Step right up to the greatest gala on earth

Before Jackie Cain even entered PPG Paints Arena for the Penguins Foundation's first-ever "Night of Assists" Charity Gala presented by Highmark on Wednesday, she knew she was in for quite the evening.

"When I was walking in, there was somebody breathing fire and there were people on stilts everywhere," she said with a laugh. "It's just fabulous."
The fire breathers and stilt walkers were sideshow performers that were a part of this year's theme, "Under the Big Top," which featured a variety of entertainment that captured the mystique of a vintage circus from yesteryear.
The "Night of Assists" is the organization's new signature charity event, combining two past galas - Aces and Ice, which the team had been doing since 1986, and the Wine Tasting Gala - into one.
Proceeds from the event will benefit the Penguins Foundation's vast array of youth initiatives and special needs programs that benefit children throughout the greater Pittsburgh region.
"We took two events that we had in the past and we combined it into one major event," said Dave Soltesz, President of the Penguins Foundation. "Just to make it easier. Schedules are tight for folks, so we thought 'hey, let's have one big bash,' and that's what this is all about.
"It's like when you're a kid, you went to the circus and had all these great things going on. It's a special night. It's a special event."
Cain couldn't have agreed more.
"I've got to tell you, you guys have outdone yourselves here tonight," she said. "It's just phenomenal. The Foundation does such great work and to be here supporting that is so tremendous in our community. And to see our players, they're such outstanding citizens, we're so proud of our Pittsburgh Penguins."
For those who attended the VIP reception prior to the event, they walked down a hallway where they were given beverages from hands outstretched from behind a curtain on what was called the "Champagne Wall."
Vintage posters featuring the players as different attractions decorated the walls. A few examples included Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin as the Two-Headed Man, Matt Murray as the Elastic Man, Carl Hagelin as the Human Cannonball and Ryan Reaves as the Strongest Man Alive, and the boys got a kick out of them as they walked in and checked them out.
Once they entered the Lexus Club, patrons sipped their drinks as they watched acts that included a snake charmer and juggler and mingled with players, coaches, management and executives. Upon heading downstairs, they all walked onto an area floor that was completely transformed into a Grand Circus. It featured an open bar with signature cocktails themed to the event - named the Houdini, the Bearded Lady, the Acrobat and the Arnold Slick - as well as a wine tasting with over 30 global wines and food stations featuring carnival cuisine with a twist.
At center ice was a stage, where AT&T Sports Network personality Dan Potash - serving as the ringmaster - introduced the players, who joined him wearing black top hats with red and yellow feathers, white gloves and Penguins jerseys. They also had canes, which Evgeni Malkin used to playfully whack Potash as he walked onto the stage.
Malkin almost gave Potash another love tap after the master of ceremonies volunteered him and Phil Kessel to do a couple of tricks for the crowd with renowned local magician Lee Terbosic. This was right after Terbosic had done some tricks for the players in the locker room beforehand, where Malkin had everyone cracking up when he was told to write his name on a card and instead wrote "Fill" for "Phil."

"When they told me about this a long time ago, I put it on my calendar," Terbosic said. "I was just in Florida, but I made sure I was back in town to be here for this tonight. It's such a cool event, it brings out everybody and they do such an amazing job putting this together."
For his first feat, Terbosic had Malkin and Kessel make fists, shake one of them and put it down. Terbosic then drew two X's on his hand with black marker, saying he would grab the X's one at a time off his hand and throw them to Malkin and Kessel. When they opened up their fists, they each had black X's on their palms, much to the delight of the crowd and amazement of the players.
As Terbosic prepared for his next trick, Malkin couldn't stop marveling at the X that had appeared on his hand. But he finally stopped looking down and paid attention as Terbosic shuffled a deck of cards and told him to say when.
"We're going to take a random card, I don't need to see it, you don't need to say it," Terbosic said before adding with a laugh. "Put it right underneath your bum."
Terbosic then dealt Malkin 20 cards, and he gave him 10 back. Kessel did the same thing, and then Malkin pulled out that random card.
"Whatever the value of that card happens to be, we're going to cause that many cards to vanish from underneath Geno, and then they're going to reappear underneath Phil," Terbosic said.

The card was the Three of Spades, and sure enough, when it was all said and done, seven cards were underneath Malkin and 13 cards were underneath Phil. The two of them remained seated as Terbosic did a trick that involved a floating table with PensTV host Celina Pompeani assisting.
"We don't just raise back-to-back Stanley Cup championship banners in here, we raise floating tables," Potash said.
After the performance, the players were stationed at casino games - blackjack, roulette and craps - and carnival games. The rowdiest station was by far Reaves at the Test Your Strength booth. "Step right up!" he yelled to anyone who came by, challenging everyone to come and swing the hammer.

"I love circuses. I belong in a circus, as you probably already know," Reaves joked. "So this is right up my alley. I have the Strongest Man Alive hammer, which nobody has beaten me in yet, and I was using one hand. So it's a challenge."
One guest who did rise to the challenge was Theodore Sluser, in attendance with his father Timothy.
"I split wood and I sell firewood as a side job, so swinging an axe, swinging a big hammer is similar to what I do," Theodore said. "So I figured it might be kind of easy."
He certainly made it look easy, much to the delight of Reaves. Another popular game nearby was Kessel and Jake Guentzel at the Ring Toss, and of course, Crosby at the Spin to Win station.
"I like it," Crosby said about the Penguins Foundation's new signature charity event. "I like the games, I think it's a little more interactive for us. I think everybody's able to interact with all the people here and play some games, so it's been a lot of fun."