Timbits to Bantam (1993-2002)

Warning: there are a lot of blockquotes in this post. I'm working with sources that are behind a paywall, so I figured it was better to quote at length.

Timbits: The Itty-Bitty Years, 1993-1994

Sid joined the Cole Harbour Timbits in 1993, when he was 5 years old. He was 3’11”, wore jersey number 8 and Montreal Canadiens socks, and played center. (source) His coach, Paul Gallagher, would later be his coach in Bantam. Gallagher said, "As soon as I saw him, I went to the organizers and said 'Are you sure he's only five? I've never seen a five-year-old kid skate like that. We played our games cross-ice and the kid had great natural lateral ability. I said, 'Man alive, I've never seen anything like this.'" (Source)

(image source)

There's a sweet Tim Hortons ad from 2010 which features a snippet of Sid scoring a goal in Timbits. There's a gif of the moment in this collection of Sid pics.

(Vaguely related: Sid's been associated with Tim Hortons since he signed a multi-year deal with Tim Hortons in 2006. His name and likeness have been associated with Timbits hockey since then. Also: I can't let this pass without linking you to his Tim Hortons drive-through commercial with Nate, or to this picture of him when he took the Cup into a Tim Hortons.)

Okay, now we get into the quote-heavy part. Buckle up.


Novice: Still Itty Bitty

Sidney attended Colby Village Elementary School. Shockingly, he checked out hockey books:

Back when Sid was Sam's age [11], he often checked the hockey books out of the library. After Crosby became famous, Graham Pierce, a teacher and former librarian, realized those books might be good keepsakes, so he replaced them and gave the originals to Sid's parents, Trina and Troy -- but not before photocopying the title pages and attaching circulation cards. And so there it is: The Stanley Cup, by Frank Orr, signed out to Sidney Crosby twice, once in fourth grade and once in fifth grade. (Source)

Crosby had his first interview in 1995, when he was all of seven years old. While the interview is no longer available (the Halifax Daily News folded in 2008, and the LexisNexis online archives only go back to 2000), Sadler recounted her interview experience in a later article for the National Post:

I wanted to profile a hockey-mad kid making his way through the ranks. Sidney's name had come up pretty quickly, this seven-year-old playing well above his level in Nova Scotia's Novice AAA.

Sidney was hard not to notice. He was nimble and sure-footed on the ice, turning quick circles with the control of a professional. He was also noticeably smaller than the other players. At age seven, he was the youngest by at least two years. Yet he dominated, and easily found a way to score on the older, bigger goalie he was facing. At one point, there was a race for the puck as it skidded down the ice to the offensive zone, and there was little Sidney out in front, just booting it.

I interviewed the future star in the changing room. He was so little and was as cute as a bug. His feet didn't touch the ground and he swung his legs back and forth during the interview.

I asked him if he hoped to make it to the NHL. He was polite and soft-spoken and thoughtful with his answers. There was no seven-year-old bravado or delusion of greatness.

"They say you have to do your best and work hard and things will happen. You can make it if you try," he said.

Sidney's team coach, a Crown prosecutor by day, told me Novice AAA was a competitive level, but his big emphasis was on the kids having fun.

You would not have known that judging by the parents in the stands during the game. It was as heated as Triple-A got. Parents were booing the refs, jeering the opposing coaches and screaming at the players.

In our brief chat, Sidney talked about how much he loved hockey; said he never got tired of it. He had tournaments coming up, playoffs, summer camps. He just loved hockey. The hockey season for him never ended.

It wasn't a long interview. Kids are notoriously short with their answers. I'd heard so much about Crosby's talent and saw it for myself that I was expecting to hear the kind of passion an adult would summon when talking about pursuing a dream. What I got was a seven-year-old who really loved hockey and hoped one day to play in the NHL.

(Found through this link roundup.)

His coach, Dennis Irwin, said that he tried to keep the ice time equal, but "there were a few times I put him out there a little more than some of the others - on the power play and penalty killing. But not too often." His favorite story was about Sid's selflessness: "We had one kid who hadn't scored a goal. Sidney was giving up sure goals trying to get him his goal. And he got it, too.'' (Source)


Peewee: 1999-2000

(source)

In his 1999-2000 season, Sidney scored over 200 points in 70 games. (Source: see article below.) His coach was Paul Mason. (Source) Sid already was doing some great stuff, at least in Mason's hindsight. Mason said, "He had vision beyond vision. My assistant coach and I used to look at each other and say 'Did he do that on purpose?'" (Source)

There's a great little snippet on Mason here:

Mason and his wife, Dana, held their wedding reception at the multi-purpose facility. He will tell you – proudly – that he’s slept in the press box at the main rink on more than one occasion.

“We had lost ice in the other rink during a snowstorm,” explains Mason. “Lots of people have done it.”

It’s one of the secrets to Cole Harbour’s hockey success. Coaches and community members like Mason are willing to sleep in press boxes, drive in snowstorms or take time away from work and family to make sure kids in their small town can play the game they all love so dearly.

Mason wasn't Sid's only coach, though. In March of 2000, Sid was tapped by the coach of the AAA bantam Cole Harbour Red Wings to play in the Joe Lamontagne Memorial March Break tournament. The coach, Harry O'Donnell, was suspended by the Cole Harbour Minor Hockey Association for using a Peewee player at the Bantam level.

This is a long quote, but I find it hilarious, so I'm keeping it all. It's the first time -- but not the last -- that Sid caused a hockey ruckus. Also worthy of note: the coach, O'Donnell, compares Sid to Gretzky (as far as I know, this is the first time this comes up in print).

Harry O'Donnell expected a slap on the wrist, but he didn't count on a blow to the chin.

O'Donnell, head coach of the AAA bantam (14 and 15 years old) hockey Cole Harbour Red Wings, was suspended by the Cole Harbour Minor Hockey Association for one game for using a peewee aged (12 and 13 years old) player at a tournament at Cole Harbour Place last month.

O'Donnell, who selected 12-year-old phenom Sidney Crosby to play for the AAA bantam club at the Joe Lamontagne Memorial March Break tournament, will sit out the first game of tomorrow's Irving Oil Challenge Cup, Atlantic Canada's AAA bantam championship, scheduled for Cole Harbour Place.

"What would have happened to Wayne Gretzky if they did that to him?" asked O'Donnell, whose two assistant coaches will be behind the bench for the Wings' opening game tomorrow.

"I knew that I would get spanked for it, but I didn't expect this. I just wanted to put the best players on the ice ... that's the bottom line. They didn't agree with that."

Laurie Carr, president of the Cole Harbour Minor Hockey Association, did not wish to discuss the reasoning behind the suspension.

"We view this to be internal within our own association," said Carr. "It was dealt with that way, and it will stay that way."

Crosby is considered an elite peewee player. The five-foot-two, 130-pound Cole Harbour resident has amassed more than 200 points in about 70 games this season. He played an instrumental role in leading his club to the Atlantic peewee championship in Fredericton last weekend.

Last year, a handful of players played up from peewee to bantam, but the rule was changed for the start of the 1999-2000 season.

Crosby, who turns 13 in August, is upset because at least one other hockey association will have a peewee-aged player in the Challenge Cup tournament.

"I think it's pretty cheap, because Brent Theriault will be playing for the Halifax Hawks, and I can't play," said Crosby, who had a goal and three assists in the bantam club's 10-0 win over TASA at the March break tournament. "I wanted to finish my season this weekend playing in the bantam Atlantics, but now I can't. It's just politics, I guess."

Crosby said he believes checking and the potential for injury are the main reasons the Cole Harbour association doesn't allow him to play up a level.

But Crosby, who estimated he's played about 80 games with checking, doesn't agree with all the fuss.

"It's no big deal," he said. "I played with those same guys most of last year. It wasn't that hard. After the first period, I was pretty well used to it."

Repeated phone calls and letters from those supporting Crosby's wish to play bantam failed to win a sought-after face-to-face meeting with the association.

"It was just a flat 'no,"' said Crosby's father, Troy, a 12th-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in the 1984 NHL draft. "That was their position. That was it."

The elder Crosby stressed this isn't one of those horror stories where the parents push their kids too far, too fast. Rather, it's a question of wanting his child to play to his potential, he said.

"We want what's best for his development," said Crosby. "Everyone should be challenged to play at their best, otherwise it's just a waste of time."

(Source: Chris Kallan's "Age-old question: Cole Harbour hockey association bars peewee player from bantam tourney," in the Halifax Daily News April 5th, 2000.

It's not surprising that Sid wanted to move to Bantam a year before he was supposed to. He wasn't challenged; worse, the players and parents of players resented his presence on the ice (for good reason, to be honest).


Bantam: 2000-2001

Sid's coach in Bantam was Paul Gallagher, who said there was a marked difference between Bantam and Timbits:

"As a little guy, he wasn't any different than any other kid as a kid. He enjoyed his little box of juice after the game just like all the others. But he sure loved to come to the rink.

"His family went to court against Nova Scotia minor hockey trying to have him made eligible to play midget when he was 13. I didn't expect to be coaching him again. But they lost the court case. Sidney showed up. I said 'All set?' He said 'Let's get 'er going.'

"We ended up winning the Atlantic Canada title with him that year and I'll never forget the goal in overtime. He set up the goal with a pass between a defenceman's legs to get the winner. Andrew Newton. He was the kid who scored it." (Source)

As Gallagher mentions, in September of 2000, Crosby was involved in another confrontation with the hockey association, again because he wanted to move too quickly. He petitioned to enter Midget AAA for the 2000-2001 season, which would mean that he would skip Bantam level entirely. In order to skip a level, he had to be approved by the hockey association. His request was denied. Here's an article about the initial request (again, quoted at length because it's not available online):

One of Nova Scotia's most promising young hockey players has been ordered to stop skating with the Dartmouth Subways by the Nova Scotia Minor Hockey Council.

Sidney Crosby of Cole Harbour, who was off to a brilliant start with the AAA midget team, was ordered to stop playing and practising with the team on Aug. 17, said his mother, Trina Crosby.

Keith Boutilier, the Dartmouth regional director of the NSMHC, told Crosby he couldn't play midget because Crosby, who turned 13 last month, is a second-year peewee.

Boutilier could not be reached for comment and Donnie Matheson of Sydney, the council's chairman, did not return a phone call last night.

There is no rule regarding a peewee player playing midget hockey, but Crosby is in limbo until the council meets in Wolfville next weekend.

"From the time Sidney started playing minor hockey he's always been fast-tracked and always played an age level above," said Trina Crosby.

Crosby, who was born in 1987, has been a standout playing with kids born in 1986 for the last six years.

Some of those kids born in 1986 are playing AAA midget this year but Crosby hasn't been allowed to make the jump with them -- yet.

"I was pretty happy that I made the team," said Crosby, who scored four goals and an assist during an intrasquad game at training camp.

This isn't the first time Crosby's age has been an issue.

Last April, he was held out of the Atlantic Canada AAA bantam championship by the Cole Harbour minor hockey association.

He played, and excelled, with the Cole Harbour bantams at the Joe Lamontagne tournament in March.

Coach Harry O'Donnell was suspended for one game for playing Crosby.

"I'm getting sort of tired of it," said Crosby, a honours student who is starting Grade 8 at Astral Drive Junior High.

"I wish they wouldn't think so much about age. I was taught all my life age is just a number and to always shoot for your best.

"That's what I'm doing and they just keep putting me back down."

Trina Crosby thinks playing for the Subways is a "wonderful stepping stone" for her son to get ready for the next level.

"By Christmas, he would be someone to reckon with," she said. "We don't see him riding the bench."

She said Cole Harbour minor hockey started fast-tracking Sidney when he was seven and that allowed him to become the player he is today.

At five-foot-four and 142 pounds, Crosby would not be the smallest player in the midget league.

Source: Ryan Van Horne's "Minor hockey bars Crosby: Peewee star not allowed to play AAA midget," from Halifax Daily News September 16th, 2000.

(I like that Trina Crosby was the parent quoted here; Troy Crosby is often mentioned as Sid's Hockey Parent, but both of them were pretty intense about it.)

The Halifax Daily News, as you can probably tell, is hilariously biased in Sid's favor. Ryan Van Horne, who wrote that article, also wrote an opinion piece about Sid being blocked from Midget. It actually gives you some insight into the politics of Cole Harbour hockey, and how Sid threw a wrench into the works:

Like most skilled hockey players, 13-year-old Sidney Crosby of Cole Harbour has to fight through a lot of clutching and grabbing on the ice.

But it's nothing compared with what bureaucrats from the Nova Scotia Minor Hockey Council have done to him for the last five weeks and are considering doing to him for the rest of the season.

The peewee-aged Crosby, Nova Scotia's most promising young player, was ordered off the ice Aug. 17 after he had spent three days at the Dartmouth Subways AAA midget training camp.

Keith Boutilier, the Dartmouth regional director of the council, threatened Dartmouth coach Brad Crossley with disciplinary action if he continued to allow Crosby to play or practise with the team.

Nova Scotia Hockey rules say that for a player to jump two levels, there must be approval by the minor hockey council.

Crosby has been cleared to play bantam AAA for the Cole Harbour Red Wings, but they haven't started tryouts. He's waiting for this weekend's meeting of the council where he, his parents and Crossley will plead their case.

A highly-skilled centre with superior vision and hockey sense, Crosby has been fast-tracked by Cole Harbour minor hockey for the last six years. Last year, his second in peewee AAA, Crosby scored more than 200 points in 70 games. He netted 35 points in five games at the provincial championship. During an intrasquad game at the Subways camp, he had four goals and an assist. Nova Scotia should be proud of this kid. Hockey people from Canada and Europe have watched him play and marvelled at his skills. He's good enough to play midget AAA.

As for his size, there are others no bigger than Crosby's five-foot-four, 142-pound frame playing in the league. Also, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, the No. 2 pick in the 2000 Quebec league draft, is five-foot-nine, 147 pounds and he's playing major junior. Size is not an issue.

As for injuries, hockey is a rough game and any player, regardless of size, is at risk. Just ask Eric Lindros.

Lots of players have played advanced levels of hockey at a young age. Bobby Orr played top-level midget hockey in Ontario as a 13-year-old and played major junior at 14. Dan Blackburn, the goalie for the major junior Kootenay Ice, played junior A as a 14-year-old.

Boutilier refused to be interviewed for this story until The Daily News corrected what he considered an "erroneous comment."

An article published last Saturday said Boutilier could not be reached for comment the night before. He misinterpreted that.

"He referred to myself as being unavailable for comment," said Boutilier, whose home phone number is not listed in the Waverley exchange.

Further efforts to talk to Boutilier -- again, through his answering machine -- were unsuccessful yesterday.

Nova Scotia minor hockey officials should let Sidney Crosby play midget AAA. Failing to let him play to his potential and provide him with the challenge he needs to become a better player would be a travesty.

If they do decide to bar him from playing midget AAA, they should have the courage to stand by their convictions and discuss, publicly, the reasons for their decision.

Source: Ryan Van Horne's "Let Sidney play midget," from the Halifax Daily News, September 22, 2000.

("He misinterpreted that.” I love that line. "It’s a 'bake sale', Judy, not a 'baked-goods-you-bought-at-the-store sale.'")

You can tell that Sid created rifts within the hockey community in Cole Harbour. The association was at odds with the teams that wanted him to play, and the association and some parents were at odds with fans who wanted Sid to be a prodigy. So Sid had started to be the center of conflict when he was twelve or thirteen, barely hitting puberty. It's no surprise that he started getting media training when he was thirteen or so.

You can tell, though, that he's still relatively new at the language during this period. He and his parents are definitely saltier than they would be in the coming years, as you can tell when The Nova Scotia Minor Hockey Council ultimately rejected Crosby's bid in late September. Trina Crosby is delightfully salty here:

"The reception that we got down there was despicable," said Crosby. "Every one of the people on that board should be ashamed of themselves."

Crosby was bitterly disappointed because the preparation she and her husband, Troy, put into their presentation was wasted on the council board members.

"We left no rock unturned," she said. "But they weren't even listening to what we were saying. They looked very disinterested.

"We thought we had a legitimate opportunity for him to be allowed to play. But it was a formality, really. They had absolutely no intention of allowing him to play."

The family will appeal to Hockey Nova Scotia and, if that fails, it can try the Canadian Hockey Association.

"(Sidney) wants us to follow every avenue that's available to us," said Trina Crosby. "That's what we're going to do."

(Source: Ryan Van Horne's "On the slow track: Hockey council rejects peewee's bid to move to midget," from the Halifax Daily News, September 27th, 2000.

Despicable! Ashamed of themselves! Disinterested!

Like in the article about Sid's move to Bantam, Trina Crosby stresses that it's Sid's choice to do this. I'm not saying it's not true -- I think Crosby was already obsessive and driven at that age -- but it shows what people must have been saying already. (It sounds a lot like the insistent refrain of a parent to a child actor, actually.) And again, there's this obvious tension between fans and players and parents of players and coaches and reporters and the association and the council (&c ad nauseum!).

The council wrote in their rejection letter that, "(We) recognize that Sidney is a very talented young man, but do not believe that it is in the best interests of his growth and development to approve such a move." (Source: same article as above.)

Both the Crosbys and the Dartmouth Subways coach (Brad Crossley) appealed to Hockey Nova Scotia, and were rejected again. They decided not to pursue it with the Canadian Hockey Association, which would have been the final stop. Troy Crosby pointed out that it would have been a waste of money to try to pursue it further, since the CHA wouldn't be inclined to overturn a decision of one of their branches. After that, both Troy and Sid stressed that they didn't think Bantam was bad, a slightly more careful move. (Source: Ryan Van Horne's "Crosby back on ice -- in bantam," from the Halifax Daily News, October 10th, 2000.)

Sid's Bantam season was a successful one. The Cole Harbour Red Wings won the championship for the third time in four years. Sid scored ten goals and had six assists in the tournament, and he was the tournament MVP. (Source: "BRIEFS: Summerside takes Jr. A opener 4-1," from the Halifax Daily News, April 9th, 2001.)

In April of 2001, Sidney's Bantam season was over, and he would move on to play with the Dartmouth Subways in the 2001-2002 season.


Let me know if you spot any sources that I should add; I know there are references to his kid years in later articles that I'm missing.

EDIT for additional sources: This is a video which is more relevant to midget, but has some detail from these years.