Xander O’Brien has not only been learning how to play hockey, but also taken his skills to the next level when it comes to collecting cereal boxes.

Last year, the 8-year-old Rostraver Elementary School student raked in over 100 cereal boxes to feed kids in need, in part through The Bag Brigade.

KDKA put the spotlight on Xander’s initiative, and with the help of his parents, Kevin and Sarah, they were able to go above and beyond with donations this year. With the total number of cereal boxes coming in at 1,723, and delivery packages overflowing at their front doorstep, the O’Brien family was moved by how the community pulled together.

Penguins season ticket holder Tim Mohney and his family had the experience of a lifetime when they flew to Italy for the Winter Olympic Games this past February. During their weeklong excursion, they got to see new places and try new foods, but more importantly, watch some hockey.

“As far as the Penguins go, we’re true hockey fans,” Tim said. “We come because we love the game. As far as the Olympics go, I would recommend it to anybody. It’s unreal. Just the atmosphere alone makes it all worth it.”

In January, a couple from Montreal, Mathieu and Sandra, traveled to Cranberry to watch the Penguins practice at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. Little did Sandra know that she would get the surprise of her life as they were waiting for the players to exit.

“I knew that her favorite player was Sidney Crosby, and she didn’t know that I was going to propose,” Mathieu said. “Then, Sidney Crosby passed by, and she wanted to take a picture with him while I was getting ready. She didn’t know what I was doing, but I knew that it was happening right now.”

When Marc-Andre Fleury suited up one last time in a Pittsburgh Penguins uniform during the preseason, there were many nods to the past in how he pranked his teammates, his on-ice demeanor in practice, and, of course, the return of his famous yellow goalie pads.

Those pads served not only as a staple to Fleury’s style but also as an identifiable trait that the fans always loved and remembered him for. And for one person in particular, Fleury’s pads are what made him fall in love with the Penguins halfway across the world.

“Me and my friends in the lower grades, we were watching NHL highlights all the time with the only computer we had at school,” Alvin Brolin said, who lives in Söderhamn, Sweden.

Syl Apps was one of the first players to be originally inducted into the Pittsburgh Penguins Hall of Fame in 1994, which is relaunching with a special celebration on Saturday against Columbus.

During his speech at center ice, Apps gave a special mention to Tony and Carol Barr, a couple who met in October of 1977 because he was their favorite player.

“It was a marriage made in hockey,” Tony said. “If it wasn’t for hockey, we would’ve never met.”

On Oct. 8, 2005, the Pittsburgh Penguins had a 5-4 lead over the Boston Bruins with just under two minutes left in the second period at the Civic Arena.

The Penguins were pressing in the offensive zone, and Mark Recchi caused the puck to come loose on the right side of the crease. It found an 18-year-old Sidney Crosby wide open for his first career NHL goal. The 2005 first-overall pick skated into the corner with his arms in the air while fans in attendance erupted in excitement.

Behind Crosby as he celebrated were David and Randy Frankel, who had the best view in the house to experience this historic moment in Pittsburgh sports.

Joe Delic, a Duquesne University graduate, physician at Allegheny Health Network, and a native of Johnstown, PA had been on that waiting list for a long time before receiving a phone call in 2020 telling him a spot was available.

A birthday present, an anniversary, and a proposal.

That is what Rachel Cassell and Matt Reardon – both from Ontario, Canada – celebrated together on Tuesday, March 18 at PPG Paints Arena when the Penguins hosted the Islanders.

When Tony Stevens and his wife Melinda found out they were expecting twins, the longtime Penguins fan joked, "Oh great! A Sydney and a Crosby!"

A few months later, that became reality. On Jan. 7, 2025, Sydney and Crosby Stevens became the newest little Penguins fans, named after the Captain.

Rachel Danchek, a stage 3B ovarian cancer survivor, got to witness the powerful community of sports when it comes to the NHL’s Hockey Fights Cancer initiative after the Pittsburgh Penguins reached out with tickets for her and her grandmother Marian Ebner for the Nov. 30 matchup with Calgary.

“I think people look at me as a healthy 30-year-old that can’t have that happen to them,” Rachel said. “I only found out that I had ovarian cancer because I dealt with infertility. I just want to stress that if you think anything is wrong with your body, please go see your doctor, because you never know.”

When the Penguins first won the Stanley Cup, longtime fan Timothy Hammer was at a wedding. The game was scheduled to start at eight and he kept an eye on the clock, as the hands ticked closer and closer. Just before the puck dropped, he turned to his wife and, “I can’t stay here anymore. I’m leaving.”

“So, we tried to sneak out the back,” Hammer said. “And as we’re going out the back of the hotel, we run into the bride and groom who were getting pictures. It was an awkward moment. It was actually one of my really good colleagues and friends that I’m still friends with today, but I said, ‘Look, congratulations – I gotta go see this game.’”

Eight-year-old Lucas Konarski had submitted a heartfelt essay in hopes of becoming a DICK’S Sporting Goods Jr. Starter of the Game, expressing just how much he loves being a goalie. He does a special dance to cheer on his team and always stays positive, win, lose, or tie - with his attitude and playing style inspired by a certain fan favorite netminder.

“I have been playing hockey since I was 3 years old, and fell in love with (Marc-Andre) Fleury,” Lucas wrote.

He gained the memory of a lifetime on Tuesday night when he got the chance to stand on the same ice with his hero. The Lil’ 66er skated out to join the Penguins during the national anthem ahead of Fleury’s final game in Pittsburgh, standing alongside goaltender Joel Blomqvist.

Many newlyweds center their honeymoon trips around the beach. But for Kyle and Katrina Batty of Melbourne, Australia, they centered theirs around their shared love of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

After it was announced the Penguins would be playing in the 2023 Winter Classic at Fenway Park, the newlyweds knew they had to be there for it.

“I saw it after I woke up one morning and was like, ‘this is our honeymoon,’” Kyle said.

Cindy Falls and Debbie Vallor have lived in Pittsburgh their entire lives, with a second home at PPG Paints Arena. The two can be seen at countless home games for the Penguins, and one night, Cindy donned a shirt given to her by Debbie that said, “Never underestimate an old woman who loves hockey.”

That quickly caught the eye of Erin Exley, Vice President of Ticket Marketing and Operations for the Penguins, who was looking for fans to fill the Gram Zam, a new fan initiative for this season.

Kristin Juszczyk’s custom jackets made from NFL jerseys have taken the sports world by storm, with celebrities like Taylor Swift and Simone Biles among those who have donned a creation from the wife of San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk.

Ryan Platt decided she wanted to do the same for her favorite team, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Platt turned a Sidney Crosby jersey she had into a Juszczyk-inspired puffer jacket, documenting the process on TikTok. Her series went viral on the platform, and she was blown away by the support her first video received.

Iain and Mackenzi Bacorn went on a three-legged “hockeymoon” back in November, where they followed their beloved Penguins from Columbus to Pittsburgh to Raleigh for some NHL action. During their stop in the Steel City, “my sister reached out to the marketing team here and gave us probably the best wedding gift ever,” Iain said.

Since goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic was out with an injury at the time, the couple got the chance to meet their favorite player, Magnus Hellberg.

When Sidney Crosby tossed a puck to 10-year-old Camden Basinger while leaving the ice after warmups during a preseason game, Basinger got to experience something that every hockey fan around the world dreams of, and the reaction was priceless.

Marie Pier Bouchard and Julianne Morgan are longtime friends, having met in dance class when they were younger, and are currently roommates. During the COVID-19 lockdown, they began following the NHL, mostly out of boredom. Despite having no previous allegiance to the club, they fell in love with the Penguins. Of course, having Sidney Crosby helped too. “Sid’s our golden boy back home,” Bouchard said.

As the Penguins left the ice and departed the locker room following Thursday's morning skate at PPG Paints Arena, young August Storlien Sætrom eagerly awaited the chance to meet players from his favorite team.

Andrew Brennan and Danielle Damm are loyal Pittsburgh Penguins fans. They're also avid travelers, so much so that they found themselves hanging out with actual penguins in Antarctica last month.

Fans often cherish memories that are made on the ice during the game. For Gina Hammond, a life-changing experience happened in the stands at PPG Paints Arena following the Penguins' game on Dec. 30 versus New Jersey.