NHL: Buffalo Sabres at Pittsburgh Penguins - Source: Imagn — Sidney Crosby is said to have practised throwing pucks into a dryer as a youngster (Image Source: Imagn)

"I’m glad people have fun with it": When Sidney Crosby addressed constantly changing urban legend of his younger self shooting pucks into a dryer

Modified Dec 16, 2024 14:41 GMT

Sidney Crosby has spent most of his hockey career in the limelight. Right from a young age, the media have documented his journey into one of the best hockey players of all time. Thus, it is understandable that in order to hype up his talent, there have been a few exaggerated stories about the Penguins legend.

The most famous of these stories is how Sidney Crosby used to practice throwing pucks into a dryer. Once the story started circulating, everyone hopped onto the bandwagon and it grew into an urban legend,

Crosby, during an appearance at the Jay Leno Show in 2005, said that he used to throw pucks inside the dryer. But as per him, in numerous interviews later, the actual truth of it is slightly different. He used to shoot pucks in his basement but there was a net set up for him. All those pucks that didn't go in, used to hit his mom's dryer and thus the dents and marks left on them.

In 2019, Pittsburgh Hockey Now asked Crosby about how he felt about people popularizing the story by taking part in exhibitions that involved shooting pucks at a dryer. The 2005 NHL Draft's first pick didn't necessarily dismiss the people's entertainment:

“It’s just one of those things that’s kind of grown. It’s like anything – you tell a story once and by the time it gets to a couple more people it’s changed. That’s just the way it works sometimes, but I’m glad people have fun with it."

When Tom Brady tried to emulate Sidney Crosby's dryer shots

In August, Tom Brady tried to shoot pucks into a dryer. Ahead of the Fanatics Fan Event in New York, a video went viral of Brady trying to shoot pucks into dryers stacked on top of each other at a Target Practice facility. Brady could only make one of his four shots.

Expand Tweet

While this legend keeps growing, Sidney Crosby can only hope that more young people are inspired by him.