Since Sidney has been on a scoring tear, the Penguins have earned to several victories allowing points to be racked up. Sidney has not been asked about his goal fleury, but perhaps he's feeling the heat from the press or the discipline from his new coach. Or it could be an internal motivation. Crosby has played with a lot more eager motivation and emotion as shown on his face and on the boxscores. Since learning the news of being left off of the 2006 Olympic team, Crosby has 7 goals and 5 assists in 6 games. Better yet, the Penguins are with 3 wins and 3 losses, when before, the losses were mounting.
For the year though, Sidney Crosby is 24 goals and 21 assists for 45 points. Notably, Crosby was on top of his game for his first appearance in Montreal, PQ scoring 2 goals against a Canadians team that he grew up a fan.
This can't be good news for the Crosby hate mongers or Ovechkin for Calder fans.
3 comments:
Crosby has been hot the last few games and I am impressed. I am on record saying that Canada was correct to omit him from their Olympic team and that I like Henrik Lundqvist for Calder (though I may have to rethink that soon if Crosby keeps it up). Does that make me a "Crosby hater"?
For an 18 year old with three months of NHL experience he is doing great. I would be very suprised if he does not go on to have a great career. Still lets keep some perspective. Canada omitted the top goal scorer in the NHL at the time of their selection (Staal) and the top scoring defenceman in the NHL (McCabe) and those are far more glaring omissions than Crosby.
I agree with Cartman, though I would have left McCabe off myself because his defense can be quite awful.
It's great for the Penguins that Crosby, is perhaps, a bit ticked off. He's facing some media and fan backlash and he was snubbed by Santa. Now, if only Mario could show some 'heart' and help Crosby out :)
A short yet significant scoring streak isn't enough to get Crosby or anyone else on the Canadian Olympic team, no matter how much pull the kid has with Mario. You can't build a team with pure scorers alone -- why do you think Gretzky selected Shane Doan and Kris Draper? It's about previous experience and it's about winning. Are we to believe that Gretzky should have picked Sidney based on his participation in the World Juniors last year -- a gold medal victory that had less to do with Crosby, and more to do with superior coaching?
Crosby is welcome to prove to everyone that Gretzky made a mistake, if that's what he thinks. But if that's his perception, it's safe to assume that it's the wrong one. He'll have at least 4 more chances to play for Team Canada, barring unforseen circumstances.
He may be a "phenom", but he's not Eric Staal, and he's not Jason Spezza. He lacks maturity and experience. In short, he's not ready for it yet. Don't call us, Sidney. We'll call you. And for the record, Canada WILL win the gold medal without him.
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