DETROIT - As a junior, Sidney Crosby made quite an impression, but not necessarily for the reasons one would think.

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Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby watches from the bench near the end of the third period against the Detroit Red Wings in Game 2 of their NHL Stanley Cup Final hockey series in Detroit, Michigan May 31, 2009.

Photograph by : Reuters

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Drummondville Voltigeurs coach Guy Boucher, who was an assistant with the Rimouski Oceanic when Crosby played there, said the Pittsburgh Penguins' star wasn't even the best player he's coached in junior.

"Probably (Mike) Ribeiro," said Boucher of the best player he's coached. "The things he could do with the puck."

What impressed Boucher and distinguished Crosby from everybody else was Crosby's insatiable appetite to hone his craft.

The Cole Harbour, N.S., native is the literal definition of a rink rat.

"Sidney would be so mad if we gave the team a day," Boucher said. "We'd try to make him go home, shoo him off, and he'd go find the rink attendant to let him on the ice. He'd always be here. We'd go hard for 2 1/2 hours and still want more."

Boucher said Crosby also had a very defined vision of what he needed to do become the player he wanted to be.

One of Boucher's duties was doing extra drills with the young star.

"One of mine was to go in the corners and cross check Sidney," Boucher said. "He wanted you to cross check him so he could work on his grinding skills.

"He'd do things like that. Terrible things. Always down on one knee after the puck. Over and over. He would punish himself. When he got to Pittsburgh, I knew he would raise the work ethic level for everyone there.

"You could see it, in a short time, go up and up and up."

Cool reception

Marian Hossa expects an even more hostile reception in Pittsburgh Tuesday night than he got on his first visit to the Steel City in February.

Hossa remains Public Enemy No. 1 in Pittsburgh after leaving the Penguins to sign as a free agent with Detroit last summer.

"It's going to be similar, maybe even louder (the boos)," Hossa said. "I have to make sure not to let it distract me and use that to my advantage.

"It was real interesting (the last time), gave me a little extra energy and I tried to use that to my advantage.

"They show you what they think. It's going to be great atmosphere.''

Injury update

Centre Kris Draper is ready to go in Tuesday night's Game 3 if needed, but he'll have a hard time bumping Justin Abdelkader out of the lineup after the rookie scored in each of the first two games of the Stanley Cup final.

"Draper was ready to go (Sunday)," Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "I'm not a big change guy, especially when things are going good."

Pavel Datsyuk didn't skate for the second straight day at what was a lightly attended practice and remains questionable for Tuesday night's Game 3.

Earning respect

If Chris Osgood should go on to win a fourth Stanley Cup, the third as the starting goalie for Detroit, it would make him the only active netminder with four Cups.

However, would that be enough to end the barrage of criticism that saw him labelled the Wings weak link this spring?

"I think I do," said Osgood of whether he feels he's properly respected for his career accomplishments. "In this city, I definitely do.

"I don't really care about what goes on outside of Detroit. This is where I play. This is home.

"Fans are awesome to me here. They always have been. It's not a tough place to play goal. It's a fun place to play."

Wings edge

Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma sidestepped a question on goalie Marc-Andre Fleury's mediocre play by choosing to praise the Wings instead.

Fleury has given up several soft and untimely goals that have crippled Pittsburgh in each of the first two games.

"When you evaluate the goals, every one of them has been people in the crease, bouncing pucks and scramble situations," Bylsma said. "They've been very good in that area.

"They have that net front presence. They make it difficult on the goaltender and the defence. That's been the difference (in the series)."

Change of strategy

Penguins' Matt Cooke feels his club has tried too hard to carry the puck into the zone against a Detroit club clogging the neutral zone.

Cooke put on his coaching cap Monday and said the Penguins need to resort to more chip and chase.

"From my standpoint, a lot of times we're getting caught," Cooke said.

"They have four guys standing within the red- and blue-lines quite often with one defenceman back inside their zone to retrieve pucks. I think for us, the sooner we commit to chipping the puck in and going to get it, they're not as close. It gives them less time to close on us."

Windsor Star

dwaddell@thestar.canwest.com