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Capitals and Penguins officially announce Winter Classic alumni game rosters

We’ve been getting little hints as of late over who will be playing in the 2011 Winter Classic alumni game set to take place at Heinz Field on December 31. The Penguins let us know that Super Mario will suit up for them and the Capitals sending Peter Bondra and a cast of mostly unknown Caps from the past.

Today, the rosters were made official and, if you’re the type to gamble on such fun events we first ask you to seek help and then we also say that even money is on the Penguins to run away with a win considering who they’re trotting out for the game. The Penguins will be sending these former players and coaches out to take out the Capitals. Straight from the press release:

Hall of Famers Paul Coffey, Ron Francis, Bryan Trottier and Larry Murphy will join Mario Lemieux on the Penguins’ roster, while two alumni rookies – Gary Roberts and Billy Guerin – will add some much-needed “youth” to the team.

Other alums playing for the Penguins include Phil Bourque, Rob Brown, Rod Buskas, Jay Caufield, Bob Errey, Dave Hannan, Francois Leroux, Troy Loney, Greg Malone, Gilles Meloche, Craig Simpson, Frank Pietrangelo, Gary Rissling, Rick Tocchet, Kevin Stevens and Warren Young.

Eddie Johnston, Pierre Larouche and Randy Hillier will coach the Penguins, and Jack Riley – the team’s original general manager in 1967 – will serve as GM.


No Tom Barrasso, no problem since most of the big hitters from the Penguins 1990s Cup teams are there. Also there are a few of Mario Lemieux’s running mates who saw their best seasons playing along side 66. With Warren Young there, he’s our odds on favorite now to score 40 goals just in this game as long as he plays on the wing with Mario.

Seeing Guerin and Roberts join the likes of Kevin Stevens and Rick Tocchet is an incredible mashup of “old” and new. I don’t dare call Stevens and Tocchet old because, well, I grew up watching them and I’m not about to call myself old.

As for the Capitals, their squad is still a bit underwhelming but still fun to check out.

Bondra, a 500-goal scorer in his NHL career, leads the Caps’ roster, which also includes Michal Pivonka, Scott Walker, Sylvain Cote, Greg Adams, Don Beaupre, Alan Hanglesben, Nick Kypreos, Yvon Labre, Gord Lane, Craig Laughlin, Mark Lofthouse, Denis Maruk, Alan May, Paul Mulvey, Robert Picard, Errol Rausse, Pat Ribble, Ken Sabourin and Blair Stewart. Others may be added in the coming days.

All right, so it’s a bit of a letdown after seeing all the legendary names the Penguins are bringing. It’s disappointing to not see names like Mike Gartner, Olaf Kolzig, Dale Hunter, and Calle Johanssen but it’s great to see 90s nostalgic names like Pivonka, Cote, Kypreos, and Beaupre though. Adding this game to the schedule of events surrounding the Winter Classic is a great idea and works beautifully to take advantage of having the rink on Heinz Field. We can only hope they continue to do this each year.