Star Wears: Penguins award steel worker helmet to player of game

Welcome to Star Wears, where our Short Shifts team will highlight each NHL team’s unique and creative way to honor their player of the game after each victory, handing them a token of appreciation that usually lasts at least one season, and sometimes takes on a life of its own.

Team: Pittsburgh Penguins

Item: Steel worker helmet

Origin Story: In previous seasons, the Penguins have also given out helmets. Last season they used a black and gold motorcycle helmet and the season before they gave out a retro style hockey helmet so we are sensing a theme here.

City/Team connection (dubious or otherwise): It’s a natural fit for Pittsburgh, known as the Steel City. It earned that nicknamed when it was the heart of America’s steel industry, producing a massive percentage of the nation’s metal and leading to the building of crucial infrastructure across the land.

Fun Fact: While the steel industry has tapered off in recent years, Pittsburgh has reinvented itself to become a leader in AI and robotics, specifically in self-driving vehicles.

Quotable: While the helmet almost always goes to a Penguins player, earlier this season the team presented it to a Minnesota Wild fan. Weston Paszkiewicz, a 10-year-old luekemia patient who signed a one-day contract with the Wild through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, got to hang out in the Penguins and had his photo taken with the team. “I just want to say thank you for taking a minute to make him feel special and include him and the hockey community has been amazing,” Weston’s dad said to the Penguins.