Friday, May 23rd, 2008 by Adam Wagner
Bandwagon or not?
With the recent run of Penguins’ success, there is an unfortunate overabundance of bandwagon fans. These are the people who head down to Mellon Arena in their Crosby, Malkin or Laraque jerseys; whip out their lawn chairs and proceed to cheer every time the Penguins score a goal, but who also wouldn’t have dreamed of going near the Arena, even for rink-side seats, as little as five years ago. Take this simple quiz to find out whether or not you are a bandwagon fan.
1. An easy one to start, but one that someone who has just been following the team for the last two months may not know. Who is the Penguins’ backup goalie?
2. The last time there was a huge bandwagon following for the Penguins was when Jaromir Jagr was still a ‘Guin. Who was Jagr traded to and who were the three players received in return? (Hint: One recently became a Penguin again.)
3. Who is Billy Tibbetts and what is he famous for?
4. What was the only skill that Konstantin Kolstov had?
5. What team was Lasse Pirjeta acquired from?
6. Who was the only active player in the trade that move the Penguins up from the third overall to first overall in the 2003 draft, allowing them to pick Marc-Andre Fleury?
7. How many times has a current or former member of the Penguins’ organization won the QMJHL’s MVP award, the Michael Briere trophy?
8. What former Penguin goalie’s nickname involved a lizard?
9. Who was the Penguins’ enforcer in the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons?
10. What team did Alexsey Morozov leave the Penguins for?
A1. Ty Conklin, who filled in for Marc-Andre Fleury for 33 games this season, winning 18 of them.
A2. Kris Beech is the player who became a Penguin again. Michal Sivek and Ross Lupaschuk. The two latter players were miserable failures, as Lupaschuk now plays in Finland and Sivek now plays in the Czech Republic. Beech is an NHL journeyman. Amazingly enough, all three were highly rated prospects at the time of the trade.
A3. Billy Tibbetts is a former Penguin farmhand during the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons who is best known for having served three years, from 1996 to 1999 in jail for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Think a smaller, crazier George Laraque with a criminal conviction.
A4. Speed.
A5. The Columbus Blue Jackets.
A6. Mikael Samuelsson, who has somehow become a productive player for the Detroit Red Wings despite being an abysmal player during his time in Pittsburgh.
A7. 6 (Andre Savard in 1972-3, Mario Lemieux in 1983-4, Jocelyn Thibault in 1992-3, Ramzi Abid in 1997-8, and Sidney Crosby in 2003-4 and 2004-5)
A8. Andy Chiodo, or the Chiodo Dragon.
A9. Krysztof Oliwa, who managed to compile 281 penalty minutes between the two seasons.
A10. Ak-Bars Kazan of the Russian Premier League.
If you got all 10 of these right, you deserve an eye-level seat in Mellon Arena on Saturday and Monday nights.
If you got 8 or 9 right, you shouldn’t feel ashamed for taking those seats.
If you got 6 or 7, you should surrender them to that weird guy who’s still muttering the name “RicoFata” over and over and over again to himself.
If you got 4 or 5 right, you should just watch the game at your local bar.
If you got 2 or 3 right, you deserve a Jarko Ruutu slash for pretending to know about hockey.
If you got 1 right, Georges Laraque wants his jersey back. And he’s bringing Gary Roberts with him to retrieve it.
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