A peaceful Pittsburgh celebrates Stanley Cup victory

With a little more than 12 minutes left in the second period of Sunday’s NHL Stanley Cup Final, a fan’s mighty expletive split Hemingway’s Cafe’s contemplative silence. The San Jose Sharks, Sunday night’s home team, had tied Game 6, 1-1.

Despite her intense expression, Christina Hronas — a Carlow University graduate who’s been a Pittsburgh Penguins fan for “really forever” — was never worried about the game’s outcome.

“They’re going to win”, she said, eyes locked on a television screen hung in the corner.

Just over a minute later, Kris Letang buried Sidney Crosby’s feed to put the Penguins back on top.

The patrons of Hemingway’s went crazy. Friends and strangers alike hugged and exchanged high-fives. Hronas allowed herself a smile.

Letang’s goal would prove to be the game winner, as the Penguins won 3-1 to secure their fourth series win in 2016 and their fourth Stanley Cup.

In Oakland, fans crammed into bars to see the team play, while a viewing party gathered downtown at Consol Energy Center, the Penguins’ home arena.

After the final horn, 15,000 fans streamed out of Consol. The city had made sure it did most of its preparations well before the final horn sounded — riot police stood by outside but did not have to act.

At a press conference on June 8, Guy Costa, Pittsburgh’s chief of operations, had laid out the city’s plans for how to handle any celebrations.

“We want to see people having a good time,” Costa said. “We don’t want to see craziness.”

The strategy for limiting hysteria included a 90 minute period where fans would be allowed to celebrate in the streets — which Yinzers used to its fullest.

But those measures, and the enhanced police presence, went unneeded as the city rallied around its champions in relative peace.

After Consol let out, fans raced between slowed traffic on Fifth Avenue. They high-fived through car windows while horns — sometimes honking to the cadence of “Let’s Go Pens” — filled the air.

Back in Oakland, Hemingway’s Cafe had opened specifically for the Penguin’s game. Normally closed Sundays, the bar served drinks while advertising “BYOF” — bring your own food — on the chalkboard outside.

Amid the scent of fries from the Original Hot Dog Shop and boxes of Antoon’s pizza, David de Bruijn, a graduate student at Pitt originally from the Netherlands, watched the game in Hemingway’s with a group of friends.

“It’s great,” he said of the win. “I didn’t expect it at all this season.”

As in Downtown and the South Side, Pittsburgh police were present in Oakland when the game ended, gathering at the corner of Forbes and Bouquet. But a crowd never developed and the streets remained clear.

This was a much more subdued celebration than the last time the Penguins won the Cup in 2009.

It was also nowhere near as rowdy as the party that filled Oakland after the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2009 Super Bowl win, when street celebrations involving burning couches prompted Pittsburgh City Council to pass a city ordinance banning indoor furniture from porches.

Public Work crews enforced the law Wednesday ahead of a possible cup-clinching Game 5, gathering up any furnishings in violation and impounding them.

“The less fuel that’s out there, the better off we will be,” Costa said.

The mayor’s office, under which Costa works, said residents can pick up their possessions at the Department of Public Works’ Division 3 office, located at 88 Swinburne Street.

Bryce Cooper, a senior biology and philosophy majors, and Kedar Madi, a bioengineering major, were both enjoying the game at Hemingway’s but didn’t plan on partaking in any celebrations afterwards.

“I have work tomorrow,” Madi explained.

Still, they didn’t rule out celebrations later in the week.

“I’ll definitely hit the parade,” Cooper said, which is planned for 11 30 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Rachel Pardo, a sophomore pre-pharmacy student, went with her friends downtown to watch the game and were caught up in the celebrations.

“I just think it’s great how we all just stick together, no matter what sport it is,” Pardo said. “It’s not just the Penguins’ cup, it’s Pittsburgh’s cup.”

Sunday night captured the energy that has made de Bruijn, while far from home, enjoy his six years studying in the steel city.

“This is when Pittsburgh is at its most Pittsburgh,” de Bruijn said.