Friday, October 19, 2007

Hockey MythBusters, Part I

Who's the youngest player in NHL history to serve as his team's captain?

That's easy - Sidney Crosby. After all, the League itself has parroted the fact (and markets the claim) and the meme has more or less become a commonly-accepted part of modern hockey lore, so it must be right, right?

Wrong.

Back in January of 1984, Brian Bellows first wore the "C" for the Minnesota North Stars and continued to do so for the remainder of the 1983-84 season (Bellows was the interim captain while Craig Hartsburg was out with a lengthy injury). Bellows was five eight-plus months younger when he first captained the North Stars than Crosby was when he formally took over the Pens' captaincy.

The fact that Crosby was the youngest "permanent" captain in League history can't be debated - but neither can the fact that Brian Bellows was the youngest captain in NHL history.

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

Captain and superstar Brian Bellows. (Not exactly SFW.)

Hooks Orpik said...

I realize you guys like to grasp for whatever straws you can to knock Crosby down a notch or two, but arguing such trivial semantics ('interim', 'permanent') is pretty weak. And, even for Caps fans, a stretch.

But, considering the Pens are 7-1 against the Caps in the past two years and Crosby's 5 goals, 9 assists blow away Ovechkin's 4g, 4a...Well then you have to take what you can get.

Anonymous said...

Nice comeback, Hooks. When you can dispute the facts, change the subject. Tough to accept that the title "Secondary Sid" is really true, isn't it?

Hooks Orpik said...

Excellent way to bring up secondary assists immediately after telling me that I'm changing the subject there jones.

murph said...

nice detective work boys!

Anonymous said...

Hey Hooks, "Secondary" applies to him being the the second youngest captain. But I can understand you're being sensitive about the secondary assist thing now that the NHL has decided to make that a separate category.

Anonymous said...

Hey hooks, you should be thanking us. Us Caps fans, we love Sid the Kid. But so far this year Sid hasn't even been his team's best player. I guess the youngest captain thing really went to his head. We're just trying to help - maybe the truth will clear his mind! He'll sleep better at night knowing he's still secondary :)

Anonymous said...

How dare you go an screw up the NHL's annointment of King Sidney! C'mon now, never let the facts get in the way of a good story, you know that!

Anonymous said...

If you really DO care about FACTS then the FACT is that Bellows truly was merely an INTERIM Captain while Crosby was made THE Captain.

There's a reason Bellows has the (interim) beside his name.

So saying Crosby is the youngest team captain is actually quite accurate.

Anonymous said...

Who cares. This is just Crosby-bashing and does little to improve the on-ice performance of the Caps.

Pittsburgh sucks, by the way.

Anonymous said...

A Captain is a Captain...If he had the C on his Jersey regardless if it was interim...He was the Captain.

Anonymous said...

I hope to see Crosbys face in the urinals at Verizon Center. Pissing on his face is lots of fun!

Anonymous said...

"I hope to see Crosbys face in the urinals at Verizon Center. Pissing on his face is lots of fun!"

That's fine, I'll just piss on your floor then.

11,000 last night. Great support you douchebags get in Washington!

Anonymous said...

<<"I hope to see Crosbys face in the urinals at Verizon Center. Pissing on his face is lots of fun!"

That's fine, I'll just piss on your floor then.>>

Just like at home, huh?

<<11,000 last night. Great support you douchebags get in Washington!>>

Yeah, kind of like the way you guys supported your team back in 2001 when you were last in attendance. BTW, what's the Pens record again?

Anonymous said...

"Douchebag" isn't really the correct word here. In fact, it's so overused across the Internet and other media that its meaning is diminished.

11K in attendance at VC on a Thursday night, against a mediocre NYI team. Says nothing. Like you, anonymous user of the trite "douchebag."

Expect a larger crowd Saturday night. Why? It's Saturday and there are probably more Pens fans in the DC Metro area than, say, NYI fans.

And when the Caps do turn things around after this little rut (and that's all it is), expect weeknight crowds to be larger, regardless of who the Caps are playing.

As for the Pens and urinating on urinal cakes with Crosby's face on them, get used to it. No matter where he plays, he'll get that sort of "welcome." You can choose to view it as all in good fun or be a big baby (like Crosby), cry, and try to insult Caps fans on a Caps-centric blog. Surely your sports rivalry skills aren't limited to calling the other team's fans "douchebags" and citing attendance figures?

Pittsburgh sucks, by the way.

Anonymous said...

"Expect a larger crowd Saturday night. Why? It's Saturday and there are probably more Pens fans in the DC Metro area than, say, NYI fans."

There are probably more Pens fans in the DC Metro area than Caps fans.

Anonymous said...

"There are probably more Pens fans in the DC Metro area than Caps fans."

Only if the weather is fair.

Anonymous said...

For something to be a rivalry, doesn't one team have to win occasionally?

Anonymous said...

>For something to be a rivalry, doesn't one team have to win occasionally?

For the record, Caps are 46-33-9 at home during regular season against the Pens.

The Mellon Igloo has been less friendly: Caps are 29-51-7 there.

Anonymous said...

Hey anonymous,

Um, you do realize that the reason there are so many Pittsburgh fans here is because they all left western Pennsylvania? You would assume that if there was a reason for them to have stayed there, they would.

Anonymous said...

"Um, you do realize that the reason there are so many Pittsburgh fans here is because they all left western Pennsylvania? You would assume that if there was a reason for them to have stayed there, they would."

Gee, I never would have thought of that. You Caps fans are so smart!

Anonymous said...

Most people have to pay good money for a "golden shower". Crosby gets them for free. Just another case of the rich & famous getting a free ride.

Anonymous said...

You Penguins fans are a hoot, getting so upset over such a trivial issue. Thanks for the laugh!

Anonymous said...

What's an even bigger hoot is that the Caps blogs, message boards, etc. focus almost as much on Sidney Crosby and the Penguins as they do the Caps.

I guess that's what you have to do when your team has never won anything of consequence.

Anonymous said...

Great point, anonymous. If that's your real name.

Anonymous said...

"What's an even bigger hoot is that the Caps blogs, message boards, etc. focus almost as much on Sidney Crosby and the Penguins as they do the Caps."


Sure lets just all throw everything on the internet related to the caps into one big ball....what a generalization.

This blog puts up some facts about how the NHL glams us sid the kid and you pens fans wet your pants. Get over it, the kids not perfect.

Anonymous said...

"Pittsburgh Sucks"

Yeah well.... not everyone can BLOW.

Anonymous said...

Pengwhines fans are just sad they didn't think of it first.

I'm telling you, pissing on Crosbys face is absolutely fun as hell!

Crosby MVP 07,08,09 said...

It is sad how you loser must use trivial semantics to try and drag Crosby down to Ovenchicken's level. ( yes I spelled his name wrong on purpose) Face it Crosby is by far the best hockey player on this planet. He makes everyone around him better, he makes the Pens better and he makes the whole NHL better.
Ovechkin will never be as good as Crosby, AO is a selfish player. He is a puck hog and only cares for his own stats. This is why the Caps will never be a cup contender.

Anonymous said...

You Western PA morons keep talking about "semantics," but I'm not sure you know what that means.

OK, let's ditch the semantics. Plain and simple, is Sid the youngest player in NHL history to be named his team's captain?

No.

Semantics - that a difference between "interim" and "permanent" captain exists - are the only thing that help your case here.

Crosby MVP 07,08,09 said...

Well we will see after tonights game who is better. Crosby vs Ovechkin in about 15 mins.

Crosby MVP 2007, 2008, 2009 and so on and so on......

JP said...

In case you Pens fans missed it, here's a respected voice from your side agreeing with me.

Erica said...

I'm glad there has been yet another contribution to the Sidney Crosby hype. I enjoy reading any kind of articles or blog posts that include Sid. This was interesting, even if it was trivial. The NHL decides whether or not semantics and technicalities matter. Crosby's holding the record. End of story there. (I know, some will debate about it, but it's probably not going to change.)

Now, I feel that I should say that I am a Penguins fan, but I honestly like Alex Ovechkin. He's a very talented player, and he's a very funny person. I enjoy seeing him and Sid go head-to-head because I get to watch two young hockey stars faceoff.

I understand that the hype surrounding their matchups is good for the entire league. The excitement draws fans. Personally, I don't feel the need to compare the two. Ovie was the better rookie. Sid was the better sophmore. (I'm going by hardware, because I trust that if Sid's peers and the people who vote for the Hart winner think Sid's better, he more than like was.)

Someone made a remark about generalizing (I would say "you pens fans" is a generalization, by the way) and about Crosby being perfect... I don't expect Crosby to be perfect. I just want the Pens to do well first, then seeing Sid do well is a bonus. Perfect or not, again, he won the Art Ross, Hart, and Pearson trophies. More importantly, perfect or not, he contributed to getting the Pens into the playoffs.

...One last note, maybe it's because I'm a woman, but I don't understand how someone would relish looking down at another man's picture while they hold their wanker and go to the loo. That sounds like some R. Kelly stuff there. Eww.