Sidney Crosby Wins Lou Marsh Award
First Hockey Player in 14 Years To Be Named Canada's Top Athlete
Dec 11, 2007
Sidney Crosby was named Canada’s top athlete of 2007 when a panel of sports media members voted him winner of the Lou Marsh Trophy. At 20 years of age, chances are that it won’t be the last time he wins it.
The Pittsburgh Penguin captain had an amazing campaign in just his third NHL season. He became the youngest player to win the Art Ross trophy as the league’s scoring champion with 36 goals and 84 assists for 120 points. He became the youngest player ever to win the scoring title and also the youngest to be named to the league’s 1st All Star team.
In addition to those honors, Crosby, a native of Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s Most Valuable Player and the Pearson award as the league's top player as voted by his peers.
Surprisingly for a country that’s undoubtedly hockey crazy, Crosby is the first hockey player to win the Marsh award in 14 years. Coincidentally, it was another Penguin great, Mario Lemieux, who was the last shinny hotshot to win the award way back in 1994.
Finalists for this year’s award were Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash, skier Erik Guay, kayaker Adam Van Koeverden and boxer Steve Molitor.
Nash is a 2-time NBA MVP who finished 2nd in last season’s voting. Guay had a breakout season on the World Cup alpine skiing circuit winning 5 medals. Van Koeverden, a double Olympic medalist, is current World Champion in the 500 metres. Molitor is the reigning IBF super-bantamweight world champ who successfully defended his title twice in 2007.
Last year’s winner was speed skater Cindy Klassen. The Winnipeg native captured 5 medals at the Turin Olympics.
As for Crosby, he’s not only the NHL’s Most Valuable Player. He may well be its most valuable commodity. The Penguins’ recent swing through the Western Conference caused a buzz at every stop while he, like Lemieux before him, may well have saved a shaky Pittsburgh franchise that was on the verge of folding or moving before he showed up on the scene.
The award is named for Lou Marsh, a long-time sports editor who wrote for the Toronto Star for 43 years. Prior to his newspaper career, Marsh played football for the Toronto Argonauts, competed in track and field and lacrosse and later, became both a hockey and boxing referee as well as a steward and judge at the race track.
Wayne Gretzky has won the Lou Marsh Trophy 4 times, more than any other athlete.
