The Sidney Crosby show shifted south down Highway 1 Thursday morning, after a virtuoso performance the night before in the Alberta provincial capital, with Sidney Crosby registering three assists in a come-from-behind victory for his Pittsburgh Penguins over the Edmonton Oilers. It was another lively meet-the-press session, although Crosby looked a little tired as he was prodded with more questions in another hockey-mad city that had waited two-plus seasons to see him in the flesh for the first time.
The fun started an hour earlier when Flames’ coach Mike Keenan bristled at a suggestion made by a radio reporter that his team was “flying under the radar” a little with Sid The Kid in town. Keenan described Crosby as “last year’s most valuable player” and sniffed, “we have star players too.” Keenan then went on to extol the virtues of one of them, defenceman Dion Phaneuf, a former teammate of Crosby’s on the world junior team, who had a running battle with him in tryouts for the team some years ago.
Keenan praised Phaneuf’s compete level, said he saw elements of both Scott Stevens and Larry Robinson in his young defensive star and then anointed him as a future Hall Of Famer. After taking a breath, Keenan turned and said: “I don’t think I helped my general manager out much, did I?” That, of course, was a reference to the Flames' boss, Darryl Sutter, who is trying to get Phaneuf under contract between now and July 1. Even though Phaneuf would be a restricted free agent at that juncture, the fear is that some NHL team might swoop in with a $50 million Tomas Vanek-like offer sheet and either force the Flames to match, or risk losing him for a package of draft choices.
A number of reporters wanted to push the Crosby-Phaneuf showdown, but the larger question is: How much will they actually face each other? At this point, the Flames’ shutdown pair is generally Robyn Regehr and Cory Sarich, although with the minutes they play (Phaneuf averages 27:23, Crosby 21-even), they’re bound to run into each other at some stage in the game.
This is actually Crosby’s third appearance in Calgary, but first at the Pengrowth Saddledome. He was here twice for the Mac’s Midget tournament, once as a 14-year-old playing for a Nova Scotia entry, the second time as a member of Minnesota prep school, Shattuck-St. Mary’s, a team that included the Los Angeles Kings’ Jack Johnson and the Buffalo Sabres’ Drew Stafford. Shattuck lost in the semi-finals to an all-star team from Sweden; only the tournament final is played in the Saddledome.
“When I was playing in the Mac’s, I wanted to play here in the Saddledome,” said Crosby. “I remember being glued to the TV when I wasn’t playing my games, to watch the world juniors. There was a lot of buzz around our team because Shattuck had done so well in previous tournaments, so the rinks were always full.”
Crosby and the Penguins were playing for the second time in 48 hours and under those circumstances, it would be unusual for a team to come to the rink for a day-of-game skate. However, coach Michel Therrien wasn’t happy with how his team has responded in the second half of back-to-back outings this season and wanted to change things up. Accordingly, they scheduled a meeting at the rink and then made the skate optional. Crosby decided he wanted to go out – and 90 per cent of the Penguins followed suit, something Therrien found telling.
Of the scrutiny Crosby is under, Therrien said: “In Canada, it’s different, but you know what? He’s prepared for that. It’s demanding, there’s no doubt, really demanding. And yesterday, in the first half of the game, he had a hard time getting his legs going. Certainly, when his legs were going in the third period, he was a dominant player. He’s doing such a great job. He’s a great ambassador. He takes a lot of pride in trying to be the best.”
