Ticket deliveries tie Crosby to fan base
Despite the gloomy weather, the quiet cul-de-sac at the end of the road in Scott Township buzzed uncharacteristically for a Monday afternoon. The TV news trucks parked on the street raised suspicion, as did the presence of the five Villiotti grandkids shooting plastic pucks in the driveway.
Informed that a Penguins player was on the way to hand-deliver season tickets to Anthony and Betsy Villiotti, neighbors stood in their yards, their dogs tugging on leashes, curious to see who would show up.
When the sky started spitting again, the grandkids headed back inside to sit in the big bay window and wait for the unidentified Penguins player to arrive. A little after 1 p.m., a couple of luxury SUVs stopped in front of the Villiotti residence, and three generations rushed to the window.
After about 30 seconds, the back door of the second SUV opened.
“Oh my gosh,” son-in-law James Madison said, grinning. “It’s Sid.”
Adults screamed and waved towels, and the grandkids jumped up and down as the Penguins captain and hockey’s biggest star walked up the driveway and then their stairs, past a small Penguins flag flapping in the breeze, and knocked on the front door, upon which hung a black-and-gold banner listing all five years the team has hoisted the Stanley Cup.
“How’s it going?” asked Crosby — wearing his black home jersey, a black baseball cap and jeans — when the family invited him in.
For the next 10 minutes, Crosby leaned on the open front door and asked — seemingly with sincere interest — about how the first days of the school year had gone for the young ones, about the draft the family did to divvy up the tickets and whether Betsy took the bridge or the ferry when she used to vacation in Canada’s Prince Edward Island.
Told one of the girls was named Sidney, too, he replied, “Oh really? Nice!”
Eventually, Crosby was asked if he wanted to go play in the driveway.
“You want to go out?” Crosby said. “We can do that. Let’s go out.”
He started in net, purposely leaving his five-hole there for the taking.
“I’m a bad goalie,” joked Crosby, who had come straight from an informal team skate. “My save percentage isn’t very good right now.”
When Joey, one of the grandkids, replaced him between the pipes, Crosby gently pushed pucks in his direction. He also showed him how to pick up the puck on his stick blade and fling it toward the net.
While keeping the grandkids busy in the driveway for at least a half-hour, Crosby chatted with Anthony and Betsy; their adult children, Dave and Gina; and Dave and Gina’s respective spouses, Alicia and James.
“They’ll remember this day the rest of their lives, and that means a lot to me,” Anthony said, soaking up the scene. “I had a pretty serious illness in the past year, and I’ve recovered from that. It put things in perspective in terms of enjoying the little things in life. To see my grandkids have fun just makes my day. It’s a true highlight of my life.”
Crosby snapped several photos with the family, said his goodbyes then climbed back into the SUV just before 2 p.m. He had another stop or two to make after leaving the Villiotti residence — or maybe he would have stayed to help the grandkids finish their homework, too.
The team captain was one of the 16 or 17 Penguins players who delivered season tickets to about 40 households or businesses Monday, continuing the tradition the Penguins have done for 11 years and counting.
Crosby thinks his desire to give back and interact with hockey fans is rooted in his youth hockey days, when the community in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, supported his teams. That’s why, the Penguins superstar said, when the franchise started this tradition, Crosby and other younger players with similar experiences “embraced it.”
“It’s fun. We always see the seats full, so to meet everybody, as many as we can, is nice. … Just to meet them is really special,” Crosby said, adding, “You see the masses, but you don’t get a chance to meet them. So, I think it’s cool to be able to do that and hear their stories.”
Crosby’s visit surely will be a story the Villiotti family tells for a long time.