Night of Assists Soars to New Heights with 'Hometowns and Hangouts' Theme

During the preseason, Sidney Crosby played tour guide to the Penguins when they visited his native Nova Scotia.

Last night, he got the chance to share a taste of his province with fans during the fifth annual ‘Night of Assists’ charity gala presented by Highmark, as this year’s theme invited attendees to travel to the ‘Hometowns and Hangouts’ of their favorite Penguins players.

“I think it's a great place. I know it's a pretty touristy place, too. So, I’m the first one to talk about it and hopefully, they enjoyed it,” the captain said with a smile.

They certainly did, as everyone who came to PPG Paints Arena to support the Penguins Foundation enjoyed interacting with Crosby and his teammates while dining on authentic cuisine and sipping signature cocktails from around the world.

“Great to see all the players, past and present. Everybody’s so approachable. It’s a great event,” said Jeff Fields, who came to the team’s signature charity event for the second year in a row. To date, "Night of Assists" has raised over $1.5 million to support the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation's four pillars: Youth Hockey, Wellness, Education and Community.

The night began with SportsNet Pittsburgh’s Dan Potash and Colby Armstrong, who were decked out in pilot uniforms, taking the stage to set the scene for the evening. “This is your captain speaking – I’ve always wanted to say that,” Potash said. “We’re expecting a very smooth flight, three hours from start to finish.”

After that, Penguins President of Business Operations Kevin Acklin and President of Hockey Operations and GM Kyle Dubas made some opening remarks. “This is quite an event, my first time here at the Night of Assists,” Dubas said. “They had forewarned that the turnout would be spectacular, it's very impressive and a huge credit to everybody in the room.”

The players then came out in special jerseys, which they later traded for aviator jackets as they dispersed around the floor. Many of them hosted casino games, including blackjack, roulette, and craps, along with other themed interactives throughout the evening – like ‘Travel with Tristan,’ ‘Cloud 59,’ and ‘Around the World,’ where Crosby spun a prize wheel with participants betting for the chance to win more chips.

The food and beverage stations around the perimeter of the room were incredibly thought out with such attention to detail. Canada had Caesars and beaver tails, along with lobster rolls from Nova Scotia and a fresh shellfish bar for Rhode Island (Noel Acciari’s home state).

Sweden had meatballs and kanelbulle, Marcus Pettersson’s favorite fika snack. Lars Eller’s Denmark featured æblekage, Danish apple cake. Ireland – which paid homage to Mike Sullivan and Drew O’Connor – had shepherds pie and of course, Guinness.

There was also Miami, where Evgeni Malkin spends a lot of his time during the offseason, and Monaco, where Kris Letang attended the Formula One Grand Prix. Photo ops were available at different points around the floor, like at Sweden’s Ice Hotel and Italy’s Trattoria.

“I'm new to the Foundation, I'm from a different country,” said Yvonne Maher, named Executive Director of the Penguins Foundation last February, who is from Ireland. “I realized that a lot of the players were coming into Pittsburgh from all across the world. Kyle was new, I'm new. So, I felt like, could we find a way to make our players feel at home?”

The players loved the theme, as they’re all proud of where they came from, and are now thrilled to be here in Pittsburgh.

“I think you'll find that they're tremendous representatives of obviously the Penguins, but of the entire city. They're everything that we want to be about,” Dubas said. “They’re high-character people, they come and work every day, and they're doing everything they can to get us rolling and get us going in the right direction, which we will get back at beginning on Friday here at PPG Paints Arena.”