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On Sports: Sidney Crosby’s remarkable history in international championship games, tributes pour in for Mike Lange | TribLIVE.com
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Penguins/NHL

On Sports: Sidney Crosby’s remarkable history in international championship games, tributes pour in for Mike Lange

Chris Adamski
Chris Adamski
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AP
Sidney Crosby (No. 87, right) hugs Team Canada teammate Connor McDavid (97) after a win in the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament this past week. Canada is 27-1 with Crosby in the lineup heading into Thursday night’s 4 Nations championship game against the United States.

Thursday night is the championship of the 4 Nations Face-Off, the NHL-sponsored international tournament that is the first to feature top NHL players in nine years.

The matchup between Canada and the U.S. is highly anticipated, and the Americans won the meeting in pool play five days ago. That remains the only loss among the past 28 games Sidney Crosby has played for Team Canada.

The Canadians with Crosby available have won the past four such international tournaments — the 2010 and 2014 Olympics, the 2015 IIHF world championships and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Crosby’s five points in three games (one goal, four assists) is tied with the U.S.’s Zach Werenski for the lead in the 4 Nations. That’s not surprising — Crosby was the leading scorer in the most recent so-called “best on best” hockey tournament (the 2016 World Cup) and has 31 points (11 goals, 20 assists) in the aforementioned 28-game run since a preliminary-round loss to the U.S. at the 2010 Olympics.

Crosby also had eight goals and eight assists in nine games at the 2006 world championships, and he had 14 points in 12 games at World Juniors championships tournaments in 2004 and 2005.

In championship or gold-medal games for Team Canada as a professional, Crosby has three goals and three assists in five games — all of them, of course, wins (the 2016 World Cup was a best-of-three final). He also had an assist in the gold-medal game win against Russia at the 2005 World Juniors

Crosby is the only current Penguins player on either team in Thursday’s game.

Remembering Mike

Word broke late Wednesday evening that legendary Penguins broadcaster Mike Lange had died. Most in today’s world first get their news via social media, and for Pittsburgh sports fans the sad news about Lange was no different.

Appropriately, social media also was where a barrage of tributes were shared for Lange, who was synonymous with the Penguins for five decades.

Here are a sampling of messages posted on X, beginning with the official statement from the Penguins and from arguably the only man who’s been more identified with the franchise than Lange, Mario Lemieux:

Fellow Penguins broadcasters also expressed their appreciation:

It didn’t take long for those who worked for the Penguins alongside Lange to develop an admiration, as several former team broadcasters attested:

Many in the local broadcasting fraternity became close with Lange, particularly the most veteran Pirates play-by-play and (now-retired) color analyst, Greg Brown and Steve Blass.

Reaction came from across the NHL community….

…and across lines outside of those who work in sports.

Most-fined

The Action Network compiled the 2024 season’s NFL fines and suspensions by team, and the Steelers rank high on the list.

Only two teams’ players on aggregate forfeited more in salary for disciplinary reasons this past season than the Steelers. The $731,828 that Steelers players gave up trailed only the Houston Texans and Los Angeles Chargers.

Before anyone blames George Pickens for this, though, it should be noted that the Steelers’ total is highly influenced by an eight-game, season-opening suspension served by Cameron Sutton for off-field actions while he was still a member of the Detroit Lions. Sutton’s salary over the eight games he missed was $537,776. No suspension served in the league for a player who played this past season was longer, and it accounted for the fourth-most salary lost due to suspension.

Pickens was fined seven times for on-field actions this season (if you include getting docked for his profane eye-black message). Those in total cost Pickens $84,921.

Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.

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Categories: Penguins/NHL | Sports | Steelers/NFL
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