You could easily spend an entire day at the Mall of America in Minneapolis, the largest in the entire Western Hemisphere. And on Wednesday, some of the Penguins did just that.
Sidney Crosby, Erik Karlsson, Kevin Hayes, Justin Brazeau, Noel Acciari, Ryan Shea, Parker Wotherspoon, Harrison Brunicke and Owen Pickering began the team day off with a mini golf tournament. They did it in a similar style to the Ryder Cup, where players from Europe compete against players from the United States. Marc-Andre Fleury joined in on the fun, as he and his family live in the area following three-plus seasons with the Wild.
From there, they parted ways with Flower and went to The Escape Game at Mall of America in Minneapolis, which has been called “The Disney World of escape rooms,” according to their website.
After finishing the first one, Brazeau, Acciari, Wotherspoon and Shea recruited Connor Clifton for another escape room experience. And then there were three, as Brazeau, Wotherspoon and Acciari did a third.
Brazeau, who spent time in Minnesota after being acquired at last year’s trade deadline, seemed to be the ringleader of this whole excursion. When asked who did well, Brazeau said, “I thought Cookie (Acciari) was pretty good at it.” However, Brazeau was decidedly not thrilled with the rookies’ performance, calling Pickering and Brunicke out.
“They did nothing, those two kids. Nothing!” Brazeau laughed. “Useless! They would have been stuck in there all day.”
Which is kind of funny, considering that Pickering seems to be somewhat of a veteran when it comes to escape rooms. He’s done a few with his fellow young guys Rutger McGroarty, Avery Hayes and Tanner Howe – with P.O Joseph making an appearance for one as well.