4 Nations Face-off: A celebration of hockey, Sidney Crosby

Crosby front and center in the hockey world

The lead up to the 4 Nations Faceoff has been a big love-fest for the sport of hockey so far. Some of the top players in the NHL are energized to get to be with their countrymen and unite to compete in the best-on-best type of international setting that the sport hasn’t seen since the 2014 Olympics.

The build up has also put Sidney Crosby straight dab back in the spotlight and at the center of the hockey world. Canada carries a 45-5 record with Crosby in gear. He’s won it all from World Juniors to Olympics and World Championships and World Cup of Hockey. Next in his sights is the 4 Nations.

Lots of good stuff floating around:

This one is worth your time:

“They play their best in the biggest moments,” said Holland. “You saw that with Steph Curry at the Olympics last summer. Ultimately, no matter what the circumstance, Sid drove people to greater heights. It’s not just how they play, it’s how people follow them and jump aboard.

“How committed are they? How much drive do they have? How motivated are they? How singularly driven are they? It’s not an accident that he scored the Golden Goal. That’s what winners do. And he’s one of the greatest winners of all time.

GM Kyle Dubas told an illuminating story about Crosby.

“Recently, we were in Anaheim and we have a rookie defenceman, Owen Pickering, who was struggling. Sid is purposely hard on Owen in practice, competing full out against him, not maliciously, just showing the kid how hard he’s going to have to work to compete with him. Sid’s mindset is, I have to do this. If he’s going to get better, I have to do this. The kid got a little frustrated by the practice and you could see it was hard on him. He wasn’t feeling good about himself. The next day, Sid goes and gets the kid and takes him for a haircut. It’s a little gesture but on a team looking to build, it’s an important one. That’s the kind of thing Sid does on a daily basis. The kind of thing most people won’t notice.”

Crosby’s famous No. 87 is already retired league-wide in the Q and they gave him a further honor be renaming a trophy after him. It’s completely fitting but still difficult to wrap your brain around Sidney Crosby being at the stage where trophies are named after him. Next up is undoubtedly the statue.

Canada has won 25 straight games with Crosby in the lineup, which is an insane stat considering the level of competition. They’ll look to make it 26 and beyond tonight starting against Team Sweden.