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'Winning colors' on display at arena
Tessy Tokash
Christopher Horner/Tribune-Review
Click here to view a Gigapan of the Pens rally at Fifth Avenue Place
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Carl Prine can be reached via e-mail or at 412-320-7826.
Tony Pantano of North Fork Dam usually goes to Johnstown Chiefs' home games.
But when the first fans were admitted to Mellon Arena for Saturday evening's crucial Game 4 of the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup final, Pantano was fourth in line.
"This actually was the first game I've been to this year," said Pantano, a 49-year-old quality control expert for steel giant Kennametal.
Pantano, who lives on the cusp of Cambria County, had never been to a Stanley Cup match. He said his favorite player is "Malkin, Crosby or anyone on the Penguins who scores the winning goal."
The Penguins took the ice to a thunderous applause yesterday, with their most rabid supporters sporting their favorite players' numbers on their faces.
That's because Highlands High School senior Serena Pitel, 17, painted more than 250 faces black and gold before the third period even started. Most in line wanted the jersey numbers of the Pens' stars or their faces blotched half-gold, half-black.
"People don't want to jinx themselves, so most of the time they try to get their favorite players' numbers. But sometimes, they come up and they say they want to change everything up," said Pitel, who enters Indiana University of Pennsylvania in the fall to major in special and elementary education.
She will never spray a face Red Wings' red. She doesn't even have it on the palette.
"We only do winning colors," Pitel said.
Pittsburgh police descended in force on the Uptown and Hill District neighborhoods last night, with double the typical patrols rolled up for regular season games. Police stood poised to respond to emergencies and to sweep the streets ringing the arena of suspected pickpockets and flim-flam artists scalping bogus tickets.
But they weren't worried about Detroit's faithful.
"Detroit fans have been some of the most well-balanced, nicest people we've ever seen. I wish all visiting fans were like Detroit's," said Sgt. James Vogel of Pittsburgh's Zone 2 station.
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