from Bruce Arthur of the National Post at Canada.com,

If you were ever lucky enough to make Team Canada as a winger, and wanted to tell your kids you got to play in the Olympics with Sidney Crosby, you would have a pretty good chance. At the Olympics, everyone gets to play with Sidney Crosby, or near enough. Here in Sochi, in three games, Crosby has already played with Chris Kunitz, Jeff Carter, Martin St. Louis and, against Finland, Patrice Bergeron and Jamie Benn. Five more, and he collects the whole set.

It’s Vancouver redux, where Crosby played with six different combinations featuring six different players, ending with Jarome Iginla and Eric Staal. So why is playing with Canada’s greatest player so hard?

“I think he’s a tough guy to keep up with,” says Rick Nash, who was tried with three separate Crosby combinations in Vancouver. “He’s so fast. The way he thinks about the game seems like it’s far beyond everyone else’s process. It’s the same thing in the last Olympics, keep shuffling around until you found something that fit.”

“Whoever gets that chance shouldn’t put too much pressure on themselves,” said Jonathan Toews, who also, a little oddly, played a few shifts with Crosby in Vancouver. “Just go play hockey. When you have the puck, look for whoever’s open; it doesn’t mean you have to get it to Sidney. I think he would tell you the same thing.”

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from Roy MacGregor of the Globe and Mail,