Birthdate: August 7, 1987
Birthplace: Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, Canada
There were high expectations for Sidney Crosby when he entered the NHL in 2005. At just 17 years old, Sidney was already dubbed the next Wayne Gretzky. That's a lot of pressure, but so far, he is living up to the hype!
Hockey is in Sidney Crosbys blood - his dad was drafted to the Montreal Canadiensin 1985, but never played an NHL game. Sidney began playing at the age of three and it wasnt long before people started comparing the young scoring machine to Wayne Gretzky. Sidney attended an elite prep school in Minnesota before being drafted at the age of 15 to the Rimouski Oceanic of the QMJHL a junior hockey league. Sidney dominated the league and had NHL scouts drooling over what they called the next one. When Wayne Gretzky saw him play, he told reporters that he hadn't seen a player that good since Mario Lemieux.
Sidney created Lebron James type buzz when he entered the 2005 NHL Draft. The owners of the first overall pick, the Pittsburg Penguins, was the lucky team to nab Sidney. Drafted to a city that once had the best player in hockey with Mario Lemieux, Sidney had some huge shoes to fill. But he stepped up to the plate and took the league by storm for the 2005-06 season. As a rookie, he finished sixth overall in scoring with 102 points. His 102 points surpassed Marios rookie record of 100 points. Sidney Crosby was also the youngest player in NHL history to reach 100 points. He was runner up for the Rookie of the Year Award to fellow rookie sensation Alexander Ovechkin.
Sidney Crosby was born in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia in 1987 to Troy Crosby and Trina Forbes-Crosby. He has a younger sister, Taylor. During the season, Crosby lives with the Lemieux family in Sewickley, Pennsylvania. In the summer of 2006 he bought his first house in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His father was a goaltender who played for the Verdun Junior Canadiens in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and in the 1985 Memorial Cup. Troy was drafted 240th overall by the Montreal Canadiens in 1984, but never played at the NHL level. Growing up, Sidney admired Steve Yzerman and, like his father, was a fan of the Montreal Canadiens. Crosby's number (87) and 2007 contract signing ($8.7 million per year) reflect his birthdate (8/7/87).
Hockey is in Sidney Crosbys blood - his dad was drafted to the Montreal Canadiensin 1985, but never played an NHL game. Sidney began playing at the age of three and it wasnt long before people started comparing the young scoring machine to Wayne Gretzky. Sidney attended an elite prep school in Minnesota before being drafted at the age of 15 to the Rimouski Oceanic of the QMJHL a junior hockey league. Sidney dominated the league and had NHL scouts drooling over what they called the next one. When Wayne Gretzky saw him play, he told reporters that he hadn't seen a player that good since Mario Lemieux.
Sidney created Lebron James type buzz when he entered the 2005 NHL Draft. The owners of the first overall pick, the Pittsburg Penguins, was the lucky team to nab Sidney. Drafted to a city that once had the best player in hockey with Mario Lemieux, Sidney had some huge shoes to fill. But he stepped up to the plate and took the league by storm for the 2005-06 season. As a rookie, he finished sixth overall in scoring with 102 points. His 102 points surpassed Marios rookie record of 100 points. Sidney Crosby was also the youngest player in NHL history to reach 100 points. He was runner up for the Rookie of the Year Award to fellow rookie sensation Alexander Ovechkin.
By age seven he was already known to the local sports press for his hockey prowess. In 1997 he scored 159 goals in 55 games playing hockey in "Atom" and finished the season in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia with a whopping 280 points. During the 2001 hockey season he played in both a Tier II junior league and AAA midget hockey in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Though Sidney was only fourteen years old, he excelled against players up to three years his senior. After scoring 193 points in 74 games, it was clear that he was unlikely to return to the Nova Scotia AAA league.
Sidney and his family wanted him to play major juinor hockey in his hometown of Halifax as an underage player, just as Jason Spezza had in Brampton. After he wasn't allowed to play for the Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), he chose to play hockey at a high school in the United States. As if on queue. Sidney Crosby put up very impressive numbers with Shattuck-St. Mary's prep school in Minnesota. He created a new scoring records by notching 72 goals and 110 assists for a total of 162 points in just 57 games. He also led his high school to the national title.
From age twelve to fifteen, Crosby attended Astral Drive Junior High School. He was a straight-A student and, according to the vice-principal, "an amazing role model who was really kind to students in the learning centre and to special needs kids." When he was fifteen, Crosby transferred to Shattuck-Saint Mary's in Faribault, Minnesota. Crosby then graduated from Harrison Trimble High School, in Moncton, New Brunswick in 2005.
With the NHL and its players union pitted against each other in a nasty labour dispute, rumours about where Sidney would play began to surface soon after the Memorial Cup was over. He wasn't returning to the QMJHL and the World Hockey Association (WHA) along with a European team were supposedly in the mix. But Sidney made it clear that his dream was to play in the National Hockey League. While the NHL was negotiating its collective bargaining agreement, Sidney signed on to become a spokesperson for Reebok's line of hockey products.
The NHL and NHLPA agreed on a new CBA on July 13th, 2005 and a special lottery draft was held on July 22nd to figure out who would get the first overall pick in the entry draft. Quickly dubbed the "Sidney Crosby sweepstakes", teams were assigned a weighted probability depending on their previous seasons' records. The Pittsburgh Penguins won the lottery and drafted Sidney Crosby as their first overall pick on July 30th, 2005. Crosby entered the NHL as an eighteen year old and was put under the tutelage of the great Mario Lemieux. Even though Mario had to retire a few months into the season due to some health concerns, Crosby clearly took over the team as their best player on the ice. He finished his rookie season with 39 goals and 63 assits for 102 points and second in the Calder Trophy (rookie of the year) voting to Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals. With the arrival of Russian prospect Evgeni Malkin to Pittsburgh and the continuing development of goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, the Pens looked to have a strong team with a bright future. Sid continued to solidify his place in the NHL with a banner sophmore year, where his 120 points were plenty to land him the coveted Art Ross Trophy along with the Hart and Lester B. Pearson awards. The 2007-08 regular season saw Sidney Crosby miss 29 games due to injuries, but he came back strong in the playoffs to lead the Penguins to the Stanley Cup finals; where they lost to the Red Wings.
In time for Crosby's first season, Gare Joyce issued a biography, Sidney Crosby: Taking the Game by Storm. The November 2005 edition of GQ Magazine featured him in a series of shirt-less photos. In 2007, Crosby was nominated for Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People list. Crosby holds an endorsement deal with Reebok and designed a fashion line in 2007.
In 2008, Crosby appeared in the documentary film Pond Hockey, where he discusses his experiences of playing pond hockey.
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