A year ago today the Nova Scotia Showdown took over Halifax as the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Ottawa Senators brought the NHL to town.
Cole Harbour’s Sidney Crosby and the Pens faced the Valley’s Drake Batherson and the Sens in front of a sold-out Scotiabank Centre downtown with 10,595 strong. The game sold out in 15 minutes when tickets originally went on sale.
Sidney took some time in the days leading up to the game to show his teammates around his hometown and share some Nova Scotia traditions.
The crowd was pro Pittsburgh with many CROSBY jerseys in the crowd.
(Above: my wife and son huge Crosby fans took in the game.)
Other Bluenosers on the ice included Ryan Graves from Yarmouth on the Pens roster, while for the Sens, # 19 Drake Batherson of New Minas had many family and friends cheering him on, along with #15 Matthew Highmore of Dartmouth.
The NHL Officials also had Nova Scotia roots with # 2 Jon McIsaac of Truro, # 19 Gord Dywer of Lower Sackville, # 83 Matt MacPherson from Antigonish and # 80 Jonathan Dechamps, who played for the Cape Breton Eagles during his QMJHL Career.
The highlight for me was getting to introduce Sidney live on TSN coast to coast in the starting line up as the fans gave him a standing ovation, a highlight of my Public Address Announcer career.
https://x.com/IanRobinsonPA/status/1709158480089596353?s=20
Oh, what a night it was one year ago tonight!
-Ian (NHL Public Address Announcer for the Nova Scotia Showdown 2023 night.)
(Credits: Ian Robinson photos.)
