Kessel sibling rivalry is alive and well: 'Maybe we're even now,' Amanda says
Kevin Allen | USA TODAY Sports
GANGNEUNG, South Korea— Would you rather take your chances with Pittsburgh Penguins star Phil Kessel in a shootout during an NHL game or his sister Amanda in a shootout in the Olympics?
That’s not an easy question to answer for anyone who watched the USA’s 3-2 shootout win against Canada in the Olympic women’s gold medal game.
More: U.S. women end Canada's streak to win hockey gold in shootout at 2018 Winter Olympics
More: Ban shootouts in gold-medal hockey games, because Olympics are about more than luck
Kessel, 10th in the NHL scoring race with 66 points, has one of the quickest shot releases. But Amanda showed she also owns the Kessel shooting DNA when she snapped a wicked shot past goalie Shannon Szabados to tie the shootout 2-2.
Contributing a key goal and winning a gold medal is particularly meaningful to Amanda because she had a two-year struggle with concussion issues after the 2014 Olympics.
“It’s was just battling through it,” Kessel said. “Our whole team battled through a lot. You can’t see it on the outside, but the heart that every girl on this team has – I knew we had it within us to win.”
Phil tweeted after the win that he was proud of Amanda and the entire U.S. team.
While Kessel has played a starring role in back-to-back Stanley Cup championships with the Penguins, he only owns a silver Olympic medal (2010).
Proving that sibling rivalry is still alive and fun, Amanda said: “Maybe we’re even now.”
Amanda Kessel receives words of encouragment from her brother Phil
GANGNEUNG, South Korea (AP) _ The night before she played for the Olympic women's hockey gold medal, Amanda Kessel looked at her phone and saw text messages from her brother, Phil, offering encouragement.
"Just, 'Proud of you no, matter what,' and he believes in me," Kessel said.
Kessel hadn't yet checked her phone in the minutes after she and the United States beat Canada 3-2 in a shootout for the gold medal in an instant classic between the sport's two powerhouses.
Phil tweeted he was proud of his sister and all of Team USA.
Amanda Kessel was one of three U.S. players to score on Canada goalie Shannon Szabados in the shootout, making a difference four years after she was injured during the Sochi Games.
"It's just battling through a lot," Kessel said. "Our entire team battled through a lot. You can't see it on the outside, but the heart that every single girl has on this team, I knew we had it within us to win."
Amanda Kessel now has one more goal medal than Phil, who took home silver while playing for the United States in Vancouver in 2010, when it lost to Canada on Sidney Crosby's golden goal.
Phil Kessel won the Stanley Cup the past two seasons with Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Pittsburgh Penguins right wing Phil Kessel celebrates with the Stanley Cup after the Penguins defeated the Nashville Predators 2-0 in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Sunday, June 11, 2017, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) Credit: Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Asked if this meant she had one up on her brother, Amanda Kessel said: "I don't know. Maybe we're even."
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Sidney Crosby made more history last night, joining Danny Martaugh, Roberto Clemente and Mario Lemieux as the only 3 time recipients of the Sportsman of the Year award at the 82nd annual Dapper Dan dinner and sports auction last night. NHL.com had a great write-up:
“You couldn’t mold out of clay a better representative for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and for Mario Lemieux and his legacy,” Penguins president and CEO David Morehouse said. “I think Sid has been an exemplary player, definitely, on the ice. But he has also been a model citizen off the ice. He’s the embodiment of what you hope you can get in sports, either as a management member of a team, an owner of a team or as a fan.” During Morehouse’s introductory speech, he referenced a conversation he had with Dan Rooney the first time Crosby won the award, where the legendary Steelers chairman expressed that exact sentiment. ”He was only 19 the first time he won Sportsman of the Year in 2006 and he was on his way to becoming the youngest player in NHL history to win a scoring title,” Morehouse said. “That night, another winner, Dan Rooney, took me aside and said ‘I really like that kid of yours.’ And he said, ‘I sure wish he was a football player.’ He went on to tell me he was so impressed with Sid and his manners and how down-to-earth he was, not even talking about how great of a hockey player and athlete he was.”
A constant for Crosby has been helping to get more kids involved in hockey who wouldn’t be able to afford it otherwise:
“One of the first things Sid did when he came to Pittsburgh was he came to us and said he wanted to find a way for kids who couldn’t afford to play hockey to be able to play hockey,” Morehouse said. “So that’s when we came up with Sidney Crosby’s Little Penguins Learn to Play program, where Sid donates his money out of his pocket along with the Penguins, at the time Reebok and now Adidas, and Dick’s Sporting Goods. And we combined to buy free equipment for kids.” This year, they gave away 2,000 sets of head-to-toe equipment, meaning countless kids who wouldn’t have been exposed to the sport have now gotten an opportunity to try it out. ”And Pittsburgh, as a result, has led the U.S. in participation in the 10-and-under age group, which our target is 5-to-7 year olds,” Morehouse said. “It’s been an extraordinary effort, it’s his because he came to us and asked us to try to pull something together for him.”
Crosby had a nice zing too (well, you know for him anyways)
“We have an amazing fan base here, and whether it’s walking through the city, or 19,000 people yelling at me to shoot, yes, I do hear it -- the point is, we know your support is there everywhere we go,
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The biggest story in the sport right now is the results of the Women’s Olympic tournament. The US women finally got past their demons in Canada to bring home the gold medal for the first time in 20 years. The US team has actually won the last several world championships but always had that block in the Olympics by the Canadian women. Up until last night anyways. Amanda Kessel scored a goal in the shootout to help the cause.
The highlight of the game was the clinching goal on a dazzling move by Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson
Jocelyne Lamoureux shootout winner for Team USA Women in Gold Medal Game..Unreal pic.twitter.com/29aUrTZoOe — Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) February 22, 2018
These two stories mentioned here are obviously sharing a common tie involving growing the game and our great sport. Many young ladies in America were captivated by the success of the 1998 team. With social media and the highlight you see above, surely many more will be drawn to hockey now. Efforts made by folks like Crosby (and the Penguins in general with their initiatives to build new rinks) are also helping grow the game. Hopefully this will result years down the road with more great players male and female making noise from Western Pennsylvania in the sport of hockey.
