Crosby talks about ice, weather, tough loss

PITTSBURGH -- Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby met the media after Saturday's 3-1 Winter Classic loss at Heinz Field. He expressed disappointment about losing to an archrival, but quickly added it was a "privilege" to play in the League's Jan. 1 event. Here's the transcript from his press conference.

Q. Can you talk about what happened with Steckel?

SIDNEY CROSBY: I couldn't even tell you what happened. I think the puck was going the other way. And I turned and next thing I know, I am down. I can't really comment on it. It's pretty far behind the play. Maybe the refs didn't even see it. A lot of people didn't. But I don't even know. Got in my head, that's for sure. But I don't even know how it developed.

Q. Can you describe what it was like, the conditions especially at the heaviest part of the rain? And do you think the game should have been delayed or postponed? Thoughts on that?

SIDNEY CROSBY: The conditions were all right. I think when it started to come down pretty good there, you could see the puck started to bounce even a little bit more.

And who knows? Even if it didn't rain, it might have continued to do that just because it's the third period and it's been played on a bit more. But it's easy saying, looking back, when you're down, you would have liked a delay or something like that. But everyone's trying to get the game in, and obviously, for the first two periods there wasn't much issue there. There was light rain there at one point, but other than that, it was pretty consistent. We knew that was something we were going to have to deal with. So I don't think that's a complaint.

I think you could see the results of the puck bouncing, but other than that, I mean, it's the same for both teams, and both teams kind of expected to play through that.

Q. How can you describe your feelings when you came out into the stadium, especially the scene at night, fireworks, everything else?

SIDNEY CROSBY: It's an amazing feeling. And I said the same thing when we played in Buffalo. But it's pretty easy to see why you see those guys so pumped up every week. Coming down the tunnel, it's a pretty amazing feeling. And playing hockey in front of that many people, it's something that probably none of us ever dreamed of doing. Would have been nice to be on the other side of things, but it's still a privilege to be part of that. And we had amazing support. The event was great. So I think everyone enjoyed it, and obviously we've seen year after year, it's getting bigger and bigger.