When he was a preteen, the Pittsburgh Penguins captain didn't treat his mother's dryer very nicely, leaving countless dents and black marks on the poor, unsuspecting machine.
The story of the beat-up dryer became even more famous in a segment on "The Tonight Show," later featured on this episode of "NHL All Access."
Watch: Youtube Video
Jay Leno had Crosby, who had just been picked No. 1 overall in the 2005 NHL Draft, shoot pucks into an open machine.
Crosby took five attempts (actor Rob Schneider, who was also a guest on the show, rattled the dryer a little after the first two attempts went wide) to score one through the opening, although his third shot did put a hole in the back side of door, which kind of counts.
Even though that segement would lead a viewer to believe that Crosby honed his shooting technique shooting at the dryer in his childhood home, he clairified the story behind his mildly destructive habit a
few years ago in USA Today
. He said he was shooting at a net in the basement and the dryer was behind the goal, so all those dents were the product of his missed attempts.
He also said his mother didn't put a stop to the puck smashing the machine simply because the thing took a licking and kept on ticking.
