Pittsburgh Penguins Are the Youth Gone Wild with Roster of 20-Somethings

Enter: Sebastian Bach, former lead singer of Skid Row.

"They call us problem child
We spend our lives on trial
We walk an endless mile
We are the youth gone wild
We stand and we won't fall
We're the one and one for all
The writing's on the wall
We are the youth gone wild"

Perhaps no other lyrics ever written better suit this year's Pittsburgh Penguins. With eight players on their active roster who are 25 years old or younger, and another nine who are between the ages of 26-30, the Pittsburgh Penguins are ripe with young talent.

In professional sports it is becoming more common for players to play longer due to better conditioning, diet, or simply because they can't walk away from the game they love just yet.

Chris Chelios and Gary Roberts are two prime examples of "Old Time Hockey Players" in this series.

But, who are these "kids" for the Penguins, and what might they be doing if they weren't about to begin the biggest series of their collective lives?

The youngest player on the Pens' active roster is Jordan Staal.

At the tender age of 19, Jordan is the third of four Staal brothers to reach the NHL.

Were he not preparing for the Stanley Cup Finals, Staalzy would be waking up at 5 AM during his college break to work on daddy's sod farm in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Rounding out the 20-and-under club is a kid that has become as recognizable as any professional athlete in the world, so much so that he has earned the title of not just a kid, but, "The Kid".

It's hard to imagine Sidney Crosby not playing professional hockey.

However, were he not shacking up with Le Magnifique in Sewickley during the season, Sid would be back home in Cole Harbour, Novia Scotia. He would most likely pass the time playing video games, eating Cheetos, and looking for a part-time job washing cars.

Tyler Kennedy, 21, has to be as surprised as anyone that more than twelve people actually recognize him in public.

He was most likely planning on sitting at a bar somewhere enjoying his first legal beer by mid-May, but instead he is playing for the most coveted prize in professional sports.

Had Evgeni Malkin, 21, not followed in the footsteps of his father and brother and decided that he would like to become a librarian instead of a professional hockey player, he might be punching library cards by day, and working in the steel business by night somewhere in Magnitogorsk, still unaware that Heinz ketchup even existed.

Kris Letang, 21, could be one of those pesky telemarketers that call you right in the middle of your favorite TV show, speaking terribly broken English while attempting to tell you that you've just won $10 million.

Perhaps the most impressive of all Penguins over the past three months has been 23 year-old goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury.

Fleury might have enjoyed a career as that guy at the circus who can bend his legs into crazy shapes, or perhaps a stunt-double for Gumby in children's films.

Max Talbot, 24, seems to have the personality that you'd expect from a court jester, or that hyper kid who plays pickup games like he's in the big leagues. You could be watching Max doing stand-up comedy instead of killing penalties in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Ryan Malone, 28, is one of the eldest of the young Penguins.

"Bugsy" knows what it's like to grow up dreaming of playing hockey in the city where you are being raised. Malone was 12 years old when the Pens won their second straight Stanley Cup in '92, and his father Greg was the scouting director for the team.

16 years later Bugsy has become who he previously referred to as "that big sweaty guy who used to toss pucks over the glass to me at practice." What a feeling it must be to see some dude at Wal-Mart that sat beside you at a game 16 years ago and know that he is now cheering for you instead of cheering with you.

Being 21 years-old myself, it is astonishing to try to fathom the possibility of someone my own age, let alone younger, playing in the NHL.

I struggle balancing my check book when the total exceeds two digits, I could not even imagine balancing one that exceeds six.

For the rest of my life, I can look forward to working too hard at something I don't really like, for a minimal amount of compensation. Not that I am complaining, but can you imagine eating your morning cereal and knowing that you are about to get paid, and paid extremely well, to play hockey?

All of these young Penguins have exceeded the individual expectations that were set for them this season.

Who would have thought Letang would develop into a physical presence in the defensive zone?

Or that Malkin would finish second to Ovechkin in the points race?

Or even that Ryan Malone would finally blossom into a true power forward and score more than 15 goals?

I'm willing to bet that very few people expected Fleury to come back from the injury as the most dominant goaltender in the league; regular season and playoffs.

While their individual performances have often left fans and teammates awe-stricken, the true willingness to buy into the notion of, as the song says, "we're the one and one for all" has made for one hell of a team.

Every guy on the roster at some point during this season has come to the aid of a teammate in a post-whistle scrum or after a big hit on a superstar.

Whether it's 19 year-old Staal coming to the aid of 41 year-old Gary Roberts, or vice versa, these Penguins are a tight-knit group with one common goal: winning a championship.

They are loose on the ice, and even more loose in the locker room.

Their collective age shows by the childish antics that the "kids" try to pull on each other, their coaches, staff, or even some of the veteran guys like Gonch or Sykie. Any combination of Ruutu and Talbot, on or off of the ice, is a recipe that yields multiple servings of laughter.

Despite their off ice antics, you can be sure that when it comes time to play the games, they will be focused.

They will be focused, or they will be prepared to hear about it coming from their coach, Michel Therrien, who has not hesitated to "call out", or even sit down certain players that weren't performing the way he knew they could.

Now these young Penguins must face their toughest task to date: the veteran-littered lineup of the Detroit Red Wings.

Will experience overshadow sheer determination? Or will the "endless mile" that the Penguins have seemingly been walking finally start to downgrade?

Whatever the outcome may be, starting Saturday, "we stand and we won't fall, we're the one and one for all, the writing's on the wall, we are the youth gone wild."

Let's Go Pens.