The Penguins waited while Lemieux’s retired No. 66 banner was lowered from the roof as his 4-year-old son, Austin, watched from the ice. When the team finally bolted from the runway, the biggest crowd of the season—a standing-room-only gathering of 17,148—roared. TV viewers all over North America watched intently. Lemieux’s return drew a bigger regional audience—about 180,000 households in the Pittsburgh market—than any regular season game in the history of the 22 Fox Sports Net affiliates. Nationally, ratings on ESPN (double the season average) and Hockey Night in Canada(up roughly 65 per cent) went through the roof.
