Sidney Crosby surprises family with in-home jersey signing visit
Sidney Crosby surprised a family in Enfield, Nova Scotia by showing up at their house unannounced to sign their jerseys.
NHL.com reported that the Pottie family had put a sign in front of their home that said “Sid please sign my jersey.”
According to the story, the family had learned that Crosby – who is from nearby Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia – often travels on the road and hoped to lure the Pittsburgh Penguins captain to their house for a autographs.
The sign stayed up for about a week when Crosby, who turned 29 Sunday, brought the Stanley Cup to Cole Harbour.
“When I took it down I thought, you know, he’s probably been busy and I certainly didn’t hold anything against him if he didn’t see it,” Darryl said. “I thought, he’s probably just busy and being pulled in a million different directions and he’s got so much going on.”
Two weeks after the sign came down, Crosby was ringing their doorbell. He explained that he saw the sign and got a laugh out of it, but he was on his way out of town. When he returned to the area, he paid them a visit.
Only two family members, mother Tricia and daughter Madisyn were home when Crosby showed up. Father Darryl and the family’s other daughter Breanna were both at work. When Tricia answered the door, she was reportedly wearing a bathing suit and quickly ran upstairs to change.
According to the story, Crosby stayed for 20 minutes and talked about her children’s mental health program called Strongest Families. The family also didn’t have an autograph marker, so Crosby went back in his truck to get one to sign the jerseys.
“I talked a little bit about what I do because I know he’s into youths and mental health,” Tricia said. “And I just told him, we’re so proud of you and my husband is such a big fan.”
Once Crosby left, Tricia sent her husband an email with the subject line, “An old friend popped in.”
“There was a picture and I open it up,” Darryl said. “Right away I recognize my daughter and I look beside her and it’s like, ‘That…that’s Sidney Crosby! Wait…wait a second. That’s in my house! He’s in my house!’ And I’m screaming at my work and people are looking at me like, ‘What are you talking about?'”
According to CBC, Darryl wasn’t that upset that he wasn’t around for the visit.
“Absolutely not disappointing; he signed my jerseys, and that’s amazing,” he said.
Crosby is no stranger to pleasantly surprising fans in his home area during the summer. Last offseason he worked at a Tim Horton’s drive-thru in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia with Nathan MacKinnon.
Crosby, MacKinnon an Andrew McDonald also made news by stopping at a local fish and chips restaurant after a workout.
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
