Pittsburgh Penguins planning complex with UPMC

Pittsburgh Penguins planning complex with UPMC

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Penguins are teaming up with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center to establish a sports medicine and practice facility in the suburbs.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting today that the team and the region’s dominant hospital network hope to open the facility in Cranberry Township, about 20 miles north of the city, in the summer of 2014.

UPMC already has a similar partnership with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who practice at a sports medicine complex on the city’s South Side.

The Penguins sometimes practice at Consol Energy Center, their new downtown arena, but skate at the Iceoplex at Southpointe near Canonsburg, about 15 miles south of the city, when the Consol ice isn’t available.

UPMC officials say the new center would also be used to expand its programs to diagnose and treat concussions.