The two greats closing in on impressive feats
27 players can claim membership in hockey’s Triple Gold club. Entrance requires winning an Olympic gold medal, a World Championships gold medal and a Stanley Cup. The last one being an ironic addition since it’s not gold at all. Anyways, so far, none of those 27 players are goalies.
Marc-Andre Fleury is looking to change that in his latest final hurrah with Team Canada over in the World Championships. Should Canada win the championship next weekend, Fleury will become the first goalie in the club. Fleury is playing well in the early going (against limited opponents), he’s 2-0 with a 1.00 GAA and .939 save% after yesterday’s 15 save on 16 shot win over Austria. Crosby has five points (2G+3A) in four games, including a slick goal against France. The team is 4-0, beating up on lesser lights like Austria, France, Hungary. The bigger tests are ahead with Sweden and the one-game elimination bracket coming up.
Already in that Triple Gold club, Crosby is looking for something even more exclusive. Now fully in the Jagr-ization stage of his older years, the Pens and Canadian captain seeks any and all opportunities to stay active and keep going. That’s led him to Europe and the opportunity to shorten his off-season and competitive inactivity with this tournament. It also comes with the possibility of a subtle accolade. A WC victory here would be the second of Crosby’s career. He already has multiple Olympic golds (2010, 2014) and Stanley Cups (‘09, 16, 17) so another title puts Crosby in the Double Triple Gold club that only currently has three members (Peter Forsberg, Igor Larionov, Slava Fetisov).
While projecting victories, if Crosby and Canada nab gold in Italy next February and then he goes onto win a few more WC’s, it’s conceivable he could even become the lone member of the Triple Triple Gold club as the only player in hockey history to complete the three legs of the club three times over. Long way to go for that yet, but it’s possible.
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Neck guards are mandated in the IIHF, which could have presented a problem for Crosby since he doesn’t choose to wear one during NHL action. Luckily he found a solution from the past, somehow digging up an old friend that he wore 20 years ago.
Sidney Crosby is nothing but a creature of habit pic.twitter.com/Se9zoRczOP
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) May 12, 2025
Sid confirmed it is indeed the same one. Somehow, one can’t strike the image of the greatest hockey player in the world rifling through an old hockey bag desperately searching for a piece of equipment exactly like what would happen to a beer league player rushing to get ready while late for an 11:00pm start when he can’t find one of his elbow pads or something.
svt sport asked him about the old neck guard
“i happened to find this 3 or 4 months ago”
“it’s like an old glove” pic.twitter.com/WhX7HBxqR1— kennedy (@penguinpain87) May 15, 2025
Crosby and Fleury’s quest for success continues tomorrow against Slovakia. The tournament is entering its final week with quarterfinals on Thursday, semis next Saturday and then the championship game next Sunday. In America you can find all the Canada and US games on NHL Network.