Michel Briere and Co. battle the Leafs, 1969

I had the pleasure of watching a game between the Penguins and Maple Leafs from Dec. 6, 1969, which was aired here in the Toronto area on Leafs TV. It was easily the oldest game I had ever seen the Pens play, and was a great glimpse into what the team was like in these early expansion years of the franchise. The only negative was that the good guys got trounced, 5-0!

Read the pre-game article that appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on the day of the game.

Despite some impressive goaltending from Al Smith, the Penguins found themselves in a 2-0 hole after one, thanks to some slow-footed defence play that allowed the Leafs to break in on a number of odd-man rushes. As noted by the legendary Foster Hewitt after the game, one of the strongest performances from the Penguins was turned in by rookie Michel Briere. It was easy to see why Pittsburgh hockey fans were excited about the future of this potential star player - he was often whizzing around the ice and seemed to be in the middle of most of the team's scoring chances. Playing with Jean Pronovost on his right side didn't hurt his game either.

Despite the result, this DVD will sit proudly amongst my collection, seeing as how rare a chance it was to see Briere playing in his lone NHL season, before his car accident in May 1970 and his death the following year after being in a coma.

This game was the first of a home-and-home weekend series against the Leafs. Apparently the loss didn't sit well with the young Briere - he tallied two goals the next night in Pittsburgh, the difference in a 3-2 Penguin triumph. Here's the report on that game from the Post-Gazette.

Pens-Wings: The first game ever

Here's a report of the very first game the Penguins played against the Red Wings on November 10, 1967, at the old Detroit Olympia. Like most of the new "Next 6" clubs going up against the "Original 6" teams in that first season of expansion, the Pens came out on the losing end of things.
There are several funny and quirky elements in this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story. First, there's an exclamation mark in the headline, which you never see these days; the Pens are identified as the "Pengs" in the headline over the summary, a monicker that obviously (and mercifully) never took hold; the author, Jimmy Jordan, appears to have just shifted over from the Pittsburgh crime beat, with his frequent use of burglary-related terms; and, as a bit of evidence that NHL hockey was still a relatively new thing in the 'Burgh, Jordan closes the piece by informing readers that the Penguins' next game will be on Saturday night at home against the "St. Louis Flyers".

It's so much fun reading these old stories...

(You'll unfortunately have to scroll up the page a bit from the story that the link goes to; Google Archives doesn't have the actual Pens story indexed yet.)