Guillaume Ouimet was minding his own business at an outdoor rink in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, on the morning of Jan. 9 when he had an unexpected visitor.
Ouimet told La Presse that Sidney Crosby parked his jeep and joined the 19-year-old junior player on the ice for more than an hour. The two skated through some drills, with Crosby using his girlfriend’s boots as cones.
The Penguins captain was apparently spending part of his team’s off week in the Canadian resort town, and the meeting made an impact on Ouimet.
“I was struck by his humility,” Ouimet said to La Presse. “He spoke to me as if we had known each other forever.”
When you go for a skate during bye week and Sidney Crosby shows up... Unreal.
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 31, 2018
📷 cred, guillaumeouimet on Instagram: “Feeling blessed to have the chance to skate with Sidney Crosby. Once in a lifetime experience.” pic.twitter.com/nMD4UxUGQA
Crosby posed for some pictures and also took a few minutes to stop in the indoor arena, where Ouimet plays for the local junior team.
“He sat on a bench in the locker room without saying anything for a few minutes,” Ouimet said. “His girlfriend told me he was nostalgic. You saw that a lot of memories jostled in his mind. It was impressive. "
Crosby played two seasons for Rimouski Oceanic of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Ouimet said some of his friends didn’t believe him when he told them the story, but he received pictures of the encounter a couple of days later.
Talk about a morning workout paying off.
Adam Bittner: abittner@post-gazette.com and Twitter @fugimaster24.
First Published: January 31, 2018, 4:42 p.m.
