from Frank Seravalli of TSN,

They stood and they roared and they didn’t stop, saluting an anglo Maritimer that arrived as a 16-year-old kid named Sid and left for the NHL as a native son.

The hair-raising ovation lasted so long – clocked at 8 minutes and 35 seconds – that the man they were feting, a usually stoic Sidney Crosby, fought back tears.

“When I brought the Cup here in 2017, I had the sunglasses on that day so I could hide it all,” Crosby said of his emotions. “But that’s not the case tonight.”

“Cros-by, Cros-by,” the capacity crowd of 5,062 thundered during a lengthy show of appreciation that drew comparisons to the adulation Habs fans showered on Maurice “Rocket” Richard on the night the curtain closed on the Forum in 1996.

It was that kind of night in Rimouski, one for all-time in junior hockey, as the Oceanic retired Crosby's No. 87.

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