Sid Article Archive

How much do top athletes earn?
When it comes to Canadian professional sports, it pays to be a hockey player. Baseball players aren’t doing so bad, either.
Macleans
by Jonathon Gatehouse on Thursday, August 22, 2013



Sidney Crosby: $12 million
There’s not much debate that the Pittsburgh Penguins captain is the best player in the NHL—when he’s healthy. But despite his hefty paycheque, he’s no longer the league’s best-compensated one. Nashville defenceman Shea Weber will make $14 million in salary, and take home a $13-million signing bonus this coming season. And Vincent Lecavalier, who was recently bought out of his 11-year, $85-million contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning, will take home a total of $17.7 million, thanks to his new deal with Philadelphia, buyout money, and bonuses due from the two teams. Of course, Crosby, a Stanley Cup winner and the gold-medal hero at the Vancouver 2010 Games, has the most endorsement potential in hockey. His seven-year deal with equipment maker Reebok earns him about $1.4 million per season. And his agreements with Gatorade, Tim Hortons and Dempster’s bread are said to be in a similar ballpark. But the 26-year-old leaves plenty of money on the table. Not long ago he turned down a chance to be the face of a major car company. The deal called for him to do about four hours of work before the cameras in exchange for a seven-figure payday. And he didn’t even have to drive the car. (Photo by Travis Golby/NHLI via Getty Images)

Full article

Sidney Crosby looks to the future
CBC


CALGARY -- Sidney Crosby hopes to rise again.

This isn't to suggest that he has fallen to any deep depths -- say, like the Colorado Avalanche did last season -- but hockey fans simply haven't seen Sid the Kid on top of the world for a while. Almost four years, in fact.

Back then Crosby was on quite a roll. Even though he suffered a knee injury in Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup final, the Pittsburgh Penguins triumphed, giving Crosby his first (and still only) NHL championship. Eight-and-a-half months later, he converted a pass from Jarome Iginla to send Canadians into the streets to revel in an Olympic gold medal.

But since the golden goal in Vancouver, Crosby has endured some challenging times. There were the concussion-related problems that snatched 107 regular-season and playoff games from his career. There were the earlier-than-expected playoff exits in 2010, 2011 (he watched that post-season from the press box) and 2012.

Then, there was last spring. The Penguins loaded up with talent before the trade deadline. They snuck past the New York Islanders in the first round. They dominated the Ottawa Senators in the next. But then they were swept in the Eastern final by the Boston Bruins.

That loss stung. It took Crosby weeks to get over the setback. He didn't score in the series. He didn't set up a goal. He felt he could have done more to help the Penguins prevail.

"Pretty much until I started to work out again," Crosby said at the Canadian Olympic team's orientation camp in Calgary this week, when asked how long the defeat lingered. "It was a few weeks. That one was probably one of the longer ones to get over. The last time I felt like that was the year we lost to Detroit in the [2008] final. That sting stuck with me because we were so close.

"But having the team we had and getting swept, that hurt. It wasn't a 4-0 series by means of how close the games were and the way they went, but they still beat us 4-0 and that's not something you're real happy with or accept. It definitely took a while to get over."

Training days

The 26-year-old Crosby gets over these devastating disappointments by sweating more in the summer. He usually chooses an aspect of his game he wants to further develop and works on that skill.

Not this summer. The two areas Crosby wants to focus on when the NHL season begins are burying more of his offensive opportunities and playing better defence.

"Looking back to the playoffs, you realize as you go deeper and deeper, things get tighter and tighter," Crosby said. "The fact of executing and making sure you're taking advantage of your chances. If you look at the amount of chances you're going to get at that point in the playoffs, you're really looking at two to three quality chances maybe. That's a pretty good night. You have to make sure you take advantage of those.

"I look back at the chances I had in that series and I'm disappointed I wasn't able to convert. Sure, [Bruins goalie Tuukka] Rask played great, but as a forward you always want to find a way to beat the goalie and not surrender the fact that he beat you.

"That and defensively, too. Knowing that you're going to be part of all these close games, you want to be good defensively. I have kept that in mind all summer and that's something I want to focus on."

Crosby looks cut. You can tell that, after two months of hard work in the gym and on the ice, he's as fit as he's ever been.

He began his off-season regimen on Canada Day weekend with his fitness guru Andy O'Brien and fellow Cole Harbour, N.S., native Nathan MacKinnon, who is about to embark on his rookie season with the Avalanche. Some holiday weekend. They ran the sand dunes of Brackley Beach on Prince Edward Island.

Then it was more training back home in the Halifax area. MacKinnon often rode shotgun with No. 87. Others, like Jason Spezza, Matt Duchene, John Tavares, Sam Gagner, Andrew Cogliano, Daniel Cleary and Shawn Horcoff joined in at times, too.

There was more training time in California. There will be another intense session in Vail, Colo., before he reports for the Penguins' training camp in two weeks.

Don't look back

Crosby wants to be as prepared as he can for another long season with the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February and, hopefully, an even deeper trip into the Stanley Cup playoffs.

But how will he approach this season with an Olympics also to worry about?

"You approach the game in the same day-to-day manner the way you normally would," he said. "But [the Olympics] will be in the back of your mind. It will make you focus because you have to make sure your game is where it needs to be."

Surprisingly, Crosby said that he doesn't think much about his gold-winning goal in Vancouver. Sure, he's reminded about it often. But he's driven to create more memories in Russia.

He likens a return to the Olympics four years later to an individual athlete wanting to post a personal best when it matters most.

"It's something I'm reminded of quite often, running into Canadians," Crosby said. "They like to tell me where they were and how they celebrated. It's not something I need to remind myself of. That was a special moment that isn't going anywhere. It happened and I have great memories from it and I feel really lucky that I was part of it.

"Every kid grows up dreaming of being in that moment and having that opportunity. To be able to say I did that and to be part of that team that won in Canada, I know that was difficult, but I just can't think that I'm done.

"This biggest thing for me is to know that I have another opportunity. In 2010, we necessarily didn't know if we would be in this Olympics, it wasn't a for-sure thing. Knowing it's going to be in Russia and knowing how proud they are in terms of a hockey nation, knowing that it will be even tougher than Vancouver, knowing that everyone will want to beat us, it's another opportunity.

"I don't want to get caught looking into the past."

Someone from the gf board typed Sids interview from the book, so I thought I would bring it over since many of you no longer visit the gf board. Much thanks to the original poster of the interview. 

SIDNEY CROSBY

2007-09-29

Peter Mansbridge: You're now the captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and I find it interesting because clearly you've had a debate becoming captain within yourself, on whether to accept this. You’d already turned it down a couple of times. What’s different now? Why did you say yes?


Sidney Crosby: I think I was just more comfortable around the guys. I think that’s a big thing; you want to feel comfortable around the players. They’re going to have to follow, so you have to make sure that you’re ready to lead. Just getting to know the guys better, going through things with them, going through a round of the playoffs and just knowing the responsibility that comes with it—I think you have to take all that into consideration. You have to be ready for that. It just really made me realize that I was ready to make this step. I definitely want to take on the role. Every night I’m going to lead by example and do my best to try to lead everyone in the right path.

PM: Now I know you’ve said that age is just a number, but you’re nineteen, about to turn twenty. Some of these guys who are the team with you are well into their thirties. What’s the challenge there. In leading people who are almost twice as old as you?

SC: I don’t think a lot changes. You know, if you look at the guys being a little bit older, you might say, “Oh, maybe it’s not the right fit.” And that might be the case on another team, but I think on our team there’s such a great relationship between all the guys, and the older guys care so much about the younger guys and they really want to see them do well. They’re there for any questions or advice there is. So really I don’t think my role’s going to change a whole lot, besides the fact that I’m going to be taking on a bit more responsibility. It doesn’t mean I lose respect for the guys who have played a lot longer and gone through a lot more. That’s not the case at all. I’ve talked to guys who’ve been in the league for a long time, and after talking to them I really felt comfortable. And you know, they were all for it. There were guys who were telling me to take this opportunity. It’s a huge honour, and I think that it felt a lot better having heard that from them.

PM: You sometimes get the impression that hockey really is everything for you.

SC: I think so. I mean that it’s something I love to do. For some people it’s different things; for some people its art, some people collect things. Hockey’s my passion. I want to be good at it. But I think I’ve also realize there are other things, outside of hockey. Obviously family is very important.

PM: You know, we’ve talked to your mother. She talked about you and movies, and that you never watched any Disney movies when you were a kid.

SC: No.

PM: You were too busy playing hockey, getting ready for it.

SC: Yeah, well, I think that’s true to a certain point. I loved to play. I wasn’t happy with just sitting down on the couch and watching TV or watching a movie. That’s not something I really enjoyed. I was competitive. I’ve always been competitive. And whether it was baseball or hockey, I played. Ive always just love to compete and be active. Like I said, some people like other things. Now you see a lot of kids into computers and PlayStations and things like that. That just wasn’t for me, especially growing up.

PM: I want to try to understand a little bit about you, because we have a lot of images of you, obviously, as a great hockey player. We’ve all seen that as you became a nationally known junior, and now in the NHL. But we also see you through some of the stories that are told about you. Even the ads you’re in—in the Tim Hortons commercial you are that little guy who wouldn’t come off the ice. You wanted to stay on the ice. Is the true? Were you really like that?

SC: Oh, yeah. And that something you have to consider when you deal with endorsements and things like that; it has to be the right fit and it has to be you. That’s the one thing I take very seriously when these things go out—that it is a true reflection of me. In the case of the Tim Hortons ad, it couldn’t be more me! That’s exactly how I was. I’m still like that now. My coaches were laughing about it after theyd seen that ad, because they said nothing’s changed. It’s just the passion I have, and I think that’s an important part of what I do.

PM: You’ve said before that life’s pretty good for Sidney Crosby. How good is it?

SC: I’m doing something every day that I love to do, and not everyone gets that opportunity. For people who do, they’ll tell you how enjoyable it is to work towards something. You’re really getting a chance to explore your passion, and not everyone gets that opportunity.

PM: What is the ultimate goal? When you say you’re working towards something, what is it?

SC: To win the Stanley Cup. From a team perspective, that’s what you play for. That’s why you play all those games—to get into the playoffs. You play the playoffs to get to the Stanley Cup. And every year that passes by, you know that maybe that’s one year that you might not be able to do it. So for me, I’m lucky enough. I’m young. Hopefully I have a few more cracks at it, but it’s still something you don’t want to take for granted and don’t want to overlook, because there’s a lot of guys who play a long time and don’t win it. So, I’m just hoping that one day I get that opportunity.

PM: How much pressure is there on you? Is it hard to be Sidney Crosby?

SC: I don’t think so. There is a lot of pressure—there’s no hiding that—but I think the pressure that I put on myself is probably the pressure I take most seriously and probably the hardest to deal with. I’m pretty hard on myself and I expect a lot of myself. But as far as what other people put on me, I don’t think it’s something that really worries me a whole lot. I know what I’m capable of doing and I know if I’m being honest with myself. And that’s the most important thing.

PM: Do you enjoy being chippy about it as well? You’re not shy out there when you think something’s gone wrong.

SC: To a certain point. I mean, that’s not an act. That’s my emotion, and I can’t hide that. I can try to channel it, which I think I’m improving at doing, but—

PM: You think you need to?

SC: To a certain point. I think that you need to make sure that your focus is in the right areas. Sometimes it’s easy to get frustrated because a guy’s checking you well or maybe you think there was a call that should have been made. It’s easy to lose your focus. The guys that are successful are the most tough mentally. If you talk about leaders, they’re the guys who can channel that and make sure that it doesn’t get in the way. I’m still learning and I’m still going to make mistakes, but I’m definitely going to try to learn from them.

PM: Do you love it as much as you thought you would?

SC: Yeah, I do. That level of competition is something that I really love. And with all the teams in the NHL being so tight, with the players being so good now, you have to push yourself if you want to survive. That’s something I think drives everyone, but it drives me every day.

Sidney Crosby's goal: Play a full NHL season

Read more: www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/penguins/sidney-crosbys-goal-play-a-full-nhl-season-702368/#ixzz2eDhluh2E

By Shelly Anderson / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
As incredible as it might seem, Penguins star Sidney Crosby is about to embark on his ninth season in the NHL.
He figures, though, that he can tinker with the math.
"Seventh or eighth [season], I guess, excluding injuries," Crosby, 26, cracked Friday after skating with his teammates for the first time since the playoffs at an informal pretraining camp practice at Consol Energy Center.
"But, yeah, it goes by real quick."
For the first time in three years, the high-profile center is entering what could be a full season.
His 2010-11 season was cut in half because of a concussion. The same injury delayed the start of 2011-12 for him and forced him to miss more than three months after an abbreviated comeback.
A year ago, the start of the NHL season was pushed back to January by an owners lockout, and Crosby missed the final 12 games of last season because of a broken jaw.
"I'm excited to play a full season," Crosby said. "I know 82 games, especially in an Olympic year when [the NHL schedule] is condensed, is a lot of hockey, but to go through all the different things in a full regular season, those challenges, all those things are exciting.
"The biggest thing, though, is to play a full season."
Crosby was seemingly on his way to an NHL scoring title with 66 points in 41 games when he got hurt in January 2011and again when he got the broken jaw in March while leading the league with 56 points in 36 games.
Both times, he was playing at an atmospheric level just before he got injured.
With what could be a vast stretch of games this season, the hockey world will find out if he can hit that level again and sustain it for a full season.
Crosby included.
"I don't know if 'curiosity' is the right word," he said. "I'm excited.
"But I've played enough full seasons -- it's been a few [years] -- that I definitely know what it feels like. I'm eager to start and get into that routine."
Training camp opens Wednesday, and the first regular-season game is Oct. 3 at home against New Jersey.
In 2009-10, Crosby played 81 games for the Penguins in addition to playing for Canada at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, where he scored an overtime goal against the United States for the gold medal.
Now, as then, he is coming off of a short offseason that included a Canadian Olympic orientation camp. He is expected to again represent Canada for the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia.
He did not pick an aspect of his game to hone specifically as he has done in previous summers in areas such as faceoffs and speed.
"It was a pretty short summer, so I just tried to make the most of it," Crosby said. "We finished June 9 this year, so it was a similar situation to the year we won -- pretty much the same length of summer, and going into an Olympic year as well. I just tried to use that summer [of 2009] as a guide."
There is one glaring difference. The Penguins played until June 12 in 2009 because they were busy winning the Stanley Cup. They played until nearly that late this year because the lockout pushed the playoffs back some and because the Penguins advanced to the Eastern Conference final before being swept by Boston.
Crosby is determined not to let the stunning loss to the Bruins carry over to 2013-14.
"Well, 28 other teams do the same thing," he said of bouncing back after not reaching the Cup final.
"Trust me, we don't like losing. We know we could have done some things better. But that's the game. You have to perform. We dissect everything. We had a really good regular season, put ourselves in a good position."
The Penguins finished first in the East with 72 points in 48 games. Then, they beat the New York Islanders in six games and the Ottawa in five, setting up the conference final against Boston.
"We got tested against the Islanders," Crosby said. "They played really well. Just because it's a first-round matchup doesn't mean it's automatic that you're going through [to the next round]. It was a tight series. We found a way to win that. Then, we had a great series against Ottawa."
Against the Bruins, Crosby and fellow center Evgeni Malkin were held without a point in the four-game series loss.
"We didn't capitalize on our chances and ran into a bit of a hot goalie [in Tuukka Rask] in Boston," Crosby said. "That's the way it works sometimes. We're not satisfied with that, but I don't think we're coming in here thinking that we're a big failure or anything like that. We're going to build off of things and, hopefully, learn from it as well."
For much more on the Penguins, read the Pens Plus blog with Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson at www.post-gazette.com/plus. Shelly Anderson: shanderson@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1721 and Twitter @pgshelly.


Read more: www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/penguins/sidney-crosbys-goal-play-a-full-nhl-season-702368/#ixzz2eDhy7ced

Penguins' Crosby ticketed for normality at delivery



By Rob Rossi

Published: Monday, Sept. 9, 2013, 10:37 p.m.
Updated 17 minutes ago

Sidney Crosby is not too big for any room — even a basement.
A public figure most of his life, Crosby remains polite, easily amused and humble. He also is still unwilling to acknowledge the obvious.
“I don't think Sid thinks of himself as an idol,” said Jimmy Cohen. “ We all think of him that way.”
Cohen, 56, was one of several members of Sandy Darling's family that greeted Crosby at Darling's Squirrel Hill residence Monday. They had never met before, but Cohen had an accurate read on Crosby.
“To sit here and say I do things without thinking, I'd be lying,” Crosby said. “But I do normal things. I don't think I'm a celebrity. I play hockey.”
Crosby, 26, will open his ninth NHL training camp — seventh as Penguins captain — Wednesday. He and 13 teammates spent Monday afternoon delivering season tickets to fans.
Crosby's genuine eagerness to participate in the annual ticket delivery is part of what makes him a “great ambassador for hockey in our city and region,” Penguins CEO David Morehouse said in August.
From providing families of sick children luxury-suite tickets to Penguins games to equipping local youth players with free hockey gear, Crosby has seemingly used any power that comes with his profile — and fortune — for good.
Jonathan Cohen, 21, concurred. Cohen, Darling's grandson, is one of many younger Penguins fans that make habit of seeking players' autographs after practices.
Crosby recognized Cohen immediately upon stepping through the front door of Darling's home Monday. After a nearly 30-minute visit, while getting into his Range Rover, Crosby jokingly remembered not seeing Cohen “that much lately.”
College has turned Jonathan Cohen into a semi-regular among the crowd awaiting Penguins players outside Consol Energy Center, according to Jimmy Cohen.
Darling, 77, is a regular at Penguins home games. This will mark his 45th season with tickets, and his seats are in close proximity to where Evgeni Malkin's parents sit for home games.
Darling's house is lined with Penguins memorabilia, including a Penguins Room in the basement. Before Crosby's arrival, there was debate among the family about whether the Penguins' brightest star would be keen on venturing down those basement steps.
As Jonathan Cohen noted, celebrities do not make a habit of checking out basements, but “Sid is by far the biggest gentleman of any player I've met.”
Darling's children and grandchildren tried to play cool as Crosby smiled — showing no indications of lingering dental problems stemming from a broken jaw last March — while posing for pictures before the invitation to the basement was extended.
Crosby accepted, and returned upstairs after a visit of several minutes with wide eyes that hinted he was impressed.
Darling, just over a serious illness, was overjoyed, said Erica Cohen, his 28-year-old granddaughter.
“The way he impacts a lot of people — like today with my grandfather — to me, he is a celebrity,” she said of Crosby.
“But he's a celebrity who will actually come into your house.”
Note: The Penguins have invited 54 players to camp. The first practices are slated for Thursday at Consol Energy Center.


Read more: triblive.com/sports/penguins/4662978-74/penguins-crosby-cohen#ixzz2eSgEoqyZ
Follow us: @triblive on Twitter | triblive on Facebook

Sidney Crosby
September 30, 2013





The Pittsburgh Penguins' superstar captain, who graces the regional cover of this week's SI, is healthy again after three injury-marred seasons and a contender for his second Art Ross Trophy. No doubt the league, which is working to give fans more of what they want -- scoring -- won't mind if its marquee star lights the goal lamp as frequently as possible. You can also expect Crosby's rivalry with Washington's Alex Ovechkin, the reigning MVP, will be kicked up a notch now that the Penguins and Capitals inhabit the new Metropolitan Division. Another order of business: Can Crosby's talent-laden Penguins rebound from last season's playoff disappointment and win the second Stanley Cup of his career? That's just one of the questions our experts address in SI's season preview.


Read More: sportsillustrated.cnn.com/magazine/photos/1305/si-covers-2013//2/#ixzz2fvDUcOKH

BTW, if anyone is interested in the X's and O's of hockey, Jesse Marshall of Faceoff Factor is a great follow on Twitter and a great read. Here is his latest article on Crosby's Triangle of Death.

www.faceoff-factor.com/1pittsburgh-penguins/4900/ff-telestrator-crosbys-chemistry

Great article about Sid and MacKinnon!

www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=687755

COLE HARBOUR, Nova Scotia -- The sun rose here a little after 7:30 a.m. on a peaceful Sunday, though its effect was blunted by a cloudy morning.

There are as many signs for deer crossings near the actual harbor as there are for speed limits, something that might someday save the life of the four-point buck that had wandered into a front yard on Davies Lane just before sunrise.

First impressions of Cole Harbour probably aren't much different than most towns this size, a little more than 25,000 residents, in any part of Canada.

The welcome sign is in the shadow of the Walmart. There are several Tim Hortons and a grocery store that advertises exclusive access to Schwartz's famous smoked meat.

There is enough elevation around to provide sweeping vistas of trees splashed with every shade of red, orange and yellow leaves that make this time of year so beautiful in this corner of the world. Those trees are everywhere, save for the places human development or a body of water don't allow them.

It is a perfectly pleasant, mostly middle-class community. Neighboring Dartmouth is a little more than twice the size, has a branch campus for Nova Scotia Community College, a pair of nice shopping malls and was the setting for "Trailer Park Boys," a cult-hit mockumentary film and television series. The city of Halifax, with its beautiful 10,500-seat arena and vibrant downtown, is about 10 kilometers to the west.

What separates Cole Harbour from neighboring communities, or any of this size in Canada, is one of this country's most precious commodities. In the currency of hockey players, Cole Harbour has few equals.

That welcome sign is a tourist attraction. It says, "Welcome to Cole Harbour, home of Sidney Crosby." Being home to possibly the best hockey player of his generation made Cole Harbour a cultural novelty, much in the way Brantford and Parry Sound, Ontario, are known to hockey fans beyond Canada's borders as the places Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr grew up.

One hockey prodigy from a town this size is noteworthy, but certainly not unprecedented. Then Nathan MacKinnon came along, and for the second time in eight years, the first player selected in the NHL Draft came from this town named after a small, shallow harbor in Nova Scotia.

The two prides of Cole Harbour will face each other for the first time Monday night when MacKinnon's Colorado Avalanche play Crosby's Pittsburgh Penguins at Consol Energy Center (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, TSN2, RDS2, ROOT).

"It is an incredible feat. Two first overall picks is mind-boggling," said Cam Russell, who grew up in Cole Harbour, played parts of 10 seasons in the NHL and is now the general manager of the Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), the team MacKinnon played for the past two seasons.

"Nobody knows how to explain it. You've got a very humble community that doesn't want to take any of the accolades for it, but you've got players like Sidney and Nathan that are special, special kids, and it is in them to be the best at what they do, that determination and competitive fire. They have the world-class skill, but it is tough to get there without the right people around you and helping you out. There's a lot of people in Cole Harbour who have never gotten the pats on the back for helping all of us out."

MacKinnon's bedroom was adorned in Crosby memorabilia, and he was garnering attention at the Atom level when Sid the Kid was becoming the youngest player in NHL history to score 100 points in a season.

When Crosby led the Penguins to the Stanley Cup Final in 2008, MacKinnon had scored 110 points in 50 games as a 12-year old playing up a level in Bantam, just as Crosby had before him.

It wasn't random coincidence that led MacKinnon to Shattuck-Saint Mary's, a prep school in Minnesota that Crosby helped make famous. While MacKinnon has never been shy about his adoration for Crosby, the pressure of being compared to a generational talent isn't something most pre-teen hockey players have to deal with.

"I think the fortunate part for our town is, we always said this about Sid, but he's a better person than he is a hockey player," said Paul Mason, who coached Crosby at the Pee Wee level (Crosby was 10 years old, the other players were 11 and 12), and is a close family friend. "He demonstrates it all the time. Nathan is demonstrating that he is the same way. They're both great people and we're very proud of that in the community."

There's a tenacity about Crosby, a hatred of losing more than a desire to win, that has defined him. That's one way MacKinnon does compare favorably to Crosby and probably part of the reason the weight of the constant comparisons didn't stop him from becoming the best player in the country in his age bracket and an early favorite for the Calder Trophy in his rookie NHL season.

MacKinnon came home from two years in Minnesota to the QMJHL, and last season accomplished something Crosby fell one victory short of -- winning the Memorial Cup. He could also win rookie of the year honors, which would give him another thing to chirp Crosby about when they skate together in the summer in Cole Harbour and Halifax.

"They've gotten to know each other pretty well the last couple years. Sidney has really been a mentor for Nathan," said Jon Greenwood, who coached MacKinnon at the Pee Wee and Bantam levels in Cole Harbour and also was a teacher/coach of his at the Maritime Hockey Academy. "They've skated together and worked out together. I'm sure it will be special for them. Especially for Nathan, because he grew up idolizing Sidney. The paths are remarkable, but it was a little bit on purpose. Nathan loved Sidney and that was his role model, so I'm sure it will be special."

While there is a Main Street in Cole Harbour, the main street is actually Cole Harbour Road. That's the commercial center, and it's where that now famous sign is posted.

There's little doubt the figurative heartbeat of this town emanates a short drive from Cole Harbour Road at Cole Harbour Place, a resplendent community center complete with an aquatic center featuring three pools and a roof-high slide, a library, areas to lift weights, play racquetball or put on a craft show and fields outside for soccer, baseball and other various sports.

And there are the hockey rinks, Scotia 1 and Scotia 2, which are home to hundreds of kids on skates of all ages on a daily basis. By the time the sun was visible in the sky Sunday, three groups of youth hockey players had already spent time on the ice, and a fourth was sitting patiently in full gear with Timbits sweaters and names not on their jerseys but written on masking tape adorned to their helmets.

There are no No. 87s amongst these pint-sized players, but there is a No. 29 fidgeting with his equipment. The No. 87 is everywhere in Cole Harbour and Pittsburgh, the way kids have always wanted to wear Nos. 9 or 66 or 99.

It might not be long before No. 29, the one MacKinnon wears for the Colorado Avalanche, joins that group, especially in this part of the country.

"We're very fortunate as coaches to be in their path when they come through," Mason said. "Very few kids in Cole Harbour had parents as coaches. In that era for those two guys, there was almost none. I think these kids would be where they were regardless, but it is nice to hear like ... I know Nathan is very fond of Jon and Sid has said some very complimentary things about me in different avenues. We appreciate it, but we're lucky to have been in their path. That's just the truth."

Producing two players picked No. 1 in an NHL Draft is an incredible distinction for any hockey community, but the scope of it being Cole Harbour is beyond normal words. The entire province of Nova Scotia has produced one player in the Hockey Hall of Fame (Al MacInnis) and only three other players besides Crosby with more than 400 career NHL points (MacInnis, Bobby Smith and Glen Murray).

And yet Crosby and MacKinnon are not alone as Cole Harbour alums. Cam Russell, a defenseman who played nearly 400 games in the NHL for the Chicago Blackhawks and the Avalanche, grew up here. Joe DiPenta, who played 176 games in the NHL and has his name on the Stanley Cup from his time with the Anaheim Ducks, also grew up here and has recently moved back.

Stephen MacAulay, a sixth-round pick by the St. Louis Blues in 2010, is from Cole Harbour and joined the Mooseheads for their Memorial Cup run in a midseason trade last year. Brendan Duke, a defenseman who is two years older than MacKinnon but played with him when he was pushed up a level in their youth, is in his third season with Halifax.

Mitchell Maynard, who won the Memorial Cup with Shawinigan in 2012, lived down the street from Duke. Cole Murphy, currently playing for the Sherbrooke Phoenix, did too.

"I went through there 35 years ago, but we always had great coaching," Russell said. "Not taking anything away from the other coaches out there, but we never had coaches that had a son or a daughter on the team, so they were taking their own holidays to spend time with the team. They were very devoted.

"We had one coach named Wallace Deveau, who went to Russia 35 years ago for a coaching seminar. This was 35 years ago, like before the (Berlin) Wall came down. Clary Mullane brought in Pierre Page back then for skating instruction. They were cutting-edge guys, and you could tell there was a real love of the game. There was also a lot of teaching of accountability and responsibility."

It's not just the boys, either. Crosby's sister, Taylor, is a senior at Shattuck-St. Mary's and considered one of the best Canadian goaltenders at her age level. Alexis Crossley is a freshman at the University of New Hampshire after also being part of the Cole Harbour to Shattuck-St. Mary's shuttle, and was part of Canada's Under-18 world championship-winning squad in 2012.

Cole Harbour has become something of a hockey factory, the way similar small towns in Ohio or Pennsylvania once produced football stars at a rate similar to larger communities in places like California, Florida and Texas.

Albeit the scale is smaller, but Cole Harbour Place overshadows the aging high school next door in a way that feels a little like what Buzz Bissinger described when he arrived in Odessa, Texas, 25 years ago to write his famous book about high-school football in that state. Sunday Morning Skates would lack the drama of Friday Night Lights, but not the community's passion for its beloved sport.

"I think this is what Sidney and Nathan both have in common, too," Greenwood said. "It is very middle class here. There's not a lot of really high-end and not a lot of low. It is really a middle-class town, which I think is perfect for hockey. Everyone can afford to play and can have the support to play, however I think they both still have that Maritime work ethic and pride. There's not a lot of entitlement. You see that here. The best athletes play hockey, but there is that small-town work ethic and pride."

The sun will rise Monday morning over Cole Harbour, and by then a group of Novice Advanced players (7- and 8-year-olds) will have already been on the ice for an hour practice before school starts. There will be many more practices and games Monday night (bad timing for those kids).
Most towns never have a kid like Crosby. Places the size of Cole Harbour never have two. If the pattern holds, there is a 9- or 10-year-old here just warming up to be the top pick in the 2021 or 2022 NHL Draft.

Nathan MacKinnon won a Memorial Cup in 2013, an accomplishment Crosby fell short of.

"I don't know. You hate to say that or put that on anyone," Greenwood said. "I'm sure the next time a kid from Cole Harbour scored 70 or 80 goals, everyone's going to hear about it, but that's a lot to put on a kid. I'm sure all the kids want to be like that, but you almost need to talk about the other guys because it is really, really hard to aspire to be like those two.

"But no, there isn't anyone here now that people are saying, 'Oh, he could be the next one.' Truth is, there might never be another one."

There has been two though, and the two phenoms will square off for the first time Monday. Mason said he wished he could be at Consol, and he's heard of several residents who will be making the trek.

It should make for an interesting viewing experience. Loyalties, in a town typically painted black and gold, will be tested.

"I'm assuming almost anyone who is a hockey fan in Cole Harbour, which basically is all of Cole Harbour, will be watching that game," Mason said. "I hope it is an 8-7 game and both guys get a [hat trick]. It's funny, but because of my connections to Sid, I'll be rooting for him to get the winner in the shootout or overtime, and I'm guessing Jon will be hoping it is Nathan who scores the winner."

Maybe someday that sign next to the Walmart will read, "Welcome to Cole Harbour, home of Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon." If it does, people from this town will probably nod at the tourists taking pictures, and they'll remember the times they saw a tiny kid named Sidney Crosby do something unbelievable for a kid that age ... and the times a tiny kid named Nathan MacKinnon made it believable again.

"I hope it does," Mason said of the sign. "Nathan is off to a great start. Sid really made his mark here and then went off and made his own path. Nathan is doing the same thing. We're really proud of them as a community."

Penguins Q&A: A conversation with Sidney Crosby
December 4, 2013 11:48 PM
By Shelly Anderson / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Sidney Crosby recently became the sixth-fastest NHL player -- and fastest active player -- to reach 700 points. He leads the NHL with 38 points in 29 games. Tonight, the Penguins center and team captain is scheduled to play in his 500th game when the San Jose Sharks visit Consol Energy Center.

That would seem to make this an opportune time to catch up with the man considered to be the face of the league. Crosby, 26, recently sat down to discuss a wide range of topics.

Question: One thousand games is a pinnacle for an NHL player. You're going to be halfway there and still young. Is 500 games a milestone that makes you want to stop and reflect?

Answer: I think all those numbers make you think about it a little bit. When I think about 500, I probably think more about how many I could be at [if not for a lot of time lost to injuries]. But it's nice when you think about being halfway to a thousand. It's gone by pretty quickly, even though it could have been more.

Q: You've been in the league for several years and played hockey for probably all of your living memory. What's the biggest life lesson that you've taken from the game?

A: The biggest thing for me is the passion that I've always had for hockey. I remember growing up, no matter what I did in life, my parents always told me to try to do my best at it and be my best. I can say going through different things that that passion is the most important part. It's not skills or talent or any of that stuff. It's the passion. When that's at its highest, that's when my game is at its best. That work ethic, all the things that come with having that passion, that's the most important part. Whether you're trying to learn in hockey or trying to learn in life, I've always tried to be observant and tried to learn more, tried to evolve, whether it's as a hockey player or as a person. With each year, I try to do that. I don't know if that's something that consciously I think of -- I have to remind myself a lot -- but it's something that I try to think about.


A: First goal. First game is pretty cool. You're so nervous. You don't think that it's going to be 400 or 500 games down the road. All that matters is that one game. Everything is about that. And obviously, the Stanley Cup.

Q: The first Stanley Cup, you mean?

A: Yeah, hopefully there will be others.

Q: What kind of captain are you, and how have you grown in that role?

A: It's more lead-by-example. Try to say things once in awhile, but I don't think that that's really my style. Going back to the passion and being determined, showing that when things are tough is important.

Q: When you do speak up, is it in the locker room to kick some people in the behind, or is it on the bench, strategic stuff?

A: It could be either. You have to be confident in your instincts, when it's time [to speak up] and do what needs to be done. With each year, you just know when it's time, and it just happens. Guys need to trust you when you speak up. If you see something or know something that needs to be done or needs to be said and you trust your instincts, that's ultimately what it comes down to, and guys will trust you.

Q: What's it like to wake up the morning of a game day, and has that changed?

A: It's different. I can tell you from being hurt, going to watch games, to getting up in the morning having a game day, there's a difference. I don't know if it's excitement or anticipation or a certain level of focus, but there's something unique about it. Even though you're not watching the clock, you're not watching the seconds and minutes tick down, you're preparing.

Q: How well-rounded is your life away from hockey?

A: I think it's important to kind of get away a little bit. I enjoy simple things like everyone else. When I'm practicing, I think I'm pretty focused and I spend a lot of energy on making sure I get better, but once I'm outside the rink, I think, like anyone else, I like to enjoy everything that everyone else does. As far as what I do, a season like this [with a condensed schedule because of the Olympics], I just like being at home. You're traveling so much. Spending Sunday on the couch watching football or hanging out with friends, that's what gets me relaxed. I enjoy that kind of stuff.

Q: When you watch a hockey game on television, are you watching critically or are you scouting or is it for pure entertainment?

A: I tend to gravitate toward individual guys. When I watch a game, I don't really see the systems. We do so much of that [scouting] here, you don't want to do that at home as much. I automatically look at individual guys, stuff they do, and think, 'What could I have done in that situation?'

Q: You've never been to Russia, where the Olympics will be held in February. Can you come up with a comprehensive list of the countries you have been to, for hockey or on your own? Start with Canada and the United States.

A: Belarus. Latvia. France. Slovakia. Austria. Sweden. Finland. Czech Republic. Italy. Germany. Bahamas.

Q: You've been all over Europe in particular.

A: Yeah. I've been pretty lucky to go to some different places. That's part of being able to play hockey and go to a lot of those places and experience that. I look back on a trip I had with Shattuck[-St. Mary's High School]. Ten days in France, we only played three games. We did a lot of different stuff. I would have never dreamed of going somewhere like that if it wasn't for hockey.

Q: How are things going with the Sidney Crosby Foundation?

A: Good. We sold chocolates [recently]. It's been good. Last year we had a charity game in Cole Harbour [Nova Scotia] with all my buddies growing up and had a great turnout. I'm still trying to figure out one specific event that we can do annually, but we're always doing things.

Q: Is the house you're building in the Pittsburgh area finished?

A: Yeah. I'm just waiting for the furniture.

Q: What's your favorite element of the house?

A: My basement. There's a little bar, a place to relax. It's an Irish pub-style. I have a shuffleboard. That's an area I think I'll spend time in and hang out in.

Q: And now some fun, rapid-fire questions. First one, have you ever gotten a speeding ticket?

A: Did I get a ticket? No, I have not gotten a ticket. I got a warning a couple of times.

Q: Have you ever gotten a parking ticket?

A: Oh, yeah. Tons of parking tickets. I'm bad with that.

Q: Can you drive a stick shift?

A: No. I tried in junior. I almost ruined my buddy's car and he didn't want to teach me.

Q: What's the last book you read?

A: "American Sniper" [the autobiography of SEAL Chief Chris Kyle]. Or maybe it was "Unbroken" . One of those.

Q: The Penguins were just in Florida. Do you burn or tan in the sun?

A: The first base is burn, but after that I tan.

Q: What's your favorite kind of joke?

A: One hundred percent, a practical joke. When you're around some of these creative minds, it's a lot of fun to see what they come up with.

Sidney Crosby's trainer Andy O'Brien outlines workout plan

Written by: Cary Castagna, QMI Agency

Dec. 13, 2013


Sidney Crosby and his personal trainer, Andy O'Brien. (PIERRE-PAUL POULIN/QMI Agency & Reebok HANDOUT)



He’s got grit, he’s fiercely competitive and he’s not afraid to get physical.

Those are the traits that help separate NHL superstar Sidney Crosby from the rest of the pack, according to his longtime personal trainer Andy O’Brien.

“Sidney says that every challenge is an opportunity and that’s really how he sees it,” O’Brien explains in a one-on-one interview.

“For a lot of people, working out is hard and eating right is hard. There’s all these sacrifices, all this discipline. But it’s also an opportunity to get better. And I think he (Crosby) focuses on the positive and he focuses on his goals and he tries not to focus on what’s holding him back or what the obstacles are.”

O’Brien, 35, ran media types through a series of some of the exact exercises he does in summertime training sessions with Crosby during a recent Reebok press event in Toronto, where O’Brien was also helping to promote the new Reebok SC87 Sidney Crosby apparel line.

The much sought-after strength and conditioning coach, who took some time at the event to speak exclusively with Keeping Fit, explains that the key to training one of the greatest players in the game — or any other elite athlete, for that matter — is to work on movements that transfer directly to the ice.

“Philosophically, I always try to be really specific,” he says. “It’s not just about getting them fit. It’s about trying to figure out what makes them perform.”

Over the past 15 years that O’Brien has trained with high-performance athletes, he has learned that traditional exercises in the gym don’t always boost performance in particular sports.

It’s not merely about getting an athlete to squat the most, for example, or turn in the fastest 20-metre sprint, he notes.

“I think that you get caught with a personal bias as a strength coach as to saying, ‘OK, we’re improving power, agility or speed.’ But really, those things don’t transfer onto the ice and that’s been shown over the years. I would take guys and make them faster in their running, but it wouldn’t necessarily make them a better skater. Or I’d increase their lifts, and it wouldn’t necessarily improve their strength on the puck or make them better athletes.”

O’Brien, who has been working with Crosby for 13 years, says his own training philosophy began to evolve several years ago.

“Midway through my career, I spent a lot of time really trying to study the sport and find out what those key variables are — like what makes a guy like Sidney different,” says O’Brien, former head strength and conditioning coach with the Florida Panthers. “A lot of people talk about how strong he is on the puck, yet you get him in the weight room, he’s not necessarily dominating all the lifts.”

Crosby has “huge legs” and is a “pretty muscular” 210 pounds at five-foot-11, notes O’Brien.

“He’s a really thick guy,” he adds. “But what makes him so strong on the puck is the fact that he’s lower than everybody and he’s in a better position. It’s just a fact that when he gets into those biomechanically efficient positions, he’s hard to knock off the puck. And those positions are really hard to get into. You have to have a certain type of strength to get down there and a certain type of flexibility.”

These days, O’Brien leads the Pittsburgh Penguins’ captain through mostly multiplanular moves (exercises through multiple planes of motion) that are functional to hockey, strengthen small muscle groups and help stave off injuries.

Besides strength training, the veritable teacher and student — who met at a P.E.I. hockey school when Crosby was 13 (as detailed in last week’s column) — also use a variety of training methods to focus on speed and agility.

“It (the training) has been a little bit less traditional, but it comes from that approach of really watching the games and then trying to discuss them and say, ‘OK, where are some opportunities where he can make more plays?’” explains O’Brien.

The world-class strength and conditioning coach, who counts American swimmer Dara Torres, Canadian hockey player Hayley Wickenheiser and Canadian figure skater Patrick Chan among his list of high-profile clients, doesn’t give away all his training secrets.

But O’Brien, based in Calgary with a training business in Toronto, does emphasize the importance of tailoring a workout regimen to a specific sport over merely getting fit.

“Unfortunately, in this day and age, being fit is not a competitive advantage. Everybody’s fit,” he says. “So you really have to find ways to build your body to make the type of plays you need to make as a player.”

Why Sidney Crosby is actually underrated


sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nhl/news/20140110/pittsburgh-penguins-sidney-crosby-underrated/index.html?xid=nl_siextra



Take a moment to think about NHL superstars and their signature styles and attributes. Alex Ovechkin plays like a heat-seeking missile. Steven Stamkos has his laser-precise Howitzer shot from just inside the face-off dot. Bewitching stickhandling wizardry is the way of all things Patrick Kane and Pavel Datsyuk.
But what about Sidney Crosby, who is better than all of them?

Crosby inspires questions that are usually reserved for the all-time greats -- such as how many players in NHL history have basically been a constant threat to win the Art Ross Trophy as the league's leading scorer (provided they stay healthy, of course)? By my count, we're talking about four guys in their primes: Gordie Howe, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, and Crosby. It's easy to associate the first three with their most salient skills: Howe was relentlessly physical, the man whose trademark hat trick came to mean a goal, an assist, and a fight in the same game. Gretzky was an offensive visionary, a Socrates on skates. Lemieux was the grand master of size and finesse. You can keep going with Hall of Famers such as Maurice Richard, who was a paragon of burning intensity. Bobby Orr had game-altering speed from the backline. Mike Bossy had his snake-snapping-at-you fast release. Phil Esposito was a supreme slot presence. Bobby Clarke had guts and guile ...

But what do we associate most with Crosby? Sniping ability? Dangle derring-do? Net drive skills? No, nope, nah. But they're all there in his game—in spades. Rarely, if ever, has a player had such a richly textured game, one so well-balanced that, his point totals aside, we can easily take it for granted.
It's not easy to find analogues for Crosby, and when you try to come up with them, you can sound a bit fatuous. Doug Gilmour kind of/sort of fits the bill in that he was a center who, during his best years, could score 30-plus goals per season while dishing 70 assists, but he was also a defensive maven and tough SOB, which Crosby is not. If you watched HBO's recent 24/7 series during the run-up to the 2014 Winter Classic, you saw that scene where a Maple Leafs player kvetched to the ref about Crosby hitting him from behind, to which Crosby replied, in profanity-bolstered terms, that he doesn't hit anyone. Which is both hilarious and true.

So maybe a Gretzky comparison will work? Both players are veritable Omega Points of, well, points, but Gretzky was more of a mystical presence on the ice than Crosby is now. After the 1987 Canada Cup, in which Gretzky's Team Canada, arguably the greatest hockey squad of all time, beat the Soviets, arguably the second greatest, a Russian coach said something to the affect that when Gretzky takes the ice, he seems almost harmless, but before you realize it, the puck is in the back of your net. Then Gretzky goes out a few shifts later and much the same thing occurs. So I contend that avidly studying Gretzky on old tapes is the best way to uncover the secrets of his game, but with Crosby, just watch him closely and you will learn. You don't need to focus on what he might be thinking—as with Gretzky—you simply need to observe. His game is for the true hockey connoisseur, just like the peatiest Islay whisky stirs the soul of the diehard Scotch drinker. You can see elements of other superstars' games in his, but more than that, you get a portrait of an artist as, dare I say it, an underrated hockey player.
Some specifics:

1. He's quicker than you think.

A list of the NHL's fastest NHL players—hello, Erik Karlsson!—usually doesn't include Crosby, but if you bear down and watch him skate. you'll notice that he usually goes in a straight line only when he's busting to the net to corral a pass. Otherwise, he's all bobbing, weaving, and constant misdirection, but hardly anyone ever catches him from behind. It's like some Doctor Who trick that Gretzky—another underrated skater—would have understood. There are speed merchants, and then there are hypnotic speed merchants. That's Crosby.
Also, watch how he explodes out of crossovers, seemingly defying physics as he goes. This particular ability reminds me of major league pitchers whose blazing fastballs appear to rise into the upper portions of the strike zone a la Roger Clemens' heat, circa '86. Now, you know this isn't scientifically possible—the pitch has actually slowed and started to sink by the time it dents the catcher's mitt—but I bet it still feels like the apex of speed to the batter. Crosby must appear much the same way to a pursuing backchecking center who watches him enter the attacking zone, set his edges, power into a crossover as he loops back to the blueline, and then cuts towards the center of the ice, creating pockets of time and space. It is from these pockets that the greatest of the greats create their magic. If each player on the ice during any given shift is out there for 40 seconds, it seems as though Crosby, somehow, has an extra five built into his 40, and much of that impression comes from his uncanny skating ability.

2. His arsenal is second to none.

Crosby has generated 64 percent of his career points via assists, which is surprising, because you'd think that the world's best passer would have a bigger goals-helpers differential. But Crosby can snipe, and his shot arsenal is tops in the league. He has the best backhander since Eric Lindros, maybe the best of all time. Watch him drive the right wing, dip his shoulder—which serves to hide the shot angle of his stick—and then send the puck on its journey to the top of the net. Snipe-tastic. This season, he's ripping more one-timers, including an instance when he was on his strong-side wing. The puck had to cross his entire body before he could drive it home in a single motion. Hardly anyone one-times shots from their strong side wing. You're not even supposed to try. It's too easy to whiff on the puck, but Crosby connected and scored.
There is also his quick release. A goaltender will tell you that he'd much rather face someone who takes the puck, takes a big windup and unloads a 100 MPH bomb than a player who gets off a middling shot, velocity-wise, within a nanosecond of receiving a pass. Yet, so few players realize that one of the keys to scoring in today's NHL—hell, even during the more wide open days of yore—is not allowing a goalie to get set. Crosby understands this. His rapid release, though, is like Bossy's in that the velocity of his shot is still near a peak level. More crucially, Crosby's is GPS-accurate and tends to result in pucks zipping an inch or two above the ice and ending up tucked just inside the posts.

3. He's a truck on the puck.

Few NHL players are harder to bump off the puck than Crosby. His core strength, low center of gravity, and strength on the edges of his skates make him like an unbudgeable NBA post player, albeit one who moves at 25 MPH. And while last year's playoff ouster at the hands of the Boston Bruins suggested that he's soft and anything but a grinder, no offensive player may be more of a beast below the goal line. Crosby's knack for turning his body into a shield, keeping the puck safely secured, and making radial turns before firing a tape-to-tape pass to a teammate in the slot is the epitome of modern day cycle-based hockey. If you've ever played, even in a beer league, you've surely been aware of the guy who used to play Division 1, the one you think you have lined up in the corner only to bounce off him when you take your glorious Dave Schultz-esque run at him. Crosby is like that guy, only more so.

Most players, even NHLers, move in the direction of the hit they receive. Some power back through it, recoiling from the boards to deliver a pop of their own. Others allow their bodies to be blasted into directions that best enable them, with the help of their linemates, to grind in the offensive zone. There's an artistry to the play of the best fourth lines, for whom this is a speciality. But watch players try to hit Crosby. They often go one way and he goes another. You know that they want to knock him into the third row. He's annoying. He's the best, he knows it, and he whines more than anyone. But hits that should ride Crosby off the play tend to create scoring opportunities for him, with seams opening as he bounces free of his check.
Now, no one would ever mistake Crosby for Mark Messier, but this sort of play is kind of rugged, or at least as physical as he gets. It's no surprise that Crosby's physicality has a utilitarianism to it, that it's yet another aspect of his game in service to lighting that ever-beckoning lamp. Come the Olympics, he'll have more space to work with on the bigger ice surface, and if we were giving him those imaginary five extra shift seconds before, maybe it feel more like seven in Sochi.

Oh my, look out!
Actually, that exclamation could serve as the summary for the bottom of Crosby's eventual Hall of Fame plaque.


Read More: sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nhl/news/20140110/pittsburgh-penguins-sidney-crosby-underrated/#ixzz2q28naRTq

Crosby, Malkin will be bitter rivals who figure prominently in their team’s hockey fortunes

ERIC DUHATSCHEK
EDMONTON — The Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Jan. 31 2014, 10:58 PM EST


Link to Article: www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/olympics/crosby-malkin-will-be-bitter-rivals-who-figure-prominently-in-their-teams-hockey-fortunes/article16648313/?page=1

Your link doesn't work Toya

www.hockey-eh.ca/sidney-crosby-lightening-rod-for-criticism/

I like this article. Then again anything that defends Sid from unnecessary and overblown criticism is always a good read for me.