to win."

27 More than three dozen of the League's top players are in Newark and Manhattan on Thursday and Friday for interviews and promotional appearances as part of the unofficial start to the NHL season. It promises to be a unique year, complete with a break in the middle for the 2014 Sochi Olympics and the expansion of outdoor hockey at the NHL level. Many of the players mentioned will be featured prominently at these marquee events, having earned a place at the highest level of the sport. They've battled each other along the way, and that's played a part in them reaching this point. "I'm still the kid around my locker room. [Teemu] Selanne won't leave, so everybody is a kid when he's around," 28-year-old Getzlaf, a first-round pick in 2003, said with a hearty laugh. "The ride has been awesome. There's a really great group of guys, and we've been able to compete among ourselves and help make the League better. I think it has been a big step forward for the NHL, and for us personally. When you compete with other great players that are about the same age, it pushes you to be better and helps build the brand of hockey." The 2010 Vancouver Olympics proved to be one of the greatest tournaments the sport ever staged, and the gold-medal game one of its greatest contests. Crosby and his Canada teammates became national heroes. Four years later the scene shifts across the Atlantic Ocean to a small city on the Black Sea: Sochi, Russia. That pressure the Canadians felt four years ago will now be on the Russians, who have to atone for a disappointing showing in "This is my first Olympics at home, so I'm not sure how I'm going to feel," Ovechkin, 27, told NHL.com. "I'm sure I'm going to be excited and it is going to be fun. It is going to be a hard tournament because it is going to be quick. The pressure is going to be on us 100 percent, but I don't know how the big the pressure is going to be."

28 The quality of the hockey in Vancouver in 2010 was incredible, and the possibility for a repeat is there. This will be the Olympics when all of those superstar players mentioned will be in the primes of their careers. "The Olympics are going to be a blast. I hope I can be part of the team again," Getzlaf said. "I think that whole event is going to be great for hockey, and I'm really glad that we're all going to be part of it again." Outdoor hockey has become a staple of the NHL calendar, but the season will usher in a new era. There will be six games played outside during the season, including the 2014 Winter Classic in Ann Arbor, Mich., when more than 100,000 fans will pack Michigan Stadium on Jan. 1 to see the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs. The growth of hockey in California will earn plenty of attention in the build-up to the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks renewing their freeway rivalry at Dodger Stadium on Jan. 25. After the pageantry of falling snow in 2008 at the original Winter Classic in Buffalo, sunshine, palm trees and the San Gabriel mountains will provide a different kind of backdrop in Los Angeles. "It is a great stadium. I think people in California like to get involved with something like this because it is a big event," Getzlaf said. "Both organizations have done such a great job out there of building the hockey community kind of from the ground up. I think our owner has bought nine rinks in the Orange County area and helped build the Young Ducks program that has developed a lot of fans and a lot of kids." The Super Bowl will be outdoors in a cold-weather location, MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., and hockey in the New York metropolitan area will be in the spotlight in the week leading up to the Feb. 2 game. The New York Rangers will play the New Jersey Devils (Jan. 26) and the New York Islanders (Jan. 29) at Yankee Stadium. "It was really neat to see the mock rink they put up in the middle of Yankee Stadium and look at all the seats," Islanders forward Matt Moulson said. "It's going to be a great game and a big thrill playing in front of all those fans."

29 There is a new edition of the Heritage Classic in Canada, when on March 2 the Vancouver Canucks will play the Ottawa Senators at refurbished GM Place across the street from where Crosby scored the golden goal four years ago and Bergeron's Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup the following year. Six days after the gold-medal game in Sochi, the Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins will meet March 1 at Soldier Field, a marquee matchup to highlight the stretch run to the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs. This will be the third outdoor game for the Penguins and the second for the Blackhawks. They are the only franchises to reach the conference finals three times in the past six seasons. "It is a really cool football stadium. It is awesome to watch games in there," Toews, 25, said. "I honestly don't think there are any bad seats in the house. You can be far away from the action and still can see everything and what's going on. They put an ice sheet on it last winter for a college hockey tournament and we got to skate on it. It was kind of cool to see and it should be a great atmosphere. The new building probably doesn't have as much history as Wrigley Field, but I don't think many buildings do. It should still be an awesome atmosphere and a cool game to be a part of." Another big storyline for the is Toews' team. The Blackhawks became the first organization to win the Stanley Cup twice in the salary-cap era when Chicago defeated Boston in June. No team has repeated as Stanley Cup champion since the Red Wings won in 1997 and 1998, and no team has won three times in a five-year span since the end of the Edmonton Oilers' dynasty in That's an interesting word, dynasty. The NHL used to be a League known for them, but the Blackhawks have a chance to be the first in a long time.

30 "There's a long way to go for that," Toews told NHL.com. "I guess if it could be a 'modern dynasty' or whatever terms people are throwing out there, it starts with last year we had a great team and a great bunch of guys. Last year after we got through that Detroit series, if we didn't believe in ourselves before then, that was really our moment. To come back from a 3-1 deficit against the Red Wings, that is when we knew we could come back from anything. "There's always been something special the past four or five years with our leadership group, that whenever others come in and be part of that group we just become a really tough team to get rid of. We're tough to beat. A lot of things have to go wrong for us to lose in a playoff series. If we can keep leading that same way, find that same belief and will to win, then there is no reason we can't find ourselves back in the Stanley Cup Final and competing for the Stanley Cup again. That's always the goal. I think any time you win the Stanley Cup and then are sitting at home watching someone else wheel off with it, that is a bad feeling. It feels like it is still yours and you don't want to give it up." Pens looking for Hall of Famers By Tom Venesky It took 15 years for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to create their own Hall of Fame, but there s a good reason, according to team CEO Jeff Barrett. You have to have some history to create some history, he said. Now, as the Penguins enter their 15th season, the organization feels that enough players have come through, and made an impact, that a Hall of Fame is warranted.

31 So do the fans. According to Barrett, voting for the first class opened Wednesday, and in less than a day, the Penguins received more than 300 s with fans choices. In order to be considered for inclusion, players must meet the following requirements: Must have spent parts of at least two seasons in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Been retired from professional hockey for at least two full seasons Made a significant contribution to the Penguins and community, either on the ice or off It s not just about their play on the ice, it s about how they worked with the community, their teammates, the organization and the fans, Barrett said. It encompasses everything. And it s bound to spark some lively debate over who deserves a Hall of Fame nod and who doesn t. Barrett views that as a positive. I think the discussion will get emotional and it s fun because people are excited to make their case for their favorite player, he said. They re actively involved. Selections will be determined by combining fans votes along with input from local media members and Penguins front office representatives. The inaugural Penguins Hall of Fame class will be announced during the month of October Barrett hopes to have the players representing the first Hall of Fame class come to a home game for a ceremony, but that will all depend on their schedules and availability, he said.