Kyle Okposo tells a Sidney Crosby high school story

Kyle Okposo told a great little Sidney Crosby story on Spittin’ Chiclets recently. It’s always fun to see what has stuck in the memories of someone who knew Crosby before he was really “Sidney Crosby”, even though they could tell he was on the way to being something that the world has never seen before.

High school Sid was just unfair, he played at the renown Shattuck St. Mary’s program and put up a whopping 162 points (72 goals, 90 assists) in 57 games in 2002-03 at the age of 14 before he headed off to the Quebec junior league. Part of that total was no doubt driven on being surrounded by future NHL stars that also had bright futures, like Okposo himself.

This story just drips of “Michael Jordan in the Last Dance” type of vibes, where an all-time great player invents a slight and then sets out to show what he can do to an even better degree. Oh, you think your 20 point weekend was great, Kyle? How about this 25, huh?

Even at a young age, Crosby showed that he always had that edge to go out and one-up even a teammate and friend. That’s the type of competitiveness and drive that is so rare. When it’s paired with the type of high-end talent from a player who gets in a zone and plays to prove a point like Jordan or Crosby could do, it becomes the stuff of legend all these years later.