The National Hockey League announced that the 2012 NHL Entry Draft will be held at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
NHL Draft 2012 Coming To Pittsburgh, NHL Announces
Round 1 will be held on Friday, June 22, with Rounds 2 through 7 held on Saturday, June 23.
"One of the things we used in our quest for a new arena, was that if we got it, we could bring the type of national events that we couldn't host with the old one and the draft was one of those events," Penguins vice president of communication Tom McMillan told NHL.com.
Pittsburgh last hosted the event at the Civic Arena in 1997, a class that yielded stars Joe Thornoton (1st overall, Boston Bruins), Patrick Marleau (2nd overall, San Jose Sharks), Olli Jokinen (3rd overall, Los Angeles Kings), Marian Hossa (12th overall, Ottawa Senators) and current Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo, who was the fourth overall pick by the New York Islanders.
McMillan says the team will plan a week of hockey-related festivities before the draft.
“Like we did at the Winter Classic (at Heinz Field), we’ll turn the week into a festival of hockey,” McMillan said. “We’re going to make that whole week of buildup to the draft a celebration of hockey so in Pittsburgh, it’s going to be more than just the actual draft itself -- there’s going to be focus on hockey for a full week, so that’s a great thing.”
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