Shame on Crosby

Shame on Sidney Crosby and a few other members of the Pittsburg Penguins for disrespecting the Red Wings.  I guess Lebron James is their role model. 

After being defeated by the Penguins in game 7, the Red Wings gave the Pens a few minutes to celebrate the win.  The Wings then lined up for the traditional handshake.  Sadly, Crosby and few other Penguins were too busy celebrating to notice that the handshakes had begun.  By the time Crosby did join the line many of the Detroit players had already come to the end of the line and headed for the dressing room.  This left Crosby to shake the hands of a couple of players and some members of the Detroit training staff.  Shameful, and a mockery of what the CBC announcer described as one of the greatest traditions in sport.  In case Sid or any other members of the Pens are curious about how thew whole handshake thing works here' a video of the 2008 postgame handshake.  Not surprisingly, every member of the victorious (and classy) Red Wings managed to get to the line in time to shake the hand of every Penguin player. 

Update: NHL.com has posted a video of the handshake. Take a look - it confirms that Sid wasn't in the lineup until late. Nick Lidstrom led the Wings line and he even waited for some Penguins to get in line, but Crosby was very late arriving and by the time he did get in line Lidstrom, Draper and many others had peeled off.

Update 2:  Kris Draper has confirmed that Crobsy missed shaking hands with a bunch of Red Wing players, including Lidstrom.  

"Nick was waiting and waiting, and Crosby didn't come over to shake his hand," Draper told an Associated Press reporter a couple of hours later as he was leaving Joe Louis Arena.  That's ridiculous, especially as their captain, and make sure you write that I said that!"

Crosby has attempted to clarify what went on.   

"My intentions were to shake hands," Crosby said. "That we didn't wasn't me trying to avoid it. "That's the last thing I'd want to do. By no means was I trying to avoid shaking the other team's hands. "I think it's important to do that."

Crosby is still missing the point.  The issue is not whether or not he intentionally delayed joining the line in order to miss Lidstrom - nobody has accused him of that.  It was his job, his obligation to get in line promptly, to show respect for his opponent and to uphold the wonderful tradition of sportsmanship that the post-Cup handshake represents.  Crosby did not fulfil this obligation. 

Comments

[outburst]

Oh come on.
You just won the Stanley Cup... you might be a little distracted.
I'm sure it wasn't intentional.

[Hockeydirt]

Agreed. It was not intentional and he was distracted. But the handshake is a not exactly a new thing and I gotta think Crosby was in a position to see that the entire Detroit team was lined up shaking the hands of all or almost all his teammates. Plus, he's the captain of the Pens, not some 4th line scrub. You will notice that Lidstrom led the Wings through the handshake, waited at least twice for Pittsburg players to join the line and then peeled off the ice when it was apparent that the line was done and that Crosby was not in a hurry to join it. Crosby should have led the Penguins lineup - that's what Captains do. I can't confirm it with a photo, but I suspect Lidstrom led the Wings line when they won last year. Crosby didn't even clue in when fans started booing his non-presence in the line.

[outburst]

In all fairness, the Wings have a lot of experience shaking hands in the finals. Lidstrom was involved a few times even when he wasn't captain.
I'm sure it's a learning experience, and if the Pens are good enough to get back to the finals again, Crosby will have learned something (including handling distractions like the dozens of reporters wanting to get a quote while his teammates are largely free to notice things going on elsewhere).

He's 22 years old and good kid.
I just think you're being a little harsh.

[Jake]

Oh, get a grip. I don't remember the Penguins being in such a stinking hurry to rush off the ice last year. Poor Nick Lidstrom, Crosby didn't hurry over quick enough for him. Crosby made it to the line. Maybe everyone should get on the Red Wings players who ran off the ice so quick.

For once in his life Crosby was an excited 21 year old and overwhelmed by the moment instead of taking care to consider "everything NHL" first and foremost.

If being too distracted to notice the line quickly enough is such a burden to Lidstrom and the Wings then they're bigger losers than I already think they are.

[Jake]

By the way, here's a link to last year's handshake line. I don't know where Lidstrom is in here, but he most definitely DID NOT lead the line:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLt_yHdZdFA

[Jon]

ha ha what? Nice video. What's NHL.com doing posting something with quality that poor . . .

From what I can see (which is not much in that video) Crosby waits to step up into the line until the first Wings player is within reach. He then proceeds to shake the hands of everyone who is still there.

I agree with Jake, sorry Lidstrom hurried off the ice so quickly. Don't be sore losers, but be gentle in winning and losing.

The Wings had a heck of a team, but in a 7 game series the better team always wins. Pens got you this year, but there's always next . . .

[brennan]

wow does it actually matter that much that he was so caught up in excitement he didn.t shake one player's hand because THEY left the line early... go cry lidstrom or you can suck it up!

[Dave]

Classic - all the Pens fans lining up to defend this as just the innocent failing of a celebratory young kid just trying to enjoy the moment - Crosby is such a sacred pig to all of them. It's not like, oh, every single playoff series that Crosby has every played in has ended with a handshake or anything, or that every other champ remembers about the handshake. From his post-game slash of Maltby to his slash on Datsyuk's foot in his first game back from injury, to this, Crosby has not really established himself as a classy player. I'm sure this will be followed with more rabid, blind defense of him, but seriously, these are the facts. This is just basic sportsmanship - it's not about "getting a grip", it's about if someone asks whether you respect Crosby or not, this is the track record. He's a big boy - he doesn't need to be defended by a bunch of fanboys.

[lyndon]

i am a coach and i do it at the provincial level, i always insist on being the last one in the line, not so i can skipp out, but rather to make sure that everyone on my team shakes everyone on the opponents team, no matter what happened in the game, its part of the respect code in the game... part of the unwritten rules--> cry baby crosby is a spoiled brat who is going to have to eat his lunch out of a straw someday