Sidney Crosby completes rare triple in winning all the major NHL awards

Neil Stevens
Canadian Press
National Post

Friday, June 15, 2007



Pittsburgh Penguins Sidney Crosby poses with the Hart for the NHL's most valuable player, (left to right) Lester B. Pearson for the most outstanding player as selected by the NHLPA and Art Ross, for the top point scorer in the NHL, trophies after winning them at the 2007 NHL awards. (CP PHOTO/Frank Gunn)

TORONTO (CP) - The NHL awards ceremonies turned into The Sidney Crosby Show as the 19-year-old superstar scored an impressive off-ice hat trick Thursday night.

The youngest player in league history to win the Art Ross Trophy as scoring champion won the Hart Trophy from writers as most valuable player and the Pearson Award from his peers as most outstanding player. Crosby was recently named captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins and after winning the most coveted individual awards in hockey he was asked if he'd just had the best two weeks of his life.

"I haven't won the Stanley Cup yet so ask me after that," he replied during the post-awards news conference. "But this has been a couple of memorable weeks."

The Cole Harbour, N.S., teen became the seventh player in league history to pull off the Ross-Hart-Pearson hat trick.

Crosby amassed 120 points last season and he did it while playing the last six weeks with a broken bone in a foot. He'd gone away with empty hands after losing the top rookie award to Alex Ovechkin one year ago. This time he went away with his hands full.

"That wasn't what drove me to play this year," he said. "I just wanted to be better than I was before."

He thanked his parents.

"The sacrifices of my parents, the early mornings, the practices . . . I owe a lot of thanks to them," he said.

There were four repeat winners.

Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings won the Norris Trophy for the second year in a row and fifth time overall, teammate Pavel Datsyuk won the Lady Byng Trophy as most gentlemanly player the second year in a row.

Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils won the Vezina Trophy as top goaltender for the third time, and Carolina Hurricanes captain Rod Brind'Amour won his second straight Selke Trophy as top defensive forward.

The Vancouver Canucks' Alain Vigneault received the Adams Award as top coach, and Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin got the Calder Trophy as top rookie.

Vinny Lecavalier, a finalist for the Pearson, got the Maurice Richard Trophy for scoring a league-high 52 goals.

Phil Kessel of the Boston Bruins, who completed his rookie season after being diagnosed in December with testicular cancer, received the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.

Montreal Canadiens captain Saku Koivu won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy for humanitarianism for his work with charities. Koivu battled and beat non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

The Hart was last in the order of presentation and Hockey Hall of Famer Gordie Howe, a six-time winner, handed it to Crosby.

"To get that from him was obviously a huge honour," said Crosby. "Everyone knows the history and what he's done for the game."

Crosby is the second-youngest winner of the Hart since it was introduced in 1924. Wayne Gretzky was five months younger when he got it in 1980.

The Pearson Award had kicked things off and Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the presentation.

Brodeur lauded Crosby's achievements.

"The fans love him," said Brodeur. "Everybody seems to be on his wagon, and that's well deserved.

"He's going to be like Gretzky in making the NHL a better sport."

Crosby got 91 first-place votes and 1,225 points in Hart voting by members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association. Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo was second with 25 first-place votes and 801 points, and Brodeur was third with 21 first-place votes and 763 votes.

On finishing his season hurt, Crosby said he would have done anything to get the trophy he wanted most.

"I've always had a passion to play so, if I can play, I'm going to try and play," he said. "It was just a matter of wanting to play.

"You dream of playing in the Stanley Cup playoffs and, hopefully, winning the Stanley Cup and you never want to let your team down. I gave it my all and laid it all out there."



Scoring champion Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who led the NHL with 120 points, is presented with the Art Ross Trophy by Montreal Canadiens legend Henri Richard, left, Saturday, June 2, 2007 in Ottawa. (AP Photo/Paul Chiasson, CP)

The Penguins' 47-point improvement last season was the fourth-best in league history.

Through it all, Crosby appears to have kept his ego in rein.

"I've got another year of experience but I don't think I've changed that much," he said. "That season and the five games in the playoffs has helped a lot.

"As a team, we learned a lot about ourselves and we learned what we need to improve on. That's the biggest thing - just gaining experience."

Voting details for the Pearson Award were not released by the NHLPA.

Lidstrom's plus-40 tied him for best plus-minus rating among all blue-liners. A PHWA poll gave him 87 first-place votes and 1,217 points. Runner-up was Anaheim's Scott Niedermayer, who led all defencemen in scoring with career highs in assists (54) and points (69). He got 46 first-place votes and 1,024 points.

Lidstrom is the fourth D-man in league history with as many as five Norris wins. Bobby Orr (eight), Doug Harvey (seven) and Ray Bourque (five) are the others.

"It feels almost unbelievable," Lidstrom said of tying Bourque, a former opponent he admired. "To be tied with him is a great feeling."

Brodeur posted an NHL-record 48 wins and had 12 shutouts last season. Luongo won 47 games and his stats on goals-against average and save percentage left him only slightly behind Brodeur.

The 30 GMs voted on the Vezina, and it was close. Brodeur got 16 first-place votes and 122 points, while Luongo got 14 first-place votes and 116 points.

"I'm hanging in there with the young guy so it's good," said a smiling Brodeur. "I love playing this game and I try to play as hard as I can every game and every year."

It was interesting to note that Luongo was ahead of Brodeur for the Hart but behind him on the Vezina count. Different voters, different views.

Brind'Amour had mixed emotions about getting the Selke again.

"I like to be thought of as a good two-way player but I'll take it," he said. "To not have had a good year as a team, it's nice to have something to hang your hat on."

The PHWA tally was close: Brind'Amour got 16 first-and 21 second-place votes and amassed 420 points, while Anaheim's Sammy Pahlsson got 24 first-and eight second-place votes and had a total of 405 points.

Members of the NHL Broadcasters' Association voted for coach of the year and Vigneault got 18 first-place votes and 134 points. Buffalo's Lindy Ruff, who won the Adams Award last year, was second with 126 points, Pittsburgh's Michel Therrien was third with 91 and Nashville's Barry Trotz was fourth with 89. Ruff, Therrien and Trotz each got 11 first-place votes.

Vancouver had the best record in the league after Christmas and finished with a franchise-record 49 wins.

"There wasn't one turning point," said Vigneault. "It was a combination of Roberto playing really well and our guys finally scoring some goals."

Malkin, who led all rookies in goals (33), power-play goals (16), assists (52) and points (85), got a clear-cut Calder decision in another PHWA-decided trophy. The Russian speedster got 120 of 143 first-place votes for 1,357 points. Second was Colorado's Paul Stastny with 16 first-place votes and 965 points.

Datsyuk led Detroit in scoring with 87 points while serving only 20 penalty minutes.


© The Canadian Press 2007

It's all about Sid and Marty

By LANCE HORNBY, SUN MEDIA
TORONTO SUN



Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby poses with the Hart Trophy as the NHL's MVP, the Lester B. Pearson Award and Art Ross Trophy during last night's annual awards ceremony. (Frank Gunn, CP)

The March of the Penguins and Martin Brodeur dominated the National Hockey League awards last night, trampling Roberto Luongo's trophy hopes in the process.

Pittsburgh's newly minted captain Sidney Crosby was a double MVP winner, Evgeni Malkin was rookie of the year and Jordan Staal made the all-rookie team as the Pens celebrated a return to the playoffs and the team staying in Steeltown.

"It has been an incredible couple of weeks," said the 19-year-old Crosby, the youngest scoring champion in pro sports history. "It looks like a very bright future for our team, but we're all hungry to take the next step. I haven't won a Stanley Cup."

Crosby won the Hart as the writers' MVP and the Pearson as the players' pick, while cameras caught his father Troy getting teary in the seats at the Elgin Theatre with his mother Trina.

"The sacrifices they made each morning, the road trips ... they went out of their way to make me happy," Crosby said. "They had no idea it would turn out like this."

The comparisons to Wayne Gretzky will heat up, though Crosby trails 9-1 in Harts.

"Like Gretzky, he'll make the NHL a better sport," said the New Jersey Devils' Brodeur, after copping his third Vezina Trophy. "He's the obvious choice, he's exciting, the fans love him and everyone's on his bandwagon."

Luongo, who turned around the Vancouver Canucks, presumably was the runner-up for the Pearson and was barely edged out by Brodeur for the Vezina, even though he had more Hart votes in coming second to Crosby. But Brodeur hinted that as he finally ended Dominik Hasek's hold on the awards table, Luongo would have his day now that he has escaped the weaker Florida Panthers.

"He's right there and he's trying to dethrone me with another team," Brodeur said.

What was expected to be a tight rookie race was a runaway win for Malkin, who had 120 first place votes to a combined 22 by Staal and Colorado's Paul Stastny. Crosby had lost the Calder to Washington's Alex Ovechkin last year, with both winding up as first-team all-stars with Ottawa's Dany Heatley this time.

NHL general mangers made Brodeur the Vezina winner, getting him two more first-place votes than Luongo. Despite Luongo's role in getting the Canucks back in the playoffs, the GMs judged Brodeur's NHL record 48 wins on a defensively weakened New Jersey team as a bigger feat.

Testicular cancer survivor Phil Kessel of the Bruins, who won the Bill Masterton Trophy, gave a touching speech. Two weeks after returning to the ice from treatment and recuperation, he had a hat trick during the young guns all-star game.

"At 19, you don't expect to hear the words 'you have cancer,' " Kessel said, in thanking the Bruins and the staff at Massachusetts General Hospital.

In another hair-splitter, Canucks coach Alain Vigneault denied Lindy Ruff consecutive Jack Adams Awards and picked up his first Adams after a nomination with the Canadiens, who promptly fired him 18 games into the next season. He worked his way back to the NHL and patched a fractured dressing room.

Nicklas Lidstrom had revenge on Anaheim Ducks' Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer, beating them both for his fifth Norris Trophy after the three nominees duelled in the Western final. Rod Brind'Amour used his moment on the podium for his second straight Selke Trophy to congratulate the Ducks on the Cup.

"We want it back, just so you know," the 2006 champion with the Hurricanes said.

It was Brind'Amour's second straight Selke as top defensive forward, but he admitted it's not a prize he sought as a young scorer.

"It's the only way I'm going to get to this show," Brind'Amour said.

Pavel Datsyuk of the Red Wings, who has not yet reached 100 penalty minutes in his career, became the first repeat winning of the Lady Byng Trophy since Paul Kariya 10 years ago. Tomas Kaberle of the Maple Leafs was eighth.

Sid the kid wins respect

NHL AWARDS



CARLOS OSORIO/TORONTO STAR
Sidney Crosby will need a light truck to haul the Hart, Pearson and Art Ross trophies home. He said he was happiest about getting the respect of his peers.

Crosby picked by his peers as the NHL's most outstanding player; wins two other top awards

Jun 15, 2007 04:30 AM
Paul Hunter
TORONTO STAR
SPORTS REPORTER

It's difficult to pinpoint precisely when Sidney Crosby became a bona fide NHL superstar.

Perhaps it was that six-point night against Philadelphia in December that catapulted him to the top of the scoring race, a lead he would never relinquish; maybe it was when he gave it his all in the playoffs despite a broken foot; or it was when an 11-inch vinyl action figure of the teenager hit the toy shelves; or when he became the youngest captain in league history; or when the drop of a ping-pong ball saved a franchise.

Crosby had secured his place in Canada's hockey landscape before he had a team. But the moment he had acceptance arrived last night.

Crosby, criticized in his rookie year and dogged by his fellow NHL players for being a yappy, uppity, whining diver who didn't know his place, stepped up at the Elgin Theatre to accept the only award voted on by those same players.

Only 19 and incapable of growing a decent playoff beard, the Pittsburgh Penguins' sophomore centre was handed the Lester B. Pearson Award, presented by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, as the best player in the NHL in a vote of his peers.

Crosby also picked up the Hart Trophy after the media voted him most valuable to his team to add to the Art Ross Trophy as the league's top scorer. He was only the seventh player to pick up that impressive hat trick and the youngest in league history.

Sid the Kid, although he qualified it by saying there's "no right answer" as to which he was more honoured to receive, conceded the vote from the players had special meaning.

"Getting that respect, I guess you could say, from the guys you play against each night. That's probably one of the ultimate compliments you could get," Crosby said. "I'm not downplaying the media's opinion by any means, but it's certainly a huge honour to get that respect."

It wasn't given easily. Crosby had to work for it, reigning in some the exuberance that riled opponents in his rookie season.

"I tried to channel my emotion a little bit more to what I can control," he said. "I'm not going to stand here and say one day I'll be up for the Lady Byng because I know I won't be. But I think if guys see that you come to play hard every night, if they see you're out there doing your best and doing it in a good nature, that's the way to earn it. That just comes with experience as well."

Don Cherry gave voice to criticism of Crosby during his freshman season, when he said he was a hot dog who wasn't worthy of the "A" on his jersey. Players lobbed grenades as well, including Peter Forsberg calling the native of Cole Harbour, N.S., a "diver."

"His first year, Sidney faced a lot of adversity," Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien said.

"But I really believe this year, Sidney Crosby got a lot of respect, not only from the players in Pittsburgh but from his peers in the NHL ... with the way he acted on the ice, the way he handled himself off the ice. I think this was a huge step in his career. He earned a lot of respect."

Therrien said it wasn't easy for Crosby to achieve the balance of playing hard every night while keeping his emotions in check.

"He got criticized sometimes because he had too much passion. I remember his first year after getting criticized a few times by his peers, he just tried to play the game, but that was not him. I say, hey get back, show me those Rocket Richard eyes. That's the way you're going to be able to perform."

He did and, as Joe Sakic put it last night, "He's the face of the league now. He earns everything he gets."

And, last night, that was a trophy case full of hardware.


ALL-STAR TEAM
Sidney Crosby, C
Dany Heatley, RW
Alex Ovechkin, LW
Nicklas Lidstrom, D
Scott Niedermayer, D
Martin Brodeur, G


ALL-ROOKIE TEAM
Evgeni Malkin, F
Paul Stastny, F
Jordan Staal, C
Matt Carle, D
Marc-Edouard Vlasic, D
Mike Smith, G

Pens' Crosby sweeps MVP honors

By Rob Rossi
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, June 15, 2007



Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, right,, congratulates Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby after he won the Lester B. Pearson award, the outstanding player in the league, at the 2007 NHL awards in Toronto on Thursday June 14, 2007.

TORONTO — "The Kid" became "The Man" in the NHL on Thursday — and the young Penguins were validated at the NHL’s awards show.

Sidney Crosby earned the Hart Trophy, awarded to the player most valuable to his team, and the Lester B. Pearson Award, for the most outstanding player as selected by the players association.

His teammate, Evgeni Malkin, claimed the Calder Trophy as the league’s outstanding rookie.

"It looks like a very bright future," Crosby said. "It’s a statement to how far we’ve come in the past year. … We should all be excited that there are a lot of guys that have made an impact and will continue to make an impact."

Also a winner of the Art Ross Trophy for leading the league with 120 points, Crosby, 19, is the youngest player to acquire the three prestigious honors in the same year.

Crosby bested goaltenders Martin Brodeur of New Jersey and Roberto Luongo of Vancouver for the Hart. He topped Luongo and Tampa Bay center Vincent Lecavalier for the Pearson.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper handed Crosby the Pearson Award to start the show, and NHL legend Gordie Howe presented him with the Hart Trophy at the event’s conclusion.

Crosby is the youngest player to win the Hart Trophy since Wayne Gretzky in 1980. Gretzky won a record nine Hart Trophies.

"Sid might get there," said Lecavalier, winner of the Maurice 'Rocket' Richard Trophy for leading the league with 52 goals. "There was a lot of competition, but you always have to come back to Sidney and what he did at 19 — it was pretty amazing."

Crosby was joined at the ceremony by coach Michel Therrien and teammate Jordan Staal.

Therrien failed to become the first Penguins coach to receive the Jack Adams Award when Vancouver’s Alain Vigneault was chosen as the league’s outstanding bench boss. In his first full season with the Penguins, Therrien guided the team to the playoffs behind a 47-point turnaround — the fourth best single-season point improvement in history.

Therrien finished third in the Jack Adams voting. Buffalo’s Lindy Ruff placed second.

Staal was a finalist for the Calder, which Crosby failed to win last year. Staal came up short, too, but his loss was Malkin’s gain.

Malkin, who paced rookies in goals (33), assists (52) and points (85), became the second consecutive highly hyped Russian to win the Calder after Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin earned the nod over Crosby last year.

Malkin did not attend the ceremony. Therrien accepted the award on his behalf. Malkin and Staal were also named to the All-Rookie team. Staal, Crosby and Malkin — all under the age of 21 — were the Penguins’ past three first-round picks, respectively.

"When I look at those kids, I see a little bit of our great teams in Colorado," said Joe Sakic, a Lady Byng Trophy finalist and two-time Stanley Cup champion as captain of the Avalanche. "But maybe they are more like those Edmonton teams that I watched growing up in the (1980s). If Pittsburgh can keep that group together, (it) is going to be great for a long time."

Note: The awards show did not air on Versus during its scheduled time slot (7 to 9 p.m.) due to technical difficulties with the feed on the part of the Canadian Broadcasting Company.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Voting breakdown
A look at how voting breakdown from Thursday's NHL Awards Show in categories involving the Penguins:

Hart Trophy (most valuable player to his team)
Player Team Total First-place votes
Sidney Crosby Penguins 1,225 91
Roberto Luongo Canucks 801 25
Martin Brodeur Devils 763 21

Calder Trophy (most outstanding rookie)
Player Team Total First-place votes
Evgeni Malkin Penguins 1,357 120
Paul Stastny Avalanche 965 16
Jordan Staal Penguins 565 6

Jack Adams Award (outstanding coach)
Coach Team Total First-place votes
Alain Vigneault Canucks 134 18
Lindy Ruff Sabres 126 11
Michel Therrien Penguins 91 11

The Hart and Calder trophies are voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association. The Jack Adams Award is voted on by members of the NHL Broadcasters Association. Source: NHL.

Crosby sweeps NHL major awards; Malkin rookie of year in big night

Friday, June 15, 2007

By Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Bruce Bennett, Getty Images.
Sidney Crosby poses with the his Hart Memorial Trophy, the Lester B. Pearson Award and the Art Ross Trophy last night at the 2007 NHL Awards Show at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto, Ontario.
Click photo for larger image.

TORONTO -- Sidney Crosby last night became the youngest Canadian prime minister.

No, not really.

It just seems that the 19-year-old Penguins center is breaking new ground and achieving new heights at every turn.

But that was the prime minister, Stephen Harper, at the NHL awards show presenting Crosby with the Lester B. Pearson Award, which goes to the league's outstanding player, as determined in a vote of players.

That was the first award of the black-tie night at the Elgin Theatre. The last was the Hart Trophy, the most prestigious NHL award. That also went to Crosby, making him the league MVP. The youngest one, of course.

Between those two awards, the Penguins collected more hardware, with forward Evgeni Malkin being named the Calder Trophy winner as Rookie of the Year, Crosby being named to the first-team All-Star team, and Malkin and fellow forward Jordan Staal being named to the All-Rookie team.

The Penguins' Michel Therrien was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award, which goes to the coach of the year. It was won by Vancouver's Alain Vigneault.

"It looks like it's a real bright future," Crosby said of the Penguins. "It's a statement to see what we've done in the past year. We've taken some huge strides."

For this one night, it was Crosby who stole the show and furthered the notion that he is the world's greatest hockey player.

"He's going to make this game better for a lot of years like Wayne Gretzky did," proclaimed New Jersey's Martin Brodeur, who finished third in the Hart voting and won the Vezina Trophy as the top goaltender.

Crosby, who in his speeches thanked everyone from his teammates and team management to his Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, family and the people of Pittsburgh, was moved by winning the awards.

"It kind of hits you right away," he said.

Crosby, who turns 20 Aug. 7, already was the first teen-ager to win a North American major sports scoring title with 120 points in 2006-07, the youngest NHL player to reach 100 points in consecutive seasons and the youngest to be named an NHL team captain.

He's also now the youngest to win the Hart, the Pearson and to be named to the first team of the NHL postseason All-Stars.

Crosby did not just walk away with all those honors; he dominated the voting, collecting 1,225 points and 91 of 143 first-place votes for the Hart. Vancouver goaltender Roberto Luongo was second with 801 points and 25 first-place votes. Brodeur had 763 points and 21 first-place votes. The other Pearson finalists were Luongo and center Vincent Lacavalier of Tampa Bay.

Crosby also was the top vote-getter for the All-Star first team, getting 683 points and 130 of 143 first-place votes.



Evgeni Malkin became the second Penguin to claim the Calder Trophy as the league's Rookie of the Year.

Malkin received 1,357 points, including 120 of 143 first-place Calder votes. Colorado's Paul Stastny was second with 965 votes, and Staal was third with 565.

Crosby was a finalist last year for the Calder, but he was beaten out by Washington left winger Alex Ovechkin. He is the third Penguins player to win the Hart. Hall of Fame center Mario Lemieux won it three times, and winger Jaromir Jagr won it in 1999.

Malkin, 20, was the second overall pick in the 2004 draft and joined the Penguins last summer after a tense separation from his Russian team. Despite that and a language barrier, he led all rookies and was 18th in the NHL with 85 points.

Malkin, who is the second Penguins rookie to win the Calder after Lemieux in 1985, opted not to make the long trip from his home in Russia. Therrien accepted it for him.

"I thought Evgeni Malkin was going to be here. In the last two weeks I left him two messages, one in Russian and one in English," said Therrien, who is French-Canadian. "I guess my Russian and my English are not too good."

It was Therrien's first trip to the awards night.

"For me, it's about being a nominee," said Therrien, who in his first full season with the club guided the Penguins to 105 points, 47 better than a year ago, and to the playoffs for the first time since 2001.

"Being nominated for the Jack Adams Trophy is something you share with everybody from the ownership to the general manager to the players. I don't see it as a trophy for one person."

Vigneault had 134 points, with Buffalo's Lindy Ruff second (126 points) and Therrien third (91).

"I'm surprised," Vigneault said. "I sort of thought Michel, with the major improvement they had, maybe had a better chance."

Other winners of awards not previously determined or announced were the Selke Trophy (best defensive forward) to Rod Brind'Amour of Carolina; the Bill Masterton Trophy (sportsmanship and dedication) to Phil Kessel of Boston; the Lady Byng Trophy (sportsmanship, gentlemanly conduct and stellar play) to Pavel Datsyuk of Detroit; the King Clancy Trophy (leadership and humanitarian contribution) to Saku Koivu of Montreal; and the Norris Trophy (top defenseman) to Nicklas Lidstrom of Detroit.

Joining Crosby on the first All-Star team were Ovechkin, right winger Dany Heatley of Ottawa, defensemen Lidstrom and Scott Niedermayer of Anaheim, and Brodeur.

Joining Malkin and Staal on the All-Rookie team are Stastny, San Jose defensemen Matt Carle and Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Dallas goaltender Mike Smith.



NOTES -- Therrien said he and general manager Ray Shero have begun talks about a contract extension for the coach and that those talks "are going well." Therrien is entering the final year of his contract. ... Versus, the NHL's cable network in the United States, had to delay airing the awards show until 11 p.m. because CBC, the Canadian network producing the show, had satellite difficulties.


(Shelly Anderson can be reached at shanderson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1721.)

Crosby keeps focus on different trophy

Sunday, June 03, 2007

By Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Sidney Crosby with his first Art Ross Trophy yesterday in Ottawa.
Click photo for larger image.

To accept the Art Ross Trophy as the 2006-07 NHL scoring champion, Penguins center Sidney Crosby made an all too familiar trip.

It was back to Ottawa, where the Penguins lost in the first round of the playoffs, back to the city where the Senators are still playing after reaching the final, even back to the same hotel the Penguins used in April.

"I want to thank the NHL for bringing me back here," Crosby said yesterday with a slight laugh during a news luncheon in conjunction with the final round to award the statistics-based league trophies. "I have so many great memories being at this hotel and battling for the playoffs."

For Crosby, there's a link between winning the Art Ross after tallying 120 points on 36 goals, 84 assists, and the Penguins' experience with a young club participating in the team's first postseason appearance since 2001.

Winning something as prestigious as the Art Ross Trophy -- and he probably will add to that June 14 when the rest of the NHL awards are presented -- is one personal step, but there is a greater goal that calls to him.

"The next level, I'd say, you play to win the Stanley Cup," he said. "It's always nice to win NHL awards, and I don't want to take anything away from them because they're accomplishments and they're something I'm proud of, but when you look back on your career, you want to be able to say you won the Stanley Cup.

"I think that's something that drives me to play. Every summer and every season you work hard for it. Both would be nice, but a Stanley Cup is what you play for."

Crosby, 19, became the youngest athlete in North American team sports history to win a league scoring championship, and last week he became the youngest NHL captain when the Penguins awarded him the "C."

Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier, who yesterday was presented the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy for leading the league with 52 goals, was named a captain when he was older than Crosby by a matter of weeks.


Recchi, Roberts talks continue


Penguins general manager Ray Shero hinted that negotiations to re-sign veteran wingers Mark Recchi and Gary Roberts might take some time.

"I don't want to put a time frame on it," Shero said. "We'll see where it goes the next little while."

Recchi and Roberts are unrestricted free agents but have expressed an interest in returning and would prefer to have things wrapped up before free agency begins July 1.


Therrien contract next?


Also on Shero's agenda is a possible extension for coach Michel Therrien, who is entering the final season of his contract.

"I chatted with him last week, and we'll continue to do that," Shero said. "Sometime next week or in the next couple of weeks, we'll get together and see where we are. There's not a rush. We've expressed an interest in extending his contract, and, if we could find a way to do that, I'd like to do that."

Therrien, who is a finalist for the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year, declined to discuss his contract status.


Full speed ahead, at last


Crosby, who played the final month of the season with a broken bone in his left foot, was cleared Wednesday to begin full workouts. "It's healed pretty good," he said.


(Shelly Anderson can be reached at shanderson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1721.)

Bob Smizik: Penguins need a statue to go with that new arena

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


By most accounts, all is going well with plans for the new arena that will be home to the Penguins.

The site has been selected, buildings are being cleared, plans are being developed. ICON Venue Group, of Denver, will oversee the design and construction. World-renown HOK, of Kansas City, Mo., is involved with the architecture.

Almost everything is covered.

Almost.

One more piece needs to be added to the mix.

A sculptor.

Without such an artist in place, the arena won't be complete. No sculptor, no statue.

And without a statue of Mario Lemieux in front of the building, no matter how grand the design, no matter how spectacular the finished product, Pittsburgh's new arena won't be complete.

The Penguins, of course, have more important things to worry about, such as getting the building done on time. Besides, there's a bit of an awkward situation involved. Lemieux is not only an owner of the team, but also a man whose modesty equals his hockey skills. It's understandable the team might be reluctant to talk about a statue, particularly at this point in time.

But there's no reason the subject of a statue honoring Lemieux shouldn't be on the table. It's an absolute necessity to make the building right. It should be finished and in place when the arena is finished. It shouldn't be hurried or late.

There is ample precedent in Pittsburgh.

Heinz Field has a statue of Art Rooney, the great founder of the Steelers. PNC Park has a statue of Honus Wagner, the Pirates' greatest player, at its home plate entrance, and statues of Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell on the Federal Street side.



The trend has been set, not that honoring Lemieux required one.

It's not just that no one has done more for hockey in Pittsburgh or for the Penguins than Lemieux. That's a well-known fact. The only athlete who played for a Pittsburgh sports team that is remotely comparable to Lemieux is Wagner, still regarded as the greatest shortstop in baseball history, despite having a career that began more than 100 years ago.

Wagner, whose statue originally stood in Schenley Park beyond the left-field wall at Forbes Field and was moved first to Three Rivers Stadium and then to PNC Park, might have matched Lemieux's accomplishments on the field of play -- he won eight batting titles -- but his contributions to the franchise are not comparable.

Baseball was going to be established in Pittsburgh whether the Pirates had traded with the Louisville Colonels for Wagner (the transaction involved 15 players and $25,000) on Dec. 8, 1899, or not.

But had the Penguins not done their worst late in the 1983-84 season in order to finish last and win the draft rights to Lemieux, there is ample reason to believe the franchise would be elsewhere or out of existence today.

By the sheer magic of his play, Lemieux fostered tremendous growth in the sport both from a playing and spectator standpoint. Little more than 20 years after his rookie season, Pittsburgh amateur hockey has reached the point it is regularly developing professional players, which would have been unheard of before Lemieux. From a spectator standpoint, all it takes is a decent team to draw a capacity crowd to Mellon Arena. In the pre-Lemieux days, when the Civic Arena had a capacity of fewer than 13,000, it was as much the rule as the exception that the building would be half full or less.

Lemieux changed all that and the culture of the franchise. He turned the Penguins from perennial losers to Stanley Cup champions.

He should be honored with a statue and, inside the arena, there should be a Hall of Fame area to honor the many players and people who built the franchise and made it great.

So what will the statue in front of the new building, perhaps to be named UPMC Arena, look like?

It could be the traditional hockey pose, with Lemieux slightly bent, stick crossed in front of him and ready to play.

Better still, Lemieux in full stride, head up, puck on stick with an imaginary goalie quivering in the distance.

Either would be good, but here's our favorite: A joyous and exhausted Lemieux hoisting the Stanley Cup.

What a sight that would be for future generations of hockey fans.


(Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com.)

Joe Starkey: Crosby more than ready for 'C'

PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, June 1, 2007



Mario Lemieux (right) presents Sidney Crosby with the C jersey. Crosby was named captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Mellon Arena Thursday, becoming the youngest team captain in NHL history.

The Kid officially became The Man on Thursday, though both were easy to spot at a news conference announcing Sidney Crosby as the Penguins' new captain.

The Kid finished modeling his new jersey, complete with a capital 'C,' and he handed it to his dad for safekeeping.

The Man handled the media crush with ease.

The Kid loves PlayStation and still lives with Mario Lemieux's family -- though he purchased a house in his hometown of Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, last summer.

The Kid's a teenager -- two months shy of his 20th birthday -- which is why some who aren't close to the situation will question the wisdom of this move. A few months ago, NHL legend Mark Messier fell into that category.
Messier, during the All-Star break in Dallas, said he was wildly impressed with Crosby's character but cautioned against naming him captain anytime soon.

"I'm always leery about making kids that young assistant captains, even," Messier said. "Clearly, he is the leader of the team. But at the same point, you need to let him be a rookie, a child. You need to give him the opportunity to make mistakes.

"Being a captain or an assistant captain puts undue pressure on him."

Undue pressure? Crosby has been thriving in the face of it practically since birth.

See, in some ways, The Kid has always been The Man. His father reflected on that yesterday at Mellon Arena.

"He's just always been really mature," Troy Crosby said. "I think it's because a lot of his friends were a couple of years older, because of hockey, and I think some kids are just more mature than others. He was always focused and really knew what he wanted to do from a young age. He sacrificed a lot."

Still does.

You know as much if you watch the Penguins and see Crosby play every shift at warp speed. You know it, too, if you've seen coach Michel Therrien bar him from practice to avoid possible burnout.

Therrien spotted the born leader in Crosby the instant he replaced Eddie Olczyk midway through the 2005-06 season. Olczyk's instinct was to shelter Crosby. Therrien's instinct was to feature him -- burden him, even, because he knew The Man could handle it.

That's why Therrien immediately stripped respected veteran John LeClair of his assistant captain's role and gave it to Crosby.

Critics howled. Don Cherry, the cantankerous Canadian hockey analyst and former NHL coach, ripped Therrien and said of Crosby, "He's an 18-year-old kid."

But also an 18-year-old man, and one who would soon become the youngest scoring champion in NHL history.

Yesterday, the Penguins made Crosby the youngest captain in NHL history.

Crosby could have had the job before or during the season, but he turned it down twice, including 10 days after the All-Star Game.

"He told us, 'I don't think the time's right,' " general manager Ray Shero said. "That says a lot about him."

Ironic, isn't it?

In refusing such a prestigious job -- in demonstrating his ability to say no -- Crosby showed precisely the kind of maturity, courage and smarts the job requires.

The Kid was eager. The Man made him wait.


Joe Starkey is a sports writer for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He can be reached at jstarkey@tribweb.com

Penguins install Crosby as captain

Friday, June 01, 2007

By Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Sidney Crosby and Mario Lemieux hold up Crosby's new jersey yesterday after he was named team captain.
Click photo for larger image.

Sidney Crosby already was the Penguins' undisputed leader and best player.

It has been a foregone conclusion that he would ascend to the captain's role, likely well before he was capable of growing a respectable playoff beard.

As an alternate captain, he has had the authority to talk to the referees on behalf of the team, just like a captain.

And he said yesterday he is someone who leads by example and does not expect big changes now that the "C" has been sewn onto his jersey. That hardly means the 19-year-old center undervalues his new title. Consider that Crosby mulled the decision to become team captain for months.

Michel Therrien, who stripped veteran John LeClair of an alternate captaincy and gave it to Crosby shortly after he took over as coach in December 2005, tossed out the idea to Crosby a year ago, after Crosby's stellar rookie season. Crosby knew he wasn't ready.

This past January, Penguins general manager Ray Shero made a more impassioned offer. Crosby still knew he wasn't ready.

Only after he finished his second pro season, became the youngest player to win an NHL scoring championship and got to experience the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time did Crosby accept the role he has been destined to fill since he was selected first overall in the 2005 draft.

"When it was brought up in January, I had a little doubt, and you have to be into it all the way. You have to be ready for the responsibility, and I've accepted that," Crosby said yesterday at a news conference at Mellon Arena in which Hall of Fame player and team co-owner Mario Lemieux presented him with a new version of his No. 87 jersey, this one with a white "C" on the left shoulder.

Lemieux was the most recent Penguins captain. After Lemieux retired in January 2006 because of health reasons, the Penguins employed three alternate captains.

"He's ready for it," Therrien said of Crosby "The first thing I did when I came here a year and a half ago, at the first opportunity, I took John LeClair's 'A' and gave it to him. You knew right away throughout the organization when we saw that kid that we had a special kid. You want to have guys like that to lead your team. I knew when I gave him the 'A' that when it was the right time he was going to be ready" for the "C."

Crosby becomes the youngest team captain in NHL history. He turns 20 Aug. 7.

"I was always told that age is just a number, and I try not to let it get in the way of anything," Crosby said.

That kind of insight from a teenager, along with an uncanny maturity and poise, added to the respect he has earned from his teammates and lumped on top of his playing ability. All were more than enough to convince Shero that Crosby was his team's heart and soul.

"When I came here over a year ago, I had heard a lot about Sidney Crosby," Shero said. "What I've seen over the past year is a player who's not only the best in the league at what he does, but he's also a player that exhibits a will to win, a passion for the game, a Pittsburgh mentality and a player that always strives to be the best.

"When I say earned, I mean earned."

That's why Shero approached Crosby in January at the All-Star Game in Dallas.

"Part of what makes him not your typical 19-year-old kid is that he thought about it for two or three weeks and came back to us and said, 'I don't feel the time is right,' " Shero said.

Once the season ended, Crosby took another few weeks to say yes.

"I was pretty optimistic that I was ready, but you don't want to make a sudden decision like that," he said. "That's a big responsibility and something I take seriously. It's an honor and a privilege to be captain."

Now that his time is here, Crosby doesn't expect things to change much.

"They shouldn't really a whole lot besides me individually maybe putting a little more pressure on myself," he said. "I just want to be better and lead by example."

Which is all the Penguins want.

"I don't think he's ever going to be the rah-rah guy, but I do feel as he grows into this he's going to be a guy who has that communication with the coaching staff and his teammates," Shero said. "He's got the respect in the room."

Crosby consulted with a couple of veteran teammates before finally accepting the captaincy. He anticipates no problem with his transition.

"As a captain, you have to take responsibility, of course, but there's a lot of guys I can lean on for advice or for help in that area," he said. "We have a lot of veterans, and even younger guys, who will speak their mind or give their opinion."

Although he's not a loudmouth in the locker room, Crosby developed a reputation during his rookie season for being a little too free with speaking his mind and offering his opinion to referees.

He has worked on that.

"I think I've taken strides at being better at making sure that I don't get as emotional as maybe I used to," he said.

Just as long as that doesn't wipe out his better attributes.

"We don't want him to change," Therrien said. "We want him to be Sidney Crosby and lead. "He's still learning."


(Shelly Anderson can be reached at shanderson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1721.)

Crosby to be youngest team captain in NHL

The Kid trades 'A' for the 'C' next year

Thursday, May 31, 2007

By Dave Molinari, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Penguins center Sidney Crosby will become the youngest captain in NHL history today.

The team will formalize his appointment at a news conference at Mellon Arena.

Crosby has served as an alternate captain for most of his two seasons in pro hockey. He shared those duties with Mark Recchi, Sergei Gonchar and, before he severed ties to the team, John LeClair the past season.

Crosby, who will not turn 20 until Aug. 8, became the youngest scoring champion in league history in 2006-07, when he put up 120 points.

Vincent Lecavalier, who succeeded Chris Gratton as captain of Tampa Bay when Gratton was traded late in the 1999-2000 season, is the NHL's youngest captain to date but was about a month older than Crosby is when he inherited the "C."

Neither Crosby nor team officials could be reached for comment, but moving him into the captaincy for 2007-08 is an idea that has received almost universal support, inside and outside the organization, for many months.

The Penguins have not had a captain since a heart ailment forced Mario Lemieux to retire during the 2005-06 season.

Crosby will be the 12th captain in franchise history. The others are Ab McDonald, Ron Schock, Jean Pronovost, Orest Kindrachuk, Randy Carlyle, Mike Bullard, Terry Ruskowski, Dan Frawley, Lemieux, Ron Francis and Jaromir Jagr.


(Dave Molinari can be reached at DWMolinari@Yahoo.com.)

Crosby winner again

Sporting News' pick young Penguins center as player of the year

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

By Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



In what is becoming a pattern, Penguins center Sidney Crosby was named player of the year by the Sporting News in a vote among National Hockey League players.

Crosby, 19, who won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL scoring leader for 2006-07 with 120 points, received 110 of 210 votes from his peers. He also was named the magazine's All-Star center.

NHL players voted Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin the Sporting News rookie of the year. He garnered 121 of 210 votes after getting 85 points as a 20-year-old first-year NHL player.

The Penguins' Michel Therrien finished second to Nashville's Barry Trotz in coach of the year voting, which was a poll of league coaches.

Crosby earlier was named the top player by The Hockey News.

The NHL season awards will be announced during the league's annual soiree June 14 in Toronto. Crosby, Malkin and Therrien are finalists.


(Shelly Anderson can be reached at shanderson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1721.)

Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Therrien among finalists for NHL awards

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

By Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Sidney Crosby is a finalist with goaltenders Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo for the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player.

Center Sidney Crosby moved a step closer to becoming the third player in Penguins history to win the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player when he was named a finalist for the award yesterday.

Crosby also is a finalist for the Lester B. Pearson Award, which goes to the NHL's top player as voted by the players.

The Penguins permeated the list of finalists. Forwards Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal are finalists for the Calder Trophy, honoring the league's top rookie. Michel Therrien is up for the Jack Adams Award for coach of the year.

Winners will be announced June 14 in Toronto.

Crosby, 19, became the youngest athlete to win a scoring championship in major sports history, wrapping up the Art Ross Trophy with 120 points. He will receive that award at a luncheon during the Stanley Cup playoff final.

He is the youngest Hart Trophy finalist since Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky won his first at 19 in 1979-80.

Hall of Fame center, Penguins co-owner and Crosby landlord Mario Lemieux won the Hart three times (1988, 1993, 1996) and winger Jaromir Jagr won it in 1999 while with the Penguins. Lemieux won the Lester B. Pearson Award in 1986, 1988, 1993 and 1996. Jagr won it in 1999 and 2000.

The other Hart finalists are goaltenders Martin Brodeur of New Jersey and Roberto Luongo of Vancouver. In the past 50 years, a goaltender has won the Hart four times.

Malkin, 20, and Staal, 18, are two of the three Calder finalists. The other is Paul Stastny of Colorado.

Malkin could become the second Russian player in a row to win. Washington's Alex Ovechkin beat out Crosby last season for the Calder and predicted Malkin would succeed him.

Malkin, playing left wing as well as his natural position of center, led all rookies in goals (33), assists (52), points (85) and power-play goals (16) and was 18th overall in NHL scoring.

He was the second overall pick in the 2004 draft behind Ovechkin but was delayed in joining the Penguins because of contractual issues with his Russian Super League team, Metallurg, in his hometown of Magnitogorsk. He slipped away from that team under trying circumstances last summer and signed with the Penguins.

Malkin became the first NHL player in 89 years to get at least one goal in each of his first six games.

Staal, the second overall choice in the 2006 draft, was something of a long shot to stick with the Penguins all season, but he ended up leading the league with seven shorthanded goals (a rookie record) and a 22.1 shooting percent while also switching between center and winger.

He had 29 goals, led the Penguins and was tied for second among all rookies with a plus-minus rating of plus-16 and became the youngest NHL player to get a hat trick when he scored three goals against his childhood favorite team, Toronto, Feb. 10.

Lemieux, in 1985, is the only Calder Trophy winner in Penguins history.

Therrien, 43, was promoted from the Penguins' minor-league club in December 2005. In his first full season, he guided the team to 47 wins, 105 points and a berth in the playoffs for the first time since 2001. The team's 47-point improvement over 2005-06 was the fourth-best turnaround in NHL history.

The other Jack Adams Award finalists are Lindy Ruff of Buffalo and Vancouver's Alain Vigneault.

No Penguins coach has won the Jack Adams Award.

Two other trophies will be awarded June 14. The Bill Masterton Trophy goes to the player who best shows perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication. The King Clancy Trophy goes to the player who shows the best leadership and humanitarian contribution to his community.

Voting was conducted at the conclusion of the regular season by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, NHL general managers and the NHL Broadcasters' Association.



NOTES -- Rick Curran, who represents Mark Recchi and Gary Roberts, said he has "had a couple of conversations with [Penguins general manager] Ray Shero" about the two veteran wingers re-signing. Both are unrestricted free agents. "The team has expressed an interest in having them back, and both players have expressed an interest in coming back," Curran said. Shero, part of USA Hockey's national team advisory group, is in Moscow at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships but said before he left that he might work on deals for Recchi and Roberts while he was traveling.


(Shelly Anderson can be reached at shanderson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1721.)

Hockey News names Crosby top player

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

By Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Sidney Crosby, who secured the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer with 120 points and is a front-runner for the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player, picked up the top two annual honors from The Hockey News as the Penguins dominated the publication's awards list.

Crosby, 19, was named the league's best player and MVP and was selected as the center on the first-team all-star lineup by The Hockey News. Teammates Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal and coach Michel Therrien also were honored.

Malkin, a forward who led all rookies with 85 points, was named best first-year player and selected to the all-rookie team. Staal, who was sixth among rookies with 42 points and led the NHL with seven short-handed goals, finished in the top five among best first-year player and top penalty killer ratings.

The publication named Therrien best coach after he led the Penguins to 105 points in his first full season with them.

Finalists for the NHL's annual awards will be announced today.

Ron Cook: Can Shero keep this going?

Ray Shero

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

One by one, they proved themselves. Michel Therrien proved he can be a big-time hockey coach. Sidney Crosby proved he's the best player in the world. Marc-Andre Fleury proved he should be good enough one day to be a Stanley Cup-winning goaltender, that 1-4 record against the Ottawa Senators be damned. Evgeni Malkin proved he can adjust to the NHL in a big way, those five goalless games against the Senators notwithstanding. Jordan Staal proved he has more going than any 18-year-old hockey player on the planet.

Now, it's Ray Shero's turn.

We're about to find out just how good of a hockey manager he really is.

All indications are that Shero will be terrific. His first 11 months with the Penguins went better than anyone could have predicted. The proof is his young team's stunning 105-point season. More proof is the way he has brought the organization -- especially the scouting department -- into the 21st century. Looking at the Penguins now, it's hard to believe they were a franchise that didn't have Internet access for its coaches until Therrien took over late in '05.

More Shero innovations are on the way. Next week, he will be in Moscow to scout the world championships, a trip his predecessor, Craig Patrick, never made. In July, the Penguins will conduct their first conditioning camp for rookies. In early September, they will send a team of rookies to play a series of games against rookies from three other NHL clubs.

Those are small things, to be sure. But they could add up to something big for the Penguins down the road.

"I've always believed a manager's job is to give direction to the franchise," Shero said yesterday.

"My big thing coming in was change. 'We're going to change the culture here, change the expectations, change the professionalism. We're going to move this franchise forward.' "

Shero has been brilliant doing just that. But it's still too early to completely judge him. He gets an incomplete grade as a talent evaluator.

When Shero took the Penguins' job May 25, he talked about having "vision, patience and a plan." It quickly became clear that plan involved moving cautiously. One reason was the financial parameters imposed by the Lemieux ownership group. There was no promise of a lucrative new arena then. The last thing Shero wanted to do was jump deep into the free-agent pool and commit the franchise to a multiyear, multimillion-dollar deal with a player. Another reason was Shero wanted to evaluate the players he had. That's where patience came in.

Shero made some wise decisions. He didn't trade the No. 2 overall pick in the June entry draft -- despite having numerous chances -- because he loved Staal's potential. He brought back veteran winger Mark Recchi to provide leadership for his young players. He signed defenseman Mark Eaton, a pretty good player until a serious wrist injury.

But Shero also traded a No. 2 pick for winger Nils Ekman.

Shero gets the same mixed reviews for his conservative work at the February trade deadline. You get the feeling he really didn't want to do anything -- that he accurately realized the Penguins still were a bit short of being a serious Cup contender -- but that wouldn't have sent much of a message to his team, which had worked so hard to get into playoff contention. "I really felt it would have been demoralizing to fall back and miss the playoffs," he said.

Shero hit a home run by getting veteran winger Gary Roberts in a trade for young defenseman Noah Welch. That will be remembered as a great deal even if Welch becomes a top four defenseman and Roberts turns out to be a rent-a-player and moves on. Roberts had a tremendous impact in the dressing room.

But Shero also traded a third-round pick for winger Georges Laraque and a fourth-round pick for defenseman Joel Kwiatkowski.

Now, Shero is back at the plate again.

He used the same words -- "vision, patience and a plan" -- again yesterday. "I don't think a 105-point season changes that."

That was a bit disheartening to hear. So was Shero's response when asked if he will have more resources to use this offseason because the new arena is a done deal. "A little bit. But I still have to talk to management about that." And his response when asked about having a window to compete for a Cup with Crosby and the others. "I don't believe in windows. ... Players are going to come and go. They had Lemieux, Jagr and Francis here. They all left.

"I want to build a franchise that's going to be good for a period of time."

That's prudent strategy, no doubt.

But we don't have to like it, do we?

Here's hoping Shero and the Penguins are a lot more aggressive going after players this summer. They need a goal-scoring winger to play with Crosby despite Shero's assertion that "we scored plenty of goals this season." They need a banging winger to play on a line with Staal and Malkin. And they need at least one defenseman, probably two.

It doesn't make sense to wait with this group of young players. Strike now and take your shot. There is a window, contrary to what Shero said. It's hard to imagine him being able to keep Crosby, Fleury, Malkin and Staal together for the long term under the NHL salary cap. Beyond that, those young players really did prove plenty in this marvelous regular season. They also learned plenty about playoff hockey in the not-so-marvelous series against the Senators. They clearly believe a Cup is in their near future. Why shouldn't the rest of us believe it?

"My job would be a lot easier if we had improved from 58 to 75 points," Shero said, grinning, probably only half-teasing about the suddenly heavy expectations.

Shero can blame his players for messing that up.

They speeded up his plan dramatically.

Now, Shero must catch up and keep the thing moving.

How he does will determine how we judge him.




(Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.)

Mike Prisuta: Crosby doesn't wilt in playoff spotlight

PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, April 21, 2007


OTTAWA
His first experience with the NHL's postseason was more brief than it was brilliant, but while Sidney Crosby didn't dominate against the Ottawa Senators, he certainly didn't disappoint.

The record will show that the NHL's leading scorer failed to register a point in the series' final two games, that his three goals merely matched rather than surpassed the total posted by Senators third-line center Chris Kelly, and that Crosby's team was dispatched in five at-times one-sided games, mostly because the power-play unit Crosby commands failed miserably in its final 15 chances.

That's one way to look at it.

Another is to recognize that Crosby took to the playoffs as if he'd been in the league for 19 years rather than alive that long, that he led the Penguins with five points and finished just one behind the series' leading scorer, Daniel Alfredsson, and that Crosby did it all under suffocating pressure and intense scrutiny.

The hockey world was watching closely.

Crosby responded by acquitting himself in a manner that confirmed what Penguins fans already knew: He's already perhaps the NHL's best player, and that whether he is or not he's just getting started.

"He played well," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. "He played really well. He works hard; that's Sidney Crosby."

His signature moment was the third-period goal he scored that won Game 2. Crosby was on the ice against the defensive pairing of Chris Phillips and Anton Volchenkov, as he seemingly was all series.

That individual matchup went the Senators' way more often than not; the scoreboard said so.

Still, Crosby wasn't finished battling even late Thursday night in the aftermath of Game 5.

"They played well," Crosby said of Phillips and Volchenkov. "They're a tough pairing, but I think I was still able to create things. It wasn't like there weren't chances. I'm not going to sit here and say they didn't do a good job because they did, but I think the competitive side of me says I had my chances, too."

He'll have more, and the hockey world knows it, which is why the disappointment of the quick exit will fade faster than the Penguins probably suspect.

Crosby may have been educated to an extent in this series, but he wasn't rattled.

He showed up and he was heard from.

Crosby didn't pull a Barry Bonds.

And when the Penguins get him a little more help on the wing ...

Perhaps that's what he and Therrien were discussing when they shared a private moment in the bowels of Scotiabank Place, as Therrien was leaving the podium and Crosby once again was taking center stage.

"That's between me and him," Therrien said.

As Crosby spoke, it was difficult to differentiate his demeanor from what he had displayed Thursday morning following the morning skate.

The kid is that unflappable.

And he made it clear he has unfinished business.

"We had two games where I think we were trying to get our feet wet, and we got caught watching," Crosby said. "That's not going to happen again because we know what it's like now."

The rest of the NHL has been notified.


Mike Prisuta is a columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He can be reached at mprisuta@tribweb.com or 412-320-7923.

Crosby played on broken foot

March 16 injury, however, will sideline him for IHF's Worlds

Sunday, April 22, 2007

By Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


Penguins center and NHL scoring champion Sidney Crosby admitted yesterday that he perpetuated a lie over the past several weeks, although he figured he had a good reason.

To keep opponents from exploiting a vulnerability, Crosby has been hiding the fact that he sustained a broken bone in his left foot March 16 when he blocked a shot in the first period of a 6-3 win against Montreal at Mellon Arena.

He continued to play despite the pain, but he will skip the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships that begin next weekend in Moscow to give the foot a chance to fully heal. He will not require surgery.

"The first two weeks were pretty sore," said Crosby, who used only light padding in his skate so as not to give away the injury.

"After that, it started to heal, so it got a little bit better. When we got to the playoffs, it was sore, but it wasn't grueling or anything. I got hit there a couple times after [the initial injury]. It didn't help it, but I was fine. It just needs time."

Crosby's spring has not gone as planned. He had hoped to still be active in the playoffs, but the Penguins were ousted in the first round by Ottawa in five games.

Now his second choice, joining Team Canada for the World Championships, is gone. Last year, Crosby became the youngest player to win the scoring title at worlds and was named the tournament's top forward after getting eight goals and 16 points in nine games.

"I wanted to be a part of it, especially in Moscow, a place I've always wanted to play," Crosby said.

There still could be good offseason news for Crosby. He said he and the Penguins might explore a long-term contract. His three-year entry contract expires in 2008. With a new contract before then, he would avoid becoming a restricted free agent next year.

"With the [collective bargaining agreement] rules, it's a possibility," Crosby said. "We'll see what happens with that. We'll give it a month for everyone to think about it."

Crosby wasn't sure how he will spend his summer.

"I didn't make any plans to leave because I was hoping to be playing for a long time," he said.

Crosby would have continued to play despite the broken foot if the Penguins remained alive in the playoffs. He sought assurance he would not risk permanent damage by playing.

"Obviously, I want to play for a long time, and, at the same time I want to help my team," he said. "You have to make sure you understand what's going on. I talked to the doctor and the trainers and made sure that if I was to play through it, it wasn't something that would bother me for a long period of time or always going to be nagging.

"It's definitely going to take a little bit longer [to heal] since I played with it."

While playing with the injury, he had five goals, nine assists for 14 points and averaged more than 20 minutes of ice time the final 11 games of the regular season and had five points in five playoff games.

The foot injury will not keep him from conditioning in the offseason, he said.

A couple of things are settled for Crosby for next season.

He plans to live with the family of team co-owner and retired Hall of Fame player Mario Lemieux for a third season.

"You won't have to ask me next year," Crosby said. "I'll commit now and say I'll be back at Mario's."

Crosby also will have a new Penguins cap, replacing the sweat-stained black one he kept at his locker stall all season out of superstition and that yesterday had this message taped to it:

"Please wash me. I can't stand this anymore. -- Hat"


(Shelly Anderson can be reached at shanderson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1721.)

Ron Cook: Playoff experience eventually will lead to success

Friday, April 20, 2007

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

OTTAWA -- This goes back to the start of the series, back to when the young Penguins actually believed they were going to be something more than road kill under the wheels of the Ottawa Senators.

"We're here to win and we're going to give everything we have to win," coach Michel Therrien said. "Sixteen teams hope to win the Stanley Cup. We hope, too. But ... "

Yes, there was a but.

A very telling but, as it turned out.

"But we understand it's a process," Therrien said.

If the Penguins didn't realize it then, they surely do now that their season is done, the mercy killing coming in a 3-0 Senators win last night in Game 5 at Scotiabank Place.

Don't underestimate the importance of that when the Penguins do a better job competing in the playoffs next April, when they maybe win a Cup or two in the seasons ahead during the Sidney Crosby era.

"Going through this," winger Mark Recchi said, "will make every player in here better."

There's no doubt the Penguins -- 16 of whom were playing in their first NHL playoff series -- learned a lot during the eight days the Senators spent schooling them. The painful lesson started at the beginning of Game 1 when the Senators stormed them for two goals in the first seven minutes on their way to a ridiculously easy 6-3 win.

Welcome to the playoffs, fellas!

"Everybody put their finger on the experience factor coming in, but we shrugged it off," Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik said. "We had so much energy and so much resiliency. We were thinking that would maybe put the experience factor under the carpet, but ... "

There's another of those blasted buts.

"But that's not the way it works in playoff hockey," Orpik said.

Or, as goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury put it:

"I think we learned that it takes a lot to win. It's not going to happen with just one or two guys. Everybody's got to show up every night."

Still, it hurt, hurt very badly. The Penguins didn't just make the playoffs for the first time in six years, they came in flying after a totally unexpected 105-point season. They never imagined the Senators would be so much better. Better five on five. Infinitely better on defense. And, in the only real surprise in the series, better on the power play.

Somehow, it seemed appropriate that the Penguins wasted not one, but two, five-on-three advantages in the first period last night and finished 0 for 6 on the power play. That unit had gone 0 for 9 on home ice in the losses in Games 3 and 4, hadn't it? That's why when Senators defenseman Anton Volchenkov went to the penalty box early in the second period, you couldn't help but think his team had the Penguins right where it wanted them.

The Penguins managed just one measly shot on that power play and probably were feeling a bit sorry for themselves as it ended when defenseman Sergei Gonchar gave away the puck in the neutral zone. That led to a breakaway and goal by Senators winger Antoine Vermette and an overwhelming 2-0 lead. All that was left was the celebration that went long into the morning.

Penguins management knew coming in the team was going to have experience issues even if the players didn't want to face it. It knew the team was woefully short on defense after its top two pairings. And it knew the lack of a big-time scoring winger to play on Crosby's line could be a huge problem. Those final two problems must be addressed by general manager Ray Shero in the offseason.

But neither Shero nor Therrien could have guessed the power play would be so lame. There's just too much top-end talent for it to be so ineffective.

"It really let us down," Recchi said.

If anything good came from the series, it was the play of Fleury. He came in with the reputation of coming up short in big games, thanks to some tough performances in minor-league and international competition. But he was brilliant against the Senators even though his final numbers won't reflect it. He might not have been the best player in the series, but he was the Penguins' best player.

"By far," Orpik said. "Without him, the scores of these games would have been a lot more lopsided."

You want something to feel good about on this rotten morning?

Fleury will be better for this experience.

So will Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal ...

"This team is going to compete for the Stanley Cup for a long time and Sid is going to lead the way," Recchi said.

Crosby will realize that one day. So will Fleury and the others.

But not last night.

The wounds still were too deep, too fresh.

Part of the process, you know?


(Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.)

Bob Smizik: Penguins' best effort just wasn't enough

Evgeni Malkin reacts after being stopped by Senators goalie Ray Emery last night at Mellon Arena.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It was a secret to no one that Game 4 of this Stanley Cup playoff matchup between the Penguins and the Ottawa Senators was of critical importance. The Penguins, down a game, were in desperate need of a victory. They needed to play well, They needed to seize energy from a passionate crowd.

It all started so well. Unlike the first game of this series played at Mellon Arena, the crowd came poised to help. They were passionate and they were smart.

The 17,132 who jammed the old building had the decency and good sense not to boo the Canadian national anthem, something a few jerks in the crowd two days earlier did. Maybe this crowd realized that -- duh! -- most of the Penguins, including Sidney Crosby, Mark Recchi and Marc-Andre Fleury, are Canadians and quite understandably might take exception to such stupid behavior.

This crowd did one other thing differently than the one at the first game: It didn't grow silent when the Penguins fell behind. Instead, the passion remained high even after the Senators scored on a fluke goal before the game was four minutes old. A centering pass off the stick of Jason Spezza, hit the stick of Jordan Staal, who was defending the area in front of the goal, and sailed past Fleury.

But for this game, though, the power of the crowd wasn't enough. Neither was the best performance of the series by the Penguins.

In a fiercely and well-played game, the Senators got a goal midway through the third period from defenseman Anton Volchenkov to win, 2-1, and take a 3-1 advantage in the best-of-seven series which resumes tomorrow night at Ottawa.

Obviously, the Penguins are in a desperate situation. They need to win three in a row against the Senators, with two of the games being played in Ottawa. If they require inspiration, they need only recall the final month of the season when they did beat the Senators three times, with two of those victories coming on the road.

It they are to make such a run, and it will be extremely difficult, at least they showed on the ice last night they are poised to make it. Unlike after their two earlier defeats, the Penguins weren't second-guessing their commitment. They had fretted ever since losing the third game Sunday about their lack of focus. They talked incessantly about the need to focus. For this game they were focused.

"Both teams played well," Sidney Crosby said. "It was a good game. You need a break to win playoff games. We didn't get a break."

Although they started slowly and allowed Ottawa to dominate early, eventually the Penguins took their cue from the pumped-up crowd and gained control of the game. The second period was their best of the playoffs. They scored on a goal by Jordan Staal, who threw a rebound past goalie Ray Emery, and dominated play. They outshot the Senators, 13-4.

That they took seriously their situation was indicated by their physical style of play. With veteran Gary Roberts playing possessed, and being criticized by Ottawa coach Bryan Murray for his aggressiveness, the Penguins outhit the Senators, 30-16.

Roberts was credited with nine hits.

But the unheralded Emery, a large question mark before the series and relatively untested before last night, countered what the Penguins did so well.

"He was the difference tonight," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. "He made some crucial saves."

Emery was particularly masterful in the second period as he continually turned aside good scoring chances.

With the score tied after two periods and the Penguins clearly having the momentum, a chance a victory looked good.

But the Senators wouldn't have it.

"We found a way to rally and play the way we're supposed to in the third period," Murray said. "Then we got a goal from a player we don't expect to get one from."

Crosby said, "It was the next goal wins, and they got it."

Murray was critical of his team's play for most of the first two periods but was more than willing to credit to the Penguins.

"Pittsburgh played very, very strong," he said. "Their crowd rallied them. They got a lot of energy from their crowd.

"They played as hard as I've seen them play all year."

The Penguins' power play, their strength for much of the season, failed them. They were scoreless in five chances. On their first two power plays, they failed to put a shot on Emery.

But there was no disgrace in this defeat.

"Both teams played well," Therrien said. "It was a good game."

Just not quite good enough for the Penguins.

Ron Cook: Senators exploiting Penguins' weakness

Monday, April 16, 2007

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It would have been funny if it weren't so darned sad. First, Sergei Gonchar's skates went out from under him and he went tumbling to the Mellon Arena ice. Then, Mark Eaton went down after Gonchar knocked him over. And they're the Penguins' top defensive pairing! The next thing you knew, the Ottawa Senators' Joe Corvo was skating in alone on Marc-Andre Fleury last night. The Penguins' goaltender bailed out his defense that time by robbing Corvo, but he couldn't cover for all of the Penguins' many defensive liabilities. Ken Dryden probably wasn't that good. Those defensive shortcomings were the biggest reason the Penguins were 4-2 losers in pivotal Game 3 of their Stanley Cup playoff series.



Ottawa's Dean McAmmond and the Penguins' Maxime Talbot fight last night in the second period.

It wasn't just the uncontested shots such as Corvo's or the one the Senators' Daniel Alfredsson scored on in the second period when Gonchar lost track of him. It was the Penguins' inability to get the puck out of their end. Their defensemen couldn't handle the Senators' relentless forecheck. They couldn't handle their speed. It frequently was as if the ice was tilted toward Fleury's end of the rink.

That has been a problem for three games.

Fleury was able to steal Game 2 for the Penguins in Ottawa Saturday afternoon with a terrific performance.

If he isn't able to steal at least a couple more, it's hard to like the Penguins' chances of climbing out of that 2-1 hole.

We probably shouldn't be surprised for multiple reasons.

Everyone has made a big deal about how the Penguins' young offensive stars -- Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal -- are breaking their NHL playoff maiden in this series. But it's also the first NHL postseason experience for most of the team's defensemen. This is all new to Ryan Whitney, Brooks Orpik, Rob Scuderi and Josef Melichar.

"That's the biggest thing," Penguins veteran winger Mark Recchi said. "It's a whole new pressure they're facing. That's a very fast team and they're on our defense quick. There's always that constant pressure."

But this goes beyond just experience.

Talent is a factor.

The Penguins' defense isn't as bad as it was last season when coach Michel Therrien, in his infamous rant not long after he took over the team, publicly suggested it was trying to be the worst defense in the league.

But it's not Stanley Cup-worthy, either.

Whitney and Orpik get passing grades. Each is a young player who will continue to get better. Gonchar has fabulous offensive ability, but he tends to be nonchalant at times on defense, as he was when Alfredsson got away from him. Eaton is a solid NHL defenseman, but he's not what he was early in the season because of serious wrist and knee injuries. Scuderi and Melichar are barely marginal, if that.

That's going to be a tough nut for the Penguins to crack before the end of this series.

It's one that general manager Ray Shero must address after the season.

"The transition from the defensemen to the forwards was not there," a clearly distressed Therrien acknowledged. "You can't shoot the puck around the wall all the time. That should be the last option."

The numbers are telling:

The Penguins had totals of 12, 10 and 12 shots after the first two periods of the three games. It's no coincidence that they trailed at that point in each game.

What good is all of that offensive talent if the defensemen can't get them the puck?

It's a shame because Senators goaltender Ray Emery looks eminently beatable. But the only way the Penguins are going to beat him is by testing him. They've done little of that in the three games, at least until the third periods when they have played desperation hockey and the Senators have sat on their leads. They have scored six of their nine goals in the series in the third period.

This is not a new problem. The Penguins were able to overcome it much of the season because of their marvelous top-end talent, their youth, their exuberance, their hard work and the system Therrien coaches.

But it's different in the playoffs. A good opponent is going to find a team's weakness. The Senators certainly have found the Penguins.' They've done a nice job of exposing it.

To steal from Therrien, it's a "recipe" for disaster for the Penguins.


(Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.)

Crosby finishes off spree in third period with winner

Sidney Crosby goes down on one knee to deflect the puck past Ottawa's Ray Emery as Sens' defenceman Anton Volchenkov slides into the crease during Eastern Conference playoff action on April 14. Crosby's goal proved to be the gamewinner.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

By Dave Molinari, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

OTTAWA -- There are a lot of ways to lose a hockey game, and the Penguins experimented with most of them during the second period yesterday.

They took terrible penalties, watched -- and that's the perfect word for it -- Ottawa run up a 19-5 advantage in shots and let goalie Marc-Andre Fleury be subjected to the kind of abuse that usually results in criminal charges.

It was the kind of self-destructive behavior more often associated with a cameo on the "Dr. Phil Show" than a berth in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Coach Michel Therrien called it "a recipe for losing games," and the Penguins had the formula nailed.

At least until they rewrote it completely for the third period, when they ran off three goals to defeat Ottawa, 4-3, and tie their first-round playoff series, 1-1, heading into Game 3 at Mellon Arena today at 6:08 p.m.

Afterward, Senators coach Bryan Murray said that the Penguins "didn't touch the puck for two periods," and while that wasn't quite a literal truth, perhaps Ottawa should be a bit concerned that the Penguins earned a split on the road without playing anything that should be mistaken for their finest game.

"They haven't seen our best effort," Penguins defenseman Ryan Whitney said. "We have to bring it [today] because, after two games, the excuses are over about being nervous in the playoffs."

The Penguins would be a lot more angst-ridden today if not for Fleury, who single-handedly kept his teammates in the game until they decided that attempting to win it might not be a bad idea after all.

"Marc-Andre was the difference," Therrien said.

Fleury finished with 34 saves, none bigger than one on Senators center Mike Fisher from directly in front of the net with about 14 seconds left in regulation.

"I just tried to get up there, and the puck just hit me," Fleury said.

That happened a lot during Game 2. No matter where the Senators shot, the puck almost always hit Fleury. What a coincidence. That was particularly true during the second period, when the Senators treated the Penguins the way a stick treats a pinata. The Senators got the only two goals during that period and likely could have scored about a dozen more.

"We did everything wrong," Penguins defenseman Mark Eaton said. "We were undisciplined, we weren't doing the things we need to do to be successful.

"We were trying to make cute plays, and that's not us. We're a forechecking team, a speed team, and we got away from that in the second."

They rediscovered their identity during the second intermission, though.

"We started to play the right way, do the right things," right winger Mark Recchi said. "We started skating, started forechecking better, started doing a lot of things better. And it obviously made for better results."

The turnaround began when Gary Roberts converted a Sergei Gonchar rebound during a power play at 2:04 to tie the game, 2-2. Chris Kelly put Ottawa back in front when he beat Fleury through a screen at 6:18, but the Penguins did not wilt.



Penguins Gary Roberts and Jordan Staal celebrate after Staal ties the score at 3-3 in the third period against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place. Roberts had scored earlier in the period.


Jordan Staal, playing with the composure of a guy who has been in the league longer than Staal has been alive, buried a feed from Michel Ouellet to pull the Penguins even again at 9:34.

Precisely two minutes and 10 seconds later, Crosby -- hounded by the Senators and jeered mercilessly by the Scotiabank Place crowd for two games -- got the first playoff winner of his career after Therrien put him between Evgeni Malkin and Recchi.

Malkin fed the puck from the right point to Recchi, who was near the left dot. Recchi, in turn, threw a pass to Crosby, who was at the right side of the crease and deflected the puck past Senators goalie Ray Emery with the shaft of his stick.

"When I first passed it, I thought it was going to go too high for Sid," Recchi said. "I had to get it over their [defenseman's] stick. But great players make bad passes look good."

And good teams find a way to win, even when they play badly. The Penguins did that, although, with Game 3 set for this evening, there's no time to savor it.

"You have to forget this game right away," Crosby said. "And focus on the next one."


(Dave Molinari can be reached at DWMolinari@Yahoo.com.)