Hockey for the Ladies

REASON #43
His Stick

Sid's new stick has been the big talk around water coolers these days. The media has been obsessed with it and Sid even said they knew more about it than he did.

Regardless, the new stick seems to be serving him well as it appears he has a harder shot and is confident enough with it that he's been taking more shots than passing which is not typical of him, but it's still good.

This new stick is a one-piece composite and what he's used to using is a two-piece consisting of a wooden blade attached to a composite shaft.

"I'm really happy with the way it's coming along," Crosby said Thursday. "I haven't had any issues and I'm pretty confident with it."

"I think my shot's a little harder, yeah," Crosby said. "We'll see how it works in a game. Definitely in practice I feel like I'm able to get a little more on my shots."

REASON #44
His Drive / Persistance to be the Best He Can Be
(working on his weaknesses so they can be added to his strengths)

Even good players have to work hard and Crosby is no exception even though he's one of the top players in the NHL.

One of the things he wasn't so good at and had to work on was the faceoff which is something that's pretty hard to teach / learn; however, over the past four years Crosby has been making it a point to learn, practice, and get better at taking face-offs and we've all recently been witnessing the payoff as he's consistently increased his win percentage over those four years. In fact, I remember FSN doing a feature a season or so ago about how he went to the Pens video guy to watch video of him and other players taking faceoffs so he could learn the details and tricks of "the draw" which really impressed (and obviously stuck with) me as I listened.

“He spent most days working with the forwards and centermen, talking about the details, talking about different moves, working on A, B and C moves, going against a lefty or a righty, different scenarios that are there,” Bylsma said. “As a result I think our centermen are more equipped to deal with different scenarios on the ice, going against a lefty or a righty and having a couple different moves to use to win a draw.”

What else can anyone say, the guy's amazing!!