As hockey grows in popularity in the United States, it is nice to be a Pittsburgh Penguins fan. It is hard sometimes to be a Pens fan considering we almost constantly hear ridicule about Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. However, I would like to inform everyone, but specifically, Philadelphia Flyers fans, that we do in fact have more players fans love besides Crosby and Malkin. Now don’t get me wrong, we truly appreciate the talent that Crosby and Malkin bring to our team. Pittsburgh fans will defend their teams until the very end -- you would have to kill us and even then we would probably still defend our teams.

I have been a Penguins fan since probably early middle school when I could really have an opinion about hockey and I learned about the sport itself. I remember watching the Penguins lose the Stanley Cup in 2008 and everyone was devastated. Then we got to watch our team come back and win it in 2009 against the Detroit Red Wings. It was the best thing I had ever seen and I still remember sitting at my kitchen table staring at the 5-inch screen of the tiny TV we had attached to the underneath of our cabinets as WPXI broadcast the parade that was held in Pittsburgh after the Pens brought the Cup home. Since I live an hour and a half from Pittsburgh and since I was 12 years old, watching the parade was the next best thing to actually being there.

Again I get to watch my favorite team play for the Stanley Cup against the San Jose Sharks. I will never deny that the team has talent, the Sharks would not have played in the final series if they didn’t have talent. However, when I watch I notice that the Sharks players constantly go after the bigger names like Crosby, Malkin and Kunitz, which easily opens up other players like Bryan Rust, Connor Sheary and Eric Fehr. Something teams and fans constantly forget is that we don’t always rely on Crosby and Malkin to score, when they do it is awesome, but when other players score it is just as awesome.

Also, Pens fans find it extremely annoying to hear people call Sidney Crosby names like Cindy Crosby or Crybaby Crosby because we just truly don’t understand. The other night Crosby took two hard hits and just skated away. Why? Because he knows that starting anything would not be good for his team. Most Pens fans would agree with me when I say that I believe the real reason you call him these names is because you’re jealous. We understand that you wish he was on your team, one of the greatest players in history and you call him names.

Being a Pens fan brings joy and excitement to your life for most of the year and even during the off-season we still focus on who the team has picked up and who they let go. There is nothing like tuning into a home game and hearing, "It's a hockey night in Pittsburgh!" or sitting out in front of the big screen during playoff season. There is no forgetting going to your first ever hockey game, I still remember my first game like it was yesterday. Being a Pens fan takes a lot of dedication, you have to be able to take smack talk from other teams’ fans and give it when it is rightly deserved and try not to constantly fight everyone who bashes your team. We constantly remember the amazing feeling of pride that you have when the Pens bring the Cup home, something that Flyers fans haven’t experienced since 1975.

Let’s Go Pens! 2016 Stanley Cup Champions, thanks for a great season!