Inside Scoop: Pens' Holiday E-Card

The Pens did their annual holiday e-card shoot - which recreated the movie Elf - on a day off in November at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. They had two matching sets in neighboring locker rooms, and the game entertainment department let me hang around behind the scenes. I stayed out of their way for the most part, except when Kris Letang kicked me out of his scene because I was laughing too hard (I couldn't help it, he looked ridiculous in the curly wig and full suit). I covered a lot of the great moments
in this feature
, but here's a few more from the day…

• Fifteen different players ended up donning one of two Buddy the Elf costumes at some point, and although Nick Bonino pointed out the yellow tights would probably get 'gross' as the day went on, at least those players were able to wear their regular street clothes to the rink and just change when it was time. Matt Cullen and Kris Letang weren't so lucky. They had to come to the rink on their day off wearing a full suit and tie, which Letang claims should have been taken care of by the costume department. "I did bring a suit, but I feel like you should have provided it," he joked. Cullen had to wear a wool coat over his suit, which still had the price tag on it - and he found that hilarious. "Not sure if you want to pull the trigger on this?" he laughed.
  - In the movie, Buddy the Elf loves singing, but one of the guys playing him felt the opposite. Bonino wasn't thrilled to learn his part was the shower scene where Buddy duets with Jovie, though I reminded him the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear. We thought he did a terrific job, but Bonino didn't agree. "I'm terrible," he said. "My sister is an amazing singer, but I didn't get that gene." However, he did say that sometimes he "kills it" singing certain songs in the car.
  - Arguably my favorite scene to watch was the one that featured Cullen and Tom Sestito. Cullen was perfectly cast as Buddy the Elf's real father, Walter Hobbs, since his teammates lovingly call him Dad. As soon as Sestito walked in the room and saw Cullen, he joked, "What is he, Father Time?" Their scene consisted of Sestito reaching out and giving Cullen a huge hug, and the two of them couldn't keep it together as they kept cracking up. The two of them said they felt the pressure as their scene ended the trailer, so Cullen kept giving Sestito direction, like "Give it to me! Give me the real thing!," and "Own the scene here Tommy!" They did two takes, and at the end of the second one, the 40-year-old veteran of 18 NHL seasons laughed, shook his head and said, "Just when you've thought you'd done it all."
  - A few of the guys were also watching that pair while waiting to do their scenes. Instead of "He's an angry elf," Letang said of Sestito, "He's a big elf." "A huge elf," Crosby laughingly agreed.
  - PensTV producer Mark Cottington did a tremendous job of heading up the project alongside motion graphics producer Dave Distilli. One of his tasks was to build a new theatrical trailer featuring scenes from the movie, and he was there to give the players direction to make sure they got their parts exactly right. It was funny to watch some of the guys give him a hard time, particularly Matt Murray. The goalie's scene was the part where a department store worker (played wonderfully by PensTV host Celina Pompeani) offers to spritz Buddy with cologne, which the elf takes and sprays in his mouth to his disgust. Cottington asked Murray do the scene a few times, and afterward, Murray joked, "I thought I nailed the first take, but tough director. He was all over me." The best part was they did end up using that first one.
  - Bill Guerin fully committed to his role as Santa, which was a joy to see, as he's a big fan of the movie. Guerin insisted on dressing in the full costume, complete with a red jacket, red pants, black belt and black boots, and spent 45 minutes sitting in a chair as special effects makeup artist Nathan Blaine applied a white beard and painted Guerin's hair white. When he saw himself in the monitor, Guerin said, "Good Lord, that's actually how old I feel some days." As expected, Guerin was his usual hilarious self. During one scene that required no speaking, someone said, "That's your best performance yet." Guerin responded, "Who said that? Someone doesn't want presents this Christmas."
  - There was a youth hockey practice being held on that side of the facility, and at one point, Guerin said, "You know what I should do? Put some skates on and go whipping around with those kids." And he followed through, replacing his Santa boots with hockey skates and taking the ice in full costume. Another idea Guerin had was to leave his beard on and go to his son Liam's hockey practice still wearing it - which is exactly what he did. Billy G is just the best.