Jeanne Nagle - Sidney Crosby: The NHLs Top Scorer

Published in 2016 by Britannica Educational Publishing (a trademark of Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc.) in association with The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.

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First Edition

Britannica Educational Publishing

J. E. Luebering: Director, Core Reference Group

Anthony L. Green, Editor, Comptons by Britannica

Rosen Publishing

Hope Lourie Killcoyne: Executive Editor

Heather Moore Niver: Editor

Nelson S: Art Director

Nicole Russo: Designer

Cindy Reiman: Photography Manager

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Nagle, Jeanne.

Sidney Crosby: one of the NHLs top scorers/Jeanne Nagle.First Edition.

pages cm.((Living Legends of Sports))

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Audience: Grades: 58.

ISBN 978-1-6804-8128-0 (eBook)

1. Crosby, Sidney, 1987Juvenile literature. 2. Hockey playersCanadaBiographyJuvenile literature. I. Title.

GV848.5.C76N34 2016

796.962092dc23

[B]

2014040309

Cover, p. 1 Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images; p. 4 Justin K. Aller/Getty Images; p. 7 Dave Sandford/National Hockey League/Getty Images; pp. 8, 33, 3839 AP Images; pp. 1011 Gregory Shamus/National Hockey League/Getty Images; p. 13 Russ Heinl/All Canada Photos/Getty Images; p. 15 Darren Carroll/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images; pp. 16, 17 Dave Sandford/Getty Images; p. 18 Sporting News/Getty Images; pp. 19, 2223 Gregory Shamus/Getty Images; p. 21 MCT/Tribune News Service/Getty Images; pp. 2425 Andy Devlin/National Hockey League/Getty Images; pp. 2627 David E. Klutho/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images; pp. 2829, 3435 Bruce Bennett/Getty Images; pp. 3031 Kyodo News/AP Images; p. 36 Jennifer Pottheiser/National Hockey League/Getty Images; cover and interior pages background images iStockphoto.com/willierossin (hockey rink), iStockphoto.com/Nikada (texture).

CONTENTS

N ational Hockey League (NHL) star player Sidney Crosby grew up much as many kids do. Born on August 7, 1987, in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, Crosby was raised in a middle-class family. His parents worked hard to make ends meet. He hung out with his friends, playing games in the streets of his neighborhood. Crosby had a weekly paper route. The walls of his bedroom were covered with posters of his sports heroes. And like millions of Canadian children (and adults), he loved the game of hockey.

Number 87, Sidney Crosby, takes his stick to the puck on the Penguins home ice in 2014.

In a few important ways, however, Crosby was different from other kids his age. For instance, he had fantastic motor skills that gave him an edge as an athlete. He started skating when he was three years old. By the time he was seven, he was playing hockey with kids who were twice his ageand giving his first newspaper interview about his success on the rink. One of those posters on his bedroom wall was of Mario Lemieux, a hockey superstar with whom Crosby would later live and work.

Crosby is nicknamed the Kid because he has achieved so much in the sport of hockey at such a young age. His fame and success have made it possible for him to do charity work that helps children in the United States and his native Canada. With practice, a great work ethic, and a true concern for other people, the Kid has grown up and become a living sports legend.

S ome people might argue that Sidney Crosby was born to play hockey. Both of his parents had strong connections to the sport. His mother, Trina, had two older brothers who played. One of them was good enough to get a try-out for a minor league team in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). Troy Crosby, Sidneys father, played in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey Leagueoften called simply the Q by Canadiansfor two seasons. The Q is a respected amateur league for hockey players aged sixteen to twenty. Although Troy was also selected as a goaltender by the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL), he never actually played for the team.

Hockey is a family affair with the Crosbys. Here, Sidney (far left) poses with (from left to right) sister Taylor, mother Trina, and father Troy in 2010.

After he finished playing in the Q, Troy Crosby took a job as a facilities manager, in charge of the security and upkeep of a law firms office building. The job helped the family buy equipment and tournament entry fees for Sidney, who loved playing hockey from an early age.

Denting the Dryer

In the Sidney Crosby collection at the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame, there is a picture of toddler Sidney drinking from a baby bottle while holding a hockey stick. It seems that Sidney was drawn to the game even before he first laced up a pair of skates.

Also in that collection is a clothes dryer that is almost as famous as Sidney himself. When Sidney was a boy, Troy Crosby painted part of the familys basement floor to look like part of an ice hockey rink and set up a goal net. When Sidney and his friends practiced making slapshots into the net, the missed shots often hit the nearby dryer. The poor thing was marked up and had its buttons knocked off, although it kept on working for years.

Crosbys intensity while playing hockey first resulted in a dented dryer. Later, he dented his opponents egos as he channeled that power into scoring against them.

Because of his basement practices, Sidney got very good at shooting and making goals. A February 2010 Sports Illustrated article noted that Troy, who was a goalie in the Canadian Hockey League, had to stop guarding the basement net against Sidneys shots when the boy was around nine years old. Apparently, Sidney had gotten so good that Troy was afraid he might get injured by a flying puck.

Lighting Up the Minors

When he was five years old, Sidney began playing organized hockey with a team in Cole Harbour, his hometown. The team was part of the Timbits Minor Hockey program, sponsored by the Tim Hortons restaurant chain. From there, Sidney moved up through the levels of minor, or amateur, hockey in Canada. At fourteen, he was playing midget-level hockey, which is normally reserved for those ages fifteen through seventeen.

QUICKFACT

A local newspaper interviewed Sidney about playing hockey when he was only seven years old. Asked about his success on the ice, he told the reporter, You have to do your best and work hard and things will happen. You can make it if you try.

During the 200102 season, Sidney scored 193 points; 95 goals of his own and 98 assists where other players scored thanks to his passing. Those are impressive numbers for so young a player, skating at that level. His team, the Dartmouth Subways, went all the way to the Air Canada Cup, which is a national championship tournament at the midget level. The Subways came in second, but Sidneys style and level of play drew the attention of a national audience for the first time.