The shirt would be particularly fitting if Monroeville's two ice rinks hadn't melted into oblivion.

But with the Pens' hot hockey season, a local penchant for zombies and director Kevin Smith filming scenes from his new movie earlier this year at Monroeville Mall -- the same place that director George Romero shot the zombie flick "Dawn of the Dead" 30 years ago -- the shirt might just take the Stan Lee Cup for marvelous timing.

Pre-orders for a "Monroe-ville Zombies" hockey jersey are being taken online at Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash, Smith's merchandising arm that also has stores in New Jersey and Los Angeles.

The shirts are expected to be in stock later this month, according to an employee at the Red Bank, N.J., store.

The Monroeville Zombies is evidently a fictitious hockey team in Smith's yet-to-be-released film, "Zack and Miri Make a Porno," which is set in Monroeville.

With the demise of the Monroeville Mall and Golden Mile ice rinks, even the Gateway (High School) Gators have to travel to Center Ice Arena in Delmont for home games.

Smith, a Jersey boy himself, is credited in an online Yahoo! Sports story as being "Hollywood's most adamant and humorous hockey fan." The Zombies team name is an obvious nod to Romero's cult classic.

The hockey jersey has already caught the undead eyes of the local zombie community.

Sandy Stuhlfire, an organizer of the annual Zombie Walk at Monroeville Mall, says the shirt has been discussed on the message board for "The It's Alive Show," WBGN-TV's "Chiller Theater"-like horror show that sponsors the world's largest zombie gathering.

"Any kind of zombie awareness certainly helps," she says.

While Stuhlfire says it's entirely possible that some of the living dead will show up wearing the hockey shirts at the event this October, most will likely shamble rather than scramble.