Penguins' Stanley Cup DVD debuts for season-ticket holders

PITTSBURGH -- It's difficult to produce a quality sequel.
The NHL attempted to buck that trend with "Stanley Cup Champions 2017: Pittsburgh Penguins," the Penguins' championship DVD that debuted exclusively for season-ticket holders at PPG Paints Arena on Monday. With it being a sequel, NHL chief content officer Steve Mayer knew the film couldn't ignore the original.

"It's so difficult to win the Stanley Cup two years in a row," Mayer said. "When we set out to put this particular DVD together, we worked to show the essence of a back-to-back winner. It's the first time in 19 years. I think this DVD shows just that. I think it shows what it takes to be a champion."
The NHL had the film finished within seven days of Pittsburgh's 2-0 win against the Nashville Predators in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final on June 11. Despite the quick turnaround, it made its debut and will go on sale to the public Tuesday.

The film also received warm reviews from the fans in attendance.
"I just like how they interacted with the players," Don Wilker said. "How they got to talk about certain things that happened throughout the season. The behind-the-scenes stuff was very cool. … It was very well done. Better than last year's film."
That 2016 championship DVD premiered at Stage AE, a 2,400-capacity concert venue on the North Shore of Pittsburgh. This time, about 5,000 fans packed several sections of the lower bowl at PPG Paints Arena while cheering several key moments.
Those included Sidney Crosby scoring his 1,000th NHL point on Feb. 16 against the Winnipeg Jets, Patric Hornqvist scoring the championship-winning goal against the Predators in Game 6, and each time goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who will play for the Vegas Golden Knights this season, was either shown or mentioned.
"I thought it was awesome," Kaite Galbraith said. "It showed how much we love our team and support them and just how they work to win back-to-back."
The film ran through the regular season and Pittsburgh's successful championship defense in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but not before documenting the Penguins' journey throughout the past nine years.
It began by going back to 2008, when Pittsburgh lost to the Detroit Red Wings in the Cup Final before defeating Detroit one year later. It jumped ahead to 2016, when the Penguins' core of Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang hoisted the Cup for a second time.
After a few minutes spent on the past, the film turned to the present. Featuring Crosby, Fleury, Chris Kunitz, Matt Murray and others, it focused on the adversity Pittsburgh faced along throughout the 2016-17 season.

Crosby's two concussions, Letang's season-ending neck surgery and Murray's lower-body injury sustained before Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round were each highlighted. Those led into the emergence of rookie forward Jake Guentzel as a bona fide goal-scorer and Fleury's reemergence as a shutdown goaltender throughout the first two playoff rounds.
Before that was shown, the fans were treated with a media roundtable, including Penguins broadcasters Mike Lange and Phil Bourque with Josh Getzoff hosting. While the film focused on Pittsburgh's journey the past two years, the roundtable mostly looked to the future.
As coach Mike Sullivan did at the Penguins' championship parade in June, Bourque called for a three-peat.
"There's a reason I still have this beard," Bourque said. "There's nobody better. … I'm telling you right now, and I'm not saying this because I work for the Pittsburgh Penguins or I bleed black and gold, I believe this in my heart of hearts. This team can win again.
"I think they're going to relish the fact that they're on the top of the mountain and everybody is going to be climbing up, trying to knock them off."