Jen: It was definitely something that you wanted to be perfect. There’s no one more deserving to be more recognised. And knowing he had to do it without the fans there - you know, you just wish he could have got that ovation that he deserved, and celebrate it with them. So we wanted to make it extra special.
We were set for Valentine’s Day against the Capitals, and here we were doing it instead on Feb 21st… To be honest, the stick he got on the ice is back at the engraver’s, getting the date put on it for his 1000th game. We started in January, reaching out to all the teams. Not one person we asked said no.
And I can tell you that you guys saw quite a few videos from a lot of high-profile people, but Sid actually got a personal video with over 45 minutes of messages from friends, families, people at home, guys he played with at Rimouski… To not have fans, we wanted to make it extra special for him.
Steg: You had to be cognisant and respectful of the superstitious nature of Sidney Crosby. How did you handle that part of it?
Jen: So, I never, ever, ever said the word to him. I never said the word 1000 to him once. I think it was Wednesday the week before, and I said, ‘Hey, Thursday’s a day off, and I’m thinking Friday you’ll be available’. And he looks at me and I’m like, “FRIDAY… you’ll be available, because the media will want to talk to you’. And he gave me the wink, like, okay. We never said anything but he knew it was gonna be the first time he answered questions about it. I didn’t bring any requests to his attention prior to that.
We had an idea to watch his first game with him, but we haven’t done it yet because we didn’t wanna ask him till it was here. So, yeah, we’re superstitious from that factor. I actually called his sister and I said, ‘Taylor, you gotta help me. How do I proceed with this one?’ and she helped with the family stuff. I called Kathy, his girlfriend, and she helped with the friend stuff. It’s funny to see how many people - I can’t imagine what he felt like hearing all the messages and watching all the videos, because there were a few of them that made me tear up, because he is just so respected across the board at all levels of the game.
Steg: Whose ideas were they?
Jen: (on Sid’s 1000th game tribute mosaic) …One of the funniest moments of last Saturday was, after the game was over, I saw Geno bending over and he was counting to make sure there was a thousand!
(on tying the skates) You know, I don’t know what player came up with that but that was probably the highlight of the night for him. He didn’t even notice. He was so in the zone. And he turned around and looked around and was like, ‘Oh my god’. When they switched legs, I was laughing so hard. They really full on went in. I fully expected they would have done it in Washington too since they won. (Metzer: He would have required it right?) Yeah, I thought for sure this was gonna be a new mandate! That everyone was gonna have to tie their skates just like him.
Metzer: Sid’s such a great human, but it humanised him, seeing the emotion. When he came together with Geno and Kris Letang, was that kinda a cool moment for you guys too, to just see the big three having an emotional moment. You could just see the affection between those three guys.
Jen: It was actually quite funny to me because of everything that’s been in the media recently about the core and the changes in management, what the future of the team looks like. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the three of them have such an incredible moment - and I’ve seen them win three Cups together. They really were sincerely proud, sincerely thankful for each other and all the things they’ve accomplished together
Steg: It was nice to see Sid with his girlfriend too.
Jen: Yeah! Kathy’s wonderful. I didn’t want him to be alone out there. We had to ask the league for permission to have the guys on the ice, cus we felt like he was on an island by himself with no fans in the building.
…I feel like for someone who’s in his 16th season, nothing’s slowed down. On the ice or off the ice. He is still such a big magnet for our team and attention - and deservingly so. He shows up day in and day out.
The night of this game, there was a long delay before he did media and the true story was, we couldn’t find him. He worked out after the game (laughs). He brought a protein shake to media with him. We were looking all over for him. Sid was so long because after he took all his pictures, he went and worked out. We couldn’t find him! His teammates had all already worked out, showered, there was a cake- and it was just so funny. No one knew where Sid was. He was working out.
-Penguins Live Weekly on Sid’s 1000th game with Jen Bullano, 27 Feb 2021
In which sid is utterly sid…
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