Sid, Pens Capture Cup

Twenty-one-year old Sidney Crosby became the youngest Captain ever to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup tonight, loudly and proudly announcing the return of the National Hockey League to its rightful place of prominence among North America’s major professional sporting leagues.

With the Pittsburgh Penguins’ thrilling Game 7 victory over the defending champion Detroit Red Wings, hockey is officially back.

And even though “Sid the Kid” missed most of the season’s final, do-or-die game with a leg injury, he is widely credited with saving a sport that seemed on the verge of oblivion just a few short years ago.

When Crosby was selected with the first overall pick of the 2005 NHL draft, the sport seemed done for. It had just lost an entire season due to a labor dispute, and even its hardest of hardcore fans were thoroughly disgusted.

Forget reaching out to new fans – hockey was like today’s Republican Party (i.e. baseless).

Now, thanks largely to its “bet it all on Crosby” strategy, hockey’s ratings are up and the sport has renewed its lucrative TV deals with NBC and up-and-coming cable provider Versus.

And at every point in his four-year career, Crosby has been the wind beneath the NHL’s wings.

In 2006 – at the tender age of nineteen – he became the youngest person to ever win a major professional scoring title as well as both of hockey’s MVP awards. By his third season in the league he had the Penguins in the Stanley Cup finals – which they lost to Detroit in six games.

Tonight, with Crosby unable to play after getting slammed into the boards by Detroit’s Johan Franzen, the Penguins had to rely on Crosby’s longtime friend Max Talbot – who scored both Pittsburgh goals – to capture the franchise’s first cup since 1992, when current general manager Mario Lemieux was in his heyday.

The game – and the series – was filled with high drama.

In addition to the fact that this year’s finals pitted the same two teams from last year, there was the story of Red Wings’ forward Marian Hossa, who played for the Penguins last year but rejected a long-term deal offered by Pittsburgh to sign a one-year contract with Detroit, saying he felt playing with the Red Wings gave him a better chance to win a Stanley Cup.

“That’s life,” Hossa said after watching his former teammates capture the prize he coveted.

Detroit almost granted Hossa his wish, as Jonathan Ericsson scored with six minutes left in the game to draw the Red Wings within a goal.

That prompted an all-out red tidal wive as the defending champs poured on the pressure on in the game’s waning moments, desperate to score a goal that would tie the game and force overtime.

They almost did – several times. A blast by Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall beat Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury … but hit the crossbar behind him and deflected harmlessly away from the net. Then, as the final seconds ticked off the clock, Fleury made this amazing save …

Yeah … hockey’s back.

For complete Cup coverage, check out NHL.com.

Pic: Reuters

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