Crosby denies 'boycott' story - 01-18-11

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby shot down a story in the Globe and Mail that he was considering a boycott of the All-Star game in protest of the league's non-action on the hits which injured him earlier this month.

Said Crosby:

"That's not even close. I'll be there if I can be there. I still haven't ruled out being there. Hopefully, the next few days things get better and there's still a slight chance I could be back for that. That's what I'm hoping. If I can be there, I'll be there."

Brendan Shanahan, the NHL's vice president of hockey and business who has been in charge of developing the All-Star Game's current format, told TSN:

"He couldn't have been more co-operative. There was no anger, or suggestion of protest."

Also, David Shoalts, the author of the piece on Crosby, issued a clarification on the story today via Twitter claiming it was an opinion piece.

EN Says: That's lame on Shoalts' behalf. Very lame. He wrote this story and allowed it to be portrayed as some sort of exclusive. And his editors allowed it to be played up as such by posting it at the top of the the Globe and Mail's online sports section.

To wait some 14 hours after it caused so much uproar (and after Crosby shot it down) to issue some sort of weak "clarification" is pretty spineless.

Here, we'll give it a try:

"Ovechkin punches diabetic orphans."

(14 hours later)

"Oh... it was an opinion piece. Ha!"

(Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images)