OTTAWA (AP) -What a week for Sid the Kid.
First, Sidney Crosby was chosen Pittsburgh Penguins captain. Then he got to meet memebers of the Montreal Canadiens’ teams that won five straight Stanley Cup titles in the 1950s. And on Saturday, former Canadiens star Henri Richard presented Crosby with the Art Ross Trophy for leading the NHL in scoring with 120 points.
As nice as the award was, Crosby was struck by meeting the Montreal greats, especially considering he grew up rooting for the Canadiens.
“Here I am talking about trying to win one Stanley Cup and those guys have 10 or 11,” Crosby said. “It doesn’t seem fair.”
The NHL presented three other awards during a luncheon held prior to Game 3 of the Cup finals between the Anaheim Ducks and Ottawa Senators. The Ducks lead the best-of-seven series 2-0.
Tampa Bay’s Vincent Lecavalier won the Maurice Richard Trophy, for leading the league with 52 goals. Minnesota’s Niklas Backstrom and Manny Fernandez shared the William M. Jennings Trophy for helping the Wild allow a league-low 191 goals. Backstrom also won the Roger Crozier award for his league-leading 92.9 save percentage.
Of course, it was Crosby who generated the most attention.
In only his second season and four months shy of his 20th birthday, Crosby became the youngest player to win the scoring title with 36 goals, 84 assists. Perhaps, more remarkably, he played the final 2 1/2 weeks of the season with a broken left foot.
Even Lecavalier, who broke into the league at 18, paid tribute to Crosby.
“To do what he’s doing right now is unbelievable,” Lecavalier said. “He’s 19 years old. I can’t even imagine how great he’s going to be at 26 or 27.”
Lecavalier became the first French Canadian to win the Richard trophy since it was established in 1999.
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NEIL’S NEW ADDITION: Senators’ gritty forward Chris Neil was all smiles after the morning skate, celebrating the birth of his first child. His daughter, Hailey Jean, was born Friday at 11:05 p.m. weighing in at 6 pounds, 10 ounces.
“It was an exciting day,” said Neil, who missed practice after his wife Caitlin had the birth induced. “Watching her being born, you can’t have words for it. It’s amazing. It’s a miracle.”
Neil was relieved the birth – the due date was June 19 – didn’t occur during a the day of a game or when the Senators were out of town.
“I’m back here today and ready to go,” he said. “I’m fortunate to have two exciting things going on my life at the same time. It’s hard to juggle them, but I’m able to do it. And my wife’s made it very capable for me to do that. … She’s been very supportive of it. She’s been a real trouper.”
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PRICEY ADVICE: Teemu Selanne isn’t interested in taking a cut in pay. That’s the excuse the Ducks star forward gave in electing not speculate on which line Chris Kunitz would play if the injured left wing returns to the lineup for Game 3.
Referring to coach Randy Carlyle, Selanne quipped: “Carlyle always says that when I start thinking about those things, I have to take a pay cut, I have to take a coach’s salary. So you can ask him. He tells me that every day.”
Kunitz played alongside Selanne and Andy McDonald on the Ducks’ top line before breaking a bone in his right hand against Detroit on May 11 in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.
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NOT THAT OLD: This is the first time in 80 years Ottawa’s hosted a Cup final game, and Senators’ coach Bryan Murray would like to point out he wasn’t around back then.
“I don’t remember the 80 years, almost, but not quite,” said Murray, who at 64 grew up in Shawville, Quebec, about a 45-minute drive north of Ottawa.
Murray, however, recalls having discussions with Frank Finnigan, a member of that 1927 Cup-winning Senators team. “He told me lots of these stories, as us old-timers tend to do: We like to tell stories.”
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