March 7, 2011 – Marialana’s story

My sister, Zoe, was invited to the Children’s Practice and Luncheon that the Penguins hosted on Monday. Each and every player was nice beyond belief and sat down to talk and interact with every single table. Kris was the last one to enter into the event and the last player to greet my family. He was very nice and actually pretty talkative. My sister goes right into talking about how mad she was that he got evicted from the previous game due to his jersey. She insisted that he must keep it tied down so that it doesn’t happen again, plus “it’s for safety, Kris.” My mom brought up how Zoe had met him at a Tom Clark signing the year before and she just ran around the table to hug him without warning. He said,
“Yea? That’s what’s great about being a kid. You can do whatever you want. There are no rules.” Then, after taking pictures, he took off his hat to show his hair and asked Zoe if he needed a haircut. Zoe has a Pens goalie helmet that she loves. She brought it along and only let the goalies sign it, since there wasn’t enough space for the entire team. But, Kris picked up the pen and pretty much insisted, telling her that he’s “kind of like a goalie sometimes. I help stop the puck when the goalies are out of net, so I’m like a second goalie.” and signed it. He’s the only non-goalie signature on there. It was a great day and Kris, along with all of the other players and coaches, helped bring a worry-free, happy day to some very deserving kids 🙂