Ironies in the Iron City

A list of Ironies or poetic justice that I found interesting, I think you'll find them fascinating as well...

*At the beginning of the season the Penguins revived "Its a Great Day for Hockey" as their slogan, they won the cup on the anniversary that Badger Bob became their coach.

*Max "has little bit  bad hands" Talbot has both scores for the Pens' win

*When Marian Hossa joined Detroit he changed is number from 18--> 81, Who was brought in to replace him? Miroslav Satan who wore 81.

*These Pens became another team from Pittsburgh to "win all on the road" and "win the championship in Detroit"

*This victory brings back visions from the Miracle movie with Herb Brooks giving his famous speech. Herb Brooks' last days were spent with the Pens organization celebrating the 20th anniversary of the 1980 game with the Pens. Brooks Orpik was named for him. This past year we had to endure all the talk about "how great the Red Wings are" Herb was sick of hearing about great the Soviets are--both teams wore red.

*The Steelers and the Penguins had parallel seasons, both had to deal with "tough schedule mostly playoff teams/Starting in Europe", "great playoff rivalries--Baltimore/Washington &Philly", Maligned offensive units for most of the season that "turned on" in the most pivotal moments (O-line/ Power play) , injured star player (Roethlisberger/Gonchar), plethora of injuries throughout the season, crazy 60 min games in which they barely eked out the wins, both went down to the wire with their seasons in which one o more losses or less would have been tragic for their season, Both finished with less than optimal playoff seeding, but didn't seem to matter, Both played in championship games that will be remembered for a long time. Polamalu= 43= superbowl 43, Max Talbot= 25= 25th anniversary of Mario Lemieux. Both teams considered themselves "Band of Brothers", Both teams had to "change/find their identity" this year (see speeches from Tomlin and Bylsma) and play "more aggressive", Both teams played a team in the championship game with "Red Wings". To top it off, when can we look back at the season and possibly the pivotal game in which the Pens woke up and pushed foward--the game against Tampa the week after the Superbowl when the Steelers' players were in the building.

* Both Tomlin and Bylsma refered to literary works in their press conferences often. Both were the youngest coaches to lead their team to a championship

* The Pens won their championship 100 years after the Pirates beat the Tigers on the road in 7 games The same weekend the Bucs were commemerating the event.

*The very superstitious Sid attributed a lot of his growth as a leader from Bill Guerin who wore "unlucky" #13.

*The Pens had a slogan on their playoff shirts "The Pens in your hand"-- They just finished writing an amazing story.

I'm sure there are more. Share your thoughts. Bask in the Victory and the unbelievable story the Pens wrote. I know I will