After ten long agonising months, paced by false starts and a lost season Sid the Kid is back. Sidney Crosby, the Captain and star centre for the Pittsburgh Penguins, finally got back to doing what he does best when he skated on to the ice of the Consol energy Centre in Pittsburgh Monday night to rapturous applause and audible sighs of relief from the penguins faithful, who gathered to see their hero make his long awaited return.
Sidney Crosby is a hockey superstar and a Canadian icon. At twenty four years of age Crosby’s list of achievements is inscribed with every major individual and team honour in the game. Destined for greatness from a young age Crosby was shooting pucks at the age of two clanging shot after shot off his family’s washing machine down in the basement and skating by age three. By seven he was giving his first media interviews as the buzz about the young hockey prodigal began to spread around Canada. The hype was justified as Crosby would go on to dominate every level of amateur hockey he played. His play was so outstanding that he was capped for Canada at the age of sixteen at the World Junior Championships.
“The Great one” himself Wayne Gretzky, singled out Crosby as the man to one day best his records. Gretzky was quoted as saying he hadn’t seen a player so talented since the emergence of Hall a famer Mario Lemieux. It was to no one’s surprise than that Lemieux himself drafted Crosby with the 1st pick in the 2005 NHL Draft.
In his first season wearing the black, gold and white of Pittsburgh Crosby set franchise records for a rookie in assist and points. His encore was even better leading the NHL in scoring and been handed the captaincy of the Penguins all at the tender age of nineteen. Two years Later, Crosby would lead his Team to a Stanley Cup Victory against the powerhouse Detroit Red Wings in Seven Games. Making him the youngest winning Stanley cup captain in the history of the NHL. Indeed it was a puck that flew off his stick past USA Goaltender Ryan Miller that won Canada Olympic gold in 2010.
However While Crosby’s past is the stuff of fairytales modern day times for Sid the kid have been nothing short of a hazy concussion induced nightmare. Up until Monday’s game Crosby had not graced the ice with his once in a generation talent since a game on January 5th. In that Contest Crosby suffered a concussion following an innocuous looking hit from Tampa Bay Lighting, Player, Victor Hedman, A hit that trigged an anything but innocuous aftermath for Crosby.
Initial ruled day to day Crosby struggled to recover from what was diagnosed as concussion like symptoms. These symptoms derailed numerous attempts by Sidney to get back on the ice, the closet coming in late March when he was cleared by doctors to resume practice with his teammates only for it to be abandoned after Crosby later admitted he had suffered a setback. With his health as tightly a guarded secret as that of a matter national security the rumour mill ran rife that Sid the kid was going to retire at the age of twenty four.
Crosby came out and vehemently denied these rumours, but yet with his team doctors unable to commit to anything more that an broad indefinite absence prognosis for Crosby many wonder would he ever step on the ice again and if so would he ever be the same dynamic player that had an ability to leave opposing defenders chasing his shadow and goaltenders quaking in their pads as Crosby bore down on goal.
On Monday Night after ten months spent in Hockey purgatory ten months of CT scans and hospital visits, ten months of nausea, ten months of the bright lights that once adored him now causing dizziness, ten months of self doubt and determination and ten months of listening to pundits and fans alike question would he ever return Crosby had a chance to answer those questions.
A return that was greeted with giddy anticipation. Imagine the Obama and the Queen visits combined with another great Canadian, Michael Buble turning on the Christmas lights rolled into one and multiplied tenfold. Crosby showed that while others who had suffered similar absences in sports might be rusty his talent and skills are so sharp that his prolonged abscence could not dull them. A breathtaking two goal and one assist return performance that showed everyone that the comeback kid was still Sid the Kid.
No comments:
Post a Comment