Sidney Crosby, in the, roughly, 87 hours since becoming inbound Penguins property, already means this much to the local NHL franchise:

	SELECT COMPANY Players who have won the Quebec Major-Junior Hockey League scoring title by the largest margin. Mario Lemieux, 1983-84 -- 112 (282 points scored) Guy LaFleur, 1970-71 -- 65 (170 points scored) Sidney Crosby, 2004-05 -- 52 (168 points scored) Pat LaFontaine, 1981-82 -- 46 (234 points scored) Research: Seth Rorabaugh, Post-Gazette

A guy called from Australia yesterday wanting Penguins tickets.

A guy called from San Diego and purchased a season-ticket package.

A guy from Dormont brought his checkbook, showed up at their door and plunked down a deposit on two partial-season plans, all in the moments before closing on his new house.

The telephones in the club's One Chatham Center offices have rung so incessantly since the Penguins indeed won the lottery late Friday afternoon -- securing this Saturday's first NHL draft pick in Ottawa -- that four ticket-sales representatives spent all evening at the telephones until midnight Friday. They spent from 8 a.m. until 11 p.m. there Saturday and almost as long Sunday. They even bunked at the adjoining Marriott while trying to field the wild weekend's clarion calls for ducats.

Although Penguins officials decline to release figures, it's conceivable that, ever since commissioner Gary Bettman opened their envelope and pronounced them the winner of the Crosby sweepstakes Friday, the Penguins have sold upwards of 150,000 tickets and generated $1 million in down payments alone. These numbers, however, they will divulge: Thanks mostly to No. 87, they received ticket requests from 10 states, added one employee from another department to work the phone lines and continue to look to hire more sales reps.

Certainly, the drafting of Ben Roethlisberger never gave this kind of bump to the Steelers, nor any first-rounder to the Pirates, for that matter. Rather, the Downtown arrival of a certain 17-year-old phenom from Nova Scotia is a marketing, merchandising, mega-hype bonanza along the lines of what LeBron James is to Cleveland. In short, Sid sells.

"Clearly, we haven't seen a rush like this in a long time," said Tom McMillan, the Penguins' vice president of communications and marketing. "The trends are very encouraging, and we haven't really started [promoting a campaign]. Your biggest spikes in ticket sales don't really start until the schedule comes out," which should be later this week, "and we're way ahead of the curve. We've been selling a lot of full season-ticket packages right now. People are lining up."

Just yesterday, a dozen or so people came to their offices, including the guy with his checkbook, Jeff Kuklinski, shortly before he closed on a house in Dormont. Part of the reason he came Downtown: He couldn't get through on the busy phone lines.

"We were talking about buying tickets a week ago," Kuklinski said. "But when this happened, everybody said, 'You better get them now.' No reason not to do it."

So a guy who usually attends a half-dozen games per season suddenly walked out of the Penguins' offices with 20-game plans for two seats, a $1,200-plus cost for a $150 deposit. With a new mortgage, he was glad to get eight months to pay off the rest of those seats in Section D-23, "the end where the Penguins shoot twice." Nothing against aging Mellon Arena, but Kuklinski also said he hoped politicians and city fathers took notice of the Crosby commotion so "hopefully, we'll get a new arena."

The gent from San Diego, a transplanted Pittsburgher, told Penguins sales reps that he planned to attend a few games and try to give away others to family and friends. The Australian, considering he was a half-world away from 66 Mario Lemieux Place, was prepared to immediately buy seats for specific foes without even knowing the game schedule or the availability of inexpensive, trans-Pacific flights, though McMillan said that team officials took his number and basically told him: No worries, mate, "we'd definitely take care of him."

"We're going to be the epicenter of the hockey world for a while," continued McMillan, who added that the No. 87 merchandise is coming soon. "We know the excitement is going to be back.

"We're going along for the ride right now."

Don't bother trying to call to inquire about single-game sales -- they don't begin until early September.

NOTES -- Penguins head scout Greg Malone, while his job grew considerably easier with the Crosby lottery, was effusive about the upcoming No. 1 pick in meeting with the media yesterday. He said Crosby could well ascend someday into the pantheon of local sports stars, such as Terry Bradshaw, Jack Lambert, Franco Harris, Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell, "Just to give the people of Pittsburgh something to look forward to. He raises the bar, and it's as far as he wants to lift it." He joked that he told his son, 2003-04 rookie center Ryan Malone, "If you want any ice time, and we bring [2004 top Penguins pick Evgeni] Malkin over here, you better stay on the wing."... Because of the flip-flopping draft order, after Crosby the Penguins won't select again until choices Nos. 60 and 61, ending the second round and starting the third.