Crosby awaits chance to be hit more often
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Penguins center Sidney Crosby still considers himself close to returning after his long comeback from a concussion, but that does not mean he will play in the next game or two.
"Nothing's really changed," Crosby said Saturday after participating in the team's morning skate at Consol Energy Center.
When the Penguins played New Jersey, he missed his 51st game in a row, not counting the Penguins loss in seven games to Tampa Bay in the first round of the 2011 playoffs.
One thing that has to change is the amount of contact he is getting in practice. He got cleared for full contact 10 days ago, but the team's hectic schedule has not allowed for much heavy hitting.
"I need to get in some contact, more than just one bump in a morning skate," Crosby said. "It's got to be a few days of that. Whenever we can get some of those days together -- and, hopefully, I'll respond well to that -- then I'll be much closer than I am right now."
The next time the Penguins' schedule opens for days of training-camp style practices with hitting is after an Oct. 29 game at Toronto. They have four days off between games then and five successive days with no games the following week.
When Crosby and his medical team believe he is ready, he will not worry about factors such as whether the next opponent is a particularly physical team or whether it is a home or road game.
"It's been a long time, so I'm just looking forward to it whenever that is," he said.
Crosby was diagnosed with a concussion Jan. 6.
Petr Sykora has won two Stanley Cups, one with New Jersey and one with the Penguins. He famously predicted and then scored the winning goal in triple-overtime of the Penguins' Game 5 win at Detroit in the 2008 final, eventually won by the Red Wings.
He has scored more than 300 goals, and his 1,000th NHL game is within sight -- but only because he was willing to accept an invitation to attend the Devils' training camp on a tryout basis.
First Published October 23, 2011 12:00 am
