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<\/p>\nMost people remember the call for Jarome Iginla to pass the puck, the moment when the young star put the puck in the net, and the jubilation that followed.<\/p>\n
A country erupted when a 22-year-old Sidney Crosby scored the overtime winner at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010. Nearly 16 years later, Crosby remembers winning gold on home soil as one of the best moments in what has been a storied hockey career.<\/p>\n
But Crosby also remembers the devastation he felt when the Canadians, who were less than 30 seconds away from a regulation win, yielded the tying goal to American forward Zach Parise. That feeling of being so close to what he dreamed about as a boy in Cole Harbour, N.S., and then having it disappear through his fingers like quicksand, will probably stay with him for the rest of his life.<\/p>\n
Inside the locker room before overtime, the Canadian players were rattled. Not veteran defenceman Scott Niedermayer. He was poised, unshaken in his belief in their team. So was head coach Mike Babcock, who called for someone to turn the page, step up and become the overtime hero.<\/p>\n
Crosby felt devastation turn to determination and intensity. They were at home. It was an opportunity they wouldn\u2019t let slip away, and a moment Crosby was ready to meet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat confidence and just everyone believing in that, that was pretty clear, I think, heading out for overtime,\u201d Crosby told CBC Olympics host Ariel Helwani in an exclusive interview. \u201cI think even as a young guy, I felt that and that was really cool to be a part of, and then to go out there and get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n
No longer Sid the kid at 38, Crosby has another opportunity to create a magical Olympic moment in Italy in February. On Tuesday, Lululemon unveiled the kit that athletes will wear at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, and Crosby was named a Team Canada ambassador.<\/p>\n
WATCH | Crosby on chasing 3rd Olympic gold and Canadian pride:<\/p>\n
Exclusive: Sidney Crosby on chasing 3rd Olympic gold, Canadian pride and 2010 Golden Goal<\/p>\n
Sidney Crosby chats with Ariel Helwani for an exclusive conversation about his motivation this season as we approach the 2026 winter Olympics, what it will take to compete for Canada again on the world stage & untold stories of the iconic 2010 golden goal.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s little doubt it will be Crosby wearing the C on his jersey when the Canadian men begin play against the Czech Republic on Feb. 12. No one would be surprised if he carried Canada\u2019s flag at the opening ceremony, either.<\/p>\n
But all of that seems far off in the distance for him. For now, Crosby \u2014 who was named to the team along with five other players back in June \u2014 is just happy to be going back to the Olympics. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s also motivated. In his 21st professional season, Crosby is still one of the best players in the NHL. As of Tuesday, Crosby had 12 goals in 19 games, only two goals behind the league leader, Colorado Avalanche forward and fellow Nova Scotian, Nathan MacKinnon. <\/p>\n
Along the way, Crosby has led his Pittsburgh Penguins to third place in the Eastern Conference, despite low expectations for the team going into the season.<\/p>\n
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Crosby has led his Penguins to third place in the Eastern Conference, despite low expectations for the team heading into the season. (Henrik Montgomery\/TT News Agency via The Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Going back to the Olympics is an opportunity Crosby has waited 12 years to get, and one he wasn\u2019t sure would ever come. It could have been that we’ve already seen Crosby’s final Olympic appearance at the Sochi Winter Games, without knowing it at the time. Nothing was guaranteed, not the NHL players\u2019 return to the Games, not Crosby\u2019s health or longevity.<\/p>\n
Instead, there\u2019s at least one more episode to watch from one of the best to ever play the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo miss them and to not know what was going to happen, and now to know that we’re finally going back, that’s motivation in itself,\u201d Crosby said. \u201cThat’s kind of on my mind the most. It’s just making the most of this opportunity here.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘I still love it’<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll never know what the hockey world lost in those 12 years without Crosby and his NHL brethren at the Olympics.<\/p>\n
But the 4 Nations Face-Off gave us an idea of what we\u2019ve been missing. The intensity ratcheted up when Canada and the United States faced off in the preliminary round, and up a notch again when they met in the championship game.<\/p>\n
The moment was about more than best-on-best hockey, though it was definitely a great display of that, too. It was about national pride, at a moment when it felt like more was at stake than the outcome of a hockey game. When Connor McDavid scored in overtime, the country breathed a sigh of relief.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t know if anyone predicted that it would have had the momentum that it did,\u201d Crosby said. \u201cWe knew going in, it was going to be competitive just because when you collect all those players and you have the countries that were involved, it was going to be great hockey. It just was one of those things that it picked up a lot of momentum and it was intense. The hockey was incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Crosby captained Canada to a 4 Nations Face-Off championship earlier this year. (Charles Krupa\/The Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Winning in Milano Cortina would give Crosby his third Olympic gold medal in men\u2019s hockey, something no other Canadian man has accomplished. That was news to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn’t know that and I’m a long ways away from that, so a lot of work to be done before I even want to talk about the potential of that,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it would be special.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bigger opportunity in his mind is the chance to win alongside players from that 4 Nations team, stars like McDavid, MacKinnon and Cale Makar, who\u2019ve never gotten to experience an Olympic stage. They\u2019ve never had the chance to seize the moment quite like Crosby did in front of a home crowd, backs against the wall, in overtime in 2010.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be special to do it with them,\u201d Crosby said.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s lots of hockey to be played between now and then. With a condensed NHL schedule ahead of the Olympic break, the season is gruelling and requires focus. Still, the Olympics are in the back of Crosby\u2019s mind, something that will only feel more real as the rest of the Canadian roster is revealed in the weeks to come.<\/p>\n
When a teenaged Crosby debuted in the NHL two decades ago, there were players he looked up to and worked to get to their level. Now, there are younger players pushing him, continuing to motivate him to be better.<\/p>\n
Throughout it all, not much has changed for Crosby. He’s not on social media. His approach to hockey hasn’t changed. He wants to try his best and see where it takes him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt all comes down to having a passion for it and trying to be the best that you can be,\u201d he said. \u201cI still love it, and I think that’s probably the biggest part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Will it be his final Olympics? That question was harder for Crosby to answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat’s a tough one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope it’s not. But if it is, I hope that I can make the most of this great opportunity. But who knows? I want to play as long as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Most people remember the call for Jarome Iginla to pass the puck, the moment when the young star…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-293017","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}