Faceoff Factor

Crosby Fighting Wasn’t An If, But A When

Jesse Marshall | Pittsburgh Penguins

Dec 21, 12:35 PM | Hype this story!

Sidney Crosby’s entry to the NHL was a bit more anticipated and dramatic than your typical NHL’er. About a million press passes were doled out for Sid’s debut, and the camera flashes and media-microscopes followed him everywhere he went.

Sid’s first year was magic. The Penguins were stuck in the basement of the East, however a packed house was on hand to watch him record his 100th point of his rookie season, becoming the youngest player to reach 100 points in NHL history.

The following year, he became the youngest player to win the NHL scoring title.

This year, he was the youngest player to be named full-time Captain of an NHL franchise.

Through all this, Sid has formed himself a reputation. However, due to some of his actions on the ice, that reputation has split. One half touts him as the best player in the NHL, a die-hard forward with an intense drive to win. The other half touts him as a whiner, a diver and a cry-baby.

Those of us in Pittsburgh know different.

However, that doesn’t change the fact that this reputation is alive and well in places like Philadelphia and Montreal. Think back to last year, where Maxim Lapierre butt-ended Crosby from the opening faceoff. Think back to two years ago, where Crosby was high-sticked by Hatcher and received a penalty for complaining to the officials. These incidents helped form the bad part of Sidney Crosby’s image.

These opinions about Crosby came to a head last week in Philadelphia when the Penguins were involved in a fight-fest rout. The Flyers handed it to them on the ice and on the scoreboard. Crosby was involved; he skated behind the net and made contact with Flyers goaltender Martin Biron. The crowd erupted into chants. They had so much fun shouting obscenities at Crosby that the media got into the act when they voted Crosby as the games #1 star just so people could shout at him some more.

It was pretty evident at that point that something needed to happen. Crosby and Mike Richards were nose to nose all game; media outlets were touting that match up as the next big player rivalry in the NHL.

Sidney Crosby was in a position where he had to do what he did last night.

There was no other option. It was time for Crosby to drop the gloves and earn the respect he deserved.

People who watch Crosby night in and night out know how tenacious, tough and determined he is. The rest of the NHL doesn’t seem as sold on those attributes.

Crosby was going to continue to take shots at the hands of guys like Andy Ference for the rest of the year if he didn’t do something about it.

Sure, it wasn’t a Mayweather-esque fight. Crosby didn’t even get his visor off. But word will spread like wildfire that he finally engaged another player, one who has a fighting background, and cut him with two rights. And it was better than both the fights between 6’3 Georges Laraque and 6’9 Zdeno Chara.

What happened last night was absolutely necessary. And it will and should happen again when appropriate.