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Penguins Honor Ben Roethlisberger with Custom Warmups, Puck Drop

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2 years ago

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Ben Roethlisberger

The Pittsburgh Penguins honored recently retired Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger during their game against the New York Rangers on Tuesday.

Not only did they encourage fans to bring along their Terrible Towels, but the Penguins also surprised Roethlisberger by donning No. 7 jerseys with the quarterback’s name for warmups, an honor usually reserved for retiring 

“The first time I saw the seven come out, I’m like, ‘oh, I didn’t realize there was a No. 7,’” Roethlisberger said to AT&T Sports Net. “And then I saw the last name, and it all kind of started to make sense.”

Roethlisberger also participated in the pregame ceremonial puck drop, which he first pretended to throw like he would a football. That earned a laugh from Penguins captain Sidney Crosby.

“Very humbling, very cool,” Roethlisberger said. “It’s just so neat to be able to be here, to be a part of this special team, this organization, and these fans.”

The Penguins even played “Renegade” while showing Roethlisberger alongside former Penguins great Mario Lemieux on the Jumbotron for good measure, which obviously garnered quite the reaction from the crowd.

“That was a lot of fun to go up there and just really understand and respect what they do, and how good they are,” Roethlisberger told NHL.com. “Obviously, some of the best in the world, those guys right there. It’s just fun to support them and watch them, and tonight was a great night.”

Roethlisberger retired in January after 18 seasons of leading the Steelers’ offense, and is a near lock to eventually be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He said he’s handling his retirement well, and is enjoying the additional time that he’s been able to spend with his family, and doing more things like driving his kids to school that he didn’t have time to do while leading an NFL offense. But it has come with its pitfalls, he said with a smile.

“Being my wife’s personal assistant is way harder than football,” Roethlisberger joked.

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