Kids Dress Up as Penguins for Halloween Shoot Hosted by Penguins and So Many Angels, Then Meet the Players

Yesterday may have been Halloween, but it was also a little bit like Christmas morning for the three young children the Penguins hosted at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.

The team partnered with So Many Angels to bring in Charlie, 5, Maddie, 8, and Hudson, 10, from UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and the Make-A-Wish Foundation for a photo shoot and opportunity to meet the players.

"We first teamed up with So Many Angels last year to commemorate the league’s Hockey Fights Cancer initiative, and it was such a wonderful experience for both the families and the team, that we decided to do it again this year," said Cindy Himes, Director of Community/Alumni Relations at the Penguins Foundation.

So Many Angels takes photos of children impacted by cancer and transforms them into whatever or whoever they want to be when they grow up, which made it so fitting that this happened on Halloween. Before the kids went trick-or-treating their costumes waiting for them at home, they got to dress as Pittsburgh Penguins players.

“We got a call last week, and my son was actually at home. I said Hudson, do you want to do this? His face just lit up,” his mom Lauren said. “He was so excited. He loves the Pittsburgh Penguins. He always watches them. He has the notifications come up on Comcast like five minutes before to tune in. I don't know how he did that (laughs), but it comes up on all the TVs.

"They visited him a few times in the hospital whenever he was in treatment around Christmas. He got to meet Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang, and that just brightened his day. When they visit the hospital and those kids aren’t feeling good, it just makes their whole day. They get ideas that they are coming, and it just gets them so excited. Now, he can actually enjoy it and take it in. In the hospital, you're sick from the chemo and everything like that."

Each of the kids did separate shoots in the morning, with their families there to cheer them on. The photographer, Mickey, was terrific at getting the kids to open up and show their personalities as they donned jerseys and posed with props like helmets, gloves, and sticks. Though Charlie didn’t need much help in that regard, getting into Spider-Man and wrestling poses and just hamming it up. Iceburgh also made appearances, much to the delight of all the children. Truly, everyone involved had a blast.

“We’ve served over 250 kids, and every time, there’s something different with every kid,” said Matt Meiers, founder of So Many Angels. “You just wonder at what these kids have gone through, and have to go through. And the families getting to come and see, even though the other siblings don’t get to take part, they get to be a part of it. That’s always important, and that’s always cool.

“To be able to let Mom smile, she’s like, I don’t care what the pictures look like. I want the session to be so much fun that you don’t care about the pictures. But then when you see the pictures, we want to blow you away with the pictures.”

The photos from today will be transformed into works of art by the talented editor at So Many Angels, and the kids will receive their canvases at the Penguins’ Hockey Fights Cancer Night on Nov. 16. The families are looking forward to reuniting on that evening after spending the afternoon together watching the Penguins practice – with the kids playing together in the stands and going up to the glass – before getting to meet the players in the locker room. 

Charlie had the players cracking up with his commentary: “Wow, you’re so big! Ooh, you’re so sweaty!" Those interactions meant as much to the guys as they did to the kids, especially after a difficult few days mourning the tragic death of former teammate Adam Johnson, and losing their third game in a row.

“To be able to bring some smiles to their face and have a day that hopefully they remember forever, it brings us a lot of joy, and it's something that we love doing,” said Bryan Rust, whose wife Kelsey – along with Chad Ruhwedel’s wife Ellie – were so good with the kids at their photoshoots.

“Puts things into perspective, that it doesn't matter what happened the day before, life goes on. You gotta keep coming in the next day and working hard and working towards something better. To be able to have opportunities like this, today helps get your mind off hockey for a little bit, and just kind of focus on some bigger things.”

As Meiers put it, the children don’t care whether the Penguins win or lose, they look up to them regardless.

“Maddie is a big Pens fan,” said her dad Tristan. “She loves watching with her brothers and we’ve gone to a game before, so she got to experience that and have fun doing that. So being here up close and in person was fun… just a memorable and really cool experience.”