While June 11 has historically been kind to the Pittsburgh Penguins, there was once a time when the sun did not shine favorably for the black and gold flightless birds.
Cast your minds back to the fabled X Generation.
Admittedly, this author was too young to properly remember this new era of Penguins hockey, but with a new era came a new head coach.
Lacking professional coaching experience, longtime Chicago Blackhawks forward, and one-time Penguins forward, Eddie Olczyk was hired as the team’s head coach on this day in 2003.
Olczyk, 36 at the time, was replacing Rick Kehoe, who was let go two months earlier.