Superstar Sidney Crosby is not coming back to his life as an NHL hockey player just yet. Not only that but the captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins, the best player the league has to offer and one of the best it has every produced, does not know when he'll be back. Next month? Next season? He doesn't know for certain but does insist on one thing: he will be back.
Some day.
“You’ve got to listen to your body, you’ve to got listen to your doctors,” he told media at a Pittsburgh press conference on September 7,2011. "I’m not going to roll the dice. It’s important to get back to where I need to be and if not, we’ve seen it many times, you can get recurring issues."
Concussion Continues to Plague Crosby
If it all sounds a bit like deja-vu all over again that's because it is. Crosby's first media talk following his January concussion was March 14 and at the time he'd just started back skating. He said then he did not know when but that he would be back. He was hoping at the time to play in the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs. He could not.
Crosby was actually hurt twice, the initial injury came in the Winter Classic against the Washington Capitals Jan. 1. David Steckel, then of the Caps, now with New Jersey, skated by an unseeing Crosby and appeared to get his elbow up into the side of the 24-year-old's head. Steckel received no penalty and no suspension.
He played in the third period of that game and in Penguin's next game on Jan. 5 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. In that game Crosby was slammed into the boards behind the net by Lightning defenceman Victor Hedman and his head hit the plexiglass. He's struggled to regain his health since and says he has reached 90 percent and then had a setback.
Crosby to Miss Penguins Training Camp
The Capitals start their preseason schedule September 17 and open their 2011-12 regular season on October 6 in Vancouver against the Canucks and Crosby will miss training camp and is all but certain to miss that opening. But one of this doctors, Dr. Michael Collins, a concussion specialists from the University of Pittsburgh, who sees 4,000 clients yearly, told the media that Crosby would recover completely from this injury.
“This is a manageable injury and we’re making progress in Sid’s case," Dr. Collins told the media. "I anticipate Sid returning to hockey and playing well in the future, but I can guarantee you we’re not going to make any mistakes in this case. Before Sid goes back to play, we’re going to make sure he’s 100 per cent recovered, no ifs ands or buts about it.”
Chance of Retirement for Sidney Crosby?
The native of Cole Harbor, Nova Scotia, who has spent much of his summer training near his hometown and has had various reason for optimism followed by setbacks throughout the process, was asked if there was a chance he may never play in the NHL again.
"A slight one," he told assembled media. "But I wouldn't bet on that."
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