WILKES-BARRE — The members of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins ice crew — the young men who skate onto the Mohegan Sun Arena ice with shovels to maintain the playing surface during breaks in the action — have a new addition to their uniforms for the playoffs.

Thanks to goalie Peter Mannino, they're wearing new Penguins ballcaps.

Mannino didn't give out the hats specifically as a thank you for the way they groom the area around his net, though he does appreciate their work. He gave them in memory of his cousin, David Mannino, who died from complications due to cancer treatment at age 18 in 2011.

David was a member of the ice crew for the Detroit Red Wings.

"I see these guys cruising around and I think about him every second," Peter said. "I appreciate them being a part of it. They're a part of the crew, a part of the Penguins. I talked to my wife and I thought it would be pretty cool. I wanted them to smile and have fun that game. I told my uncle, and he liked it too."

Like Peter, David was a standout youth hockey player in the Detroit area growing up. In addition to being an honor roll student at the University of Detroit Jesuit High School, David was an all-state selection at forward as a senior.

He followed Peter's career closely, through a junior hockey stint in Pittsburgh and a stellar career at the University of Denver, all the way to six games in the NHL.

He also volunteered on the ice crew at Joe Louis Arena — a job that can sometimes get messy due to a particular tradition Red Wings fans have in the playoffs.

"He was out there, running around, grabbing the octopus," Peter said. "He was a die-hard hockey fan."

David was accepted to the University of Michigan, planning to study pre-med, when he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic lymphoma. He began chemotherapy and his family — parents, brother, sister, aunts, uncles and cousins — circled the wagons.

"We have a very close Italian family, even closer the last year of his life," Peter said.

David's cancer went into remission after about a year of treatment, but he died from appendicitis on Nov. 28, 2011.

In addition to the hats he gave the ice crew, Peter remembers his cousin through the paint job on his goalie mask and a patch sewn into the inside of his pads.

The lesson he learned from his cousin is a simple yet poignant one.

"Life can be short," Peter said. "Realize it."