-- Sidney Crosby does not get to Western Canada very often, so it becomes a media event.
Although the Penguins captain is not quite far enough along in his comeback from a concussion to play tonight against Vancouver in the teams' season opener, there still was a topic of high interest here as he was surrounded by reporters while pressed against a Canucks-blue wall at Rogers Arena.
In February 2010, the venue was temporarily being called Canada's Hockey Place, and Crosby further embedded himself in the hearts of fellow Canadians when he scored the winning goal in overtime of the Olympic gold-medal game.
"It's full of great memories," Crosby said after participating in practice with his teammates. "This being the first time back, it's pretty easy to kind of go through that in your head."
As far as his physical status, Crosby said nothing has changed. He has not been cleared for contact but is practicing hard.
Now, though, comes the reality of missing the start of the 2011-12 season after sitting out the second half of last season and the playoffs.
"When you've gone through something for this long, I think you appreciate the little victories and having the opportunity to just go out there and go as hard as you can and feel good," Crosby said. "You go into each day and hope you feel better. It's been really good so far, so I think more or less, that has just been something that I've been happy about.
"I'm not happy about missing the first game, but I'm happy with the improvement and happy to be going hard."
Crosby noted that he has been symptom-free for less than a month, "but it's been a pretty long period of time considering the months prior to that. So, yeah, it's been a good chunk of time."
Icing a hot topic
Talk of the merits of adopting no-touch icing in the NHL has spiked again after Edmonton defenseman Taylor Fedun sustained a badly broken leg when he crashed into the boards in a preseason game Friday.
Fedun was racing to the puck with Minnesota Wild forward Eric Nystrom, who reached around Fedun with his stick to negate the potential icing, but got the stick caught in Fedun's skate.
The early word was that Fedun's injury might be career-threatening, although the prognosis subsequently became more upbeat.
There is, however, no consensus that no-touch icing is the way to go, and a number of Penguins were surprisingly ambivalent when asked if they would endorse it.
"I don't think it will have an effect, either way," defenseman Deryk Engelland said. "There are very limited times during the season when it's going to have any effect on the play. The majority of the time, the defensive team is going to touch the puck.
"For the safety aspect, it's not a bad thing to throw in there, but either way, it doesn't bother me."
Coach Dan Bylsma said he wanted to see strict enforcement of the rules that already are in place.
Bylsma likes early schedule
The Penguins are starting the season as far from home as possible without being one of the NHL clubs opening in Europe and will play three games before going home. They have dates Saturday at Calgary and Sunday at Edmonton.
These are among the 13 games they have in October, seven of them on the road.
"We play a lot of hockey games this month," Bylsma said. "I like getting on the road. We do that a couple times. And we have a trip out here.
"I like that trip at the beginning of the year. I think it has a different flavor, a different excitement with the guys getting together early as a team for the first time."
Tip-ins
Penguins center Jordan Staal, given the day off Tuesday, practiced Wednesday. ... Defenseman Brooks Orpik, who had offseason abdominal surgery, practiced but is not sure if he will play against the Canucks.
Although the Penguins captain is not quite far enough along in his comeback from a concussion to play tonight against Vancouver in the teams' season opener, there still was a topic of high interest here as he was surrounded by reporters while pressed against a Canucks-blue wall at Rogers Arena.
In February 2010, the venue was temporarily being called Canada's Hockey Place, and Crosby further embedded himself in the hearts of fellow Canadians when he scored the winning goal in overtime of the Olympic gold-medal game.
"It's full of great memories," Crosby said after participating in practice with his teammates. "This being the first time back, it's pretty easy to kind of go through that in your head."
As far as his physical status, Crosby said nothing has changed. He has not been cleared for contact but is practicing hard.
Now, though, comes the reality of missing the start of the 2011-12 season after sitting out the second half of last season and the playoffs.
"When you've gone through something for this long, I think you appreciate the little victories and having the opportunity to just go out there and go as hard as you can and feel good," Crosby said. "You go into each day and hope you feel better. It's been really good so far, so I think more or less, that has just been something that I've been happy about.
"I'm not happy about missing the first game, but I'm happy with the improvement and happy to be going hard."
Crosby noted that he has been symptom-free for less than a month, "but it's been a pretty long period of time considering the months prior to that. So, yeah, it's been a good chunk of time."
Icing a hot topic
Talk of the merits of adopting no-touch icing in the NHL has spiked again after Edmonton defenseman Taylor Fedun sustained a badly broken leg when he crashed into the boards in a preseason game Friday.
Fedun was racing to the puck with Minnesota Wild forward Eric Nystrom, who reached around Fedun with his stick to negate the potential icing, but got the stick caught in Fedun's skate.
The early word was that Fedun's injury might be career-threatening, although the prognosis subsequently became more upbeat.
There is, however, no consensus that no-touch icing is the way to go, and a number of Penguins were surprisingly ambivalent when asked if they would endorse it.
"I don't think it will have an effect, either way," defenseman Deryk Engelland said. "There are very limited times during the season when it's going to have any effect on the play. The majority of the time, the defensive team is going to touch the puck.
"For the safety aspect, it's not a bad thing to throw in there, but either way, it doesn't bother me."
Coach Dan Bylsma said he wanted to see strict enforcement of the rules that already are in place.
Bylsma likes early schedule
The Penguins are starting the season as far from home as possible without being one of the NHL clubs opening in Europe and will play three games before going home. They have dates Saturday at Calgary and Sunday at Edmonton.
These are among the 13 games they have in October, seven of them on the road.
"We play a lot of hockey games this month," Bylsma said. "I like getting on the road. We do that a couple times. And we have a trip out here.
"I like that trip at the beginning of the year. I think it has a different flavor, a different excitement with the guys getting together early as a team for the first time."
Tip-ins
Penguins center Jordan Staal, given the day off Tuesday, practiced Wednesday. ... Defenseman Brooks Orpik, who had offseason abdominal surgery, practiced but is not sure if he will play against the Canucks.
