Sidney Crosby Gets Moulded

It seems Sidney Crosby has "Spawned" an action figure at last!

Yes, it seems that Todd MacFarlane (of SPAWN fame) has added Crosby to their NHL 12 Series which is scheduled for an April 2006 release. (Link here)

Well, here it is...


I'm sure Flyers coach Ken "Jabba the Hutt" Hitchcock will be disappointed that Crosby isn't doing a dive or whining at the ref :)

Thanks to Michael the Hockey Fanatic for the heads up!

Penguins 6 - Devils 2: Welcome Back, Sid

The long Christmas break did Sidney good, and he seems to look refreshed and more energized.

Sidney Crosby had two goals and an assist, as the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the New Jersey Devils, 6-2, at Mellon Arena.

Tomas Surovy added two goals and Marc Andre-Fleury stopped 44 shots for Pittsburgh, which put an end to a six-game losing streak.

"We had a great start the first half of the game," said coach Michel Therrien. "We followed the plan really well. It's a tough league to have a four-goal lead because sometimes you loose your concentration, and the other team is taking a lot of chances."

It must have been hard for Crosby and the Penguins to stew over the holidays sitting on such a long losing streak. It didn't help that their first game back was a loss to the Maple Leafs. So much for a coaching change bringing victories.

For the night, Sir Sid had 2 goals just 2 shots (efficient!) and was +3. Coun't him back in the Calder race, babes!

Full game recap here.

Sid Vicious Fights Back!

With the anti-Sid backlack piling on by the day, Sidney is fighting back, at least on the ice. Off the ice, he's as cool as a cumcumber and showed little emotion or reaction at being left off of Team Canada.

From the Toronto Star:

Somehow, in the past five or six weeks, Sidney Crosby supposedly turned into Sid Vicious.

As the fortunes of the Pittsburgh Penguins plummeted, the golden boy of the re-launched National Hockey League has been slagged in various major hockey circles as a diver, a whiner, too ambitious, insensitive to fired coach Ed Olczyk and too young to be named alternate captain by new bench boss Michel Therrien.

This reminds me of THE ROCK in the WWE/WWF. He was promoted as the Golden Boy and he was pushed hard onto the fans. Rather than react positively, the fans turned on him and cheered more for the 'bad' guys. Let the fans make up their own minds. In time, they'll realize Sid is a good kid with jaw-dropping skill.

Open season on Sid the Kid began Nov. 16 when he had two or three teeth broken by Philadelphia Flyers' Derian Hatcher. No penalty was called, except on Crosby when he came out of the medical room and was roughed up by Hatcher again and yapped to the referee.

With his needle now pushed firmly into the red, Crosby took control of the game and won it in overtime.

But Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock chirped about him diving and Peter Forsberg chided him for not being rugged enough to take the pounding he can expect all his career.

Full story here.

A Special Christmas Message

Somewhere in Nova Scotia...

Flyers 5 - Penguins 4: Crosby's Christmas Three not Enough

Sidney Crosby's last game before the Christmas break was a good one, but the Penguinos still lost to the evil Flyers by a 5-4 score.

Sir Sid had 2 goals and 1 assist, +3, 6 shots on goal, and won a respectable 12 of 25 faceoffs in 20:55 of ice time.

Maybe Santa will bring the Penguins some real wins in the new year?

The Pittsburgh Penguins overcame a 3-0 deficit, but the Philadelphia Flyers pulled out a 5-4 win Friday night at Mellon Arena.

The Penguins (8-19-7) scored four-straight goals late in the second period and early in the third, but the Flyers (21-8-5) responded with two tallies 1:09 apart.

“We were right there. The first period, we didn’t give ourselves the chance to really compete,” Penguins rookie Sidney Crosby said. “The second two [periods], we were right there and I thought we carried most of the play. We can’t afford to have lapses like that or make mistakes like that. We’ve said it before, we have to play 60 minutes and play more sound. We made a couple of mistakes and they buried them.”

Full game recap here.

Have a happy and safe whatever-the-heck-you-celebrate!

Sidney's Home for the Holidays

Sidney will finally get to spend some time with his family over the holidays.

The latest from Shawna Richer, the Crosby Blogger for the Globe & Mail

Sid the Kid has not been home for Christmas the past three years, because he's been playing junior hockey in Rimouski and before that, Minnesota.

But he's heading home to Nova Scotia tonight on a charter flight after the Penguins play the Flyers at the Igloo. Their next game isn't until Tuesday, at home against the Maple Leafs.

Read more here.

The Defense of Sidney Crosby

In the face of some major media backlash against Sidney Crosby (Don Cherry, I'm looking at YOU), it's nice to see Jim Kelley take up the cause and defend Sidney from the jealous hordes.

Tis the season to be jolly, kind, caring, understanding and compassionate of others, unless of course one of the "others" is hockey phenom Sidney Crosby.

In recent days and in contrast to the Christmas spirit or even the basic idea of good will toward young men, Sid the Kid, the heir apparent to the title of Great One in the National Hockey League has been savaged seemingly to the tune of a tirade-a-day by analysts and commentators who seem to be united in their opinion that the 18-year-old hockey player is a mouthy jerk who doesn't deserve his assistant captain's title, a rumored spot on the Canadian Olympic team, a right to protest calls made against him or his team and/or a right to open his mouth regards his former coach or his new coach. According to some, Crosby shouldn't even be allowed to billet in team owner/player Mario Lemieux's home. The way the criticism is mounting, he shouldn't even be allowed to do interviews, drive a car, pick up a pizza or even come within sight of Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena without genuflecting to all the great players who have stepped on to its ice in the 30-plus years prior to his arrival there.

Memo to both respected colleagues and pretend ones: lighten up.

Making an 18-year-old hockey player your personal whipping boy may seem like good sport. And in the case of my Sportsnet co-worker Bill Watters, it may be well-intentioned constructive criticism. The fact of the matter is though, Sid the Kid is a kid and he's going to do things and say things that are probably not in the best interest of the Penguins and himself. Get over it. It's part of what young people do.

Agreed. Read the full article HERE.

Sidney Crosby gets left off of Team Canada

So, Wayne Gretzky and company played Scrooge and left poor Sidney off of Team Canada's entry into the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

He may be an Olympic-sized talent, but Sidney Crosby will have to wait for his shot at the Games.

The 18-year-old Pittsburgh Penguins rookie forward was left off the 23-man roster and three-man taxi squad named Wednesday for Turin.

"There's a good chance that Sidney could be the leader of the team in 2010," Kevin Lowe, Team Canada's assistant executive director, said when asked about Crosby's omission.

"But at this time we felt that we wanted to go with proven veteran players that have won at the World Cup level, and the world championship level and the Olympics."

While Sidney wasn't saying anything, his agent was doing the talking for him:

"I understand and recognize that it's not an easy decision for the Canadian selection committee," said Pat Brisson, Crosby's agent. "Regardless of their decisions, it was going to create some kind of controversy with the talent pool."

''However, as I've said before, in my opinion Sidney thrives under pressure and could play with anyone in the world and make a difference.''

Let's have some perspective here. Sidney is only 18 and Canada has many talented forwards. Sid will have plenty of opportunities to play for Canada in the future, and Team Canada needn't have picked Crosby just for the marketing possibilities.

It's a bit of a shame that the thuggish slug Todd Bertuzzi was selected over a more deserving Crosby, but Crosby will learn that life isn't always to fair, even to Hockey Jesus.

Penguins 3 - Sabres 4: Deja Vu

Well, another 4-3 loss to the damn Buffalo Sabres, albeit not in OT so the Penguinos don't get a bonus point.

Mario Lemieux missed the game with another case of a faulty ticker, and Crosby seemed to help give away the victory thanks to his 6 giveaways recorded in the NHL's superstars for the night.

Sid's Stats: 20:34 in ice time, 3 shots on goal, 1 goal, 10 for 21 on face-offs, and
6 damn giveaways!!

The Sabres took charge early as they scored two goals on their first eight shots.

Seconds after a Pittsburgh penalty expired, Adam Mair ripped a one-timer past goaltender Jocelyn Thibault 3:32 into the game.

Maxim Afinogenov scored at 6:46. On a 2-on-1, Afinogenov kept the puck and wristed it past Thibault for a 2-0 lead.

Sidney Crosby brought the HSBC Arena crowd to its feet with a highlight-reel goal. Skating down the left wing, he got around Buffalo defenseman Jay McKee with a nice move as he flipped the puck from his backhand to his forehand and ripped the puck past Martin Biron’s glove at 10:50. Ryan Malone and Josef Melichar earned the assists.

Buffalo (22-10-1) responded with a power-play goal on a 5-on-3. Jason Pominville ripped a one-timer past Thibault with 1:45 left in the period.

The Sabres went up, 4-1, when Chris Drury banked the puck into the net off Melichar’s skate on the power play 15:34 into the second period.

Michele Ouellet scored his second NHL goal in as many nights 24 seconds into the third period. He backhanded a loose puck into the Buffalo goal. Tomas Surovy and Sergei Gonchar earned assists.

Nearly two minutes later, Erik Christensen ripped a shot off the crossbar. He and Ouellet skated in on a 2-on-1 and Christensen fired the puck on net. Ouellet believed the puck went in and raised his arms, but the goal light did not come on and it was ruled not a goal.

Surovy sliced the Penguins’ deficit to 4-3 with 10:17 remaining. He ripped a shot past Biron. Whitney and Ouellet had assists.

Surovy had a chance to tie the game at 4-all with 28 seconds to play. Standing on the far post, he ripped Whitney’s pass at the goal, but Biron reached back to make a sprawling glove save.

It was similar to the play late in Friday night’s game when Biron gloved Ziggy Palffy’s shot. However, it was ruled a goal as Biron’s glove crossed the goal line. Saturday night, though, Biron’s glove was clearly in front of the line as he robbed Surovy.

Penguins 3 - Sabres 4(OT): New Coach, Same Results

Well, at least the Penguins took it to overtime and got a point of the affair.

Despite a new Penguins coach behind the bench and Sidney Crosby wearing his newly awarded A, the result was familiar: another L for Pittsburgh and another W for Martin Biron.

Buffalo's Chris Drury scored on a rebound in overtime and Biron became the first NHL goalie in eight years to win 12 consecutive starts, helping the Sabres ruin Michel Therrien's debut as the Penguins' coach with a 4-3 victory Friday night.

In Crosby's first game with the Alternate Captain's "A", he also saw an increased workload with 20:19 of ice time and 13 face-offs (of which he won only 4!). Crosby earned 1 assist on Zigo Palffy's controversial goal and finished +1 with 6 shots. Don't blame Crosby for this loss, as he played pretty well overall.

Full recap here.

Coach Therrien gives Sidney an 'A'

Well, it looks like the new coach has already taken a liking to Sidney Crosby.

From Shawna Richer, the official Crosby stalker for the Globe and Mail:

Sidney Crosby was annointed an assistant captain with the Penguins today, less than 24 hours after Michel Therrien was brought in to coach the struggling team.

"Staring tonight Sidney Crosby will be an assistant captain," Therrien said after the Penguins morning game-day skate. "Eventually it is going to be his team; he is the future of this franchise and I want him to start feeling the responsibility now.

"He's become an important part of this team very quickly and he is an incredible hockey player. I like the kid, he's a good kid. He brings a passion to the game and he cares so much. When you have a kid like that you want to encourage him and give him the responsibility he deserves. That he cares so much is a gold mine for us. He's leading us already for sure."

Hmm, I'm not sure if putting extra pressure on the kid is really the way go to. Other's like Vincent Lecavalier and Chris Pronger and Bryan McCabe really faltered when given extra leadership duties at a very young age.

So, How does Sid feel?

"It's a pretty big honour to get a letter on your jersey and I plan on taking it very seriously," he said, wearing a black furry trapper hat given to him by friend Maxime Talbot, who was sent down to Wilkes-Barre yesterday. "For the coach to show that he thinks I deserve that kind of responsibility is something that is really important and will do my best to live up to it."

"It's important to lead by example and by your actions. To be 18 in the NHL and get a letter is pretty special."

Full article here.

Coach Ed Olczyk and Assistants FIRED!

Sidney Crosby isn't even half way into his first season and already has to go through his first coaching/regime change.


From John Beale of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Penguins today named Michel Therrien to replace Eddie Olczyk as coach.

Michel Therrien, left, and Craig Patrick head toward this morning's news conference.

In addition to Olczyk, assistant coaches Randy Hillier and Joe Mullen, goaltending coach Shane Clifford and strength and conditioning coach John Welday were fired.

Therrien, formerly the head coach of the Montreal Canadiens from November 200 to February 2003, has been coach of the Penguins American Hockey League farm team in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for the past three years.

Olczyk leaves the Penguins with a record of 31-68-14 in nearly 1 1/2 seasons behind the bench.

With all of the money the Penguins invested into (questionable) free agents like John LeClair, Mark Recchi, and Sergei Gonchar, why did they hand the reigns to an overmatched and inexperienced coach? Coaching is such an important aspect of any hockey club, and it's obvious that Olczyk wasn't the man for the job (Unless you want to lose games). Therrien has experience, and some worts, but should give the Penguins a big shot in the arm and help kick-start their Power Play.

As for Sidney, I wouldn't expect anything to change in terms of his ice time.

Penguins 0 - St Louis 3: Sidney's feeling Blue

'Twas not a good night at all for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Sidney Crosby as they were shut out by Curtis Sanford and the crappy St. Louis Blues by a 3-0 score.

Coach Ed Olczyk, who seems quite overmatched in his current job, probably never imagined things would turn so sour:

Only Eddie Olczyk knows why he feels this way.

Why he refuses to let the frustration get the better of him and just walk away from the relentless misery that goes with coaching the Penguins these days.

But before the Penguins' 3-0 loss to St. Louis -- the team that has the fewest points (16) in the league and is now tied with the Penguins for the fewest home-ice victories (4) -- at the Savvis Center last night, Olczyk was adamant that he won't consider quitting his job.

"Not in a million years," he said. "Never. Never. No. Never. Never. ... I'm as committed as I was six weeks ago. From Day 1."

Is ignorance bliss for Olczyk? Maybe, but I'd rather have a coach who was smart.

Sidney played a whopping 21:54, but had a very poor night as he finished pointless and with -3. Crosby lost 10 of 16 faceoffs and had just 3 shots on goal.

Game recap here.

Penguins 1 - Red Wings 3: Crosby's Frustrations Continue

Sidney Crosby played well in the 3-1 loss to the Red Wings but he's getting openly frustrated as the losses pile up.

"He (Goalie M-A Flery) played great," Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby said. "He gave us a chance throughout the game."

Otherwise, Crosby was disgusted with his team's latest performance.

"There's no excuse for that," he said.

Crosby was held without a goal for the third straight game, and the rookie sensation has been limited to one goal in his last seven games. He had an assist on the Penguins' goal.

Sir Sid finished +1 with 1 assist and just 1 shot on goal in 18:11 of ice time. Sidney was 5 for 8 on face-offs, and has been doing better in that department lately although he takes so few draws (for good reason).

Full game recap here.

Penguins: Disaster Averted?

Some breaking news off of the wire.
-----
(KDKA) PITTSBURGH- Just days after Mario Lemieux struck fear in the hearts of Pittsburgh hockey fans, suggesting it may be too late to keep his team in town, KDKA Investigator Andy Sheehan has learned about a new deal that could keep the Pens here for a long time.

Under an "agreement of terms" reached yesterday with city and county leaders, the Penguins will get development rights to the current Mellon Arena site if the team can come up with $300 million to build a new arena.

As KDKA first reported two weeks ago, the Pens are actually close to naming a partner to apply for a slots license. As part of their application, this as yet unnamed partner will agree to use gambling proceeds to build a new arena for $300 million.

Pittsburgh's Sports and Exhibition Authority is expected to approve this agreement during a vote later this week; but ultimately, the deal depends on the Penguins' partner getting the slots license.

For now, though, sources tell KDKA that Lemieux is satisfied that progress is being made.
----

Detroit, Red Wings get first look at Crosby

While the Philly Flyers claimed not to be impressed with Sidney Crosby, your future hall of famer and rookie of the year, the Detroit Red Wings aren't playing that game and give respect where it's due.

Normally the Pittsburgh Penguins coming to town wouldn't generate much of a buzz.

Sidney Crosby changes everything.

Crosby, 18, the anointed future of the NHL -- and possible savior of the Pittsburgh franchise -- plays his first game in Detroit tonight.

With the new NHL regular-season scheduling formula, Crosby might not be here again for three years, so relish it, Hockeytown.

"You can't have 30 points in this league -- it's not a boys' league -- unless you're a heck of a player," Wings coach Mike Babcock said of Crosby.

"(At age) 18, I was in my second year of junior," Kirk Maltby said. "I couldn't imagine, really, but he's a well-spoken kid, and he seems to take it all in stride. He has good people around him such as Mario (Lemieux, the Penguins' owner and team captain) to deal with the pressure."

Full article here.

Penguins 4 - Colorado 3: VICTORY!!!

While Mario Lemieux was making headlines for pulling out of the running for Team Canada's entry at the Olympics, Crosby and the Penguins were busy finally figuring out a way to get a win.

The rookie came through with one of Pittsburgh's biggest goals in a season notable mostly for the Penguins' underachievement. Only, it wasn't Sidney Crosby.

Maxime Talbot scored the decisive goal in the third period and Mark Recchi, stalled for weeks in a one of the longest slumps of his career, had a goal and an assist to help the Penguins end a six-game losing streak and beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-3 Saturday night.

Talbot followed up his own rebound of Lasse Pirjeta's shot from the right circle slightly past the midway point of the third, and the Penguins held on despite rookie Marek Svatos' 14th goal with about 5 1/2 minutes remaining.

Crosby finished -1 again in 18:10 of ice time. He did, however, chip in a secondary assist in the cause.

Full game recap here.

New Crosby Reebok Commercial

Sidney Crosby's new Reebok advertisement, "I am what I am", is online.
Click here to go to the Reebok site and view the commercial.

Thanks to 'Elizabeth' for the tip.

Pittsburgh 0 - Minnesota 5: Crosby ain't Wild tonight

Mario's ticker is malfunctioning and suddenly Sidney is colder than winter in Yellowknife. Tonight, it was another highly touted star's turn to shine.

Marian Gaborik stole the puck from Pittsburgh forward Shane Endicott and scored barely a minute into the game, setting the tone for the Minnesota Wild's 5-0 rout Thursday night that ran the Penguins' losing streak to six games in their latest contest without Mario Lemieux.

With Mario out, Crosby saw lots of ice time with 20:52. He had 3 shots on goal, went -2, and actually won 2 of 3 faceoffs.

Full game recap here.

Crosby adapting to his fame.

It seems Sir Sidney has easily made the transition from junior star to rock star. For all of the 'hot dog' comments and anti-Crosby rhetoric that seems to be popping up, everyone around the kid says nothing but good things about it. Crosby is no Mark Messier (at least not yet)

"Oh my God! It's Sidney Crosby!"

Someone screamed that out of a bus window. The bus squealed to a stop. And a dozen teenage girls - students from Quebec - barreled out, dashing after their teenage hockey hero down a street in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Crosby, who had been walking back from lunch, sprinted around the corner with his personal trainer, Andy O'Brien. They jumped in the car and bolted.

That was last summer. Crosby seemed stunned by fans' reaction then, O'Brien said, recalling the story. And he probably would be even now, a quarter of the way through a rookie NHL season in which the 18-year-old Penguins center has fulfilled the incredible expectations of him.

"He has this attitude of not paying attention to (his celebrity), so eventually when you're around him, you forget about it as well," said O'Brien, the Panthers' first-year strength and conditioning coach and Crosby's trainer the past five years. "He doesn't carry himself like anybody special."

Full article here.

Is Sid really that Vicious?

Oh dear...

People complain that Sidney Crosby gets too much press and too much hype.

Go figure that the "Anti-Crosby" crowd is coming out now because it's always cool to bash the golden boy.

Let's take Eric Francis of the Calgary Sun, who decides to get in a jab at "Sid Vicious"

Let's see if we've got this straight: An 18-year-old hotshot violently crashes the net, seriously jeopardizing the health of Flames netminder Miikka Kiprusoff and not one teammate decides to do anything about it.

Not a terse word, not a discouraging shove, not a warranted beating.

Why would this be allowed to happen?

Is it because the offender was NHL golden boy Sidney Crosby.

To his credit, Francis goes on to chide Flames 'enforcer' Chris Simon for his lack of enforcing skills and lazy attitude. Why the need to take a swipe at Crosby? Almost every forward in the NHL knows that you can drive to the net with little consequence these days. Crosby is not a 'punk' or a 'hotshot' because he is doing what Rick Nash, Jerome Iginla, and Joe Thornton get so much credit for doing on a regular basis.

Rangers 2 - Penguins 1: Tough Times for Sid

Sidney has suddenly gone kind have cold lately, but not as cold as Mario.

Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby both failed to record a point. It was the first time in Lemieux’s career that he failed to record a point in four-straight games, while Crosby has not tallied a point in his last three games for the first time in his young NHL career.

Sidney went pointless in 18:58 of ice time. Sid finished EVEN with just 1 shot on goal and 2 PIMs. You can't score if you don't shoot!!

Full game recap here.