Pittsburgh Pride

With the first days of free agency behind us, I wanted to take a moment to get back to the 2011 NHL Entry Draft to both congratulate and explain why these two days were important in Pittsburgh hockey history.

The 2011 Draft saw four prospects raised in Western Pennsylvania become draftees of the National Hockey League. Jonathan Miller, while technically not a native of Western Pennsylvania – he was born in East Palestine, Ohio  became the highest ever Pittsburgh area player drafted (15^th overall), just one spot ahead of Plum native R.J. Umberger. Miller played for the Pittsburgh Hornets AAA Hockey Team. The rest of Pittsburgh draft class included John Gibson of Whitehall (39^th overall, Anaheim), Brandon Saad of Gibsonia (43^rd overall, Chicago), and Vincent Trocheck of Pittsburgh (46^th overall, Florida).

The draftees mention above were not even born when the Pittsburgh Penguins won their first two Stanley Cup Championships in 1991 and 1992, but they are a product of something called the “Mario effect which took place in the mid 1990s throughout Western Pennsylvania. There was a birth of hockey rinks and hockey teams around the area and many young children started watching, and wanting to play the great game of hockey due to not only the teams success, but their leader, superstar Mario Lemieux.

The resurgence of the team in 2005 when Sidney Crosby was drafted only further cemented the fact that Pittsburgh is indeed a hockey town. Crosby’s jersey routinely is the number one purchased jersey in the National Hockey League, and new teams are starting to form around the area. Robert Morris University’s hockey program only recently received Division One status, but it is keeping the hockey tradition alive and well. Other area natives are in the midst if successful professional hockey careers Pittsburgh’s own Ryan Malone, Dylan Hunter, R.J. Umberger, just to name a few.

In the next ten to fifteen years, while these players make a career for themselves, we can only sit back and watch the number of Pittsburgh area natives multiply in the draft. Soon it will be called the Crosby effect. One day, it could even be called the “Miller effect. Only time will tell, and until then, Pittsburgh area natives can only be proud of what they’ve accomplished and continue to lead the way.

• NHL Draft
• Ray Shero