Athlete Bios
Hockey
Canadian prodigy Crosby aims for gold
Last Updated: Monday, February 8, 2010 | 3:00 PM ET
New York Times for CBC Sports
Sidney Crosby will make his first Olympic appearance in Vancouver. (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) “I’m not trying to be the next Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux,” Sidney Crosby has said. “I am putting pressure on myself to do my best and perform to my potential; that’s all I can do.”
Not since Gretzky and Lemieux has Canada expected so much from someone so young. And like Gretzky and Lemieux, Crosby is delivering.
Already famous before he turned 10 for his minor-league hockey exploits, Sid the Kid, now 22, grew up in the town of Cole Harbour, N.S., across the bay from Halifax, and learned the people skills of the modern Canadian hockey superstar: a soft-spoken willingness to answer all reporters’ questions, win or lose; a ready but not too wide smile; and an ability to never say anything assertive, hurtful or controversial. Those deferential qualities, along with his good looks and skills, have made him a Canadian icon already.
Before being drafted No. 1 overall in 2005, Sidney Crosby broke scoring records with Rimouski of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. He represented Canada at the 2004 and 2005 world junior championships, winning a gold medal in 2005 as the Canadians broke a seven-year title drought.
After the Penguins chose him No. 1 in the first draft after the lockout, he had the singular honour of playing on a line with the team owner, the great Lemieux, for 26 games, until No. 66 had to retire because of an irregular heartbeat. Crosby went on, however, to break Lemieux’s rookie scoring records for the club, finishing with 39 goals, 63 assists and 102 points. Only 18, he became the youngest NHL player to exceed 100 points.
Crosby kept going from there, winning the NHL scoring title in 2007 and earning most valuable player honours. In 2008, he was named team captain and led the Penguins to the Stanley Cup final.
In 2009, he became the youngest NHL captain of a Stanley Cup-winning team. That year the Penguins wrested the Cup from Detroit, the team that had beaten them the year before in a thrilling seven-game final.
Thus Crosby completed a slew of achievements to match those of Lemieux and Gretzky: youngest scoring champion, youngest team captain, second-youngest MVP, youngest all-star.
Now only one honour remains for Crosby to capture: an Olympic gold medal. It's something that Gretzky and Lemieux were not able to achieve as Olympians, but were able to do while playing together in the magical 1987 Canada Cup: the undisputed championship of the hockey-playing world.
Canada will be expecting a lot from Crosby this February in Vancouver, where he will be up against his Penguin teammate Evgeni Malkin of Russia, perhaps in the gold-medal game. But if anyone can deliver, Canadians believe Sid the Kid can.
