Sidney Patrick Crosby (born August 7, 1987) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player and captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League. He was the first pick of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft and one of the leading scorers during the 2005-06 NHL season, finishing 6th in scoring with 102 points (39 goals, 63 assists). Crosby was one of the most highly regarded draft picks in hockey history, leading many to refer to the 2005 Draft Lottery as the ‘Sidney Crosby Sweepstakes’. By capturing his first Art Ross Trophy with 120 points (36 goals, 84 assists) in the 2006-07 NHL season, he became the youngest player and the only teenager ever to win a scoring title in any major North American sports league. That same season, Crosby also became just the seventh player in NHL history to win the Hart Trophy, Art Ross Trophy, and Lester B. Pearson Award in the same season—thus earning all three highest individual honours for an NHL forward in only his second year as a professional hockey player.
 
Sidney Crosby began playing hockey on his own in his basement at two years old, where he destroyed the family’s clothes dryer by constantly shooting pucks at it. He learned to skate at three. At the age of seven, he gave his first newspaper interview, during which, he commented about hard work and success, “They say you have to do your best and work hard and things will happen. You can make it if you try.”[10] At thirteen, the Nova Scotia Minor Hockey Council refused to allow him to play Midget hockey, alongside 17-year-olds. His family sued and lost. At fourteen, he appeared on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Hockey Day in Canada. In that same year, he also led his Midget AAA team, the Dartmouth Subways, to the national championship game. He won both the MVP Award and the Top Scorer Award after scoring 18 points in five games. Sidney attended Shattuck-Saint Mary’s Boarding School in Minnesota for the 2002-2003 hockey season. While there, he led the Sabres to the U.S. National Championship.
 
Crosby was selected first overall in the midget draft by the Rimouski Océanic of the QMJHL. In his first game in the QMJHL, he scored one goal and added two assists. He was named Player of the Week for two consecutive weeks at the start of the season, and eventually won the honour four more times as the season progressed. He was named Player of the Month three times, and CHL Player of the Week three times. By the end of the season, he had been named Player of the Year, Top Rookie, and Top Scorer- the first QMJHL player to earn all three honours at once. He also led the QMJHL with 54 goals and 81 assists in only 59 regular season games.
 
During his amateur years, Crosby caught the attention of several journalists and other players, including Wayne Gretzky himself. When Gretzky was asked if he thought anyone could break his records, he answered that Sidney Crosby could, and added that Crosby was the best player he had seen since Mario Lemieux.
 
Crosby was only the fifth player to represent Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championships as a 16-year old (in 2003). This feat was also accomplished by Jay Bouwmeester, Jason Spezza, Eric Lindros, and Wayne Gretzky, previously. Crosby stated that his most memorable hockey moment was winning the 2005 World Junior Championship.
 
 
 
 
“This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article (Sidney Crosby); it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:GFDL