Hogtown finds out there's no stopping the excitement -- or the rumours
-- where Sid the Kid's concerned
By JOE WARMINGTON



He's to hockey what David Beckham is to soccer!

But who's going to be Sidney Crosby's Posh Spice?

There were rumours buzzing around all day yesterday that it was a
20-year-old beauty from Sault Ste. Marie.

"It's pretty serious," said a source. "She has been down to Pittsburgh
and he's been invited to come to her parents home for Easter."

They are talking about a stunning model and actress who is living in
the Toronto area. As a tabloid columnist I'm thinking what a great
front page that will make.

Another person in the Soo tells me "her parents have been invited to
the game and Sidney even sent them tickets." Hey, that would be a
great wedding at New Marconi up there. No better food than Italian
food from the Sault.

Even her own family members talked of this relationship. "Well it is a
long distance one with him being in Pittsburgh but they do
communicate," said a relative.

What a scoop!

But then comes the girl herself -- pouring water all over it. "Why am
I getting all of these calls saying I am dating Sidney Crosby?" asked
Whitney. "I have never even met him."

So how did this start? "I have no idea," she laughs. "You know the
Soo." She sounded like she was telling the truth. But who knows the truth.

"Maybe you have the wrong girl," she laughs. "Maybe it's not Whitney
but Britney."

Out in Los Angeles, Pat Brisson, Crosby's agent, was laughing too. He
gets lots of calls on stuff but never one trying to confirm if Crosby
has a girlfriend. "I talk to Sidney all the time and he has never
mentioned anything about a serious relationship."

Brisson's a nice fellow and admits things are definitely crazy right
now with Crosby. "But I am not complaining. I saw him play when he was
13 and I knew he was a special player."

He said Sidney definitely needs to have a private life and "down the
road" he's sure there will be a lady, a marriage and everything else.
But for now, he reminds, he's just 19.

"The thing is he's all about winning," he chuckled. "Whether it's
playing cards or whatever it is, it's all he's about. I don't think he
has time for a girlfriend."

Word was he might be out for dinner with this babe but instead he was
with his teammates at a private supper at Harbour 60. No women in
sight. If he does have a girlfriend, she's not public so far.

"Whoever it is, she will have won the lottery," jokes one of the many
"hockey hounds" hanging around the Westin Harbour Castle hoping for an
autograph last night.

The hounds were on number 87 all day. There's good bucks with his John
Hancock on eBay.

But then there's kids like River East Mauraders minor bantam centreman
Craig Enns, who has come in from Winnipeg for the game and waited in
the lobby hoping for a glimpse of him.

"I couldn't believe it was him," the 13-year-old said.

Crosby stopped and signed his T-shirt -- and so did many of the other
Penguins young guns.

"The guy was so gracious," said Craig's appreciative dad, Peter.

Heck, Crosby's just a kid himself -- only six years older. But he does
seem to be quite a gentleman.

You can tell he's been well brought up. Respectful and cordial.

And yet there's not a hotter star anywhere! "That's for sure," said
Amy Vjazdowski, 27, who came in from Pittsburgh for tonight's big game
at the Air Canada Centre. "He is so hot."

"I am too old for him though," jokes her pal Marcie Warner, 28.

But in the former Steeltown U.S.A., it's a Canadian named Sid the Kid
who has stolen the ladies' hearts in Pittsburgh.

"In my office one girl has a picture of him on her computer," she
said. "Everybody knows Sidney Crosby."

We've had stars in this town before -- in fact all of them. Gretzky,
Jordan, Mick Jagger and even Aretha Franklin was around town last
night. The focus this weekend is Crosby. It reminds me of what it used
to be like when the Edmonton Oilers used to come into town and later
the Chicago Bulls.

There is a buzz. An energy. It's fantastic. It's like that all over
the league.

"He's a superstar who transcends sports," says the Vancouver
Province's hockey writer Jason Botchford, who has covered Crosby
extensively. "Just look at last week when the game between Pittsburgh
and Boston beat an NBA game in ratings on U.S. TV. He has picked up
the NHL by the scruff of the neck and given people a reason to watch."

But Amy and Marcie want to know who's going to be his Victoria Beckham
or Janet Jones?

Stay tuned because the Sidney Crosby reality show has just begun.