Happy 21st, Sid!!!

In honor of Sidney's big day, I created a collage of 21 significant moments in Sid's life so far. Because trying to caption this collage would be a complete nightmare, each singular image is linked to its individual explanation below the photo. Enjoy!!!

Here's looking at you, Kid!!! (Click for a super-sized view.)

1. Awww! It's baby Sidney Patrick!!!
2. Siddo started to learn how to play hockey at age two.
3. As a pre-teen, buzz about his talent quickly began to build and by age 7, Sid was already doing media interviews.
4. Sid was selected first overall in the midget draft by QMJHL's Rimouski Oceanic.
5. Sid helped Team Canada win the World Junior Championship in 2005!
6. Sid is shown on the day that the Penguins won the 2005 draft lottery.
7. Of course the Pens used that number one overall pick to choose The Kid!
8. Sid visited Jay Leno after being picked by the Pens.
9. Sid hits the ice for his first NHL game. The Pens fell to the New Jersey Devils on 10-05-05 (L 1-5).
10. Sidney recorded his first NHL assist in the third period of his first NHL game.
11. But he had to wait until the second period of his third game to score his first NHL goal on 10-08-05 in a game against the Boston Bruins (L 6-7 OT).




To Sid: Sláinte mhaith!!! Have this "drink" on us!

12. Sid took his first trip to the All Star games in 2007.
13. Sidney's first trip to the playoffs didn't end well. In 2007, the Ottawa Senators eliminated the Pittsburgh Penguins in Round 1 in just 5 games.
14. It wasn't all bad though - just a few weeks later, Sid was awarded the Art Ross, Pearson, and Hart trophies for the 2006-07 season.
15. On May 31, 2007, Crosby became the youngest captain in NHL history.
16. The following month, he unveiled his clothing line with Reebok.
17. His first season as captain saw his first NHL fight. It was widely considered a draw when he went toe to toe with Andrew Ference on 12-20-07. The Pens beat the Bruins (W 5-4 SO).
18. Sidney (and I!) rang in 2008 with an outdoor game against the Buffalo Sabres at the Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo, New York...
19. ...but 17 days later he suffered his first career (major) injury. He missed a total of 29 games as a result of a high ankle sprain.
20. He was back in time to lead the Pens to the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
21. Sidney suffered the disappointment of a lifetime after the Detroit Red Wings beat the Pens for the Stanley Cup in 6 games.

Here's to 21 more healthy, productive, Stanley Cup-filled years as a Penguin for Sid! ;) Now let's take a look at the Saint's hockey mug shots through the past 5 years. (FYI - This is the first animated GIF I've ever created in GIMP, so please excuse the fact that the photos appear to be somewhat pixelated. It wasn't intentional, but I didn't have time to play around with it to fix it.)




Predictably TSCS's Quote of The Day comes from the man himself:

"For me to look far ahead would be a lot of years wasted, and a lot of time and work wasted... I've done the same thing since I was six -- try to get better and have fun playing hockey."