Sidney Crosby

The biggest thing for me is the passion that I've always had for hockey. I remember growing up, no matter what I did in life, my parents always told me to try to do my best at it and be my best. I can say going through different things that that passion is the most important part. It's not skills or talent or any of that stuff.

Growing up in Canada, I didn't watch football much.

Breakaway goals are fun. When you score a quick one in front of the net, it just happens, but during a breakaway, there's about one or two seconds where you're not sure.

Breakaway goals are fun.

Individual honors and scoring championships are great, but my No. 1 goal is to win the Stanley Cup.

The more you hesitate in a game, the more your chance of getting hit. Your focus isn't there. When you hesitate, usually you're in trouble.

For me, I've learned that the best thing is to focus on the team you play for and yourself and what you need to do.

When I'm practicing, I think I'm pretty focused, and I spend a lot of energy on making sure I get better, but once I'm outside the rink, I think, like anyone else, I like to enjoy everything that everyone else does.

Challenging someone is good. You need to do it. Sometimes they don't even realize you're doing it, like when you joke with a goalie, 'What's wrong today? You losing it?'

I think as a Canadian hockey player, you go through it in your mind so many times, being able to stand on that blue line and hear your national anthem play and being a gold medal champion, you dream of that. And then to be able to accomplish that and actually win a gold medal and represent your country its an amazing feeling.

It's not that hard to stay grounded. It's the way I was brought up.

It is so important to me to have my time away from hockey. Obviously, hockey is my passion; I love it. But definitely for me, time away from the rink and time when my mind isn't thinking about hockey is important.