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Former Penguins gather to celebrate 20th anniversary of first-ever Stanley Cup win

lemieuxchampagne

James

The 1990-91 season didn’t start off particularly well for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Legendary scorer Mario Lemieux was sidelined with a major back injury and the team suffered from a slow start, going 12-16-3 in their first 31 games.

Things seemed to change thanks to three major additions: a healthy Lemieux, a trade that brought in Larry Murphy and an even bigger swap that helped them land Ron Francis. The team took off thanks to those changes, a breakout 113-point season from a young Mark Recchi, a 27-goal rookie season from Jaromir Jagr and timely contributions from a talented supporting cast. That team gelled in the later stages of the season, allowing them to win their division and first-ever Stanley Cup while paving the way for back-to-back championships.

For some, it might be hard to believe that the Penguins and city of Pittsburgh celebrated that Cup victory 20 years ago, but more than 40 former Penguins/staff members gathered at a charitable golf outing to revel in those memories.

“There’s a lot of reminiscing and a lot of laughter. Even after 20 years, the personalities don’t change. The guys that were the jokesters are still the jokesters,” defenseman Larry Murphy said. It brings back a lot of memories.”

Check out video of the event from the Penguins Web site.

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