SI Archives - Pens in the 70s

Let's take a tour of what SI offered up about our Penguins before Mario arrived. It wasn't so pretty:

• "Kelly's Light Shines Under Pitt's Bushel" (April 20, 1970): The Pens had a coach and some young talent but where were the fans? In light of 40+ straight sellouts, it's interesting to remember how things were, though keep in mind the capacity was less in 1970 without either balcony being built yet.
  
• "Who Said Penguins Can't Fly?" (April 28, 1975): Thirty years of financial instability kick off with the playoff bound Pens. The savior of the moment, Pierre Larouche, didn't have quite enough to keep the team. Except for that last item, it sounds all too familiar, let's hope the new arena puts these worries to rest for a loong time.
• "With a Little Help From His Friends" (May 12, 1975): Long before John Tonelli, David Volek and Tom Fitzgerald, there was 1975 and Chico Resch with some help from the pipes. That's 3 times the Isles have derailed the Pens.
• "Pittsburgh Lands a Rare Bird" (Oct 15, 1984): The first sentence says it all:
  

  Let posterity note that the light at the end of the tunnel that is Pittsburgh Penguin hockey was first glimpsed at 2:29 p.m. (E.D.T.) on Sept. 20, 1984, which was when Mario Lemieux scored his first goal in a Penguin intrasquad scrimmage.

And on that note, we'll save the more numerous and positive post-Mario articles for another day.