PITTSBURGH — Grant Watson was 6 when he started to watch Penguins games with his father.

Jim Watson figured Grant would gravitate toward Sidney Crosby, one of the greatest players and winners in hockey history, or Sid's superstar sidekick, Evgeni Malkin.

Instead, almost instantly the boy became fascinated with the flamboyant French Canadian goalie who chirped opponents, kissed his goal posts and made spectacular saves with a smile. Then came a question that put a significant dent in Dad's wallet.

"Do you think I could try playing goalie like Marc-Andre Fleury?" Grant asked him.

A decade later, Grant Watson is still standing in goal. This March, the 17-year-old backstopped Fox Chapel to a spot in the PIHL Class 2A Penguins Cup championship.

Watson isn't sure if he ever would have gotten in goal if not for Fleury's presence.

"Growing up, watching Fleury play, it was really big. His pads, his acrobatic style of play, the way he talked to his teammates, all of those things just kind of hooked me," Watson said. "And all of those things kind of shaped the way that I play now."

While Fleury and the Penguins were enjoying a golden era with three Stanley Cup parades in the span of eight years, Pittsburgh experienced a youth hockey boom. Since 2005, participation for children aged 10 and under in Western Pennsylvania has nearly doubled, per USA Hockey data. Hundreds were Fleury fanatics like Grant Watson.

"It's not just Grant. I feel like lots of kids were inspired by Fleury," Jim Watson said. "As a coach in that timeframe, seeing those 8U kids, I feel a lot of them were turned on to playing goalie because of Fleury. I think he made playing goalie seem cool."

Many of those goalies watched Saturday as the Penguins gave Fleury a special send-off at PPG Paints Arena. Fleury, who retired this spring, was slated to be in goal for one period of their preseason game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The evening is a full-circle moment for Fleury, the franchise's all-time leader in victories and one of the most popular athletes in the history of Pittsburgh sports.

Fleury immediately won over this blue-collar city at age 18. In 2009, he clinched his first Cup with one of the most famous saves in NHL history. He won two more in 2016 and 2017. He claimed a number of franchise marks before leaving for Las Vegas.

Part of his legacy here will also be how he inspired a generation of hockey-curious kids to strap on the pads and try to twist themselves into a pretzel, just like "Flower."

"I'm just happy that they found something that they love. I hope they do like it as much as I do," Fleury said Friday. "To me, it was so much fun growing up and it still is [at age 40]. So if I can share my passion for the position with young kids and they can try it and see how much they love it, too, it's really fun. ... That is pretty cool."

Shane Clifford was Fleury's NHL goalie coach early in his career and has operated the Shane Clifford Goalie School in the area since 2001. In the past, Clifford tutored local goalies such as John Gibson and Michael Houser, helping them reach the NHL.

Clifford said that in the years that followed Fleury's NHL debut in 2003, there was a noticeable uptick in interest among area youth in his lessons and goalie camps.

"We used to ask all the kids, 'Who is your favorite goalie?' Well, if we had 50 kids in a camp, 40 would say Marc-Andre Fleury," Clifford recalled last week. "We had a lot of kids from out of town, too, and even their favorite goalie was often Fleury."

Did Clifford ever have to explain to all the young Fleury fanatics that not everyone could pull off those windmill glove saves or the jaw-dropping double pad stacks?

"Obviously, when Fleury did that I would hear about it, for sure" Clifford chuckled.

Clifford believes those athletic, improbable saves are part of what made Fleury a fan favorite in Pittsburgh. He also cited Fleury's passion and gracious personality.

"He is such an unbelievable human being. He'll stop and talk to people or give his stick away or give you a fist bump," he said. "People just gravitate toward that."

Clifford added that even though it has now been eight years since the Penguins lost Fleury in the Vegas expansion draft, he is still quite popular among his students.

So the kids dug Fleury. It turns out the Flower effect was not limited to just them.

At 23, Ben Furman became a goalie because of Fleury. He had dabbled only in dek hockey before he took to the ice in 2019, mainly due to his fondness for Fleury.

"I'm not going to lie, it was intimidating," he said. "I jumped in with no life jacket."

He taught himself by watching "countless hours" of YouTube videos, including a lot of Fleury highlights. He has since won six beer league titles.

Furman attended Saturday's special sendoff. No way would he miss that.

"I look back at everything Fleury has done, through all the ups and downs, the four different teams, all the amazing different sets of gear. And he's still remained the same Flower we all love," Furman said. "A true idol in the sport and position."

Jake Hildebrand, a Butler native and pro goalie in Europe, is another Western Pennsylvania puck-stopper who idolized Fleury. He was 10 when Fleury made his unforgettable Penguins debut at the Igloo, making 46 saves in a loss to the Los Angeles Kings.

Soon, Hildebrand was begging his parents to buy him a set of yellow leg pads.

All of these years later, after a college career at Michigan State and a decade in pro hockey, Hildebrand thinks he appreciates Fleury more now that he's gotten older.

"Just seeing his love for the game and how much fun he has, he truly still looks like a kid playing a game, even at 40," he said. "I was lucky to watch him growing up."

Grant Watson was heartbroken when the Penguins moved on from Fleury in 2017. He soon got a Golden Knights jersey and continued to cheer on Flower from afar.

"It was almost like permission to keep loving him even though he's on a different team," he said. "Because then, I had really ever only cheered for the Penguins."

Watson now realizes how much of an imprint Fleury made on him before he left.

His father, Jim, laughs about all the little pieces of Fleury he sees in Grant. Like the way he playfully trash talks teammates in practice. Or how Grant skates a little lap into the right corner after a goal. Or when he busts out the splits on a breakaway.

But more than anything, Fleury showed Grant how to smile through adversity.

"He was positive the whole time despite being someone who was under so much pressure," Grant said. "That has made such an impact on how I see the position."

Thanks to Fleury, there are countless others stopping pucks with passion today.

"Fleury definitely made his mark here in Pittsburgh," Jim Watson said.

____

© 2025 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Visit www.post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.