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Saturday, 16 April 2011 12:01

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

A familiar face...or... voice actually... has been missing from the Penguins' first two Stanley Cup playoff games.

Many fans raised an eyebrow or two when the wildly popular Jeff Jimerson did not sing the national anthem for Game 1 of the Penguins-Lightning series Wednesday. Afterall, Jimerson, an institution at Penguins games, sang at the first regular season game inside Consol Energy Center back in October. Him not being on hand for the first postseason game in the building was a curious move.

The man with the task of stepping into Jimerson's large shoes was Sgt. Bob Timney (right, with Penguins hall-of-fame broadcaster Mike Lange) of the U.S. Army Reserves. It didn't take Timney, or "Sergeant Bob," long to win over Penguins fans. Midway through the song, he held the microphone away from his mouth and allowed the fans to sing "The Star Spangled Banner" in unison.

Afterwards, several fans lauded the moment. Penguins defenseman Zbynek Michalek  described the atmosphere as "amazing."

Prior to last night's game, "Sergeant Bob" had a friendly chat with a stammering, mumbly blogger:

(Apologies for the fuzzy audio. It was our first time using our new BlackBerry for video.)

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