Penguins Deliver Smiles To Kids At Children's Hospital
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Penguins wearing Santa hats paraded through the halls of Children's Hospital Monday.
The annual "migration" from the rink to the hospital gives shut-in kids a Stanley Cup moment with some of hockey's brightest stars, who sign autographs and hand out gifts.
Sidney Crosby, who is all-too-familiar with hospitals these days, has a special empathy.
"There's a lot of places, I'm sure they'd rather be, so hopefully we can just come in and put a smile on their faces," Crosby said.
The visit puts smiles on the faces of players as well, like goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.
"They're just little guys, you know, and they go through so many things and so much hard stuff. And they're doing it and they do real good at it, too," Fleury said.
Evgeni Malkin hails from the same part of Russia where 3-year-old Sartem's mother lived, before she moved to Pittsburgh six years ago.
He spoke to the boy in their native dialect.
"He asks how we're going. How we get here," Anna Evdokimovo said.
As for Malkin?
She laughs, "He's Russian Santa Claus."
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