While the Pittsburg Penguins regular and post season didn't go as planned for Sidney Crosby, his international play has been golden. The Penguins started out the regular season strong but skated into the eighth seed in the playoffs on the final day of the season. Being bounced out of the playoffs in the first round gave Crosby time to join his Canadian brothers for the 2015 IIHF World Championship. With gold from the IIHF, Olympics, and a win of the Stanley Cup, Crosby now joins the exclusive Triple Gold Club.
A new coach and injuries were some of the reasons that Crosby felt his Penguins team had underperformed this season. He tries to stay optimistic with his comments posted to NHL.com:
"You look at the start we had with a full lineup and the guys who are supposed to be in there and we had some pretty good results. Obviously it's a long season. You still have to prove that throughout it, but yeah, I believe that we definitely [have the right pieces]."
His international play at the IIHF World Championship was similar to the regular season with its hot start, but with only ten total games, Crosby and his teammates were able to continue the momentum throughout the schedule, setting a number of records along the way. TheHockeyWriters.com explains how historic their tournament was:
"With their win, they became the first team to get a 1 million Swiss Franc bonus for having won all 10 of their games in regulation. Although it was the first time the prize was awarded, Crosby's team really beat the odds to take home the money -- there had been only 2 teams in the history of the event to have ever won all their games in regulation: Canada once before, in 1994, and the 2015 silver medalists, Russia in 2012 and 2014."
Do you think this momentum can carry over into next year's regular season for Crosby and the Penguins? Tell us what you think.
