Anstoss Coaching Zone Forum

Thank you for your interest in keeping professional hockey in Pittsburgh.

This site was created as a joint grassroots effort by Sam Menchyk and Mike Mooney, who are both residents of the Pittsburgh area. We have no affiliation with Mario Lemieux, the Pittsburgh Penguins, any state or local politicians, or any other potential gaming licensee. We are merely diehard hockey fans who strongly believe that the Penguins should remain here, and we wanted to provide a forum so that others who feel likewise can make their voices heard.

The Pennsylvania Legislature recently approved one license for a stand-alone slots parlor in the Pittsburgh region. A new Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board will select who gets this license.

By signing this petition, we are asking Gov. Ed Rendell and the soon-to-be-named members of this board to award the Pittsburgh slots license to Penguins owner Mario Lemieux on the condition that he uses some of the proceeds to build a new hockey arena in Greater Pittsburgh.

We believe there are several benefits to this proposal:
It would build a new arena wholly or in part with private funds, instead of taxpayer money;
It would allow the Penguins to remain a viable NHL franchise in Pittsburgh;
A new hockey arena can serve as a venue for several other organizations besides the Penguins; and
It would ensure that the proceeds from the slots remain in this region, where they belong.
Please take a minute to sign the petition and show Governor Rendell and the Gaming Control Board that the people of Pittsburgh and the hockey world support this initiative and believe it is a viable idea. You may enter any comments you wish in the space provided. This petition and all signatures will be forwarded to Governor Rendell and the Gaming Control Board.

Sincerely,
Sam Menchyk, Butler, PA
Mike Mooney, Pittsburgh, PA

» please sign the petition

Recchi agrees to terms with Penguins


TSN.ca Staff



7/9/2004

Mark Recchi is looking to finish his career where it started. The Pittsburgh Penguins, who drafted Recchi in 1988, have agreed to terms with free agent right winger on a multi-year contract, it was announced today by General Manager Craig Patrick. In accordance with club policy terms of the contract were not released.



Recchi, 36, a 16-year NHL veteran, led the Philadelphia Flyers in goals, assists and points during the 2003-04 season, recording 75 points on 26 goals and 49 assists while playing in all 82 games. He has scored 20 or more goals in each of the last five seasons and in eight of the last nine seasons, and has scored 25 or more goals in a season 11 times in his career.



Recchi ranks in the top ten in Flyers' history in goals (tied 10th), assists (6th) and points (8th).



A veteran of 1,173 career games, Recchi has recorded 456 goals and 745 assists for 1,201 points with the Penguins, Flyers and Montreal Canadiens. And he's durable - his consecutive regular season games played streak of 570 (10/4/91-12/11/98) is the eighth longest streak in NHL history.





A seven-time NHL All-Star, Recchi began his career with the Penguins, playing in 225 games from 1988-1992, recording 252 points. He led the Penguins in scoring during the 1990-91 regular season, recording 40 goals and 113 points in 78 games. In 24 playoff games that year, Recchi recorded 34 points, helping the Penguins to their first Stanley Cup Championship.



Recchi was traded by the Penguins to Philadelphia on February 19, 1992 with Brian Benning and a first round draft choice in exchange for Rick Tocchet, Kjell Samuelsson and Ken Wregget. He played in parts of four seasons with the Flyers (1992-1995), setting career highs in goals (53) and points (123) during the 1992-93 season. After a 40-goal season in 1993-94, Recchi was traded by Philadelphia to Montreal on February 9, 1995 with a third round draft choice in exchange for John LeClair, Eric Desjardins and Gilbert Dionne.



In parts of five seasons with the Canadiens (1995-1999), Recchi eclipsed the 25-goal mark three times. He was traded back to Philadelphia on March 10, 1999 in exchange for Dainius Zubrus, a second round draft choice and a sixth round draft choice.



In five-plus seasons with the Flyers (1999-2004), Recchi scored 20 or more goals in a season five times and played in 79 or more games four times in five seasons.



The 5-10 and 190 pound native of Kamloops, British Columbia was drafted by the Penguins in the fourth round (67th overall) of the 1988 Entry Draft.

Web site pushes Lemieux group for slots casino
Tuesday, July 13, 2004

By Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Who has helped the Burg more than Mario? His contribution to this community is too important to lose. Give him the slots. We can play between periods!!!


-- Nathan Hawley of Saxonburg




It started with a couple of hockey nuts who don't want to see Pittsburgh lose Mario Lemieux and the Penguins.

What Sam Menchyk of Butler and Mike Mooney of Whitehall came up with was an online petition aimed at convincing someone somewhere that player/owner Lemieux and his partners should get a slots license from the state so they can build a new arena with the profits and keep the team intact and in town.

"I had thought about a way to help when Mario started saying the last-ditch effort was getting money from slots," Mooney said. "If this doesn't happen, the Penguins are probably gone from Pittsburgh."

Mooney, 33, hones the content and Menchyk, 30, handles the Web design for www.slotsformario.com, which by yesterday afternoon was steaming toward 9,000 online "signatures" in support of Lemieux getting the single stand-alone slots casino slated for Pittsburgh.

Although the overwhelming number of signers are from Pennsylvania, there are entries from around the country and around the world. Comments are invited.

If O.J. can get away with murder, why can't Mario have his arena?

-- Steve Scott of Turtle Creek

The majority of the comments are more mundane, short requests to keep the Penguins in town.

Mooney and Menchyk met playing hockey, work together at Nauticom and attend at least 10 games a season at Mellon Arena. Mooney was a season-ticket holder before last season, when a new baby meant "money had to be diverted elsewhere," he said.

Menchyk got the site running June 30, four days before the House passed a slots bill and cleared the way for Gov. Ed Rendell to sign it into law. Menchyk didn't know what to expect.

"Mike thought it would be a good idea, so I stayed late after work and put something together," said Menchyk, whose interest has climbed along with the response to the point that "it doesn't leave my screen. I keep it in the background and refresh it all the time."

Gambling and hockey are cool. What harm could it do? That place already is a dump.

-- Adam Burr of Tampa, Fla.

Mooney and Menchyk monitor the incoming e-mail addresses. Menchyk said there were about 200 deleted items for the first 8,000 that appeared on the Web site.

Some of those that were excluded were fictitious, including several purportedly from Lemieux, Penguins general manager Craig Patrick and former Penguins player Jaromir Jagr. Others were duplicates or contained vulgarity.

A promise is a promise. Mario was promised a new building by the city when he saved the team in 1999. It's time to live up to that promise.

-- Chad Syrylo of Wheeling, W.Va.

The next step is to submit the petition. That will have to wait until Mooney and Menchyk have somewhere to send it.

"Originally, the petition was to go to Gov. Rendell, but then they said they were going to name a gaming commission board," Mooney said. "Once that's named, I want to get it to all the members and to Gov. Rendell so, hopefully, it's one of the first things they look at."

The new arena will not only benefit the hockey team, but also the whole area with the concerts, circuses and other events that are currently held at Mellon Arena.

-- George Gubish of Pittsburgh

Although Mooney and Menchyk point out on the Web site that slots revenue would enable the Penguins to get a new arena without using tax money and would keep that revenue in the community, the site is pretty apolitical.

"Being as I live in Butler, the whole tax thing doesn't affect me too much," Menchyk said. "I'd just like to keep the team around."

schueffy hat geschrieben:ich
würde nur für die pens sein wenn die`n paar österreicher kaufen würden!!!!!
mometan bin ich für colombus die sind zwar schlecht aber die haben welche!!!

mfg
schueffy

Jürgen Kohler Fußballgott hat geschrieben: Da müsstest du schon eher St.Louis (Divis) oder Minnesota-Fan (Brandner) sein.

Bleiben Penguins doch in Pittsburgh?


Die Zukunft der Penguins könnte doch in Pittsburgh liegen. Der NHL-Klub sprach offen über einen Stadtwechsel, weil die Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh nicht den Ansprüchen genüge.

Jetzt schalten sich die Stadtoberen ein. "Ich meine, es gibt einen Weg, um eine neue Multifunktions-Arena zu bekommen. Es ist an der Zeit zu handeln", wird Stadtrat Dan Oronato in der "Pittsburgh Post" zitiert.

Mit Hilfe von Privatinvestoren und einem Staatszuschuss soll jetzt wohl ein Neubau finanziert werden.

Eintrachtler hat geschrieben:

Bleiben Penguins doch in Pittsburgh?


Die Zukunft der Penguins könnte doch in Pittsburgh liegen. Der NHL-Klub sprach offen über einen Stadtwechsel, weil die Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh nicht den Ansprüchen genüge.

Jetzt schalten sich die Stadtoberen ein. "Ich meine, es gibt einen Weg, um eine neue Multifunktions-Arena zu bekommen. Es ist an der Zeit zu handeln", wird Stadtrat Dan Oronato in der "Pittsburgh Post" zitiert.

Mit Hilfe von Privatinvestoren und einem Staatszuschuss soll jetzt wohl ein Neubau finanziert werden.

Habe ich gerade bei sport1 gesehen und musste an den Thread hier denken, also sieht doch gut aus JKFG Schließlich muss die Revanche für '92 doch irgendwann mal gegen Pittsburgh stattfinden und nicht gegen irgendwelche anderen Pinguine

The Penguins lease at the antiquated Mellon Arena is up in 2007. That means in less than two years, the Penguins will be a “free agent franchise.” In fact, because most professional sports teams around North America have had new stadiums and arenas constructed recently, the Penguins may be the only major professional sports franchise able to pick up and move. That makes them very attractive to cities that are in the market for professional sports and already have or have proposed to build sparkling new arenas (Kansas City, Las Vegas, and Portland to name a few).

Kansas City has just completed construction of a new, publicly financed arena and is desperately trying to lure the NHL and the NBA there so that they can elevate the city to a three or four sport city. We already have the Penguins and should do everything we can to keep them.