Pittsburgh Penguins Parade Secured as 2009 Stanley Cup Champions

The Pittsburgh Penguins parade as the 2009 Stanley Cup champions was secured last night. Before then, the Pittsburgh Penguins seemed unlikely to parade as 2009 Stanley Cup champions, given recent and past history. To secure a parade, the Pittsburgh Penguins had to become the first Stanley Cup champion in almost 40 years to win Game 7 on the road - and the first sports team in 30 years to do it. The Detroit Red Wings had all the history on their side to become 2009 Stanley Cup champions, yet it is still the Pittsburgh Penguins who get the victory parade.

Despite losing every game in Detroit this series, the Pittsburgh Penguins became 2009 Stanley Cup champions by winning at Detroit when it counted, with a 2-1 win. As such, the city of Pittsburgh has another parade to plan.

The Penguins didn't win the 2009 Stanley Cup with big plays from an injured Sidney Crosby or Conn Smythe winner Evgeni Malkin. It was Maxine Talbot who got the two Penguins goals, and Marc-Andre Fleury who saved the 2009 Stanley Cup championship in the third period.

The Red Wings had one final shot to tie and go to overtime, but just as Chris Osgood narrowly stopped the Penguins in last year's Stanley Cup clincher, Fleury dived to narrowly save Nicklas Lidstrom's last second shot. There was no more poetic way for the Penguins to become 2009 Stanley Cup champions.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have made their city the city of champions again, just four months after the Steelers also narrowly pulled out a championship. The 2009 Stanley Cup returns to Pittsburgh for the first time since the Lemieux era 17 years ago.

The victory parade for the Stanley Cup champions will likely be at the beginning of next week, though no official plans have been announced. There was massive worrying months ago that the Steelers victory parade would be too costly and rowdy. Now the Penguins parade comes just four months later to put a dent in the city budget.

The city of Pittsburgh last had two victory parades in one year in 1979, when the Steelers and the Pirates both won it all. Coincidentally, the 1979 Pirates were the last major professional sports team to win Game 7 of a finals series on the road.

It was already unlikely as it is that the Pittsburgh Penguins would be 2009 Stanley Cup champions, considering that a few months ago, they fired their coach and were out of the playoff picture.

But the Penguins got on a late season roll, got through the Flyers, Capitals and Hurricanes - and wound up clinching every playoff series on the road. The last one made them 2009 Stanley Cup champions against most odds, and will bring them back for their first parade in almost two decades.

Sources

USA TODAY- "Penguins ride Talbot to 2-1 Game 7 win over Red Wings" www.usatoday.com/sports/hockey/cup/2009-06-12-penguins-red-wings-game-7_N.htm

Yahoo Sports- "Bylsma brings lucky burrito to Detroit, Pens prepare for parade" sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Bylsma-brings-lucky-burrito-to-Detroit-Pens-pre