Sydney Patrick Crosby is a National Hockey League (NHL) ice hockey player from Canada. He began at an early age and has had his sights set on being a professional player since he was a toddler. Sydney has come a long way from being a young boy obsessed with sports to becoming the captain of a major NHL team, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Sydney’s father, who is also a professional ice hockey player, has been training him since he was a child. In 2005, he was picked by the Penguins after demonstrating his abilities in junior and high school. Crosby guided his club to a first-place finish in the Stanley Cup Final in 2009, the Penguins’ first title in over 17 years. Crosby was plagued by sports-related injuries for the most of his career, yet he maintained working hard at what he did best: scoring goals. In 2005, he led his country to victory at the World Junior Championship, and he was voted one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in History in 2017.
Childhood and Adolescence
Sidney Patrick Crosby was born on August 7, 1987, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Troy and Tina Crosby. The family then relocated to Cole Harbour. Sydney’s initial interest in the sport was sparked by his father’s enthusiasm for the game, and he began playing alongside him in the backyard of their home.
Sydney learned to skate when he was three years old, and by the time he was ten, he was practicing with his father in their basement with the dryer, and the father-son combo had completely wrecked their garden. His father recognized his son’s passion for the sport, and as a former hockey player, his advice was invaluable in moulding up young Sydney.
He was already well-known in the Nova Scotia press before he turned seven. He finished the season playing in Atom at the age of ten with an incredible 159 goals in the 55 games he played. He became something of a local celebrity, and he continued to perform well in junior and senior high school, looking forward to a promising career in professional leagues.
Sydney attended Astral Drive Junior High School as a kid, where his teacher described him as “a lovely and wonderful student.” Later, he transferred to Harrison Trimble High School, where he graduated in 2005. Sydney had already established himself as a pro-level hockey player by that point, and the NHL draft was no longer a pipe dream for him.
Junior Positions of Sidney Crosby
He was a member of the Dartmouth Subways in the 2002 Air Canada Cup, where he excelled in both the regular season and the playoffs, propelling his team to second place in the prestigious competition. Sydney was drafted as a midget by the Rimouski Oceanic of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in 2003-2004, and in his debut season, he scored 54 goals in 59 games with 84 assists.
He was signed by the Canadian Junior Hockey team, and he became the first Canadian player under the age of 18 to score a goal in the Junior World Championship. He was already being regarded as one of the top hockey players in the country when he returned to Rimouski for the 2004-05 season; this was partly owing to the media’s obsession with him. He proved everyone wrong by scoring 66 goals in 62 games that season, and later leading his junior national team to a tournament title in North Dakota.
His club, Oceanic, advanced to the Memorial Cup finals in London and Ontario, and he finished the tournament with 11 points in five games. Despite the fact that his team fell in the finals, Sydney was already being touted as the greatest pick in the 2005 NHL draft.
He was only 18 years old at the time, and one of the youngest NHL players being groomed for the big leagues by Mario Lemieux. Sydney had a total of 63 assists and 39 goals in his rookie season. He recorded 120 points in his second season with the Penguins, earning him a spot in the coveted Art Ross Trophy game. He also received the prestigious Hart and Lester B. Award.
Sydney missed 29 games during the 2007-08 NHL season due to a concussion, but he returned in the playoffs and eventually led his club to the Stanley Cup finals, where they were defeated by the Red Wings, although Sydney played beautifully. In July 2007, the Penguins signed him to a five-year contract. In 2008, he became one of the youngest players in NHL history to reach the milestone of 100 goals, 200 assists, and 300 points. Sydney led his side to a Stanley Cup victory against the Red Wings the next year.
Sydney scored 51 goals in the 2009-10 NHL season, which helped his team win the Rocket Rickard Trophy. Due to his spectacular performance as the Penguins’ captain, he was awarded the prestigious Mark Messier Leadership Award. And he would only play sporadically for the following few years, as concussions hampered his career and he missed multiple games. Sydney underwent surgery, and after some months, the doctors cleared him to play professionally.
Sydney was honored with the Ted Lindsay Award during the offseason in 2012, and regardless of how well he played individually, his team underperformed, and Sydney suffered a lot of vitriol from the media and fans as a result. The Penguins made some significant changes to the team during the 2015-2016 season, and the bet paid off as the team won the Stanley Cup and the Conn Smythe Trophy.
Crosby missed the first few games of the 2016-17 season due to a concussion-related illness, but after returning, he scored 30 goals in the 45 games he participated. That year, his team made it to the Stanley Cup playoffs and won it.
Aside from the NHL, Crosby has also helped his national team win gold medals at the Winter Olympics in 2010 and 2014. Sydney not only led his team to victory at the 2016 Hockey World Cup in Canada, but he also won the Most Valuable Player award.
Personal Experiences of Sidney Crosby
‘Sidney Crosby: Taking the Game by Storm,’ written by Gare Joyce, is a biography of Sydney Crosby.
In 2007, Sydney was also named one of Time’s 100 most important persons on the planet. His Sydney Crosby Foundation (established in 2009) assists estranged children in his hometown of Nova Scotia, where he and his family currently reside.
Despite the fact that Sydney maintains his personal life discreet, he has been linked to model Kathryn Leutner.
Estimated Net Worth
Sidney Crosby is a Canadian professional hockey player who has a net worth of $75 million. Crosby is widely considered to be one of the greatest players the NHL has ever seen. He is the highest-paid NHL player of all time. He earned that title in June 2021 when his $129 million career earnings topped Jaromir Jagr’s $127 million.