Mario Lemieux was without words during the Penguins' playoff run.  Some of the local newspapers, who in the olden days worshiped and blessed the very ground he walked on, were some of the first to chastise him for his decision to remain silent.  It wasn't until the Game 6 loss that Lemieux finally spoke.

Personally, I admire the guy's ability to pull the ol Tom Barrasso media blackout.  The attention of the series was on the team and the players, not the management.  Any other team's higher-ups would be ignored more often than not from the media.  However, this is former Penguin, Pittsburgh saving Mario Lemieux we're talking about.  Everyone wants to hear what he has to say...

"Once you get there, you expect to win. I would love to be in their shoes to be able to come back the next year and have a chance at playing and play for the Stanley Cup.  They're young, they're 19 , 20 , 21 years old. They have their whole life ahead of them, and this should be the best time of their lives.  This was a great experience. It's disappointing, but we'll be back."

Mario Lemieux - Trib-Review

"In the salary-cap era, you have to pick your poison. That's what we'll be discussing in the next few weeks, to see which direction we want to go. It's going to be very tough to keep everybody, but we have a core of guys, young guys who are going to be with us, hopefully for a long time.  We just have to build around that."

Mario Lemieux - Trib Review

Speaking with regards to the re-signings in the offseason

But in the end "Whiteout Night" became "Lights Out Night" on Wednesday night.

Mike Prusuta - Trib-Review

One of the lamest "journalist" diatribes I've read in a while

The Red Wings' clinching 3-2 victory Wednesday over the Penguins drew a 4.4 overnight rating and a 7 share on NBC, the network said today. The Game 6 between Edmonton and Carolina two years ago earned a 2.2.

Associated Press

The Mario Lemieux Foundation raised over $85,000 by opening the doors to Mellon Arena for away games.  Surprisingly, Ticketmaster waved surcharges on those tickets and parking was free at the arena.

Penguins set an attendance record for the 2007/08 season.  Over 888,000 seats found their fill through the course of the year.  The new arena will house even more seats and will put the Pittsburgh faithful to an even higher level of loyalty.

Here's a good piece on the young talent of the Pittsburgh team and just what the expectations are of this young club.  At least they gained experience .

And finally, it was only fitting to have the last quote from Michel Therrien:

"When you're that close, it is really tough. We got beat by a quality team. They were tough to play against. The hockey gods were not on our side tonight. It hurts. You could feel the pain. But I'm proud of our guys. They grew up really quickly in the last two years."