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In particularly trying times, Crosby would look to a handful of motivational sayings and poems he had collected over the years. They helped him focus his goals. Some of them hung on his bedroom wall at the Lemieux house, given to him by family and close friends. He modelled himself after his favourite, from Paul “Bear” Bryant: It’s not the will to win that matters, everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters.
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Shawna Richer (The Kid: A Season with Sidney Crosby and the New NHL)
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For the Blackhawks players, after years of being told “no,” of being told to shut up and keep your head down and be grateful you’re in the NHL at all, it was jarring to be told “yes” over and over and over again. It was motivating too. It was also kind of terrifying. That’s part of the genius of McDonough.
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Mark Lazerus (If These Walls Could Talk: Chicago Blackhawks: Stories from the Chicago Blackhawks' Ice, Locker Room, and Press Box)