Crosby disputes 'hot dog' label
http://tsn.ca/world_jrs/news_story.asp?id=62735
Canadian Press
12/2/2003
MONTREAL (CP) - If Sidney Crosby can maintain the poise he showed Monday in front of a crowd of cameras and microphones, his chances of making Canada's national junior squad look good.
Crosby was the main attraction at a news conference at the Bell Centre after it was announced he was among 34 players invited to try out for the Canadian team to play at the world junior championships in Finland later this month.
``I'm used to it,'' said the 16-year-old hockey phenom from Cole Harbour, N.S. ``I realize there's a time to take care of the media and a time to play hockey I try to balance them both.
``I'm happy for the opportunity to play for Team Canada, but I'm not all the way there yet. I've got a lot to prove. I want to have a good camp. I can't be nervous or go in scared.''
Crosby has displayed eye-popping puck-handling skills while dominating the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League scoring race with 26 goals and 40 assists in 29 games as a rookie with the Rimouski Oceanic.
Some have called Crosby the best teenaged hockey prospect since Mario Lemieux in the mid-1980s. Wayne Gretzky has said Crosby may be the one who eventually breaks some his NHL scoring records.
But the comment brought up most often this day was a diss from Hockey Night In Canada commentator Don Cherry, who accused Crosby of being a ``hotdog'' for his sliding celebration of a highlight-reel goal Friday against the Quebec Remparts.
Crosby had picked up the puck with the blade of his stick and, from behind the goal-line, reached forward and dropped it in the net.
``I can't agree with that - I don't taunt other teams,'' said Crosby, adding that the celebration had more to do with having successfully tested a new move than with piling on another goal in a 7-1 win.
``I'm an emotional player and when I score a goal, I'm going to be happy,'' he said. ``I worked on a move that I tried for the first time in that game and it worked.
``That was basically the point behind it. It wasn't to taunt or show off. I try not to be that type of player and I hope people realize that's not the type of player I am.
``It's a move in saw in the NCAA and I thought I'd give it a try and it worked, so I was happy,'' he added.
He got support from two former Oceanic stars now with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Vincent Lecavalier and Brad Richards, who were at the Bell Centre to practice for a game Tuesday night against the Montreal Canadiens.
``I heard about that comment and I know he's not that kind of kid,'' said Richards, who has tutored Crosby at hockey camps in Summerside, P.E.I. ``He's out there having fun.
``If he was in Ontario, Don Cherry probably loves him. Who knows?''
``It's junior hockey,'' added Lecavalier. ``I did things in junior after I scored goals.
``He's only 16. He's having fun with the game. From what I've heard, he's a very humble guy.''
Crosby has a tall order ahead of him in trying to make the world junior team. Only four 16-year-olds before him - Gretzky, Eric Lindros, Jay Boumeester and Jason Spezza - have done it.
The squad will be trimmed to 22 players at a training camp Dec. 11-18 in Kitchener, Ont. The tournament begins Dec. 26.
``I've played with older guys all my life,'' said Crosby. ``I don't step on the ice thinking: Wow, I'm playing with 19 or 20-year-olds.
``Once you're on the ice, you're all equal.''
That's how head coach Mario Durocher of the QMJHL's Lewiston Maniacs sees it, too.
``I'm not looking at whether he's 16, 18 or 19, or whether he's English, French or Italian,'' said Durocher. ``I just want the best 22 guys.''
Blair Mackasey, the national team's head scout, won't predict whether Crosby will make the team, but said he earned the chance.
``He's a 16-year-old playing against the best 18 and 19-year-olds in the world, which is a challenge for anybody,'' said Mackasey. ``But he certainly proved at the world under-18s last summer and at the Canada Games last year that he deserves the opportunity.
``Sidney Crosby can do some amazing things.''
Lecavalier, who was the hottest junior in hockey when he was drafted first overall by Tampa Bay in 1998, was 17 when he played at the world juniors and knows what lies ahead for Crosby.
``I was a year younger than the others and I admit I felt a little intimidated,'' said Lecavalier. ``You go in there thinking: These are the best guys in Canada and they're all a year or two older. They're bigger and stronger.
``I'm sure he'll be fine. You have to play the same way you always do. Just because guys are older doesn't mean they're better. But he seems confident. Coming into the (QMJHL) and scoring that many goals right away - he didn't seem too intimidated with that.''
