King adds another golden athlete to its list of citizens

February 25, 2014 · 0 Comments

The Pietrangelo family celebrated in Sochi after the gold medal victory. Shown are Edi, David, Seija, Alex, Jayne, and Joe.

By Mark Pavilons
King Township has some impressive bragging rights.
This Township is home to two gold-medal winning Olympic athletes.
The latest addition is NHL defenceman Alex Pietrangelo, who helped the Canadian men’s hockey team win gold at the Sochi Olympic Games Sunday, when they defeated Sweden 3-0 in the final.
Pietrangelo, 24, got a lot of ice time and helped the team with its impressive record of allowing only three goals against throughout the Olympic tournament.
In the gold medal game, goalie Carey Price earned a well deserved shutout, Handling the scoring for Team Canada were Jonathan Toews, Captain Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz.
Sweden was the only team to go undefeated in regulation play in the tournament.
King Mayor Steve Pellegrini said they will plan a Township presentation to honour Pietrangelo at a later date.
“We’re very proud of his performance, and all of the Canadian athletes (at the Olympics),” he said. “Just to go to the Games is an honour.
“I’m super proud to be mayor of this great community and to have this caliber of representation internationally.”
The 6-foot-3-inch Pietrangelo was one of the eight defensemen on the squad.
Since breaking into the league as a rookie in 2008 with the St. Louis Blues, Pietrangelo has solidified himself as one of the premier blueliners in the NHL.
He has since become the assistant captain of the Blues, who currently holds one of the best records in all of the NHL, and has amassed 162 points in 281 games so far in his young career.
It was Pietrangelo’s first Olympic Games, but he has competed for Canada before at two IIHF World Junior Championships.
He won gold with that team in 2009 and then helped them to a silver in 2010, after which he was named the tournament’s best defenceman.
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