"It's been an amazing experience from start to finish, and we reach the crescendo on Sunday," said Terry Kalna, the team's Senior Vice President of Sales and Broadcasting. "The Penguins and our corporate partners have teamed up since October to create season-long activation among fans in many different, creative ways. It's been fun. When you add it all up, we had more than 250,000 fans register to win throughout the season. We want to thank everyone for participating along the way."
There were a total of 50 "Golden Ticket" winners this season commemorating the Pens' 50th anniversary, but only one of them had the luck to take home the grand prize of Penguins season tickets for the next 20 seasons.
Before the puck dropped, ROOT Sports' Dan Potash introduced the 50 lucky Golden Ticket winners onto the ice. The "ol' 29er" Phil Bourque selected one of 50 lottery balls to determine the winner of the grand prize.
That winner was Pittsburgh native Vince Maromonte and he could not have been more thrilled.
"It is just surreal," Maromonte smiled. "We received our nomination about a month ago, so we knew the day was coming. To hear No. 30 was just almost unreal. We are life-long Penguins fans. We are born and raised in Pittsburgh, my wife and I. We plan to stay here forever, so we are really excited to be coming to the games a lot more often."
While only Vince went home with ultimate prize, each of the 50 winners collected their own special prize that ranged anywhere from use of center-ice suites, meet-and-greets, signed gear and other amazing prize packs. The estimated value of the prizes was $200,000.
This was all made possible thanks to a remarkable season-long activation between the Pens and their sponsors and it is safe to say it was something fans truly appreciated.
"This organization is all about the fans," Maromonte said. "This is just an opportunity to give back to the fans. I can't say enough about how classy of an organization the Pittsburgh Penguins are. Class act."
