Category Archives: Pittsburgh Penguins

PPG Paints Arena Tour- A Tour of a Lifetime

July 20, 2017 Colton DeBiase

Pittsburgh is known to have a rich and proud history with The Steelers and their six Super Bowls and the Pirates with their five World Series Championships. However, the one thing I love the most about this city if the Hockey Team that we all know and love, The Pittsburgh Penguins. This is a team that I have supported since a young age through good times and through difficult times and it is a team that I shall continue to support for years to come. Every time I go to a game I could not stop and think about what happens behind the scenes of this great hockey team with the arena operations and as a aspiring journalist, through the media. That dream finally came true through Point Park as we got a private tour of the arena. Our tour guide was the Penguins Vice President of Communications Tom McMillian. He opened us up in open arms as the tour began. I got chills when I first stepped inside the arena because the last time I was there the Penguins were hoisting the Stanley Cup in Nashville.

We first went the lower stands where there were crew cleaning the arena so it will be ready for hockey in the fall and summer concerts as well. One of the interesting facts he told us was the roof was never finished during construction of the building, the architectures wanted to keep it like that to pay respects to the industrial history that the city possessed with the steel mills for over 100 years. Another interesting feature inside the building was the setup of the sections numbers. They were scratched behind the numbers to look like three rivers. As we continued Tom told us about why there is one part of building with glass windows. Since PNC Park and Heinz Field look toward the city, the designers thought the arena should do the same thing and with a reverse seeing if the city this time. A place to look at out the windows are where the old civic arena used to be. It is just dirt now and the designers didn’t want to put the new stadium on top of where the old arena used to be so fans especially season ticket holders can park in the same spot that they have always parked. Then Tom took us up to my personal favorite which was the press box. It was always a dream of mine to see where Mike Lange and Paul Steigerwald sit every night for the games and also all the reporters and writers. There was also a line of photos of the greatest moments in franchise history dating back to 1967. We then took the elevator down to the lower level where we got to walk through where the ice is. It wasn’t on the floor though because of cleaning but it was still a cool experience. Then we went into one of the sacred place in the building, Suite 66. It is a club with that people can sit at during the game while they can watch the Penguins come out of the locker room. The coolest feature inside it was all of Mario Lemieux’s accomplishments from his career. From all of his Trophies to game played sticks some of his great moments as a Pittsburgh Penguin are all featured in that suite. It was rather interesting how the trophies got there because there were cases with nothing in them and nobody could think of what to put in them. Mario then thought that he should put his trophies in there for a cool experience for the fans. so every personal NHL trophy won by him sits in those cases at the club in the bows of the arena. The tour of the arena was a very fascinating and unique experience and it is one I will remember for a long time.

Duquesne Incline, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Penguins, PPG Paints Arena

Camp in Review

July 20, 2017 Madison Maselko

This camp and experience was incredible. Coming in with no prior journalism education, I have learned so much in many different fields.

After finding out I was accepted into the program, I was beyond excited. I was getting to kind of experience college life and learn the basics in all sorts of multimedia fields. To top it all off, I was getting to see lots of behind-the-scenes in so many different aspects of Pittsburgh. With the first day of camp fast approaching, the butterflies in my stomach kept growing. Things like living with a stranger and public showers started to terrify me. Shutting my suitcase Monday morning, I was just throwing myself into a completely new world.

Day one was nervously incredible. Getting to know my roommate, Emily, was a little terrifying. I am not a super social person, so living with a complete stranger was a new challenge on top of the camp. Luckily, we had common interests and got along really well.

From a learning perspective, we were thrown into it right away. I appreciated learning the basics, since I was walking into this without any experience. Taking the Duquesne Incline to take pictures was great. I am not one to take many, but I was able to really enjoy taking them. Turns out I am pretty good at it too.

Tuesday was even better than Monday. Touring PPG Paints was like a dream come true, as cheesy as that sounds. Seeing the behind the scenes was incredible, but hearing what it was like to work for the Penguins was just as eye-opening. I never knew how much went into the job, even when it is the offseason.

Day three, the longest day of the camp. Watching the twelve o’clock news at KDKA was so neat. There were so many aspects that goes into a news taping that I had never considered. Even something as simple as the background in the newsroom is made up of televisions that have been turned on their side. The cameras are robots controlled by someone in a booth.

The snack walk was deliciously disappointing. It was so cool to go see all of the different candies and have a genuine conversation with two workers at Katie’s Kandy. At our next stop, Prantl’s Bakery, I was a little disappointed. I bought an Oreo cake cup and a red velvet cake cup. The velvet tasted frozen and thawed, but the Oreo redeemed my happiness. The atmosphere also left me disheartened. The shop was small and not super well lit. Also there were only a few workers even at the store, with most working in the back.

The Oreo was Great, Red Velvet… Not as Much.

The Pirate game was a whole new thing. The tour had a great view, but it was only one stop. It felt like we were cheated out of a more interesting tour.

Despite the extreme heat, the game was not too bad. Through playing softball since elementary school, baseball games have become more and more fun to watch. Most importantly, the food was delicious. The freeze pop was probably the highlight of the night. The orange was refreshing and helped beat the heat.

I cannot believe this past four days have flown by so quickly. Doing this camp has left me with many things to think about in the next few years. So many things I had already made up in my mind have changed and left me confused. Most importantly, the skills that I learned from so many different media aspects will help me in high school journalism and beyond.

Pittbsurgh, Pittsburgh Penguins, ppg paints, PPG Paints Arena

PPG Paints Arena

July 18, 2017 Grace Balzer

Home to the 5 Time Stanley Cup Champions Pittsburgh Penguins

Tom McMillan, Vice President of Communications for the Penguins, took us around the Arena to give us a behind the scenes look at where some of the fun happens.

PPG Paints Arena was built in 2010 and was originally named CONSOL Energy Center. CONSOL backed out of the naming rights in 2016 and it became PPG Paints Arena. One main thing remained the same, it is home to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Penguins were founded by Jack McGregor in 1967 as part of the Expansion Draft. He wanted to bring an NHL team to Pittsburgh because the city was already a football and baseball town so he wanted to make it a hockey town. Everyone doubted him, not believing that hockey would grow in the Steel City. Art Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers, however, believed it would great thing for the city and decided to call around. After spreading the word, Pittsburgh was selected to be part of the 1967 Expansion Draft.

The original home of the Pens was Civic Arena, built in 1961. It opened on September 17, 1961 and closed for good on June 26, 2010. The name Civic Arena lasted until 1999 when it was changed to Mellon Arena, but was changed back to Civic in 2010 after it closed. The Arena was nicknamed the Igloo because of its dome shape.

CONSOL Energy Center opened in 2011, beginning a new era. When it was being built, it was designed to support different events (hockey, concerts, etc.) and to show aspects of the city.

~The ceiling was left with the pipes exposed because it gives an industrial look that represents Pittsburgh’s steel industry.

~There are curtains at the upper level that are used to close off the seating and make the arena look smaller. For example, they will be closed when there are college games or a smaller event when fans only fill the lower bowl.

~When there are skating shows, like Disney on Ice, they have to make the ice thicker because of the moves they do. The ice is then shaved down for the hockey games.

~When laying the ice, they put a layer of ice then paint it before putting another layer of ice on top of that.

~The ice is melted when there are concerts.

~After the season is over, the ice is melted because it is too much to keep the building cool in the summer to keep the ice in good condition.

~The name was changed to PPG Paints Arena in 2016 because CONSOL backed out of naming rights. One of the reasons is because “sponsorship money is available with naming rights.”

~On the 200 level where the windows are, they can look out at the city. The purpose was because they get a “reverse view of the skyline that isn’t seen from the North Shore or when exiting the tunnels.”

~There are signs around the concourse indicating what section is in that area and where other places are located throughout the arena. There is a meaning behind the design of the signs. “The brown part represents steel, the three lines on the side represents the Three Rivers, and the scratched up glass is meant to look like the ice.”

When the Penguins called The Igloo home, they won 3 Stanley Cups in 1991, 1992, and 2009. As they call CONSOL/PPG Paints home, they have won 2 Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017.

We are the Champions!

5-Time Stanley Cup Champions 1991, 1992, 2009, 2016, 2017

PPG Paints Arena- Home of Pittsburgh Penguins

The City wanted to “build a reverse view of the skyline that isn’t seen coming out of the tunnels.” -Tom McMillan

Parking lot where the Civic Arena once was.

Panorama of hallway outside of the locker room and Suite 66

Camera Tips, Duquesne Incline, Interviews, Mt. Washington, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Penguins, PPG Paints Arena, Snapchat, Tips for Journalism

Interactive Media Workshop Recap, First 2 Days

July 18, 2017 Amin Megherhi

On day one of this years Interactive Media Workshop, we learned a lot of interview skills as well as the usages of phone cameras, mainly the usage of Snapchat in day-to-day life for journalistic use.

The first thing that we did this week was learn about how to use and conduct a professional interview.

We learned that a good reason to conduct an interview is for writers block, it can give extra information needed for the writing being done. We learned many tools for good interviews, including smiling, silence, open-ended questions, superlatives (or extremes, meaning questions using the words “best” or “worst”), control (for the journalist to remember that they are in control. It is always okay to stop and ask questions), flow and details (or specifics).

A big tip for all journalists to take up is you must always pulling the thread. Andrew Conte said, a question you should always ask at the end of an interview is “is there anything that I should’ve asked you,but I didn’t?”

After the lesson on interviews, we headed over to the Duquesne Incline for a photo walking tour.

But first, we got a lesson on Snapchat photojournalism. We learned about the usages for Grids on our iPhone cameras, as well as the HDR and AF Lock functions.

When we got to the incline, we took a lot of pictures of the view of Downtown Pittsburgh from the Mount Washington Overlook.

Today, on day 2 of the interactive media workshop, we learned about more tips for interviews, we got a lesson from David Grande.

We learned about Comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable, that the truth is out there and to always be fair and balanced. Those are the cores of good journalism. As well as research, interview and observation.

We learned not to engage, but to instead listen and be silent. Give them the uncomfortable tactics of journalistic interviews.

“The here, the now, but I’m gonna spell here this way… [hear]”, said Grande.

We learned about how we should always be quiet and listen, engaging makes you lose impact.

We should always resist the temptation to have a conversation, to ask short, neutral questions.

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug” (Twain).

We also learned this and the inverted pyramid. We learned about the lead and the body, the news peg and the who, what, where, when, why and how.

We also learned about the readers preferences, how they normally prefer shorter stories, that they will normally only read about the first two paragraphs and that you should always rank the importance of the information given. We learned that space isn’t consideration, but time is.

We learned that, “stories stop, they don’t end.”

Shortly after the lesson, we took a trip to the PPG Paints Arena and learned a lot of the reasons that the building is promoted and built the way that it is. We learned about the importance of hidden stories in the architecture of the building.

We learned about the jobs that you can get through the Pittsburgh Penguins and internships, we also learned about the PPG Paints taking over the Consol and all other economical decisions that were done.

They talked to us about all of the stuff that goes on in the building and everything that happens within the large group of people working there.

They told us to “find a job that fits our personality”, and that makes us happy.

Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Penguins, PPG Paints Arena

City of Champions

July 18, 2017 Madison Maselko

The City of Pittsburgh is so fortunate. We have teams with not two or three, but five or six titles each.

Behind the success and the wins are the people that keep the fans up to date… People like Tom McMillan, the Vice President of Communications for the Pittsburgh Penguins. He does everything I want to do, but I had no clue that the job comes with a catch. He warned us that “[they] see less of the games than anyone”. Even the winning goal of the Stanley Cup Championship this year was watched from the television as they prepared for the impending media frenzy.

This truly put things into a different perspective. Even though working for the Penguins, a clearly successful organization, would be incredible, giving up the games might not be worth it. Honestly it probably would be, if in return you get a day with the cup and a giant ring to go with it.

As much as I would love all of the behind the scenes, the outside media would not be too bad either. I could experience everything, plus other opportunities that have yet to be known. Going the traditional route does come with advantages like an incredible view of the ice and free food (and who does not want free food).

All of the things I have learned about the communication industry is sort of a whirlwind. There are so many routes and decisions to wade through in the upcoming years. Even though it seems overwhelming, I know this is the job route I want to explore. As long as I can write about or work for my Pittsburgh sports teams, the rest will figure itself out.

High School Workshops at Point Park