COLE HARBOUR, Nova Scotia -- The main entrance to the ice rink area at Cole Harbour Place is like a mini-museum devoted to a local kid who learned how to play hockey on the ice in that building.
The artifacts span Sidney Crosby's time as a youth hockey player all the way through his time in the NHL. There's the toddler-sized Canadiens sweatsuit at the start:
... pictures and track suits from the Cole Harbour Wings youth player, and the Rimouski Oceanic phenom:
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... and gloves and jerseys from Crosby's NHL and Olympic career, as well as photographs commemorating the three times he's won the Stanley Cup:
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Sidney Crosby's NHL, Olympics display case at Cole Harbour Place
Through the doors, there's a sheet of ice with a small bleacher section, with two Cole Harbour Wings banners hanging overtop -- No. 29 for Nathan MacKinnon and No. 87 for Crosby:
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Ice rink at Cole Harbour Place
Crosby smiled on Sunday afternoon, remembering "a lot of early morning practices on this rink, dreaming of playing in the NHL." He used skate twice a week back then, an hour each time. When he wasn't on the ice he was often involved in some fundraising for the program, remarking that those fundraising efforts were the only way he was even able to play.
When Crosby stepped on the ice Sunday, it couldn't have been a more full-circle moment. With the Penguins in town for a preseason matchup against the Sabres at Halifax's Scotiabank Center on Monday, they came a couple of days early to spend some time in the community and practice on the rink where Crosby learned to play.
The practice was open to local youth players and fans through a program with Tim Horton's, and the line to get in stretched nearly to the street well before practice started:
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Line to get into Cole Harbour Place
The "We want Crosby!" chants from the kids in attendance were in full swing before any of the Penguins players stepped onto the ice. Once Crosby took the ice, the ovation was loud:
Crosby's teammates were impressed with Crosby's old stomping grounds.
"Well, he always talked about growing up and the small town he's from," Kris Letang said with a smirk. "He kind of said that he had to 'grind it up' and I pull up to this beautiful facility! These tennis courts, squash courts. I'm like, 'You really hard!' (laughs).
After practice, players, coaches and management stopped to sign autographs and take selfies with the kids that packed the front rows of the stands:
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Players sign autographs for fans in Cole Harbour
"Walking off the ice. I thought that piece of glass was about to break," Bryan Rust said. "So I got out of there. But it's crazy to see how much he means to this community. I mean, you drive into town and his name's on the sign."
Rust said that the players didn't give Crosby much flack for the sign treatment, chuckling that "not too many guys were that awake this morning" when the team bus drove past it.
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Austin Wagner, P.O Joseph sign autographs
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P.O Joseph takes selfies with fans
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Erik Karlsson signs autographs for fans
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Erik Karlsson signs a giant rubber penguin mask
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Ryan Graves signs autographs for fans
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Jason Spezza signs autographs for fans
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Mike Sullivan signs autographs for fans
Players went their separate ways for community work afterward. Some -- like the group that included Sam Pouin, Drew O'Connor, Vinnie Hinostroza, Austin Wagner, Alex Nylander and Colin White -- did a Q&A session with a group of kids.
Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Tristan Jarry, Ryan Graves and the entire Penguins coaching staff stuck around at the rink to help run a kids clinic with the Cole Harbour Wings, the same youth program Crosby started out in:
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Sidney Crosby teaches at the Penguins' youth clinic in Cole Harbour
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Goaltending coach Andy Chiodo high-fives a goalie during the youth clinic
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Tristan Jarry during the Penguins' youth clinic
The players and coaches ran drills, and some of them were fun games toward the end of the session. The kids paired off and played tug of war with sticks, and a couple may have gotten assistance from Malkin getting involved and pulling them himself. They played tag next, with coaches and players chasing the kids. The kids were frozen in place once tagged, but they could get unfrozen if a kid slid between their legs. The players and coaches might have been having more fun than the kids. Malkin wasn't above cheating here, and at one point took off his glove and chucked it across the ice at a kid to try to tag them out:
There was one moment pretty early in practice when a kid collided with two others, then fell and was crying on the ice, and didn't seem to want to get up. Sullivan helped the kid up, took them aside and just sat with them for a long time, bent over to the kid's level and speaking with them until the kid was ready to rejoin the group. Malkin skated by a few times to check on the kid, and was seemingly making joke to lighten the mood.
Sullivan still had a smile on his face after the camp, saying that the experience brought back a lot of memories for him.
"I coached my kids when they were that age and pretty active in the youth hockey environment," Sullivan said. "I love that age group. I just think it brings all of us back through our childhood days when we're playing the game that we love. So to see the smiles on their faces and to be part of that process for me is a blast, I have every bit as much fun as the kids who are out there."
It was a fun day for the kids, but Crosby is hoping it serves as something more, too. Crosby looked up to players from Nova Scotia growing up, like Blackhawks defenseman Cam Russell, Flames/Blues defenseman Al MacInnis, and Bruins/Kings/Penguins forward Glen Murray. Crosby was the first from his small town of Cole Harbour, though. Few others have followed, most notably his good friend Nathan MacKinnon. He's hoping that by these kids seeing him and his NHL teammates, it serves as a reminder that they too can reach these levels.
"We all play because we love it and we have dreams of playing NHL," Crosby said. "Sometimes it works out that way. Sometimes it doesn't. But hopefully, it gives them belief that even though you know you're from a small town, you know that you can make it. If you can have dreams like that, they can happen."
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Penguins players and coaches with the Cole Harbour Wings players
