Breaking The ice

Ryan Malone, the first Pittsburgh-born player to put on the black and gold for the Pittsburgh Penguins, was destined to be on skates from a young age. His dad, Greg, was drafted by the Penguins and played seven seasons with them, so it was only a matter of time before Ryan started to follow in his dad’s footsteps.

“I pretty much grew up right in the Civic Arena rink, Malone said. “When I was born, I was born into a Penguins jersey. It's been a part of me for 42 years so far and has been a family thing ever since.”

Getting drafted by the Penguins in 1999 was extremely special for the Pittsburgh-native, who is looking forward to being back at PPG Paints Arena, the current home of the Penguins, but this time with 3ICE. Malone will have some family and friends in the crowd, in addition to support from the local Pittsburgh Warriors to add to the special feeling of returning home. But the familiar faces don’t stop there as Steve Latin who sharpened Malone’s skates when he was a Penguin will be sharpening his skates this weekend.

“My whole time in Pittsburgh was great and it’s tough to narrow it down to one favorite memory,” Malone said. “Even that Stanley Cup run we went on was great, without the results. Ultimately, just being able to put on the black and gold sweater was an unrealistic dream that came true.”

Malone, who has experience playing at all different levels of hockey from the WCHA to the NHL, loves the 3-on-3 concept of hockey and feels that it is great for the game. #12 of Team Fuhr points to at least one or two games where the lead has changed within the final 10 seconds of the game, which depicts the excitement 3ICE brings.

“In the offseason when there's no other hockey going on, I think it's great in that regard,” Malone said. “Especially for the players to kind of show off more of that skill and fancy stuff that you can't do in the NHL because you’ll probably get run over. There's a lot of action and It's just great for the game, so I'm just happy they asked me to be a part of it.”

As a member of Team Fuhr, Malone looks to get on the board with a few more wins in the final weeks of the season. Ultimately, Malone feels that all members of Team White have adjusted to the style and flow of the games since their first taste of 3ICE in Vegas.

“We've had some close games that have gone to shootouts, so we’ll try to get on the board here and get into the Final Four teams for Vegas,” Malone said. “Just try to finish the season hard here and see what happens.”

‍