Former Penguins goalie Johan Hedberg reflects on the 20th anniversary of 'Moose mania'

Two decades after it happened, former Penguins goalie Johan Hedberg still remembers the support he got from team legend Jaromir Jagr as he was about to take the ice for his NHL playoff debut.

“He said, ‘Don’t worry, kid. If you give up seven, I’ll score eight,’” Hedberg recalled.

At least that was a better vote of confidence than the one he got during a morning skate in advance of his first game as a Penguin.

“A reporter said to me, ‘You know you are going to face Pavel Bure on about three breakaways tonight,’” Hedberg laughed. “Ten minutes in, Bure got a breakaway from the red line. Scored. 1-0. Faked to the back and tapped five-hole. But I stopped him the next two breakaways.”

Just two of 41 saves Hedberg would make in a 6-3 victory against the Florida Panthers on March 16, 2001, and the era of “The Moose” in Pittsburgh was born.

Well, not quite. On St. Patrick’s Day 2001, Hedberg got a second straight start against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“I stunk,” Hedberg said of a 5-1 loss. “I didn’t know if I would get another start. I thought I kinda blew it. Then they told me I was starting again versus Boston.”

When Hedberg was acquired with Bobby Dollas for Jeff Norton, the ‘01 Penguins had been scuffling. They weren’t sinking. But it was tough to gain traction. The initial pop from Mario Lemieux’s return in late December had faded a bit. They were trying to secure a playoff spot in the top 8 of the Eastern Conference, while they were allowing 3.4 goals against per game since Feb. 23 with Jean-Sebastien Aubin and Garth Snow in the net.

Saturday will mark the 20th anniversary of Hedberg’s debut against the Bruins at Mellon Arena, a place he remembers fondly.

“I was super excited to play in that arena,” Hedberg said Wednesday during a phone conversation from his native country of Sweden. “It was one of my favorites growing up. The smells of those old arenas are distinct in every different one.”

I don’t recall Hedberg really changing the smell of Mellon Arena. But he sure did change the look. And the sound.

Moose antlers on the heads of fans. Bullwinkle masks. Chants of “Moooooose” filling the air. All that because Hedberg quickly became associated with his bright blue moose mask that he continued to wear after the Penguins acquired him from the San Jose Sharks in a mid-March trade.

Hedberg had been playing with the Manitoba Moose, then of the IHL. And he didn’t have time to get a new mask designed before he had started to play a handful of games with the Penguins. The bright blue mask clashed with the Penguins black-and-gold color scheme. So it stood out. As did, of course, the giant moose logo.

#Pens acquire G Johan Hedberg from Sharks March 12 2001. "The Moose" led Penguins to 3rd rd of playoffs that year. pic.twitter.com/azrutdVPjv

— Penguins History (@penguinshistory) March 13, 2017

By the time the playoffs rolled around — on the heels of Hedberg’s six-game win streak — Hedberg’s mask had been adopted as a fad in Pittsburgh. And there’s no way the fans were going to let him change it.

Even if Hedberg himself didn’t fully grasp what was going on.

“I remember the first game against Washington in the playoffs, I thought I was having a good game. And everybody was booing every time I touched the puck. Then I realized it’s ‘moose’ not a ‘boo.’ Then it snowballed from there. The foam antlers and everything else.”

Hedberg became an instant phenomenon. Not only for the kitsch factor of the “moose” trend. But also for his play.

Hedberg allowed more than two goals just twice in his first eight playoff games as the team survived a six-game quarterfinal series against the Southeast Division champion Washington Capitals and a seven-game semi-final series against the Buffalo Sabres. “Moose Magic” didn’t fade until the team ran into the New Jersey Devils buzzsaw in the Eastern Conference Final, before losing to the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Final.

It was never quite the same after that for Hedberg in Pittsburgh. Jagr left after the season, and the team eventually started to trade off parts due to pre-lockout NHL economics. Hedberg had to backstop 107 games over the next two seasons on last-place teams, before being traded to Vancouver prior to the 2004 season.

“It was something that I cherish a lot,” Hedberg said of his time in Pittsburgh. “And I have a lot of respect not only for the organization of the Pittsburgh Penguins but the people who live there.”

From there, he spent parts of nine more NHL seasons in Vancouver, Dallas, Atlanta and New Jersey before becoming an NHL goaltending coach. Now he is back in Sweden as head coach of Mora IK, a team that welcomed the likes of Bobby Ryan and Anze Kopitar during the lockout.

And, yes, he still has the moose mask at home.

Hear more from Hedberg about his playing days in Pittsburgh, his memories of the trade, and his life in coaching in Thursday’s “Breakfast With Benz” podcast.