I guess winning the NHL scoring title at age 19 wasn’t enough for Sidney Crosby to impress us all. Now he has to go out there and tell everyone that he spent the last few weeks of the season playing with a broken bone in his foot. For brief perspective, Shaun Alexander missed six games of the NFL season with a broken bone in his foot, and he plays football, where guys are expected to be tough and play through injury. Crosby was smart for not mentioning anything about the injury — imagine how many sticks, skates, and pucks he would’ve taken to the foot otherwise.
“The first two weeks were pretty sore,” said Crosby, who used only light padding in his skate so as not to give away the injury.
“After that, it started to heal, so it got a little bit better. When we got to the playoffs, it was sore, but it wasn’t grueling or anything. I got hit there a couple times after [the initial injury]. It didn’t help it, but I was fine. It just needs time.”
Look, Crosby certainly isn’t the first NHL player to play through a grave injury, nor is he the last. But he’s a high profile, young, talented player, who battled through a serious injury for a few weeks without telling ANYONE. And for that, he deserves some serious tough points.
