Up Close With the Pittsburgh Sports Report
Sidney Crosby

For the past six weeks, hockey fans in Pittsburgh have been relating stories of where they were when they found out the Penguins had landed the No. 1 choice in the 2005 NHL Draft Lottery, a once-in-a-lifetime event that gave them the right to draft heralded junior center Sidney Crosby. Some were watching the dramatic telecast of the New York event; some had their cell phones ringing incessantly; others found out on the web.

They all agree it was a special moment that promises to deliver plenty more. Tapped by Wayne Gretzky as the player who could break his NHL records, Crosby was a household name in Canada for years before he pulled on a Pittsburgh sweater at the draft in Ottawa or explained to Jay Leno how he practiced as a kid by firing shots into (and off) his family's dryer.

PSR's Bob Grove, who doubles as a host on the Penguins Radio Network and a contributor to pittsburghpenguins.com, had the opportunity recently to add a few of his own questions to the thousands put to Crosby in the past few weeks.

PSR: You played some wing with Rimouski after coming back from the World Junior Championships. Do you have a future at wing in the NHL, and how does playing there suit your game?

SC: To be honest, I have no idea where they're going to put me. It's going to depend on other guys, too. Either center or right wing I'm fine with; I've gotten used to both. It will depend on the system, things like that. I played center most of my life, and this year was the first time I switched to wing, but I'll be comfortable anywhere they put me.

PSR: You've taken Mario Lemieux up on his lodging offer. Should he be shopping for a new dryer?

SC: I think he'll be fine. I'm definitely looking forward to that, though, to learn from somebody like that, to be around him every day, is going to be great for me. It's going to be a good opportunity for me to learn a lot of new things.

PSR: Tell us what it was like to grow up in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia.

SC: It was great. I had a lot of my friends growing up in the same neighborhood, we played hockey growing up, we had great teams in minor hockey and we won a lot of championships. And a lot of the same guys I played baseball with in the summer. It was just a great community to grow up in, a lot of sports. It's a town of 30,000 or 40,000 people - I'm really happy that I had a good environment like that.

PSR: You grew up as a Montreal Canadiens fan, right? Do you remember seeing your first NHL game?

SC: My dad was drafted by Montreal in 1984, and I grew up just being a Montreal fan. My whole family was full of Montreal fans. I guess they brainwashed me pretty early, and ever since then I've been a Montreal fan. I remember watching my first NHL game at Montreal, the Molson Centre. It was a playoff game between Montreal and Buffalo; that's always a good memory.

PSR: You helped Canada to the World Junior Championship last January, playing for a team that annually has lots of pressure to succeed. How did that experience impact you as a player?

SC: Anytime you go through an experience like that and win, you learn what it takes and learn how hard it is to be the best. Definitely playing with the group I did, arguably one of the best teams that ever played in the World Junior Championships, I learned a lot from those guys as players and people. Just learning what it takes to win, it prepares you for other situations. It's something no one can ever take away from you. I'll be able to carry that with me a long way.

PSR: Everybody is asking you to project yourself into the NHL, but let's look backwards. How have you improved as a player over the last couple of seasons?

SC: I've just become more experienced, more mature, and physically I'm bigger and stronger and faster. I just tried to improve on being an all-round player the last two years. Definitely in junior hockey, a lot of guys are talented offensively but sometimes are not as good defensively or can't do other things. So I really made a commitment to making sure I'm an all-round player, someone who's reliable, not just in the offensive zone but defensively as well. I put a lot of work into being an all-round player.

PSR: You've been targeted by opponents for some time now, and that won't stop in the NHL. You'll get the extra glove in the face. How do you deal with that?

SC: You just have to play through it. Lot of guys' jobs are to take other guys off their games. Personally, my job is to make sure I'm making things happen offensively and creating opportunities. So that's my job and I have to find ways to do it, just like another guy has to try and stop me. Other guys have jobs to do, but you have to make sure you're focused on your own job and not worrying about that. If you're letting things get to you when he's doing his job, then you're failing. So for me it's just worry about what I have to do and not let anything get in the way of that.

PSR: A lot of media people and team employees just marvel at the way you handle yourself in the intense media spotlight. To what do you attribute your ability to do that?

SC: Experience, just going through it. You learn to deal with it. For me, my main focus is always playing hockey, and when I think about it and when I focus on playing hockey and handling this away from the ice, everything goes smoothly. I just need to make sure I'm worry about improving and continuing to focus on hockey. This is a part of it and I have to deal with it.

PSR: Your dad was a goalie. Let's say you've got a penalty shot against your dad. Do you go five-hole or top shelf?

SC: I'd go five-hole. I always scored on him five-hole. I can remember being younger and shooting. . . we had an area where I could shoot and he used to go in (the net) sometimes. I never shot on ice on him before, but definitely in the basement I've been known to score a few five-hole on him.