In this day and age of negativity, it is not often you get to witness the nicer side of sports.  Thanks to Dick’s Sporting Goods and Jennifer Mercer and Matt Ciesluk of Catalyst Public Relations, I was able to witness the pure unadulterated joy that professional athletes can bring to children through the Pittsburgh Penguins’ participation in Project Bundle Up.

When the Penguins finished up their 3-2 shootout win over the LA Kings last Saturday night, they were looking at their longest layoff between games of the 2011/12 campaign so far with their next game not being for another full six days. After completing 15 games in the season’s first 31 days, the team was looking at a nice, extended rest, some time to time to spend with families, wives, and girlfriends, time for injuries to heal and possibly get back some injured players.  Not these Pittsburgh Penguins though.  After returning from their two game trip to the West Coast, their third trip across at least two time zones so far this year, the Penguins and their families headed down to Nemacolin Woodlands for some team building exercises similar to the trips they made in the pre-season to West Point in years past.  Down there, they participated in many different team building exercises and just spent some time getting to know some of the newer players a little better and away from the rink.

Once this was over, you would naturally assume that it would be back home to Pittsburgh where after each day’s practice, players would head back home to relax with their families or get outside and enjoy some of this unseasonal weather we have been experiencing here with maybe a round or two of golf.  Again, not these Pittsburgh Penguins. READ MORE »