Sidney Crosby is no stranger to hockey history. He's also been a Steve Yzerman fan since he was a boy. Which is why Crosby is keenly aware that the last NHL team to repeat as Stanley Cup champions was the Yzerman-led Detroit Red Wings in 1996-97 and 1997-98.
The Penguins' process of trying to go back-to-back has already begun. Coach Mike Sullivan met with several players last week, and Crosby, who wrapped up a two-day cameo at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, went to lunch Friday with Sullivan and the rest of the coaching staff.
Before grabbing a quick bite to eat, and after his second informal skate in as many days, Crosby touched on a variety of topics with the Post-Gazette.
"Knowing the group of guys that we have, everyone's happy and feels great about what we were able to accomplish, but now the next challenge is, 'How do we do it again?' " Crosby said. "I guess the numbers and history aren't on our side. We have to find a way to change that."
Before Crosby's Penguins can become the first group to win consecutive Cups in the current salary cap era, there's the matter of the World Cup of Hockey later this month in Toronto, an event Crosby has very much been looking forward to. Team Canada's training camp opens Monday in Ottawa. Crosby, of course, will wear the "C" for his home country.
"(The excitement level) is getting up there now," Crosby said. "Leading up to it, you're just trying to make sure that you're ready and your body feels good, that kind of thing.
"As we get closer here, I get more and more excited. Once you get to camp, start practicing with the team and being around the guys, you get in that environment, that's going to be an exciting time. With the days moving closer here and once I get there, I'll be ready to go."
Crosby has looked plenty ready over the past two days. During one particular drill, Crosby whirled around the center of one of the circles, his glove maintaining balance like a kickstand on a bike, and whipped a shot past Ducks goaltender John Gibson.
After finding his game midseason under Sullivan, then making a late-season charge in the NHL scoring race, Crosby is rejuvenated. Even with a bit of a strange summer to contend with.
"This summer's different," Crosby said. "You're managing rest and healing up. You don't have a ton of time to get after it workout-wise. You try to build up as much as you can without pushing the envelope too much; your body needs rest. I think (I've been) getting a balance of both. I feel good. That's all you can ask for coming off a season like last year."
The nuance to this summer hasn't been limited to the long season clashing with the short offseason. The Stanley Cup arrived in Nova Scotia earlier than it did the last time Crosby toted it around Cole Harbour _ mid-June.
No worries, of course. Nobody complains when the Stanley Cup arrives. But it did mean that the bummer of Crosby's summer came earlier than it did in 2009.
"I feel like the Cup leaving kind of symbolizes, 'OK, that's probably the last party you're going to have with it.' " Crosby said. "Then you move on. It's hopefully not the last one forever, but it's the last one for a little while. You kind of turn the page and switch your focus on getting ready for the next season."
Like any hockey fan, Crosby said he has been enjoying following where the Cup has been and what his teammates are doing with it. And because he's not on Twitter, Crosby also enjoys actually listening to his teammates tell stories about their time with the Cup.
Speaking of those teammates, Crosby admitted that it would have been crushing if their magical season fell apart in the Stanley Cup final. It was a relief that it didn't.
"As a group we went through a lot," Crosby said. "To go through all that, as much as we did and come up short, it would have been tough. It's a relief to be able to do it and be able to see everything turn out the way it did."
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