Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
The story was full of praise and a glowing ESPN tribute to Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby. Still, a recent feature piece also unintentionally confirmed some internal friction that Pittsburgh Hockey Now first reported last season.
In the story, ESPN featured Penguins defenseman prospect Owen Pickering telling the story of his publicized haircut. Last season, it was one of the feel-good stories that Crosby took Pickering for a haircut at his favorite barber shop in Lawrenceville.
The then-19-year-old defenseman who was about to turn 20 was in the midst of his first NHL stint, playing 25 games from Nov. 16 through Jan. 23, all with a boyishly floppy hairdo.
“My hair was a contentious issue last year on the team,” Pickering said. “When I got called up, it wasn’t really a hit. And Sid just goes, ‘Hey, I booked us haircuts,’ … Like, he doesn’t have to take his time to spend with me, but he did, and it made me feel super welcome.”
It was during that stretch that PHN also made a couple of stops in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to analyze the additional Penguins prospects, who were also presumably on their way to the big club sooner than later, that we first heard that some were giving Pickering a hard time.
Register today to read this and more exclusive content PHN+:
Register
–OR–
Tags: Owen Pickering Pittsburgh Penguins
Categorized: PHN+