The Sidney Crosby Show: Pens v Leafs (W 6-2)

Ordinarily I would have given you advanced notice that I would not be recapping last night's game, but I took a last minute road trip to my sister's home 111 miles north, so I didn't get a chance to warn you. My apologies for missing the boat on this one. Since she lives so far up north, her Fox Sports Network channel is FSN New York. I did listen to most of it on XM Radio and let me just tell you that hearing the Ruutu/Tucker fight was nowhere near as good as seeing it would have been. Thank God I recorded it so I can check it out later. :) Make sure you check out a recap - Seth from Empty Netters always does a bang up job - Evgeni Malkin got his first NHL hat trick, which helped the Pens destroy the Leafs.

That's going to hurt tomorrow!

Geno gets a little hat trick love from his captain and his landlord.

I've got a few other things for you to check out, too. First up, Frank D. of PensBurgh.com hooks us up with the details from yet another Sidney appearance on the cover of The Hockey News magazine. The magazine ranked the 100 most powerful people in hockey today. You'll have to head on over to PensBurgh to see where the Saint ranked, but what I will tell you is that you could knock me over with a feather right now because I am so COMPLETELY shocked that Don "Grapes" Cherry (← seriously, this guy?) outranked some of the best players on the ice today. He even outranked Mario Lemieux for God's sake!!

Speaking of Lemieux, Pens fans everywhere have been saying for years that Super Mario would have pwned most of The Great One's records if he had not been consistently plagued with health issues throughout his entire career. Of course, there was no way to prove that rather bold statement - until now. Good Friend of The Show Loser Chris of Taking One for the Team has used the knowledge he gained from his college statistics classes to determine which player has had the best offensive season. It's a bit complicated to sum up here, so my suggestion is that you check out his article to see exactly how it works. It's very interesting to say the least.

The Sidney Crosby Show founder Jes Golbez found this article on TSN.ca about Sid winning yet another award for his already overflowing trophy case:

What a banner year for Sidney Crosby. On Saturday, he was named Sportscentre's Canadian Athlete of the Year on the SPORTSCENTRE Year in Review show, capping a spectacular 2007 for hockey's newest superstar.

Crosby was named the winner ahead of Steve Nash, Russell Martin, Hayley Wickenheiser, Brent Hayden and Erik Guay.

Crosby was the NHL's most valuable players this year, capturing the Hart Trophy after leading the league in scoring. He also won the NHLPA's Player of the Year award, and the prestigious Lou Marsh Award as Canada's Athlete of the Year that is presented by the Toronto Star.

Seriously, I think pretty soon it will actually be easier for me to list the awards that Sidney HASN'T won. ;)

Finally, remember I told you that Sid spoke with Dan Potash about his fight with Andrew Ference? Well, Friend of The Show Alex M. sent me this video clip of said interview awhile ago. The same day she sent me this video, I got an anonymous tip from someone who went to the Boston game and saw Sidney prior to the game:

Let me tell, Sidney Crosby looked like a man possessed tonight. Even before the game, he was in the hallway warming up his legs and he just looked... you know what? He looked downright creepy. Maurice Richard used to get "black coal eyes" when he got real determined and really pissed off. The kid is no Rocket, but he's got the look down pat. He just had this look that was pretty damn scary - he was on fire. I didn't want to disturb him so I walked by him.

So it would seem that Sid's mood may have played a small role in his decision to throw his gloves! I know - I've been a slacker about getting this story and this video posted, but I swear after this weekend, my schedule finally returns to normal and I should be more consistent about getting back to your emails, writing recaps, and posting your submissions. Without further ado, here's Sid talking about the fight:

Thanks to Anonymous and to Alex for sending in the story and the video, respectively. And a big thank you to all of you for putting up with us during this hectic holiday season!!! Remember that tomorrow's game has been moved up to start at 3:00pm Eastern time so it won't conflict with the Steelers game tomorrow night. I will recap that game as I usually do. Go Pens & Go Steelers!!! And since I didn't get a chance to say it sooner...