Sidney Crosby
Worth the Price of Admission
By Bob Grove

When Sidney Crosby beat Jose Theodore in a shootout to push the Penguins to victory over the Montreal Canadiens here Nov. 10, TSN color analyst Pierre McGuire left the broadcast booth and headed down to the Penguins' dressing room with a smile. "Just to be part of that was exceptional," said the former Pittsburgh assistant and Hartford head coach.

Then his cell phone rang, and it was Scotty Bowman on the other end.

"He said, "Where are you?" I said I was walking into the Penguins' room, and he said, "Are you near Crosby?"" recalled McGuire. "I told him Crosby was right in front of me, and Scotty said, "Let me talk to him.""

That's how the first quarter of the season went for Crosby, who was leading all NHL rookies in scoring and turning heads all over the hockey world.

"He's making his teammates better, and at his age that's unbelievable," says McGuire.

Six nights later, after receiving a pair of high sticks from Flyers' defenseman Derian Hatcher in Philadelphia, he promptly scored in overtime to win the game. Crosby had 12 goals and 27 points in his first 23 games on a team that struggled out of the gate.

"It's phenomenal for an 18-year-old to come in with this amount of pressure and produce like he has," says Kevin Allen, longtime NHL beat writer for USA Today. "I think that transcends hockey, as well. I don't think too many 18-year-old athletes have done that. It really is Gretzky-like or Lemieux-like. There's no other yardsticks to compare him with."

Says ESPN The Magazine's E.J. Hradek, "He's come in and he's already the best player on the team. He's been everything advertised and probably even better."