Why are the Pittsburgh Penguins called the Penguins?? Are there Penguins in Pittsburgh??

Answer 1

Yes there are..............23 of them in fact!

Answer 2

I am sure that the name Penguins was chosen for a few reasons. First, a penguin is an animal that lives in a very cold environment...just as hockey is played in a cold environment. Second, Pittsburgh is in the state of Pennsylvania and since both "Penguins" and "Pennsylvania" both begin with PEN, it makes a kinda cutesy play on the words. Those two factors made the choice of name a no-brainer.

If you ever go to Pittsburgh and see the Mellon Arena, which has been nicknamed, "the Igloo", it does resemble an igloo. It is dome-like and white. But there are absolutely zero igloos in the Antarctic and there are absolutely zero penguins in the Arctic, so the team was not named after the arena. The arena was most likely nicknamed after the team's logo, not the other way around.

Answer 3

Better then the ORIGINAL Flames, you know in Atlanta naming them after Sherman's March to the Atlantic. Come on that pissed off BOTH sides, why celebrate it 100 years later? Anyway yes there are Penguins in the Pittsburgh Zoo. Actually they had some at the season Home Opener last year. Also Penguins COULD survive in Pittsburgh's climate. People don't see to understand that not every penguin lives in the Antarctic. Sure all "wild" penguins live in the Southern Hemisphere, and I believe it is below the tropic, but actually there is a breed that lives on the Southern tip of Africa. We have them at the zoo where I live, and this was chosen because they live in a similar climate and so the zoo wouldn't need to build a special enclosure or anything.
On another note one of the original names thought of was the Shamrocks, for the Irish population. So Bill if you don't like Penguins consider how much worse my team could have sounded lol.
Oh and one last note, the team didn't START Black and Gold. It was changed to Black and Gold because how popular the Steelers and Pirates were with their championships in the 70s. The team was trying to attract some fans by joining in. The original colors were a blue and white.

Answer 4

The nickname was inspired by the fact that the nickname of Mellon Arena is "The Igloo" as it resembles an igloo. That is the reason why they are called the Pittsburgh Penguins. It makes sense when you think about it especially after you go to Mellon Arena and/or see a picture of the arena.

Uh greatwhitenorth28, Mellon Arena was built from 1957 to 1961 and was opened on September 19, 1961 long before the Penguins ever took the ice. The first team to play there was the Pittsburgh Hornets of the AHL. So the arena was not nicknamed because of the team's logo and it was indeed the other way around as I stated.

oconnorboy101 you don't seem to know your hockey. The Dallas Stars did not steal the Minnesota North Stars name. The Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas and dropped the North from their name as it does not make sense for a team to be called the North Stars in Texas. In fact in the later years of the team's existence in Minnesota they adopted the current logo and uniforms that the Dallas Stars use today.

|Flames| |Fan|. The Anaheim Ducks were named the Mighty Ducks because of the film. You see, the team was originally owned by Disney, whose headquarters are close to Anaheim and Anaheim also happens to be where Disneyland is, and they obviously wanted to name the team something Disney-related and coincidentally Disney had released a movie about a hockey team called the Mighty Ducks a year prior to the team beginning founded. That is why they were called the Mighty Ducks until they dropped the Mighty off the name before the 2006-07 season and become the Anaheim Ducks. For those who don't know, Disney sold the team to Henry and Susan Samueli in 2005 for $75 million.

Come on |Flames| |Fan|! You are Canadian. You know that the maple leaf is the national symbol of Canada and that is the sole reason why they are the Toronto Maple Leafs. Remember, they where the Toronto St. Patricks (St. Pats for short) before changing their name to the Leafs on Valentine's Day 1927. Interesting date to change a teams name.

P.S. |Flames| |Fan| I know that your answer is sarcastic but I just wanted to tell the reason why those two teams have those names.

Answer 5

They are called the Penguins because the Penguins' arena was nicknamed the igloo.

The only penguins in Pittsburgh are at the zoo and the Aviary. There are no wild Penguins in Pittsburgh.

Answer 6

Its sounds good, and their are Penguins in the Pittsburgh Zoo. All I remember is that they are ridiculously loud and that they smell

here is some evidence proving the existence of the Penguins.
http://www.slapshot2.org/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/PENGUIN.JPG

I remember there was a picture of Lemieux looking in on the Penguins, but I can't seem to find a copy of it.

Answer 7

Interesting tidbit about their penguin logo:

A Penguin named Pete, in honor of the Penguins mascot who would sit on the bench during games, that died after serving as the team's mascot during their first month of existence, skating with a hockey stick against a gold triangle.


oconnorboy101: Its like why any other team has there name, Dallas Stars they stole it from the Minnesota North Stars.

Dude, they didn't STEAL it. The North Stars were MOVED to Dallas. Same team, different location, slightly different name (Dallas is not in the north).

Answer 8

Well, in keeping with the traditional colors of both the Steelers and Pirates, they went with black, white and golden yellow. You can easily find these colors on a real penguin. Since penguins are generally associated with ice, this isn't really a stretch.

Last time I checked, there were no real pirates in Pittsburgh, either.

Answer 9

There are no penguins found in Pittsburgh. Its just a very cold place where penguins could possibly survive. They only live at the poles.

Answer 10

Well there once was a large colony of penguins on the banks of the rivers in Pittsburgh but in order to put all those penguin crests on the thousands of uniforms that have been sold alas they were hunted to extinction. A real ecological tragedy.

Great White, the word you are searching for in this case is alliteration.

Answer 11

civic arena looks like an igloo. the owner had a "name the team contest" in the paper. Penguins won. and the guy that does not know much about hockey montreal is called "the Habs" which translated to engish means canadians same as canucks