Catching up with Crosby

Shortly after the Penguins' season ended, Sidney Crosby took a much-deserved vacation. After playing a staggering amount of hockey over the last three years, the Penguins captain took advantage of having a longer summer by traveling to Europe for a few weeks to kick it off.

He's been overseas numerous times throughout his career for different international tournaments, but this time, he went for fun instead of work. His destinations included England, Spain, Switzerland, Germany and Austria.
"I was basically just sightseeing," Crosby said following an informal skate at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex on Wednesday. "Got to do some pretty cool stuff and get away from it a little bit. Was the first time in a couple summers I was able to go on a vacation, it felt like. It was nice to get away and see a different part of the world and unwind a bit."
Crosby doesn't have any official social media accounts, but pictures of him at different locations throughout Europe popped up on the Internet during his time there. Most notably, tennis star Maria Sharapova shared photos of her giving Crosby a tour of the courts in Wimbledon.

"It was fun to be around that," he said. "You don't have to be a huge tennis fan to appreciate the tradition in that place. To be able to spend the time I did with the people there and things like that, I was definitely appreciative."
Crosby also spent 15-20 minutes practicing on one of the courts with John Isner, who was very complimentary of the Penguins captain.
"He was pretty good," Isner told the ATP Tour's website. "He actually was a little bit nervous, I think. We were just practicing at Aorangi. Once he started releasing his forehand, he started hitting the ball much better, but he's strong as an ox. It's crazy how strong his lower body is."
Crosby shared similar sentiments about Isner, who stands at 6-foot-10 and 245 pounds and is currently ranked No. 11 in the world.
"He's got a pretty heavy serve, so just being able to stand behind that was cool," Crosby said with a smile.
Another part of Crosby's trip that stood out was skating at Vaillant Arena in Davos, where the Spengler Cup - the oldest invitational hockey tournament in the world - is hosted every year.

"Playing hockey gives you that opportunity to meet other athletes and experience different things, so I always try to take the opportunity to do that," Crosby said. "I would say whenever you get the chance to do that, you try to take advantage of that."
Crosby enjoyed his travels across Europe, and spent time in different parts of North America as well, including a few stops in Pittsburgh and a trip to Maine for Brian Dumoulin's wedding. But now that he's finally back in town for good, he's excited to get going again and is more motivated than ever to win the Stanley Cup after the Washington Capitals took possession of the trophy this past summer.
"It's good to get a full summer in and train and probably more mentally than anything, coming in fresh," he said. "And just knowing that since you lost the year before, you want to prove something."
Crosby said his offseason regimen was actually pretty typical, it's just been a while since the Penguins have had a normal summer routine after winning back-to-back years.
"Mentally and physically you're just a little more rested," he said. "That's something you have to deal with when you've won, kind of starting behind the eight ball a little bit as far as your body and things like that. I would say that's probably the biggest difference.
"Other than that, whether you've won or lost, you still got something to prove coming into the next year. There's always things that motivate different guys. For us, it's easy to find that motivation after having lost the year before."