Penton: Crosby’s absence left a huge void in Milan
By Bruce Penton
For Canadian hockey fans, sad was the 2-1 overtime loss to the U.S. in the gold medal game at the Milan/Cortina Olympic Games. Sad, too, was that future Hall of Famer and Canadian captain Sidney Crosby had to watch the game from the press box, nursing a lower-body injury.
Crosby, of course, will one day go into the Hockey Hall of Fame with the phrase ‘Golden Goal’ front and centre, thanks to his overtime heroics in the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, where he put Canada on top of the hockey world. How much his absence affected the final outcome of this year’s gold medal game will never be known, but if you consider that Canada’s team significantly outplayed the Americans for about 45 of the 60 minutes, and did it without Crosby, it’s not too absurd to suggest Canada might have won by a comfortable margin had Crosby played a regular shift.
At 38 years of ago, Crosby is still a world-class player performing at a high level. At the Olympic break, he stood 20th in points in the youth-dominated NHL scoring race. His 59 points in 56 games had sparked a resurgence in Pittsburgh, where the Penguins were in a solid playoff position after last year losing 14 more games than they won and not coming close to a playoff spot.
When Crosby went down with an injury in Milan, not only were Canada’s gold-medal chances dampened, but the dark mood quickly crossed the ocean to Pennsylvania, where Penguin fans feared the worst.
The good news is that Crosby’s injury is not believed to be season-ending. Doctors suggested the injury was to the MCL in his knee and that he could return around April 1, two weeks before the playoffs begin.
The continuing excellent play of Crosby and the bounceback by the Penguins has been one of the NHL’s best stories this year. Crosby, the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2005 (Alex Ovechkin was No 2) immediately assumed superstar status, living up to his pre-draft hype. He has won two Hart trophies (MVP), led the Penguins to three Stanley Cups and will likely wind up third or fourth in overall career points when he retires.
To see him limping around Milan and being unable to lead Canada on the ice was a sad day for Canadian hockey fans. He tried his best to be in Canada’s lineup, participating in a team skate the day before the gold medal game but eventually deciding to sit out.
“It was a tough decision,” Crosby said. “Obviously, in your head, you always want to be out there and find every way possible but not at the expense of what needs to be done,” he told reporters.
He didn’t wear No. 87 for Canada in that final game and the ‘C’ was worn by team-mate Connor McDavid, but to Canadian hockey fans of this era, Sidney Crosby will always be Captain Canada.
Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun: “Coach of a winning hockey team: ‘Our players are buying in.’ Coach of a losing hockey team: ‘Our players aren’t buying in.’ The secret to life: Finding those who will buy in.”
Comedy writer Torben Rolfsen of Vancouver: “Norway won the Olympics. Just one letter away from ‘No way.’”
Rolfsen again: “Connor Hellebuyck won the President’s Trophy last year. He was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In Winnipeg, he has a President’s Choice Optimum card. One more thing and he’ll be a one-man Mount Rushmore.”
Super 70s Sports: “Just got passed by a car with a drink holder on the fender. Didn’t see the driver, so I’m just going to assume it was John Daly.”
Brad Dickson of Omaha: “My plans for the weekend appear to have fallen through. I was supposed to go bowling with the Supreme Leader of Iran but he's not responding to my texts.”
Jack Finarelli on his sportscurmudgeon.com site: “The World Baseball Classic final game will be in Miami on St. Patrick’s Day. Before you bother to go and look, Ireland is not one of the teams in the field so that sort of serendipity cannot happen.”
A quote from the late basketball coach Lou Holtz, snipped from sportscurmudgeon.com: “Don’t tell your problems to people: 80 per cent don’t care; and the other 20 per cent are glad you have them.”
Headline at fark.com: “Maxx Crosby tradedd to the Ravenss for two firstt-roundd pixx.”
Another fark.com headline: “(Golden State coach) Steve Kerr explains his wholesome reason for quitting social media. ‘I'm really able to avoid reading what a terrible human being and coach I am. That’s healthy for me.’”
Cathal Kelly of the Globe and Mail, on the Leafs overvaluing their players on the trading block: “Dealing with the Leafs must be like going to a yard sale and finding out it’s being run by Christie’s.”
Care to comment? Email brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca