Malkin Fan Rocks Rare Metallurg Jersey to Support Geno and the Penguins
By
Benjamin Gottschalk
Pittsburgh Penguins
She showed up to support Evgeni Malkin wearing one of the 'Geno' hats from his limited-edition collaboration with Goorin Bros., along with a special Magnitogorsk Metallurg jersey from his time spent playing for his hometown team.
"I scour eBay for jerseys," Lawrence said. "I have a lot of jerseys that are one of a kind, and this is just the one I happened to bring for this particular game."
Lawrence has 10 Malkin jerseys in her collection, and this Metallurg one is her favorite. "Just because it's fun, it's unique, it's unusual. You know, you don't see it a lot," Lawrence said. "I also have the one where he had an A before he came here, but I don't wear that because it's very rare."
Lawrence said she first started getting into hockey around the summer of 2009. She looked up the most recent Stanley Cup winner, which of course, was the Penguins - with Malkin capturing the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. Her interest piqued, Lawrence read up on Malkin's unique journey to NHL stardom.
Lawrence is inspired by narratives, saying, "I'm a big fan of following the details." When a player has a story that touches her, she instantly becomes a fan. In Malkin's case, "you find out all of this stuff that he had to go through to get to the team, and get to America specifically," said Lawrence. "So, he became my favorite player."
From there, Lawrence realized the Penguins as an organization had an exciting story, and they became her favorite team. Since then, she has followed the franchise through thick and thin, and Lis appreciates how the Penguins and their core leadership trio have been committed to both winning, and each other.
"I like to follow teams that care about the players that they have, and players that care about the teams that they are on," Lawrence said. "Malkin's done all of the stuff that he could do to stay with the Pens. It's so clear that he wants to win here."
A critical factor that led Lawrence on her journey to opening night this year was the "offseason drama," as she puts it, that transpired this summer for the Penguins, with Malkin, Kris Letang and Bryan Rust all set to become unrestricted free agents if they didn't sign extensions.
"I was very worried. We can't do it without them," Lawrence said. "So I'm thinking to myself, it's okay if we can get at least two of the three back."
Rust was the first to re-sign, then Letang … but for her favorite player, Lawrence had to wait a little bit longer than she would have liked, as it came down to the wire for Malkin.
"I went through the full spectrum of emotions," she said, admitting at one point she was trying to reconcile, "how do I be a Penguins fan and a Geno fan if he's somewhere else?"
Then, when the news broke late one night that Malkin would be staying in Pittsburgh, "I was about to go to sleep. I happened to refresh Twitter. I did several checks to make sure it wasn't a fake account," Lawrence said. "I was thrilled. Like, oh okay, I don't have to be sad anymore! I'm just happy he's back where he belongs."
The Big Three staying together, along with the changes on the blueline, made Lawrence especially excited about this year's team. Lis met up with two of her friends, Bec and Lisa, to watch the group go up against Arizona and Tampa Bay at PPG Paints Arena, which the Penguins won by identical 6-2 scores.
"We have done some girls' trips here, and this was our first opening night weekend," Lawrence said. "I believe they've got another couple of really big playoff runs in them, and I wanted to be here to start it."
