NHL Conference Call
Sidney, the first overall pick in the 2005 NHL entry draft leads the Penguins in goals with ten, assists with 15, his 25 points places his first among rookie scorers in the NHL. The Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia native has tallied points in 16 of 21 games so far this season. He is also two?for?three in shootout tries, including the game?winner, November 10, against Montreal. On November 16 in Philadelphia, Sidney scored his first National Hockey League overtime goal in a 3?2 Pens win over the Flyers.

Q. Your team has been involved in them, what's your impressions of the shootout, and how do you prepare and what do you think about in preparation for a shootout attempt?
SIDNEY CROSBY: With regard to the shootout, I think it's nice from my point of view to have a winner. I think in overtime situations at the end of the night, you want someone to have two points. So I like it in that respect.
As for preparing for it, I think it's different. There has been for me in the times I've won, if you're shooting first, I think for me I haven't really thought about much except just trying to react. When you're shooting second and third, you might put a little more thought into it, watch other guys shoot it in front of you and maybe try to read something off of that. But for me, it really depends on the situation, but I try to watch the guys before me and take what I can from that.

Q. There's been a lot of talk about you and Alexander Ovechkin, I wanted to know what your impressions of having played with him, played against him at international levels now?
SIDNEY CROSBY: He's a great player. Obviously h e has had a great start to the season so far. He's got good speed. He can do it all I think. He's got a great shot, too. He's definitely dangerous when he's out there. He's someone I'm sure other teams have to watch. He's really dangerous. So, like I said, he's a great player.

Q. Is there any additional pressure as a No. 1 pick?
SIDNEY CROSBY: A little bit. I think any time you're a No. 1 pick, that team is showing a lot of confidence in you. That's a pretty big opportunity for a player to be No. 1 and to come in, there's always expectations, but I think that you have responsibility when a team show confidence in you which causes you to work harder and try to contribute, maybe not right away, but obviously you might see something new, and that's helping you helping them in the long run. I think it's something that you have to take serious.

Q. How have the rules, because they are designed to speed up the offense, worked to your advantage thus far?
SIDNEY CROSBY: It's helped. There's less obstruction, more room to skate. At the same time, it's a faster game, as well. I think everybody can skate now, and guys are quick to get to position. You have to think a lot faster. I wasn't a guy who played two years ago and maybe things were a little different, but things seem fast and the reaction time is fast. You have to think quick, or else you're not going to make a lot happen.

Q. Two questions about the game coming up with the Capitals, first off, the Commissioner has put a lot into this rivalry between you and Alex, and I was wondering what your thoughts were, did you think that this needed to be something where the Capitals and the Penguins, or this rivalry or anything, but just sort of a bit of hype?
SIDNEY CROSBY: We have two first overall picks playing each other. We're younger guys and I think that like you said there's a little bit of build?up towards it.
But from my perspective, I can't approach it any different than another game and try preparing myself for it the same way. I'm sure there's a little bit of excitement there, like you said. It's something that's been built up, so that's fine.

Q. It's also been built up by the owner of the Capitals, Mr. (Ted) Leonsis, who compared your rivalry to that of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. So my second question is: Which one do you think you are?
SIDNEY CROSBY: I don't know, I can't speak for both of us but for me I've played 20 games in the NHL, I think I have a long ways to go before I can compare myself to guys like that. I'm sure he thinks the same way. We're having fun playing in the NHL, but we have a long ways to go before we get to a matchup like that.

Q. Can you talk about how you feel your first season has gone compared to the expectations you had for yourself?
SIDNEY CROSBY: I've been pretty happy with it. I think I have a lot of room to improve, but I think that the adjustment time I went through wasn't too long. That wasn't hard for me, when I came in I wanted to make sure that I tried to adjust to this level as soon as I could. I think I've worked hard to do that, but I'll have to continue to work hard and to improve my game.

Q. Guys have talked about how your maturity is way beyond your years, probably to a guy that's maybe 26 or 27. You got into Brad Richardson's golf tournament this past summer, can you talk about what made you decide to get up at six in the morning and go work out before that?
SIDNEY CROSBY: Well, it's just one of those things where you don't want to take days off. I had a workout schedule and just one of those things where I didn't want to skip it. It's something that I can go work out and then I can go to the golf tournament. Obviously I needed to get up a little bit earlier but I was willing to do that. Wanted to make sure I was prepared, and I think it's part of being disciplined and pushing yourself. So it wasn't a huge deal for me to do that.

Q. How did you hit it after working out?
SIDNEY CROSBY: I hit it pretty good. I got the longest drive in that tournament.

Q. Seriously, recently Steve Yzerman spoke out about the new rules and his words were: This isn't hockey and there seems to be a lack of judgment from the referees, is basically any guy that gets bumped and goes down a penalty is being called. Does it frustrate you at all that there seems to be a perception growing that more guys are embellishing little trips and hooks and holds and maybe taking liberties with the way the rules were intended? Do you see that at all?
SIDNEY CROSBY: I haven't watched a lot of games, but I don't know, I think that's a judgment call. I don't think that's something that you can have control over. I think that's always been there, you know, sometimes guys do that. I don't think it's anything you can control. It's a judgment thing and it's hard to say from a guy, you know, you're not sure if he catches a rut, you don't know what happens to him. I think that maybe sometimes you can trace it if guys make a habit of it, but that's really tough to say. It's really down to judgment and then it comes down to what the official thinks.

Q. The other night you took a stick in the mouth and had kind of a rough game a little bit. I don't believe there was a call made on that. Do you feel like things are going well for you as far as being treated by the referees or would you like to see calls maybe not exist like that?
SIDNEY CROSBY: You know, I think those little ones, it's hard to let those get by. When you get a high stick, that's one that it's not like a hook or a hold for a couple of seconds and there's no call. It's not like a judgment where a guy gets hit in the face with a stick, it's pretty clear. Sometimes the officials don't see it, and that's not something where they didn't see it, don't call it. Sometimes it happens that they don't see stuff, and they have a lot of guys to be watching out there and its just one of those things that happened.
I think in the spur of the moment, you get hit in the face, you don't get a penalty on it, but I think they are working hard and obviously there's a lot more to think about for an official now. No, I'm not too worried about it at all.

Q. I'm wondering, you grew up in the spotlight and you've been dealing with this for a long, long time, but do you think that experience has helped you as far as handling the pressure in Pittsburgh, the market that you're being called hopefully the savior of that franchise?
SIDNEY CROSBY: Yeah, it's prepared me a lot I think. Especially going through two years of junior to go back and going through some things that I did there, it taught me a lot about myself, how I can handle it. I think that you just need to experience it. I think that's what I learned is just going through it and have fun playing hockey and you have to worry about hockey. Handling stuff outside of that when you need to, but just worrying about hockey. That's what I learned.

Q. Do you feel that you've lost out on any ?? like normal teenage years or are the trade?offs okay?
SIDNEY CROSBY: No, no, I think obviously there's sacrifices that you have to make to play hockey, and my situation may be a little bit more. I couldn't dream of doing anything else and I'm enjoying it a lot. So I don't regret anything.

Q. You guys are coming to Florida this week, is this your first trip here?
SIDNEY CROSBY: I was there once.

Q. Like a family vacation kind of thing?
SIDNEY CROSBY: No. I went to visit a school there.

Q. Thanks for taking the call, just have a couple of questions. You always talk about the rivalry between yourself and Ovechkin, but isn't it hard to have a rivalry when you play different positions? It was easier with Mario and Gretzky, they both played center. But are we way off base here when we talk about a rivalry when one guy is a left winger and another guy is a center?
SIDNEY CROSBY: I don't know, I think any forward position you're going to run into that player at any time, but I don't think it's really about position. I think it's more just having two guys who are first overall picks; I think that's one of the reasons for it.

Q. When Mario was at his peak and Gretzky was also, it was good for the NHL to have two players like that, excellent players, do you think this is also, good for the League?
SIDNEY CROSBY: Yeah, hopefully people will get excited. Like I said before, we played 20 games or 21 games, so to compare to Mario and Gretzky is a little early. I think that we have a lot to prove before we can put ourselves at that level. I can understand having two younger guys who are both playing each other for the first time, I can understand that maybe some people are excited. But to draw that comparison, I don't think that's fitting.

Q. What has Mario and the other veteran players taught you about life as an NHL player both on and off the ice?
SIDNEY CROSBY: Well, I think that coming in here, obviously I wanted to work hard, but I'm just having a great time being here. But I think through them and watching them you see how they carry themselves every day. They come to practice to work and to improve themselves. They have played in the league for years.
So I think with Mario it's just easy to see how serious he is about the game, and every day he's on the ice. I don't know if there's a lot we've really talked about as far as that's concerned but, I think it's exciting for me just to be around Mario and some of the older guys, just to see the way that they are still competing after so many years.

Q. Is it a little uneasy playing with the owner of the team?
SIDNEY CROSBY: &nb sp; No, not at all. Obviously he's the owner, but we're teammates, and I also live with him. So it's one of those things that I look at him like more of a teammate.

Q. I'm just wondering, so you're scoring a point?plus?per?game clip, are you surprised by your success?
SIDNEY CROSBY: I don't know, to be honest with you, I didn't have any expectations. I didn't know what I was going to be able to do. It was just one of those things that I wanted to come in and try to adjust and adapt to this level as soon as possible and I think that I was lucky that it didn't take too long. I felt comfortable pretty fast and that was important for me.
So I didn't really have any expectations, so I don't know if I could be surprised. But I think this level has a lot of room for me to try to get better but I’m definitely happy that I was able to adapt and feel comfortable early.

Q. Obviously you and Alex, one and two in the rookie scoring right now, do you even look at that stat? Do you pay attention to it at all?
SIDNEY CROSBY: No. I follow the scores and stuff. I'll follow some of the point leaders and stuff like that, but it's not something I consistently do. It's just to get an idea of who is doing well and what guys are doing, but outside of that, it's not something I follow religiously or anything.

Attēlā: Sidnijs Krosbijs (centrā). Photo: Sidney Crosby (in center). © Andris Jansons (Hokeja Vestnesis)