Penguins officially open arena tonight

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

The Pittsburgh Penguins have won three Stanley Cups, and played for a fourth. They’ve experienced two bankruptcies, and multiple retirements by Mario Lemieux.

What they’ve never done until now is play a game in their own, brand-new arena.

All that changes tonight when the Penguins officially christen Sidney Crosby Arena — er, actually, Consol Energy Center — with a season-opening game against the Philadelphia Flyers before their 167th consecutive sellout crowd.

The arena took one bankruptcy, one Lemieux retirement and seven years of politicking to achieve but, if three exhibition games there are any indication, the 18,087-seat structure should soon move near the top of the NHL’s new arena hierarchy.

While the nomenclature The House That Mario Lemieux Built is more accurate — the Hall of Fame player and Penguins co-owner spent seven often-frustrating years lobbying for the new building — everything about the arena seemingly has been touched by Crosby, right down to his No. 87 being the final two digits of its capacity. There’s even a cupboard in the team’s expansive locker room, fitness area and recreation room to house his favorite cereal.

“For a brand-new building, it seems pretty homey right away,” Crosby said. “It’s a little bigger than we’re used to.”

Bigger, better, brighter, cleaner, fancier. All those terms fit following 43 seasons in the Civic Arena, which was built for the Civic Light Opera in 1961 and was retrofitted for hockey six years later after Pittsburgh gained an NHL expansion franchise.

“I’m really excited to play in the new building,” forward Evgeni Malkin said.

He’s not alone.

Crosby and the other Penguins players were given considerable input into the design and makeup of their dressing room at the arena, which was wedged into a lot across the street from the now-closed Civic Arena that was owned by the Penguins. Space is so tight that a Catholic church partially obscures the main view of the arena’s all-glass facade; several Montreal Canadiens players were stunned to learn during the playoffs last spring that the church won’t be demolished.

Since the arena was the last of the new wave of NHL arenas to be built, the Penguins incorporated many good touches, and avoided some of the bad, from the league’s other new buildings. The concourses are wide and open, so fans standing in line for concessions can watch the game.

Even if a fan’s view is blocked temporarily, there are 800 TV sets in every possible nook and cranny of the $321 million structure, which has an exterior that features the walled glass front and tons of tan-colored bricks.

The seats are mostly black, with a few rows of gold inserted to add a dash of color. The players area is so expansive, coach Dan Bylsma asked that the weight room be made less fancy so it reminds players they’re in a work area and not a spa.