It’s been a long time since hockey was a “must see” sport, probably about 20 years or so. Way back near the end of last century, Wayne Gretzky was still at the top of his game, he was named the league’s MVP for the 9^th and final time, and on any given night he could and would amaze like no others ever had.

Even the fringiest of fans would tune in Sportscenter specifically to see what No. 99 had done the night before.

Flash forward to 2010 and right now, finally, the same can be said again, because Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby is playing at a level not seen since Twin Peaks was a quirky rage and Vanilla Ice wasn’t a punchline.

After a relatively slow start to the season, Crosby has been stocking up the points – 33 in his past 16 games – at a 2 point per game pace unseen since those glory days.

That’s half the story, however. It’s not what he’s doing but how he’s doing it that is perhaps even more surprising. The Penguins are seriously hurting and he’s doing all this without his most regular scoring partners, Evgeni Malkin or Jordan Staal.

Instead, he’s relying on the lesser talents of forwards like Maxine Talbot, Eric Godard, Mike Comrie, Craig Adams, Eric Tangradi, Arron Asham, Mark Letestu, Pascal Dupuis and Matt Cooke – who combined have fewer goals than Crosby.

Basically, opposing teams only have to focus on him instead of anyone else, yet it’s not making any difference. He’s still beating them. The Penguins have won a record ten straight games.

This has been quite the year for Canada’s favourite son. In February he scored the winning goal in the Olympic gold medal game in overtime making him an instant national icon – which he was already. From there he led the Penguins to the Stanley Cup finals, winning the title in a thrilling game seven. All that and he’s only 23.

This is Crosby’s 6^th season, and except for 2008, which he missed almost half off with an injury, he’s always been near or at the top of the league in scoring.

This year is different in that he’s pulling away early.

The question is, can he keep it up? Can he put up the stratospheric numbers that Gretzky put up that many considered unmatchable?

The simple answer is, no.

While Gretzky was great, so were his teammates. If the NHL had a team like the Oilers in the 80’s, their payroll would be ten times the league average.

Gretzky could put up those psycho totals because he was passing to the likes of Yari Kurri, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey and Glenn Anderson – all first-ballot Hall of Famers. Hell, one year their goalie Grant Fuhr even had 14 assists.

For Sidney, the only Hall of Famer he’s got is in the Penguins owners box.

When he gets Malkin and Staal back he’ll have more scoring options, however, he will also have less pressure on him to perform at the level he’s at now.

If he does manage to keep up this pace, he could end the season with nearly 140 points.

Twenty years ago Wayne Gretzky had twenty more.

What we’re seeing now is just a shadow of how great the Great One was.

But who cares. This is as close as we’re going to get to that again, so enjoy it while it lasts, no matter how brief.

Cheers – Gavin McDougald – AKA Couch