Kukla's Korner

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Entries with the tag: Sidney+Crosby

Morning Line

“He’s a great player.  I was lucky enough to play with him in World Juniors. He’s got a lot of skill. He’s a dangerous player out there.”

“He’s making a strong case for the Olympic team.  He deserves all the credit he gets.”

-Sidney Crosby on Corey Perry.  More at Ducks Blog from Curtis Zupke.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Anaheim Ducks, Pittsburgh Penguins | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Corey+Perry, Sidney+Crosby,

Now Playing Goal, Sidney Crosby

Penguins defeated the Ducks last night 4-3.

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 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

Crosby Gains Confidence With New Stick

from Joe Starkey of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review,

With nine goals in 12 games, Crosby is off to the best start of his five-year career. He has 24 goals in his past 36 games, including the playoffs. He is on pace to score 62 this season, though it’s a bit early for projections.

Some people want to attribute Crosby’s hot start solely to his new, one-piece stick. Crosby is not one of them, although he acknowledges that the stick, at the very least, is symbolic of his budding scorer’s mentality....

Crosby favored the wood, among other reaasons, because he could feel the puck better on his stick. He finally made the switch this past summer, partly because the wooden blades he favored went out of production two years ago (he kept a stash for last season and still has plenty left, just in case).

“If anything, I think (the new stick) has probably given me more confidence to use my shot a little more,” Crosby said Wednesday, after scoring a hat trick against Montreal. “I definitely feel like I’m more likely to shoot from a little farther out than normal. In my mind, I’m not afraid to take a shot in a one-on-one now. That’s important. I can’t be too predictable.”

read on

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 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

Where’s Sid?

from Mike Brophy of Sportsnet,

Have you taken a peak at the NHL’s scoring leaders today? Where’s Sidney Crosby?

He’s not leading the league in scoring…not even in the top 10. Or top 20, for that matter.

Whoops, there he is… down, down, down. No. 23 squeezed between sophomore centre Steven Stamkos at No. 22 and Dallas Stars winger Loui Eriksson.

This is just not right.

continued and additional hockey topics too…

Filed in: NHL Teams, Pittsburgh Penguins | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

Have Crosby & Ovechkin Peaked?

from Brian Costello of The Hockey News,

As much as we think the wizardry of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin will be with us for the next 10 to 15 years, chances are their otherworldly scoring exploits are at a peak now and will trend downwards in the coming seasons.

At 22 and 24, Crosby and Ovechkin are sure to be the cream of the league for the next decade. There’s little question of that. But in terms of over-the-top scoring totals, they’re in their prime right now. Thing is, however, their “prime” is such a narrow range, if history is to be a barometer.

continued

Filed in: NHL Teams, Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Alexander+Ovechkin, Sidney+Crosby,

Crosby Protected From An Early Age

from Sean Gordon of the Globe and Mail,

Tonight the Stanley Cup Champeens are in town for the last of a brutal five-games-in-five-nights stretch, and looks like Sidney Crosby will play against his childhood favourites.

It would be interesting if Jacques Martin decides to throw Eric Neilson into the fray. Fredericton’s Fists of Fury seems to have self-detaching gloves, which leaped off his hands three times against the Sens last Friday, and again in Saturday’s rematch.

But there’s another story-within-the-story involving Neilson.

According to our friends at Radio-Canada, who have a good memory for such things, Neilson and a then-15-year-old Crosby were billeted together in Rimouski during their junior days. Neilson’s listed position on that Oceanic team, you’ll have guessed, was guy-who-makes-sure-nothing-bad-happens-to-Sid.

The Semenko to his Gretzky, if you will.

more

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 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

NHLPA Should Have Talked With Crosby Before Firing Kelly

from Craig Custance of the Sporting News,

He’s been voted the most powerful person in hockey by the Hockey News. He’s one of the few players whose name transcends the sport. His opinion matters, perhaps more than any player in hockey.

But when the NHLPA fired its executive director, Paul Kelly, on Monday, Sidney Crosby said he wasn’t consulted.

“I woke up the next day and saw the news like the rest,” Crosby told SportingNews.com.

That’s a huge lapse in judgment by the players on the executive board. It was a decision that happened in the middle of the night, so maybe they were sparing Crosby a 4:00 a.m. phone call.

continued

Filed in: NHLPA | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

It’s A Sidney-Fest

Sidney Crosby brings the Stanley Cup home.

Check out Empty Netters for all of the video hightlights…

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 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

Sidney Celebrates

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 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

Using Crosby’s Name

from Jason Kato of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review,

Some fans may think Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby scored an assist for a Minnesota park this week, but neither he nor park officials knew anything about an apparently bogus effort to raise money in his name through a MySpace page.

A message sent Monday from the MySpace page, “If You See Crosby,” asked for help to raise $3,000 for Phelps Park in Minneapolis. In exchange for a donation, preferably sent via Western Union, “Sid” promised to send a “game-played, autographed stick,” the message stated.

“That is not Sidney Crosby,” Penguins spokesman Tom McMillan said Tuesday. “He does not have a MySpace page.”

read on

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 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

Any Penguins Fans Vacationing In Alberta?

from the CP via The Record,

STRATHMORE, Alta. - An autographed limited-edition photo print of NHL star Sidney Crosby was just too difficult to resist for a brazen thief in a small town east of Calgary.

RCMP Sgt. Kevin Reilly says a man in his 20s walked into the Tim Hortons in Strathmore, waited until staff weren’t looking and took off with the picture of the Pittsburgh Penguins captain from the wall.

Reilly says it was obvious that the suspect had planned the heist carefully.

The photo is emblazoned with the Tim Hortons logo, shows Crosby in his Penguins uniform and includes a 1993 Timbits hockey card with Crosby as a youth.

Reilly won’t reveal how much the print is worth except to say it was over $1,000 and was valuable.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Pittsburgh Penguins, Hockey Related Stories | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

Only The Beginning

from Damien Cox of the Toronto Star,

So Sidney Crosby didn’t get to score the winning goal in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final on Friday night at The Joe, or make a big pass or a significant defensive play. Instead, he sat nailed to the bench for the final half of the game, his left knee throbbing and useless after an illegal second-period bodycheck from Johan Franzen.

There were also three separate outbursts of boos after the Pittsburgh Penguins had won the game, with Detroit fans recognizing that Crosby was a tad slow getting over to shake the hands of the dethroned champion Red Wings.

Finally, all in all, Crosby didn’t have a major offensive impact in the series, managing one goal and an assist in seven games.

But it would be a terrible mistake to suggest Crosby did not lead the Penguins to this championship. He did, as his reverential teammates would attest.

read on

Filed in: NHL Teams, Pittsburgh Penguins | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

Afternoon Line

“Nick (Lidstrom) was waiting and waiting, and Crosby didn’t come over to shake his hand.  That’s ridiculous, especially as their captain, and make sure you write that I said that!”

-Kris Draper of the Detroit Red Wings.  More on the Wings from the CP via TSN.

added 6:52pm, via the Detroit News,

...there was a response to Draper’s accusation from Tom McMillan, the Penguins’ vice president of communications.

“There’s nobody who respects the traditions of hockey more than Sidney Crosby,” McMillan told the Post-Gazette. “It was a young team celebrating its first Cup and some of the guys might have been a little late getting into the handshake line.”

There are photographs showing Crosby in the post-game handshake line.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Kris+Draper, Sidney+Crosby,

Crosby Fans Celebrate

from Patricia Brooks of the Chronicle Herald,

In the very rink where Sid the Kid’s dreams began, hundreds of fans dared to hope that this would be his year.

That Sidney Crosby would bring the Stanley Cup back to where it all began.

“It’s coming home,” yelled Barb MacDonald seconds after the buzzer sounded.

“Are we ever going to party,” she said, shaking the pompoms she held.

Cole Harbour Place erupted and the 1,500 people who’d gathered to watch Game Seven of the Stanley Cup final on the big screen jumped and hugged like players on the ice to celebrate their hometown boy.

read on

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 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

Where’s Crosby?

from Jason Kay of The Hockey News,

The question that niggles and nags me as we approach what we all hope is an epic Game 7 is: What’s up with Sidney Crosby?

I’m not talking about the anaemic production – one goal and three points through six games. He has played well through much of the series and hasn’t had much puck luck.

But in Game 6, ‘The Kid’ was most noticeable by his absence on the ice. The game sheet showed he had his lowest ice-time total of the series…

It was further piqued at the conclusion of Game 6 when, about an hour after the contest ended, Crosby was sitting on a chair outside the club’s dressing room, far away from attention, huddled with his dad, Troy, and agent, Pat Brisson. Why the chairs for the little gathering, someone asked, when everyone else was standing and milling about? Is he overly fatigued from the intense attention night after night? Maybe injured?

more

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 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

Crosby Growing As A Player

from Bucky Gleason of Sabres Edge at the Buffalo News,

Crosby has been playing a strong two-way style that we don’t see often—or nearly often enough—from Sid the Kid. The Red Wings have shut him down, yes, but it comes with a price. Crosby has been effective in wearing down the Wings and creating more opportunities for his teammates. It makes you wonder if he’s learned a thing or two from playing against Henrik Zetterberg.

If anything, I’ve gained more respect for Crosby while watching him play in the series. He’s been physical, played better defense, did a better job backchecking and has been huge in the faceoff circle.

more

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 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

Is It Crosby’s Time?

from Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,

I picked the Penguins to win the Stanley Cup final in six games because Sidney Crosby was playing out of his mind and wasn’t going to let the team lose. I’m still sticking with ‘em even though Crosby hasn’t done so much against the Detroit Red Wings and the Penguins find themselves in a big jackpot, needing to win Game 6 tonight at home and Game 7 Friday night in Detroit. I’ve learned from these Penguins in the Washington series that it’s never too late. I’ve been watching the great Crosby too long to think he can’t have two terrific games when it matters most.

Positive thoughts ...

Hey, it beats dwelling on the alternative.

Oh, what the hay.

Let’s dwell for just a moment.

If the Penguins fail—tonight or Friday night—no one will lose more than Crosby.

continued

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

Crosby & Fleury Today

Q.  What do you think it is about home ice advantage in the series that’s allowed every team to win the home game? Is it that important a match-up series in your mind?

SIDNEY CROSBY:  No, I mean, it’s the way things have played out. But I think every game has been close up to the last game. So, you know, why, I don’t really know. But I think all the games have been fairly close.

Q. Safe to say based on that though, if you’re going to be facing elimination game to be doing it for the first time in this series on home ice is a lot more favorable?

SIDNEY CROSBY: Yeah, either way you’re going to be desperate whether you’re at home or on the road. And they’re going to want to finish things off. It’s the same for them, too. So I don’t think it has any bearing at this point. Both teams have had to win both at home and on the road to get to this point anyway. So I don’t think anybody really reads into it too much at this point.

Continue Reading »

Filed in: NHL Teams, Pittsburgh Penguins | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Marc-Andre+Fleury, Sidney+Crosby,

Crosby Today

Q. How do you feel?

SIDNEY CROSBY: Pretty good. The typical bumps and bruises of the playoffs, but nothing major. And I think, yeah, most of the guys will tell you they feel really fresh for this point of the year. So that’s a good sign.

Q. Any sense that you’re wearing them down a little bit?

SIDNEY CROSBY: We’re trying. The more pressure we can put. I think both teams really tried to do that consistently throughout games, so, that’s what makes it so intense and such a battle. But I think we’re trying to do that.

Continue Reading »

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 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

Afternoon Line

Crosby’s like a shark - he smells bloods, he tastes it out there, he’s like a predator, and now that he’s got that first goal of the series, all bets are off.

-Bob McKenzie of TSN.  More on Sidney from McKenzie…

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 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

It Just May Not Be Crosby’s Time

from Damien Cox of the Toronto Star,

He’s been hyped for so long, and has proven to be such a prodigious talent, that surely it’s only reasonable that with his team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, in such need of a saviour in this year’s Stanley Cup final, that he must be that saviour.

Well, consider the possibility that this is not Crosby’s time. Not yet.

Just because there’s a demand for a spectacular rescue performance with the Penguins down two games to none to the Detroit Red Wings, and just because so many have equated these Penguins with the 1984 Edmonton Oilers that finally knocked down the door and beat the New York Islanders to win their first Cup, doesn’t mean the script will unfold that way.

Crosby, you see, may not be ready for that. Not quite.

read on

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 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

Crosby Not Playing Like Crosby

via NBC Sports:

A frustrated Sidney Crosby took a whack at Kirk Maltby’s skate as Game 1 ended, tired of what he called the nonstop chirping by the Red Wings forward. So far, it might be Crosby’s best shot of the Stanley Cup finals.

Blanketed by Henrik Zetterberg whenever he steps on the ice, Crosby has gone from being the best player in the playoffs to being a concern to the Pittsburgh Penguins because of his lack of offense.

He’s not playing badly, but he’s not playing like Sidney Crosby.

continued...

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 Tags: sidney+crosby,

Follow Z & Crosby

from Dave Lozo and Bob Condor of NHL.com,

Babcock said fans can anticipate “a game within a game” from Zetterberg and Crosby.

“If you’re a hockey purist and you like superstars who bring it, that’s a nice matchup,” said Babcock.

In fact, you can follow that matchup as part of your game viewing (hey, it’s a two-screen world) by watching NBC’s Iso-Cam right here on NHL.com. The camera will follow Zetterberg every shift on the ice, many of which will pair the player Babcock calls “Z” and Crosby on faceoffs and no doubt a hit or three.

more

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Henrik+Zetterberg, Sidney+Crosby,

How Big Is Sid?

from Shawn P. Roarke of NHL.com,

Just how big is Crosby in NHL circles?

Detroit coach Mike Babcock joked at Friday’s media day at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center that he has seen so much of Crosby in NHL commercials that he wondered if his team really won the Stanley Cup last June.

“Sidney Crosby, I mean, you can’t turn on any TV that covers hockey without seeing him,” Babcock said, breaking into one of his more sly smiles. “Actually, when I watch the commercials from last year, I think they won, not us. So I have to check every once in a while to get that figured out.”

more on Crosby…

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 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

Dealing With Crosby & Malkin

from Jacques Demers at USA TODAY,

Former Pittsburgh Penguins coach Michel Therrien and I talk a lot. We have one important thing in common. I named a young Steve Yzerman captain of the Detroit Red Wings in the 1980s. He named a young Sidney Crosby captain of the Penguins.

There are a lot of comparisons between the players. Just look at the unselfish play that Crosby made at the end of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals when he passed up an opportunity to score into an open net and gave the puck to Craig Adams instead. He’s showing a lot of leadership, as Yzerman did. Both players also have exceptional offensive talent.

Nobody could stop Yzerman and no one can seem to stop Crosby when he’s at his best, which he is at right now. But Yzerman at the time didn’t have an Evgeni Malkin to complement him.

continued

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 Tags: Evgeni+Malkin, Sidney+Crosby,

The Dynamic Duo In Pittsburgh

Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby have been tough to stop during the playoffs.

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 Tags: Evgeni+Malkin, Sidney+Crosby,

Crosby Taking On A ‘Greasy’ Look

from Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,

But perhaps the most noteworthy thing he (Crosby) has accomplished in this postseason is to sprout facial hair that is starting to look a little like—well, almost a little like—an actual playoff beard....

“It doesn’t look pretty, but there’s a little more hair,” Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said. “He’s pretty greasy. Just patches.”

Fleury is something of an authority on that, since he long ago abandoned efforts to grow a beard—“I have like four hairs that grow,” he said. “Then they’re just long hairs, and look kind of dumb.”—and settled for a modest goatee.

Talbot’s description: “It’s like a Zorro-type of moustache.”

An informal survey in the locker room identified Crosby as owner of the worst playoff beard, but there were some dishonorable mentions. Fleury, of course. And winger Ruslan Fedotenko, who attributes his inability to grow a beard to being caught in fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster when he was a boy.

more

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 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

Crosby At The Top Of His Game

from Sam Kasan of PittsburghPenguins.com,

How many 21-year-olds in the world can claim to be the best in their profession? Actually, how many 21-year-olds are already working in a profession, let alone being the best at what they do?

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is staking his claim as the world’s best hockey player at the young age of 21. His play and poise at such a young age has impressed his peers, including 16-year NHL veteran and linemate Bill Guerin.

“I didn’t realize just how much he does it on a nightly basis. For a young guy to have that sort of consistency, to have that sort of focus is really impressive,” Guerin said. “I know as a young player myself, the consistency part of the game was probably the hardest to get by. He already has that.”

continued

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 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

The Battle Between Crosby & Ovechkin

from Mike Wise of the Washington Post,

Penguins-Capitals was never merely about a tremendous Stanley Cup series showcasing the NHL’s brightest stars going the distance, one full of riveting theater until an abject dud of a Game 7.

No, to the hard-core traditionalists who view most uber-skilled players from overseas as little more than Euro trash, this was about validating their xenophobia.

Sidney Crosby, the quiet farm boy from Nova Scotia, won; his Pittsburgh team is going back to the Eastern Conference finals. Ovechkin, the YouTube demigod who once pretended his stick was on fire after a goal, got his just dessert.

more

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 Tags: Alexander+Ovechkin, Sidney+Crosby,

Dual Hat Tricks

via Greatest Hockey Legends,

This surprises me: Ovechkin and Crosby’s matching hat tricks is only the fourth such occurrence in Stanley Cup playoff history. The other three times were:

April 25th, 1996 - Trevor Linden, Vancouver and Joe Sakic, Colorado
April 26th, 1993 - Ray Ferraro, NY Islanders and Al Iafrate, Washington
April 14th, 1983 - Paul Reinhart, Calgary and Mark Messier, Edmonton

added 9:42am, from Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post,

“When Crosby gets one, then Ovie comes back with a couple, and then Crosby gets another, and Ovie gets another,” Capitals forward Brooks Laich said. “It’s unbelievable to see two of the best going at it like that. . . . In the biggest moments, usually your biggest guys step to the front. That’s what Alex did tonight.”

In the Pittsburgh locker room, the Penguins said the same about Crosby. Thus, in the series’ first two games—both won by Washington—unmatchable hype is being matched, because the two best players have four goals apiece and are delivering the kind of performances that forge true rivalries.

more

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 Tags: Alexander+Ovechkin, Sidney+Crosby,

Both On Top

from Elliotte Friedman of Blogs and Columns at CBC,

On Monday night in Washington, Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin pushed one another to the highest of levels, raising their games to places only the best can reach. Maybe it wasn’t a Game 7. Maybe it wasn’t the Stanley Cup final. But it was something special, something spectacular, something we can only hope to see again.

When it was over, the home crowd booed as Crosby, who did not appear, was named the second star. I was disappointed in that, and hope those people reconsider. Crosby deserved respect for his brilliance in defeat, as much respect as Ovechkin deserved for his greatness in victory.

The Crosby vs. Ovechkin debate should be retired after this one. If you love sports, you can like both. You can recognize that these are the best young players since Gretzky and Lemieux.

read on

added 7:16am, from John Buccigross of ESPN,

In the opening scene of “Batman and Robin,” Chris O’Donnell (Robin) and George Clooney (Batman) fight Arnold Schwarzenegger and his legion of ice-skating villains. At one point, Robin turns to Batman and says, “This is a hockey team from hell.”

Playing against Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals in D.C. can sometimes feel like that. Ovechkin, feeding off the energy of the home crowd like a solar panel, becomes a hockey player from hell. On ice. You can tie your CCMs with those laces of irony.

Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are Pittsburgh’s Batman and Robin fighting Ovechkin and his waves of teammates. Pittsburgh has complementary pieces, but make no mistake, the Penguins will only go as far as Batman and Robin will take them.

continued

Filed in: NHL Teams, Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Alexander+Ovechkin, Sidney+Crosby,

Enough Of The Hats

from Dan Steinberg of D.C. Sports Bog,

If you’re one of the best hockey players in the world, and you have a potentially undeserved reputation for excessive complaining, and you’re asked what you were discussing with a game official following your rival’s game-clinching playoff hat trick, you could potentially say, “Oh, it was nothing.” Or, if you were feeling frisky, you could venture further afield.

“People kept throwing hats,” Sidney Crosby said tonight. “I was just asking if he could make an announcement to ask them to stop. I mean, the first wave came and then I think they were all pretty much picked up, and then more started coming. So for us, we just wanted to make sure we kept kind of moving and kept the game going, wanted to try to get back in it. So wasn’t complaining about anything.”

continued

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 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

Crosby vs. Ovechkin

Sidney Crosby talks about playing against Alexander Ovechkin and the Capitals.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Alexander+Ovechkin, Sidney+Crosby,

Crosby’s Goal Last Night - Good Or Not?

from Scott Burnside of ESPN,

The Flyers, facing a 3-1 series deficit, didn’t like it (imagine that) and believed Crosby had impeded Biron’s ability to make a save in his net.

“The guy makes a pass across the crease, I think I got a stick on it and it might have hit me and hit [Crosby] and his momentum carried him and threw me into the net,” Biron said. “It’s a dangerous play if you’re kicking a puck around the crease where the goalie is and it’s a dangerous play when you’re sliding in, both feet first toward a goalie who is trying to get to the puck. I didn’t really like that. It’s not the first time where he’s done that and drives the net.”

more and you decide, goal or not…

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 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

The Battling Crosby

Sidney Crosby and Keith Ballard go at it today after Ballard delivered a hip check to Evgeni Malkin.  Both received five for fighting and Crosby also had two added for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Florida Panthers, Pittsburgh Penguins | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Keith+Ballard, Sidney+Crosby,

Penguins Are Now a Team to Fear

From Bill Clement at NBC Sports:

These are not the Penguins of the start of the season. They are not the Penguins of the turn of the year. They’re not even the Penguins of last month.

These are the Penguins to now fear. A new coach, a couple of key trades, and a return from injury by a key player have worked wonders for the team, and its captain, Sidney Crosby.

Pittsburgh is kicking tail and taking names. Starting with their last two games in February, and running through their March 17 meeting with Atlanta, the Penguins had won seven of nine, and their two losses in that stretch were shootout losses.

continued...

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 Tags: sidney+crosby,

All Eyes On Crosby

from Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review,

So far, Penguins captain Sidney Crosby’s season hasn’t gone as planned — verbal jabs from opponents, public denouncements from the media and criticism from fans.

Plus, his club, two victories shy of the Stanley Cup last year, is currently fighting for a playoff spot.

Perhaps those are the reasons Crosby, the player often called “the Face of the NHL,” has smiled a lot less this season.

“It’s probably always something you deal with when a team is not doing as well,” Crosby said of the vitriol aimed at him in recent months. “They look at leadership.”

continued

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 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

Early Success

from Alan Ryder of the Globe and Mail,

What has quickly become the NHL’s spiciest rivalry continues Sunday afternoon in Washington, assuming that Sidney Crosby’s sore groin is ready to go.

Alexander Ovechkin won Round One, capturing the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie in 2006. Crosby won the Art Ross and Hart Trophies in 2007 to claim Round Two. But Ovechkin trumped that last season with an unprecedented sweep of the Ross, Hart and Richard trophies.

These two are such great talents and still so young. So the question just dangles – how good could they be over time?

The answer to this question is in career projections. This exercise is much like trying to forecast the weather over the long term – accuracy is very challenging. But the exercise is awfully interesting.

continued with charts comparing the two to some of the greats of the game…

Filed in: NHL Teams, Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Alexander+Ovechkin, Sidney+Crosby,

War Of Words

from Dan Steinberg of D.C. Sports Bog,

After the game, Crosby was asked about the words thrown in his direction from the Caps; “that’s always the case,” he said. “You know, it doesn’t change from team to team.”

Crosby was also asked about his second-period shoving match with Ovechkin; “I don’t know, I was skating to the bench and he pushed me from behind so I just gave him a shot back,” Crosby said. “That’s hockey, and he likes to run around these days, so that was it.”

“It was not a cheap shot,” Ovechkin said. “It was a game moment. If he don’t like it, it’s his problem.”

more and check out Empty Netters for video, more words, etc…

Filed in: NHL Teams, Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Alexander+Ovechkin, Sidney+Crosby,

Transcript of Q&A with Sidney Crosby in Montreal

Transcript courtesy of the NHL.

Q. Just, I guess, a comment from you on your decision to come here this weekend. There’s been some talk that perhaps if you didn’t come, you wouldn’t be eligible to play in the Penguins’ next game.

SIDNEY CROSBY: Yeah, my plan was to come here from the moment that I decided that I wasn’t going to be able to play due to injury. I’d had a talk with Gary Bettman as to the capacity of me being here, what it was going to be.

I obviously wanted to be here, but still want the focus to be on the guys that are here, too, and not the fact that I’m coming.

I’m happy to be a part of it. I’m probably not here playing like I would like to be, but it’s the second-best thing and I’m happy to be here anyway.

Q. Pavel Datsyuk and Nick Lidstrom will be kept out of their next game on Tuesday evening. How do you feel about that? And did you and Gary discuss that if you didn’t come and take part in some of the events, that that would be the issue for you? And I think you play Wednesday next week.

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Filed in: NHL Teams, Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL Talk | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: all+star+game, asg, interview, sidney+crosby, transcript,

Crosby Out Of ASG

from TSN,

For the second straight year the NHL All-Star game will be without one of the game’s biggest stars as Sidney Crosby has pulled out of this weekend’s mid-winter classic in Montreal.

continued

added 4:37pm,

MONTREAL (Jan. 22, 2009)—Martin St. Louis takes the place of Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby, who received a record number of votes in All-Star fan balloting but will not participate due to injury.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Pittsburgh Penguins | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: All-Star+Game, Sidney+Crosby,

Evening Line

Is it just me or is NHL darling and Reebok pitchman Sidney Crosby just a really good player and not a superhuman, best of breed, sport transfer?

Maybe he’s getting more pressure than praise.

Whatever is at work, I just expected more domination and must-see moments from the “Next One”. His young, flashy Russian rivals seem to have cornered the market on that.

Sid the Kid - more hat than cattle so far.

-Daryl Reaugh of Razor With An Edge

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 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

Washington - Pittsburgh Chatter Continues

From Slava Malamud, contributing at Tarik El-Bashir’s blog in the Washington Post:

And here is what we could learn about the assorted feuds of the Alexes, the Kid and Malkin. You can believe me when I say that Russian journalists would much rather write about goals and wins, but since this story is apparently a gift that keeps on giving, we deemed appropriate to get further into it.

For one, Alex Ovechkin apparently speaks to Sidney Crosby. Loud and clear at that, to the point where all the teammates of both players and a couple of officials would like to gather around and partake in the exchange. And here is another thing: Alexander Semin also speaks to Crosby. At least, according to Evgeni Malkin, and that is a bit of a surprise, to say the least. And here is the third thing: Ovechkin and Malkin - nope, still not talking to each other, presumably, because both are so busy talking to Crosby.

Sheesh. This story is turning into some sort of odd Russian love triangle/feud, with a stray Canadian tossed into the mix.  Read on for quotes after last night’s Pens-Caps game.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: alex+ovechkin, alex+semin, evgeni+malkin, sidney+crosby,

Evening Line

‘’We’ll stick up (for Malkin), like you would for any teammate.  They’re intense, physical games and as long as that’s the way they stay, that’s safe. But if there’s deliberate intent to hurt someone, you kind of step outside the line a bit, you have to make sure you stick up for your teammate.’’

-Sidney Crosby speaking about the game tomorrow against the Washington Capitals.  More from the CP via TSN.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Alex+Ovechkin, Evgeni+Malkin, Sidney+Crosby,

Ovechkin vs, Crosby Battle Continues

from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,

Statistically, the gap between the two rivals is modest. At the moment, the Washington Capitals’ Alexander Ovechkin is second in the NHL scoring race and leads the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby by just two points....

In the 3 1/2 years they’ve been in the league, Crosby and Ovechkin have developed a Magic Johnson-Larry Bird sort of rivalry. Ovechkin won the Calder Memorial Trophy in their rookie seasons, ahead of Crosby, who is 20 months younger but joined the league the same year as a result of the lockout. Crosby won the MVP in Year 2; and Ovechkin took it last year, a season in which Crosby was out of the race early as a result of the 29 games he missed because of a high ankle sprain.

This year, Ovechkin’s advantage stems largely from team success. The Capitals are off to an excellent start, despite massive injuries, while the Penguins waddle along, their herd thinned by free-agent defections and an inability to handle their casualties as well as the Caps.

But half a season does not a year make and a healthy and motivated Crosby may still have something to say about the scoring and MVP races before all is said and done.

more

Filed in: NHL Teams, Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Alexander+Ovechkin, Sidney+Crosby,

Free Falling Penguins

From Craig Simpson at CBC’s hockey blog:

There is some serious concern and all kinds of tough questions coming out of Pittsburgh.

This Penguin team is a shell of the one we watched in June, and despite the legitimate excuse of some key injuries to Ryan Whitney and Sergei Gonchar and the departure of Marian Hossa, Ryan Malone and Gary Roberts, they have underachieved in a big way.

Pittsburgh still boasts two of the three top scorers in the NHL, but even Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby have not been themselves. Malkin, the NHL leading scorer has zero goals in his last right games and has only two points in six. Crosby has done more damage with his fists than his stick lately with just two goals in his last 17 games played, and has been held pointless in eight of those 17.

If the players have tuned out their head coach Michel Therrien and are trying to get him fired, they are doing a good job.

read on

Filed in: NHL Teams, Pittsburgh Penguins | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: evgeni+malkin, michel+therrien, sidney+crosby,

Panthers Talk Crosby

from George Richards of On Frozen Pond,

Here’s what happened: Moments after Campbell and Maxime Talbot fought a good fight, Crosby and McLean lined up in the faceoff circle. The puck was dropped,

Crosby grabbed McLean and took him down, shaking and pulling him around the ice – without throwing a punch.

McLean cut the bridge of his nose when he hit the ice, and Crosby was sent away with four penalties – including instigating and unsportsmanlike conduct. Crosby’s fighting style has been criticized lately, especially after he repeatedly took below-the-belt shots at Atlanta’s Boris Valabik last month.

After the game, coach Pete DeBoer and McLean didn’t have much to say on the subject, but Nick Tarnasky and Nick Boynton sure did. Tarnasky’s comments to me should be construed as off the record since we were just chatting during the second break, but Boynton went off as he finished getting dressed.

We’re you hoping he’d get back on the ice? ‘’Oh yeah,’’ Boynton said.

.

more and watch the video below..

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Filed in: NHL Teams, Florida Panthers, Pittsburgh Penguins | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

Crosby’s OT Goal Last Night

You make the call and Tony of The Confluence has brought the subject up too.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

Determining Greatness

from Ken Campbell of the Hockey News,

Since Rocket Richard did it for the first time ever in 1944-45, there have been 184 total 50-goal seasons posted by 87 different players. It has been done by the truly great (Gretzky, Wayne; Lemieux, Mario), by the merely very good (Nieuwendyk, Joe; Roberts, Gary) and by the downright obscure (Richard, Jacques; Chouinard, Guy).

Not once has it been done by Crosby, Sidney. In fact, Crosby hasn’t even come within 10 goals of scoring 50 in a season and given his goal production through the first third of this season, nobody should count on it happening in 2008-09....

he concern I have for Crosby is that he may never emerge as a truly elite goal-scorer in the NHL. In fact, instead of taking his goal-scoring up a notch as his career progresses, Crosby appears to be faltering more in that department as each season goes by. Through the early part of this season, the dip in scoring for Crosby has been as precipitous as it has been mysterious. His goal-drought to date has reached a career-high nine games.

more

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 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

Special Treatment?

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

How, by the way, would the Protector of Children (a previous refereence to Gary Bettman) explain Sidney Crosby’s behavior on Thursday night in Atlanta when the Chosen One first sucker-punched Boris Valabik across the side of the head before continuing to rein blows on his nether regions while the Thrashers’ defenseman was wrestling with Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang and unable to defend himself or fight back?

Crosby should be facing a disciplinary hearing with NHL vice president Colin Campbell. He should have gotten a game-misconduct penalty as third-man-in. Instead, the wimpy Chris Rooney-Don VanMassenhoven referee tandem got into the spirit of the Christmas season by assessing Crosby a mere two minutes for roughing. Ho! Ho! Ho!

more NHL topics from Brooks and if youi missed the Crosby incident, watch the video below…

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Filed in: NHL Teams, Pittsburgh Penguins | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Sidney+Crosby,

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