The hockey world lost Ray Shiro yesterday at age 62, a tragically young age, a tragically voluminous loss for family and friends.

My condolences to the Shiro family, a hockey family that spans through the generations,

and one that hopefully will resonate

through this great game for many more generations to come.

I have on this occasion a Shiro's story to share with you.

It's not to make this about me or anything like that.

It's just a personal interaction that I had as well as a general experience, followed by, well, a really, really big regret.

Shiro built not just the 2008 and 2009 penguins, both of whom made it to the Stanley Cup finals against the Red Wings,

prevailing, of course, in the second of those, game seven up at Joe Lewis Arena.

In so many ways, he built that group in his own image, meaning as the hockey family, of which he'd always been a part.

He was that GM who could be seen in the locker room. He was that GM who could hang with the players,

who would listen to the stars, who would recognize

that in Sidney Crosby, Yvgeny, Malkin, Jordan Stahl, Chris LaTang, Mark Andre Fleury,

that he had something grand at hand.

We all remember what that feeling was like around here. We all remember dreaming of

not one cup, but of multiple cups, of cups as far as the eye could see. He was part of the fiber

of that group, not just the one making the moves. It's actually always been my first thought about him.

Now, that's not to take away from the moves. Inheriting the job that he did, and he used to talk

openly about how this humbled him from Craig Patrick of all people, Hall of Famer.

One thing he learned above all is that when you have a chance at a championship, you don't mess around with it.

When you have elite talent, you do everything you can as quickly as you can to surround it with similar or supporting talent.

That's why you go get Billy Garon.

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