Crosby skates on his own following diagnosis

Sidney Crosby skated with injured teammate Bryan Rust prior to the Pens' afternoon practice at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, one day after the captain was diagnosed with a concussion by the team's medical staff.

"I feel pretty good. I was happy to get to skate today," Crosby told media following his hour-long on-ice session. "(Concussions) happen in a lot of different sports and guys have multiple concussions and are fine. I think that you just have to treat them the right way and that you handle it right, and that you're honest. I'm comfortable and confident that things will be OK."
Crosby, 29, suffered the concussion last Friday during team practice. He reported to doctors on Saturday morning that he wasn't feeling well and the team held him out of that afternoon's final preseason game against Columbus as a precaution.
"I woke up Saturday morning and didn't feel great," said Crosby, who also suffered a concussion in 2011. "I got tangled up in practice on Friday and didn't really think anything of it, and Saturday I didn't feel great. Having been down this road before I talked to the trainers, and they felt that it was best to keep me out and just go through the protocol."
Crosby said that he had a headache and "felt a little off." He isn't rushing the process and is approaching it as each day comes.
"I think there's a really good structure in place for how to get back and that kind of thing," he said. "I think that I feel confident and comfortable with everything so I just take it day by day."
Crosby's progress will be tracked as each day progresses and the team will closely monitor his health, as they do for every player on the team going through a similar situation.
"They just want to know how you're feeling, symptoms, kind of the extent of how much you exert yourself, those kinds of things come into play," Crosby said. "I skated pretty hard today so we'll see how I feel (Wednesday) and kind of go based off of that. It's not kind of cut and dry. It just depends on what you do and that's what progression is."
Crosby suffered two concussions during the 2010-11 and '11-12 seasons. His first occurred in the 2011 Winter Classic on Jan. 1 against Washington. He wouldn't return to the lineup for 11 months on Nov. 21 against the NY Islanders. He was sidelined again with a concussion in early December, but returned mid-March for the remainder of the season.
"I think going through it you understand the process, and progress is a good thing," Crosby said. "I was lucky to skate today."