Penguins Brighten Spirits at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh

This afternoon, the Penguins resumed their annual holiday visit to UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, a team tradition since the 1970s that had been put on hold for a while because of pandemic-related restrictions.

The players did their best to spread cheer through virtual visits and coming in smaller groups, “but there is nothing like having the entire team walk through the doors at the hospital and know that they are here for the one purpose of making our kids smile today,” said Rebecca Desmond, special events coordinator for the hospital’s Child Life Department.

“It means the world to us, to the patients, to their families, to everybody.”

After practicing at PPG Paints Arena, the players made their way over to the hospital, where they donned Santa hats to go along with their jerseys and split up into groups to visit different parts of the building. Upon entering patients' rooms, the guys chatted with the children and their families, took photos, signed autographs, and distributed gifts.

“It means a lot, just being able to be in the position to give back,” Sidney Crosby said. “It isn’t a place anyone wants to be, whether it's patients or families. It’s a time of the year where everyone wants to be together at home. Obviously, the people here are doing an amazing job. Just to be part of this and show our support, it’s what we’re trying to do.”

Crosby was accompanied by Evgeni Malkin, Rickard Rakell, Marcus Pettersson, and P.O Joseph. The young defenseman was particularly incredible with the kids, especially the ones who were shy, nonverbal, or simply not feeling well, chattering away and making them feel comfortable.

At one point, Pettersson joked, “P.O’s connecting to everyone because he knows all about gaming!” Which is true, as Joseph has said he takes his PlayStation 5 everywhere to play Call of Duty and PGA. He bonded with one kid over Fortnight – which Malkin’s son Nikita loves to play – and watching gamers stream on Twitch. “I’m just waiting for someone to be a Mario Kart fan,” said Rakell, who claims he is “insanely good” at that game, which Joseph confirmed.

“Just being able to spend some time together and get to know the people, a lot of times they are big fans of the team, which is great. Either we talk hockey, or we talk something else,” Crosby said. “We talk something other than what has brought people in here, which is basically the point of it. So, it is nice to get to know people.”

Jansen Harkins and Vinnie Hinostroza talked golf with several kids, and a little girl named Harper was sweet enough to give every player a pink, glow-in-the-dark bracelet that read ‘Harper Strong’.

In the rehab ward, Kris Letang met a young girl named Hannah painting ornaments, and immediately jumped in. As she silently painted, Hannah looked up to see a future Hockey Hall-Of-Famer intently mixing colors. With a look of determination on his face that’s usually reserved for the ice, he calculated the perfect shade of pink. Letang painted a snowflake for her, as well as helping her finish her ‘shiny purple’ one.

Letang was also reunited with 7-year-old Maci, whom he had met on a previous visit to the hospital when she was just a baby.

“We’re just trying to come in and bring them smiles,” he said, “It's the least we could do.”

They did that for Jacob Hepler, whose mom Amy couldn’t wait to tell her son about the Penguins stopping by, as “he loves them. I was like, Jacob! As soon as I told him, his face just grinned. He was so excited. As you can still see, he is still smiling,” she said after Crosby’s group left the room. “On top of being able to go home today, this is added extra happiness. He’s been so down, and this really perked him up.”

And they did that for Kayla Keegan, a leukemia patient who had a setback in her treatment that meant she was on a ventilator for 21 days. Once she was eventually removed from it, Kayla was moved down to the rehab ward to get back up to speed physically.

Kayla grew up going to Penguins games with her late father, and was thrilled to see the players stop by. Their conversation was as long as any they had all day. They talked about Taylor Swift (she made sure to let Hinostroza know that he wore Taylor’s number), and she even got a geography lesson from Finland native Valtteri Puustinen.

“Everyone was super nice,” Kayla said. “I was really worried about spending Christmas here, but that made it special. It sucks that everyone here is sick, but the hospital and the Penguins just made it better.”

Everyone the players met was greeted with gifts that varied by age. The younger kids got a stuffed Penguin, or a “Let’s Play Hockey” picture book.

“You ought to give that one a read,” Alex Nedeljkovic quipped to Harkins.

Erik Karlsson had fun when giving the older kids their gifts.

“Maybe it’s a hat,” he said to one patient.

The kid grinned, as he opened a set of headphones featuring the Penguins logo on each ear, realizing that Karlsson had duped him.

Desmond said when the players first walk into the room, there’s a moment of shock, “almost like meeting Santa Claus,” she said with a laugh. “Like, is he really here in my room? But afterward, once reality sets in and the families can process what just happened, Desmond said there’s a moment of realization where the kid realizes the players came in simply to see them.

“During the holidays, we all have a million things to do, we all are running in different directions, and these guys are taking their time to see our kids. And that's the greatest gift we can give anybody, is our time,” Desmond said. “They've never met most of these kids before. They don't know who they are. They're choosing to give their time to them, and that, all of a sudden just makes your support system grow that much more. And that's priceless.”