COLUMBUS, Ohio — When Samantha and Tanner Plishka left Raleigh, N.C., on the morning of Dec. 20, their holiday spirits were buoyed by what awaited them at the end of an eight-hour drive to Pittsburgh: two tickets on the glass for their first-ever game inside PPG Paints Arena.
Tanner was stoked. He planned to wear the Sidney Crosby Stadium Series jersey that Samantha had bought him.
By the time they checked into their $180 room at the downtown Omni William Penn Hotel, however, the two Penguins fans were stunned to learn that the Dec.