KFDM COOP Posted January 24, 2007 Report Posted January 24, 2007 'Catters' coach has outstanding memories of NHL phenom DALLAS - Sharing ice time with Sidney Crosby at a hockey camp might be like saying you saw National Football League star LaDainian Tomlinson at a college scouting combine when he was in high school. Texas Wildcatters hockey coach Malcolm Cameron had barely begun a professional coaching career when he was an instructor at a camp attended by Crosby.Now a 19-year-old star with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Crosby will play tonight in the NHL All-Star Game at the American Airlines Center."I had him on the ice when he was 13 or 14, and he's just a special, special player," Cameron said during a recent interview at Ford Arena. "I thought when he was 15 he was good enough to play in the NHL."Crosby is in his second NHL season and leads the league in points (72) and assists (48) through 43 games. He was also the leading fan vote-getter for his first all-star selection. Crosby likely would have been selected last year, but the NHL didn't hold an All-Star Game because its top players competed in the Winter Olympics.Cameron is in his first season coaching the Wildcatters and has another Crosby connection that goes farther back than that hockey camp. Cameron played against Crosby's father, Troy, when both were in the Canadian junior leagues."He's a few years older than me, so he was in his last season when I was just starting," said Cameron, a 37-year-old native of Cole Harbor, Nova Scotia, on Canada's eastern edge.Cameron played professionally for six seasons and is now in his fifth season as a head coach. The elder Crosby, born near Cameron's hometown, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, never played above the major junior level.The younger Crosby has been likened to hockey legend Wayne Gretzky for his star power, but Cameron puts Crosby more on par with longtime Detroit Red Wings player Steve Yzerman, whose No. 19 was recently retired by the team.Cameron noted Yzerman as a player who entered the league primarily known for his offensive prowess."But within eight, nine years, he turned himself around to be probably the best two-way player in the NHL, and he could play in all situations," said Cameron, who noted that Crosby is already a polished player at both ends of the ice.Crosby grew up in a home that had an inline staking rink installed in the basement and became a sensation in Nova Scotia by the time he entered his teenage years. At 14, he played against players two and three years older than him and scored 106 goals with 217 points and a plus-103 rating, all in one season."I was always playing against guys that were a little bit bigger, a little stronger and older," Crosby said during a Monday press conference. "So when I made the jump to the next level, I was always able to make it a little more comfortable than the other kids."Among the league's young stars, Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals are considered to be the brightest. Ovechkin, a 21-year-old from Moscow, ranks third in the league in points (65), sixth in goals (29) and is considered by Cameron also to be a fine two-way player."I've seen him play live, and the guy is a menace out there," Cameron said. "He leads the team in hits every night."With less than two full seasons of NHL experience, both players are already being hailed as saviors for a league still reeling from a labor dispute that wiped out an entire season two years ago. Both are starting forwards for the Eastern Conference stars in tonight's game. Many believe the duo's impact on hockey can be like what Magic Johnson and Larry Bird did for the National Basketball Association in the 1980s.Gretzky stood as the face of the game in the United States when he was traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings in 1988, popularizing the sport in one of the United States' largest nontraditional hockey markets.The impact of Crosby and Ovechkin is yet to be determined."I don't think it's up to one or two guys," Crosby said. "I think there's a group of guys and I think we take it upon ourselves to be good role models or to bring interest to the game. But for the most part it's going to be our on-ice performance that does that."HONOR FOR ROSAMarco Rosa missed 11 straight Texas Wildcatters games while playing in the American Hockey League but wasted little time making an impact when he returned last week.Rosa earned ECHL player of the week honors for Jan. 15-21 by scoring six goals with two assists to help Texas win three of four games. The Wildcatters won only three times during Rosa's absence.Kevin Baker also returned to play the last four games after he missed seven while in the AHL. Baker and Olivier Proulx also earned player of the week honors this season.The Wildcatters open a three-game series with South Carolina at 7 p.m. Thursday at Ford Arena.BANNER DAYThe Wildcatters plan to unveil a banner on the message board along Interstate 10 outside Ford Park at 3 p.m. today, weather permitting.
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