Sidney Crosby's counter-snub: The Red Wings left the ice early
Sidney
Crosby insisted to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Dave Molinari that he
did not attempt to "snub" Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom after the
Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup. He claims that Kris Draper's
hurt feelings are simply a matter of mixed signals, not a captain
choosing to celebrate instead of leading his team through a handshake
line:
June 14, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
"My intentions were to shake hands," Crosby said. "That we didn't
wasn't me trying to avoid it. That's the last thing I'd want to do. By
no means was I trying to avoid shaking the other team's hands. I think
it's important to do that."
The issue of Crosby, the Penguins' captain, not shaking hands with
his Red Wings counterpart flared after Red Wings center Kris Draper
told The Associated Press that "Nick was waiting and waiting, and
Crosby didn't come over to shake his hand." Draper added that, "that's
ridiculous, especially as their captain, and make sure you write that I
said that," but did not define what he meant by "waiting and waiting."
Crosby, who said he was "really surprised that [Draper] said that,"
estimated the time that passed between the end of the game and when he
joined the handshake line at "three or four minutes."
"I came out of the scrum where we were all celebrating," he said,
adding that "seven to 10" Red Wings still were in line and "five or
six" others who were just leaving the ice.
Losing teams rarely linger on the ice because they do not care to
watch the other club celebrate, and Crosby suggested that Lidstrom
likely did not wait long before adjourning to his locker room.
After the Red Wings defeated the Penguins in the 2008 Cup final, he said, "I didn't feel like waiting around, either."
This isn't going to go away. This issue will probably sit as well
with Wings fans as Marian Hossa's defection did with Pittsburgh, and
Penguins fans will defend Crosby just as staunchly as Red Wings fans
defended Hossa, so there's no real point in getting into a fight about
it.
The only thing I know is this: Nicklas Lidstrom led his team through the handshake line.
Associated PressNicklas Lidstrom, Kris Draper, Johan Franzen, Brad Stuart, and Mikael Samuelsson notice that somebody's missing.