Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Remembering the career of Pittsburgh Penguins legend Mike Lange

Episode Date: February 20, 2025

Pittsburgh lost a legend on Wednesday night: the one and only Mike Lange. Hunter and Patrick reflect on his career as the voice of the Pittsburgh Penguins, what he meant to the city, and his place in hockey history. They then recall some of their favorite calls, catchphrases, and moments from his nearly five-year career with the Penguins. Finally, they preview Thursday's USA-Canada game and predict how it will go. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!SelectQuoteGet the right life insurance for you, for less, at SelectQuote.com/LOCKEDONNHL. Wonderful PistachiosGet snackin’ and get crackin’ with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more! FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new FanDuel customers can get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins! FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Pittsburgh lost a legend on Wednesday night and Pat and I are going to remember the life and the career of Mike Lang on this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodeys. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my host, Patrick Damping, and follow. him on all social media platforms at Sendin Verwet. And you can follow the shows, Twitter, at L.O. Ornestore Penguins, of course. Thank you all so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. Pat, we're here to remember

the life and the outstanding career of the voice of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Mike Lang, the voice of my childhood, the voice of your childhood, the voice of so many Penguins fans' childhoods over the years as Mike passed away peacefully on Wednesday at the age of 76. And we're going to get to some of our favorite sayings from him, some of our favorite calls from him a bit later on in the episode. But I wanted to start with this. I think he is the greatest broadcaster the world has ever seen. I will die on that hill.

He had such a way with words that I could close my eyes anytime I tuned into a broadcast. And I felt like I was at the game. It didn't matter where I was, whether I was at home, out somewhere. It didn't matter. It felt like when he was calling a game, he had a way of pulling you in and making you feel like you were at the arena, whether it was the igloo or PBG paints arena. He had a way of making you feel like you were there with thousands of fans watching the same game that he was. Like, again, I really could close my eyes and picture everything that was going on.

His cadence was absolutely sensational. And that's what really stood out to me with how he called games. The way he was so specific with goal calls, I felt like was also so great when it came to Mike Lang. And I also always remember him teaching me something during every broadcast. It didn't even have to be about hockey. He taught me something every time I tuned into a broadcast, and I'll always love that. but when it comes to strictly hockey, I specifically always remember learning something new during each broadcast.

I know I've talked about it on the show before, you know, my mom is the biggest reason why I got into hockey, but Mike Lang taught me so much more about the sport every time I tuned into a broadcast, and I will always remember that, and I will always cherish that because he was so good. His delivery, again, his cadence,

everything about the way that he called, games was sensational. That's where I wanted to start with for today's show. I'll also always remember, again, we'll get into some more great moments a little bit later in the show, but I want to leave everyone with this before I give this over to Pat. Game 7, 2009, 6.5 seconds left. Penguins are about to do the final face-off in their own zone. Red Wings are trying desperately to tie the game.

My mom meets the TV, and before I could even say anything, she goes, I'm not missing this. She syncs the radio call to the TV, and she wanted to hear Mike Lang's call. And I'll always remember it because it's been in my head to this day. Lord Stanley scratch their names on your fabled cup. Pittsburgh Penguins or Stanley Cup champions, 2009. I just always remember that call for eternity. His game six call was also very good. I'll meet you in the schoolyard baby for all the marbles on Friday night in Detroit.

again, man, he had such a way with words that you really could picture yourself at the arena watching the same game that he was the same way he was watching. And one last thing felt like he always knew when something big was going to happen. Not many broadcasters have that. He is the goat, in my opinion. But Pat, now I'll hand this over to you. What did Mike Lang mean to you as a Penguins fan? I don't want to make this podcast about me, about you.

It needs to be about Mike Lang. And I'll say this much, you guys are going to have to excuse me. I'm going to really struggle through this episode because sports have not made me legitimately cry in a very long time. and this one hurt because that's the voice of my childhood. And I'm as big of a hockey fan as you'll find and as big of a penguins fan as you'll find. And all of those memories, all the way through my childhood, through college, getting into adult life, the voice of it was Mike Lang. because you can't talk about the Pittsburgh Penguins without talking about Mike Lang.

He made the team interesting because he was with the team nine years before Mario Lemieux came around. It wasn't like they came in in the same season. It wasn't as if the Mario Lemieux Mike Lang connection was just hand in glove. It obviously was once Mario Lemieux came to town and the team began to rise to prominence and become the franchise that we know it as today.

Yeah, they were one and one. But before Mary O'Lamew, people tuned into Penguins games, not because they wanted to watch hockey or listen to hockey on the radio. They wanted to hear Mike Lang call the game. And in getting ready for this episode, this was something that I always thought I knew, but thankfully in the dozens of write-ups in retrospectives and everything about Mike Lang, I was able to get it confirmed this morning.

When he was hired by KDK Radio to become the voice of the Penguins, it was between him and another legendary broadcaster to get the job, a man we all know and love in Mike Doc Emmerich. And Doc Emmerich always said Pittsburgh got the right guy. They really did. You hit on something that I think defines Lang's legacy better than anything. He anticipated moments better than any broadcaster I've ever listened to, watched or experienced. You could just hear the inflection in Mike Lang's voice and you knew something big was about to happen. because he went from a fifth generation Californian who always joked red line, blue line,

I don't know anything else about hockey, to becoming one of the sports greatest orators ever. Because, you know, I'm sure I'm among the hundreds and if not thousands of people who spent Wednesday night falling down the YouTube. rabbit hole listening to his greatest calls. But to put a fine point on it, there's one through way through 95% of them. Because 5% is pure, raw, unfiltered emotion, and we loved him for that. But the other 95%, you hear that little tick up in his voice. You hear that little tick up in inflection. And what happens? They score a big goal, whether it's Mario Lemieux, Yarmir Yager, Sidney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin, Darius Casperitis in Buffalo, Marty Straca in New Jersey. And when his voice went up, you could be listening on name a station this team has been on

in Pittsburgh. ADCA radio, 94.5, 3W.2.000. W.S. 1059 the X. But once you heard that inflection, you already knew it was over. You already knew that Lemieux was going to do something incredible. You already knew Sidney Crosby was going to dazzle like someone we've never seen before. And he described the game in such a way that it didn't matter if you were like us two goons who have been watching the game for the majority of our lives and agonize over every little thing. or if it was your first time ever tuning in, he made you feel welcomed and he made you understand the game. You couldn't have said it any better. I'll always remember just him letting the hey, shoots and scores rip for every big moment that he got to call during his broadcasting career.

I mean, you look back, Pat, he got to call all five Stanley Cups. He got to call Crosby's first goal, Gino's first goal Yager's first goal Mario's first goal I get chills thinking about that he got to call all of those

legendary moments in this franchise's history and I wouldn't want anyone else calling those moments truly no and I mean this is so overused in this day and age

and it's not even just this day and age. It's so overused in general. Everybody loves to talk about this when it comes to athletes, entertainers, you name it. They love to say the whole, he's just a regular guy. He's just a regular dude. And Mike Lang is that. He wasn't, yeah, he went to school for broadcasting. He had a broadcasting career and it's where he wanted to be in his life. He even said before his retirement a few years ago that he kept pressing along so he could hit the 50-year milestone of working in hockey. But somebody, and you'll have to excuse me for not remembering who said it, but Mike Lang calling games, whether it was in the play-by-play booth, whether it was going on various radio shows in the city, or just, seeing him in public.

Talking hockey with Mike Lang, felt like you were sitting at a bar with a friend of yours, just shooting the crap and talking about hockey. And we loved him for it. He may not have been a native Pittsburgher, but he sure is hell became a Pittsburgh native for everything he did for this team in this city. 100% man.

And again, I was talking to a couple people about this last night. When you think of the Pittsburgh ping, one of the first people you think of as Mike Lang. You cannot tell the story of the Pittsburgh Penguins without him because of how great of a job he did, how great of a person he was both in the booth and outside of the booth. He was such a treasure for not just Penguins fans, but hockey fans around the globe as well. But that would do it for this first segment.

Coming up in the second segment, we're going to go over more of Mike Lang's best memories as the play-by-play voice for the Pittsburgh Penguins before. previewing the Four Nations face off final tonight between Team USA and Team Canada. But before we get to that, we have to tell you about our first sponsor, and that is Wonderful Pistachios. Looking for a snack that's both delicious and nutritious, cracked into a good source of protein with wonderful pistachios. Wonderful pistachios is one of the highest protein nuts. Each one ounce serving has six grams of protein, giving you over 10% of your daily value. Plus, they are packed with fiber and better for your unsaturated fats to help keep you feeling fuller longer.

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Visit wonderful pistachios.com to learn more. All right. We're back here in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined with my co-ist Patrick Damp. So Pat, going through more of Mike's amazing moments throughout his illustrious career, as the voice of the Pittsburgh Penguins already brought up to in 2009 during the first segment. But I want to take you back to game two of the 1991 Stanley Cup final, one of Mario's most iconic goals throughout his career.

Knife through to North Stars defensemen, Deeks Casey out of his socks, and Mike Lang absolutely lets it rip with him. his signature. Hey, shoots and scores. And then another one of his great lines, he left him on the parkway going to the airport. Only Mike Lang could come up with something like that. And then game one, 1992, Penguins pull off that crazy comeback against Chicago in that game. Mario wins it with just seconds to go in that game. And again, I still get chills every time I listen to that call. Hey, shoots and scores, and you'd have to be here. to believe it.

Those are two of my favorite calls of his over the years. I probably watched them 50,000 more times on Wednesday night, and I still get chills thinking about those. Those are two of my favorites. And if you ever get the chance, I'm not sure where it is on the internet. I think it might be in the Penguins 50th anniversary documentary, but Paul Stigerwald talks about the 1992 goal against Chicago

because at the time he was still Mike Lang's color commentator and he basically said that goal is everything you need to know about Mike Lang because he said he was leaned so far back in his chair when he made that call to put all of his soul into it that he was afraid Lang was going to fall backwards, his headset was going to come off, and it was going to be a little bit of a disaster inside the broadcast booth. But those are incredible. It's so difficult to pick some of my favorites.

You already used what is probably my favorite was after they close out game six in 2009 against the Red Wings. and he says, I'll meet you in the schoolyard baby for all the marbles on Friday night in Detroit. And because Mike Lang was the absolute legend that he was at the Penguins 2009 Stanley Cup parade, what does he do when he steps to the podium? He holds up a bag of marbles and says, I got the marbles! Because he was the greatest. And instead of picking one, I want to tell this story because I am, no matter how hard I try to fight against it, I am a dyed in the wool yinzer. And one of my favorite things, no matter how old I get, whether you can make fun of me for it all you want, I will still very often listen to the DVE Morning Show, especially during Penguin's season, because,

they always have somebody on, whether it's Phil Bork, whether it's Josh Getsoff, whomever. But for years, they would have Mike Lang on just to talk, whether it was hockey, life, music, entertainment, you name it. And a few years ago, he was on the morning show, and they were talking. And this is right around the time he retired. So it was a lot of career retrospect. and they were talking about the catch phrases.

And one of the ones that everybody loves is he smoked him like a bad cigar. Yeah. But he was telling the morning show, he didn't come up with that one. Yarmir Yager did. Because Mike Lang and Yarmir Yager from the time Yager got to Pittsburgh became friends. Lang kind of took him under his wing to make him feel comfortable in a new country. They sat together on bus rides. They sat together on the plane.

There's obviously the iconic video after they win the Stanley Cup in 1991, where Yager says, ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has just left the building while he's holding the cup. But Yager constantly told Mike Lang, I'm going to come up with a saying for you. I'm going to come up with something for you to say. on the air. And I guess he had a couple failed attempts where he would go to Mike with a saying and Mike would say, ah, Yags, I don't know about that. I don't think that one's going to work. And one day, they get on the bus and Yager's laughing as he walks toward Mike Lang. And Lang's like, what is Yager laughing at? Like, what is so funny? And he tells him, Mike, I've got your new saying.

And he's like, okay, Yags, what do you got? And in his broken English, with his accent, through laughter, he says, he smoked him like a bad cigar. And Lang laughs along with them, but in his head he goes, that's it. That's the one. And the rest is history because we all know how many times did we see Yager goals, Lemieux goals, Crosby goals, Malkin goals, you name it. and Lang throws with his signature baritone, he smoked him like a bad cigar.

And that was all thanks to number 68. And I love that you brought that up because also that moment 1991, when Yager's holding up the cup over his head, mics there interviewing him and they're both smiling. You could easily tell what Yager was going to do in that moment, in that video, Pat, because it just like the way that, Yager was smiling. You knew he was going to pull off the Elvis has just left the building and Mike has the biggest grin on his face.

He's laughing along with it. They had such an awesome relationship throughout Yager's playing career. And even after Yager left the Penguins as well, you know, Yager even said during the broadcast last year when he was in town for the Celebrate 68, that he actually talked to Mike right before his jersey got went up to the rafter. So that goes to show how close those two were. That was an awesome moment. But again, man, some of his favorite sayings, you know, obviously Elvis has just left the building. That's my personal favorite one. You know, make me a milkshake Malkin. And I still always remember this video from a few years ago, Pat, when Malkin makes Mike Lang a milkshake. He's in the suite.

He gives him a milkshake. And he's like, I love you. Pittsburgh loves you. Russia loves you. We all love you, Mike. And it was just such a pure, such a wholesome video. And I, I went back and watched that last night. And it was tremendous, you know, slap me silly, Sydney. Obviously, that's a good one. And honestly, one of my underrated favorites, let's go hunt moose on a Harley. Only Mike Lang could come up with that, you know, look out Loretta, Michael, Michael, motorcycle. We could keep doing this for an hour, honestly, man.

Like, he was just that good. Speaking on how much Mike Lang became a part of the fabric of the city. I said this to a friend last night because, and this is going to be, this is going to be one of the hardest parts for me on this show, because again, I don't want to make the episode about me, about us. It's about Mike Lang, the greatest to ever do it. But when I used to do the podcast with Jesse Marshall and Mike Darnay dying alive, once playoff time came around, we would switch the show's theme song to the 1980s version of Boys of Winter.

Everybody knows the Penguins theme song. But the thing that always came into my head when I heard that music was, Mike Lang's voice. And it was him saying the opening to his broadcasts. And it would be, it's a hockey night in Pittsburgh tonight from the Mellon Arena. It's the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers. Hello again, everybody.

This is Mike Lang alongside the old two-niner Phil Bork. And that just felt like a warm. blanket. It just, and you can picture it in your head, not even playoffs. I don't want to take it all the way to when it means the most. When it was a brutally cold, snowy, gray, January night, you had a crappy day at school, a crappy day at work, whatever. When you heard Mike Lang say, it's a hockey night in Pittsburgh. Everything just washed away. And for those couple hours, it was you.

It was your favorite team. And it was Mike Lang. And no matter what was happening in life, none of it mattered for that couple of hours because it was you, your close friend, and your favorite team. 100%. That's a beautiful way to end that. Again, the way that he was able to suck you in, you close your eyes. and you're there at the game.

I know I said it earlier in the show, but it is true, man. That's how good of a job he did as the voice of the Pittsburgh Penguins. And we send our thoughts to his family, his friends, the entire Pittsburgh Penguins organization and the entire hockey community

as we mourn the loss of the voice of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Mike Lang. That would do it for the second segment. Coming up to end the show, Pat and I are going to preview tonight's Four Nations faceoff final between Team USA and Team Canada. Don't miss it. That's coming up right after this.

All right. We're back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host, Patrick. So, Pat, I don't want to keep saying it, but tonight is really the main event, Team USA, Team Canada, for a title, the last best-on-best game until the Olympics next year. And I'll probably be lasting Freebird on repeat all day today. This is going to be one heck of the game. looks like Austin Matthews is going to be ready to go. Matthew Kachuk is going to be ready to go.

Brady Kachuk, it looks like should be ready. At least that's what Matthew Kachuk is saying to the media throughout the week. Charlie McAoughboy, though, he won't be playing for Team USA. Just hope everything is okay with him after he had to be hospitalized for his injury and the infection to it and all that. We thought Quinn Hughes was on his way to Boston, but it looks like that situation has been so influx that now he's going to be staying in Vancouver. It looks like he's not fully healthy to go to Boston,

but I think they might be calling in some reinfulful, horseman just because there might be a little bug going around the room and all that. But Team USA, they won the first matchup in Montreal. Now they got to do it again in Boston against a really upset Canada team. And I think this is going to be one for the ages. I think this is going to be one heck of a hockey game. You're going to see a lot of skill speed. You're going to see a lot of snore.

I would not be surprised if we saw a couple of fights in this one. But I am so looking forward to this. Team USA, again, the best USA team of my lifetime versus a Canada team that is ridiculously stacked. The U.S. again, has the edge in net with Connor Hellebuck versus Jordan Bittington. I still think when I look at tonight's game, that's going to be the difference. I'm still going to stick with Team USA. But, man, I still get nervous because I could see Sid, as I said on Wednesday, I could

see Sid putting together a vintage performance after so many memorable. moments with Canada throughout his career. I can see him doing it again tonight against Team USA and breaking all of our hearts. I am so excited to watch this game. This is going to have all the makings of a classic. And before I get into any analysis of it, my hope is that it's not a letdown. Because as much as yes, I am wanting to see Team USA and USA hockey finally take that next step up the ladder and really become genuine competition for team Canada. I don't want this

to be a route either way. I don't want Canada to come out and win by multiple goals. I don't want the U.S. to come out and win by multiple goals. I want this to be a heavyweight slug fest. I want it to be three to two, four to three, five to four. And at the end of the day, I have to kind of, I'm going to say borrow a take from ESPN's Greg Wyshinsky, where he told Jeff Merrick yesterday basically for this tournament, which has already been a smashing success, it's leading sports shows across the country. You're seeing hockey players pop up on SportsCenter.

P.K. Suban's on first take and get up. and sports centers interviewing team USA players in the middle of the day. So it's really a success in that way. But for it to be a complete success, USA has to win because if Canada wins, it's more of the same. Canada wins. Everybody expects Canada to win because Canada is the country of hockey. USA wins. It's a moment.

It's a moment for the sport. It's a moment where you're going to create new fans. You're going to create new players. You're going to grow the sport itself. Because whether we like it or not as diehard hockey fans, it's still the fourth or fifth most popular sport in America. So for this sport to truly grow, we need a team USA win. Now, looking at the game itself, I know that we had a commenter tell me,

hey, you said whoever wins the first one is going to lose the second one. And that is before. I said that before the tournament started. And while I'm not backing away from that analysis, I do think this is two of the best coaches to do it going head to head. I still look at two things that worry me. One for Canada. Jordan Bennington is not Connor Hellebuck.

Connor Hellebuck still has to beat the big game allegations tonight. This is the biggest game of his career. And he's got to show up for it. He has to be the best goalie on the ice. On the other hand, what worries me for the United States is twofold. One, I think these guys are better at being the villains than they are being the heroes. They're the heroes tonight. This game's in Boston.

It's not in Montreal. They're not showing up to spoil the party. They're going to have the majority of the arena behind them. I don't know if they're ready for that. I think they are better served in a villain capacity. The other thing that worries me is you have three guys on Team Canada who are known for big game moments. Obviously, Sidney Crosby, obviously Nathan McKinnon, and Connor McDavid needs a moment. He is in desperate need of a moment.

And what better place to do it than the first time he plays best on best hockey against the United States in the championship of this tournament. So I do still think this is USA's game to win, but there is a million pound gorilla staring them down when it comes to those three players. 100%. And again, man, a win for Team USA, I think sends a message to the rest of the hockey world saying like, hey, maybe we should be the favorites heading in the Olympics in 2020, maybe we are the best team in the world. Like, hey, we know this is only a four nations face off.

I know a few other worlds are being left out, but also a lot of these worlds are going to be at the Olympics in 26. But still, they want to send a message saying that Canada, it's not your time anymore. You've had your time. They want to send a message saying like, hey, it is our time now. We are the favorites. And we want to go win this gold medal after beating you in this tournament.

And I can't wait to see how it unfolds. This is going to be an instant classic, I think, in my opinion. and the entire country is going to be watching this. There's not much else on tonight, people. NFL is out of season. The NBA, yeah, they're back from an all-star break, and some games will be on, you know, local TV and stuff, but everyone is going to be tuned into this.

Baseball season's not back yet. The Daytona 500 was, you know, last Sunday, as for like another big sporting event that happened last weekend. But everyone is going to be watching this tonight. And I can't wait to see how it all goes down. why not life is short as the first two segments of this show showed us so what the hell four to three USA they win the four nations face off every time I make a prediction like this I feel like it just ages like milk so I'm not going to make a score prediction I'm just

going to stick with my gut in what I said a couple weeks ago and that team USA is going to win this event and I think team USA wins tonight I don't want to give a score prediction though because I think it's just going to age like milk. But Pat, I think that would do it for today's episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this one to end the week on Friday. We'll recap this Four Nations game and get you set for some big Penguins hockey this weekend, two massive matchups against both the Washington Capitals and the New York Rangers. So for Patrick Damp, I am Hunter Hodes. Thank you all so much for tuning in. We both appreciate it. We'll be back on Friday.

Thank you.