Penguins - Week 15

The Penguins played at home Monday and then hit the road Thursday and Saturday. I don’t work Mondays, so it was a quiet week on the ice for me last week.

I also wrapped up my time at the Globe with our last night of layout Monday and our last issue hitting newsstands Wednesday.

The Penguins have been on a tear as of late, winning five straight games to start December.

My bigger focus right now is on the Three Rivers Classic. I’ve reached out to each of the four teams playing in the tournament (Boston College, Robert Morris, Ferris State, and Quinnipiac) to try and interview their coaches or players for my game stories that will appear on penguins.nhl.com in the days before the tournament.

I’ve also been preparing game note ideas for our notes packet that we’ll create for the tournament. I went into the office last week to meet with our graduate assistant, Morgan, to brainstorm some ideas. I’m writing all of the notes for RMU and BC who are both having successful seasons so far.

I’m going back to the office Tuesday to finalize our game notes so the graphics intern can compile them into fancy-looking packets for the tournament.

The rest of the week was spent basically checking our Penguins PR email account several times per day to keep up with credential requests.

The Penguins begin a four-game homestand Monday against Arizona. I’m working Point Park basketball Monday and will not work that game. I’ll then work as the only intern on Wednesday’s nationally televised game against Boston and Friday’s game against Los Angeles. Pittsburgh hosts the New York Rangers next Tuesday to wrap up the homestand.

Then the team has four games until the end of the season, and with every passing week, it becomes more realistic that this incredible internship has to come to an end. 

Penguins - Week 14

What a busy and involved week with the Penguins after a few quiet ones.

It started Wednesday on my birthday when I went into the office briefly to create the credentials for the Dallas game. Nothing crazy, just a couple hours on my birthday working for the Stanley Cup Champions.

Thursday and Saturday's games both put me and my game notes to the test when the Penguins scored three and four third-period goals, respectively. We write the notes as the game progresses, and when the team scores a lot in the third, it creates a challenging task to get caught up on all of the pieces of information we research at once.

The Penguins continued their streak of seven games without losing two in a row Thursday to defeat Dallas 6-2. After Saturday, the Penguins improved to 10-2-1 at PPG Paints Arena (I'm still getting used to the name) and have been really fun to watch on home ice.

It really has been fun to see this team improve and evolve this season. I really feel like I'm contributing, even if it's just a little bit, to the organization.

Saturday looked like it was going to be another loss for the Pens, who trailed 3-1 heading into the third period. We were prepared for a short post game.

Well the Penguins did what they had done four times before Saturday - complete a third-period comeback. They scored four goals in the period to win 5-3. It was amazing to watch. And while It's stressful trying to compile several stats and notes on the fly, I love the rush.

I've learned to study the notes as much as possible before the game and during the first period so I can be prepared for whenever something happens during the game to make a note of it. It reminds me of preparing to go on the air for a broadcast. I'll maybe only use 10 percent of the material I prepared or researched, but that 10 percent pays off.

Overall, we did some solid work last week. Friday morning, we were rewarded with an intern breakfast with VPs and executives of the Penguins, including Assistant General Manager Bill Guerin and CEO David Morehouse. We had an enjoyable breakfast and got to meet several of the team's executives and have a nice Q&A session.

We also received further instructions for the upcoming Three Rivers Classic. The team is sending out its request for credentials Monday afternoon and the interns have to start checking the Pens PR email account for questions and credential requests.

My main assignment is to research and write stories and game notes for each team and the general tournament. The stories will get published on the Penguins website and the game notes will be distributed to the media members. This is our big final project that comes the last handful of days in December. It's coming up quickly.

This week and next will be focused on researching and preparing my story ideas to recap the teams' seasons moving forward.

So it will be a couple hours per day now as we wind down and get closer to the tournament working on preparation for the big week.

It's a great day for hockey!