''Pittsburgh Penguins Confidential'', sometimes called ''Pens Confidential'', was a

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

based half-hour TV sports series that aired on various local stations throughout Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio, and Northern West Virginia. Its main subject was the

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...

, the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

franchise in Pittsburgh. The show ran from 1996 until 1999 and was hosted by Jake Ploeger and Jeanne Blackburn.

Segments

The first segment was always called the Starter Rewind, which showed highlights of the previous week's games. Segment number two was known as Inside Hockey, and was always sponsored by

Giant Eagle Giant Eagle, Inc. (Western Pennsylvania English: ) and stylized as giant eagle) is an American supermarket chain with stores in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, and Maryland. The company was founded in 1918 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylv ...

. This segment took viewers inside the game itself. Another segment was called the BP Flashback, which took viewers on a time machine ride into the team's history. Segments during the last part of each episode included Hockey Tips, where Penguins players and on-ice personnel taught some of the basics of the game to the viewers. The final segment was Viewer email, where Jake and Jeanne read emails sent by viewers to the players.

Outreach

The show aired on various local stations around the tri-state area, and were aired on either a Saturday or a Sunday. The shows were even shown on the jumbotron at the Civic Arena before pre-game warmups at Penguins games. A sampling of the stations that aired the show included

WPXI WPXI (channel 11) is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Cox Media Group. The station's offices and studios are located on Evergreen Road in the Summer Hill neighborhood of Pittsbur ...

in Pittsburgh,

WYTV WYTV (channel 33) is a television station in Youngstown, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Vaughan Media, which maintains joint sales and shared services agreements (JSA/SSA) with Nexstar Media Group, owne ...

Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County. At the 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area, whi ...

, and

WTOV WTOV-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Steubenville, Ohio, United States, serving the Wheeling, West Virginia–Steubenville, Ohio market as an affiliate of NBC and Fox. Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station maintains ...

Steubenville, Ohio Steubenville is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Ohio, United States. Located along the Ohio River 33 miles west of Pittsburgh, it had a population of 18,161 at the 2020 census. The city's name is derived from Fort Steuben, a ...

. {{Pittsburgh Penguins

Confidential Confidentiality involves a set of rules or a promise usually executed through confidentiality agreements that limits the access or places restrictions on certain types of information. Legal confidentiality By law, lawyers are often required ...

1996 American television series debuts 1999 American television series endings Local sports television programming in the United States National Hockey League on television Television shows set in Pittsburgh