Parade of Champions Set for Today

The party continues in Pittsburgh with the 2009 Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

After beating the Detroit Red Wings 4 games to 3 with a thrilling 2-1 victory in game 7 on Friday night, the Penguins returned home to Pittsburgh and celebrated all weekend long, first taking the Cup to a few nightspots in the city on Saturday night, then to PNC Park for the Pittsburgh Pirates game on Sunday.

Today, the parade goes down at high noon where more people than I can count are sure to take over the downtown area.

Meanwhile, in the immediate aftermath of the Penguins' cup victory, it was revealed that defenseman Sergei Gonchar had been playing with a torn MCL ligament since the knee-on-knee hit he sustained at the hands of Washington Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin in game 4 of their second round series last month.

Defenseman Kris Letang was also said to be suffering from a meaningful shoulder injury, but the exact scope and extent of that has not been revealed.

Here are a few pieces of great reading from the last few days on the Penguins' monumental triumph, the Red Wings' dispair, and how the future looks for the Boys of Winter:

http://www.freep.com/article/20090612/COL22/90612087/1053/SPORTS05/Talbot+s+heroics+make+defeat+even+more+bitter+for+Wings

http://www.freep.com/article/20090612/COL01/90612091/1053/SPORTS05/Pitty+party++Hockeyfrowns+all+around+as+Cup+heads+to+Stanleyburgh

http://www.freep.com/article/20090614/COL08/906140437/1053/SPORTS05/Loss+will+haunt+Wings+but+make+them+hungrier

http://www.freep.com/article/20090614/COL01/906140479/1053/SPORTS05/Well-dressed++clean-shaven+no+way+to+end+it

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Playoffs/2009/06/13/9789896-ap.html

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Playoffs/Pittsburgh/2009/06/14/9796546-ap.html

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Playoffs/Pittsburgh/2009/06/14/9793886-sun.html

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Playoffs/2009/06/12/9783501-cp.html

With that, I'm signing off for now. I should have more in the coming days, including a small Stanley Cup Champions photo gallery, documenting some of the better pictures capturing the Penguins title victory and aftermath.

Stanley Cup Champions baby!

3 days later, it still isn't old.