Crosby Continues to Impress

PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, September 16, 2005

The man leaned forward in his seat in the C section of Mellon Arena on Thursday morning with a Penguins training camp roster rolled in his hands, his gaze fixed intently on the ice below.

His 18-year-old son was down there.

It was his first scrimmage of his first NHL training camp, and he was centering a line with veterans John LeClair on the left and Mark Recchi on the right.

Even Sidney Crosby's father would be a little bit nervous about that.

"It's pretty exciting, especially (Thursday), the first real game kind of situation," said Troy Crosby, who traveled from the family's home in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia and has been at camp the last two days. "It's been a little bit nervous, too, for me, but it's exciting. It's fun."

He had nothing to worry about.
Sidney Crosby set up two goals by Recchi -- one with a backhand pass from the corner and another in the slot for a tap-in -- and a third -- a saucer pass over a defenseman's stick -- by first-year pro Jonathan Filewich, the Penguins' third-round draft choice (70th overall) in 2003, in a 4-1 win over Team Badger.

After the first period, Troy Crosby's assessment of his son's play was that it was "all right," despite setting up Recchi for the first goal of the game.

"It'll still take some time to get used to the speed," said Troy Crosby, 39. "I think there's about one second quicker you have to do things. But he'll learn."

It seemed that Crosby learned in the dressing room in between periods.

With every shift in the second and final period another phrase from Central Scouting's report on Crosby popped to mind: "exceptional skater with a smooth stride, tremendous balance and agility ... his vision is unparalleled," and so on.

Crosby, LeClair and Recchi connected in both periods to give a glimpse of another possible line combination for the Penguins this year.

"They're making me a better player because I have to raise my game every time I play with guys like that," Crosby said of yesterday's linemates. "It's only going to make me better. Hopefully, we can keep making things work."

Afterward, Recchi said that it was he and LeClair who needed to adjust to Crosby instead of vice versa.

"For Johnny and I, it had been 16 months since we played a game, so I think it took us a little while to get a feel for the game and the pace," he said. "Once we caught up, it was good. We were able to get in spots for Sidney, and he was able to get in spots for us. And we were able to create a lot of problems for the defense."

Crosby was pleased enough with his performance, but not totally.

He, LeClair and Recchi capitalized on two of their chances, but not all.

"Points don't always tell the story," Crosby said.

He also wasn't pleased that he won only 50 percent of his one-on-one battles for puck control. He knows he won't win them all, but he'd like to win more than he loses.

It's a determination his father knows well.

"I'm really proud of him," Troy Crosby said of his son. "Things are going really well right now, and I'm just kind of enjoying it and just going along for the ride. It's been a good ride so far."

Karen Price can be reached at kprice@tribweb.com.

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