Cameron Walsh's favorite player on his favorite team had just made a memorable last-second stop to clinch the Stanley Cup championship, leaving him in stunned silence.

Instead of celebrating Marc-Andre Fleury's save to preserve the Penguins' Game 7 victory over the Detroit Red Wings, Walsh was speechless.

"As much as Detroit was shocked, so was I," he said. "You see your favorite player do that, with the game on the line, it was just incredible."

Almost as incredible is that Walsh was watching the Cup Final half a world away. That the Melbourne, Australia, resident is a die-hard Penguins fans is a story in itself, one that began with a video game. Walsh frequently played as the Penguins on Sega Mega Drive in the early 1990s, when they were the NHL's best team, and became the Hockey Fan from the Land Down Under.

"I've been a mad Penguins fans since I was 12," said Walsh, who never has played ice hockey despite bearing a clean-shaven resemblance to former Penguins defenseman Hal Gill and having the same name as a player on Australia's Under-20 national team. "You could blame Mario."

So, for a 30th birthday present, Kylie Stewart gave her boyfriend the trip of his dreams. Not only did they endure a 55-degree temperature swing by leaving Melbourne mid-summer to fly (via L.A. and Denver) into Pittsburgh mid-winter Jan. 18, but because of the time-zone difference — Australia is 16 hours ahead — it was still Monday when they arrived some 36 hours later.

"It was like the Monday that never ended," Stewart said.

Now, Walsh is on the tail end of a trip in which he will see the Penguins play six times in a two-week span. He sandwiched games at Mellon Arena against the Islanders, Capitals and Senators and today's meeting with the Red Wings around a visit to Madison Square Garden to see them play the Rangers, and he also was able to tour the NHL's New York City office.

In the meantime, Walsh squeezed in a pair of visits related to his professional career. Walsh and Stewart run a personal-training studio, and Walsh wanted to get a behind-the-scenes look at pro sports training. He spent a day touring PNC Park with Pirates' head conditioning coordinator Frank Velasquez — "With the facilities they have, those athletes have nothing to complain about," Walsh said — and he plans to do the same with the Penguins' strength and conditioning coach Mike Kadar.

Last season, he scheduled personal-training sessions around the Penguins' playoff schedule.

"My clients have gotten to know hockey purely through me," Walsh said. "It's been forced down their throats."

Walsh has drawn as many dumbfounded looks when Pittsburghers hear his Aussie accent as for when he committed a faux pas by wearing a Penguins sweater with his own name stitched above No. 66. But he also has demonstrated his knowledge of the team by pointing out lesser-known Penguins like Chris Conner and Nick Johnson to other fans after a game.

"It's odd that you came over from Australia, and you're telling everybody who the players are," Walsh said. "That's been the strangest part."

The best part will come when Walsh returns home clad in Penguins gear.

"Just to rub it in," he said, "will be great fun."

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