The “Golden Boy” Lays a “Golden Egg”

Bush league players making up a bush league team.

Last weekend was the gold medal game for the 2010 Hockey World Championships in Germany.  Canada was not a participant in this game however after exiting the tournament in the quarterfinals with a 5-2 loss to the Russians.  I don’t really understand why Canadians don’t seem to care about the World Championships but they don’t.  Perhaps it’s because the tournament is rarely in North America or because it is over shadowed by the Stanley Cup playoffs.  I personally feel that it is because Canada sends a combination of the “B” and “C” squad players every year.  Obviously not all the best Canadian players can participate in the tournament depending on their success in the Stanley Cup playoffs.  However, a number of the best Canadian hockey players often forgo participating in the World Championships following their dismissal from the Stanley Cup playoffs with what I would consider very feeble excuses.

Living in “Crosby Land” I witness on a daily basis what an impact “The Messiah” has on this small community.  People that played novice hockey with him reminisce about “the good old days” and people that were at the Cole Harbour Subway at the same time as him once speak of him like they are best friends saying things like, “Sid had a great game last, just great!”  (Obviously because they are from Cole Harbour, they are on a “Sid” name basis with Crosby.)  When Crosby rejected Mark Messier’s offer to join Team Canada in Germany at the World Championships (I wonder if he had the jam to do this himself by the way?), Crosby’s reasoning and the community’s support of Crosby’s decision disappointed and frustrated me immensely.

Crosby declined Messier’s offer sighting that it had been a long two years making it to the Stanley Cup finals back to back years and playing in the Olympics this past February.  One of the local radio stations held a pole asking listeners if Crosby should have gone to the World Championships or not and 85% supported his decision and reasoning not to attend the World Championships.

I want to make one thing clear before I continue; I am not a Crosby hater.  Crosby plays the game right and I have a lot of respect for that.  However, his rejection of the World Championship and reasoning to go along with his rejection is a pathetic and I believe it adds “diva” to the many adjectives used to describe Sidney Crosby.

Canada’s roster at the World Championships had one player on it from the Olympic roster and that was Cory Perry.  The Russians had fourteen players on their roster that were also in the Olympics and among those 14 players were Pavel Datsyuk, Sergie Gonchar and Evgeni Malkin.  Last time I checked all three of these players also played in the same back to back Stanley Cup Finals that Crosby played in.  Even more, in Canada’s 5-2 loss to the Russians that eliminated them from the tournament Datsyuk and Malkin combined for 3 of Russia’s 5 goals.  Do you think Crosby could have been of some help in this game?

People need to remember Crosby is a 23-year-old kid that has not yet come close the Gretzky like greatness.  In my opinion, he has also not earned the right to decline an invitation to help Hockey Canada because he doesn’t feel like playing and would prefer to rest.  He’s 23 years old, in peak physical condition, had no injuries at the time of the invitation and was asked to play in half a tournament.  Consequently, I would say the “Golden Boy” could learn a lot from his Russian colleagues about patriotism and dedication.