LEWISTON – The hype was there, a vocal crowd of 3,302 were there, and of course so was Sidney Crosby.

Crosby, hailed by many as the next big superstar, the subject of a four-page Sports Illustrated story this week and even called “the next Mario Lemieux” by Wayne Gretzky, drew more fans to the Central Maine Civic Center on Friday than any other team has drawn all season.

“I’m getting used to it,” said Crosby, surprisingly calm after Friday’s loss. “I’ve been dealing with this in one form or another for two years now.”

Last season, Crosby attempted to get away from the Canadian media by enrolling at Shattuck – St. Mary’s prep school in Minnesota. The hype followed him, however, and intensified when he was drafted first overall by Rimouski.

On Friday, Crosby drew several gasps from the crowd when he bore down on Maineiacs’ goaltender Brandon Verge on two separate occasions. Verge got the better of Crosby on this night.

“He and I had played against each other before, two years ago,” said the 17-year-old Verge. “It’s not that expected him to do any one move, but it helped to know him a bit.”

“He did well tonight to get in the way of the shots I did have,” said Crosby. “Verge is a solid goaltender now, and I know he was when we played together. We both have improved since then, and it was good to have this chance.”

Crosby did get on the board Friday night, providing the initial pass on a 3-on-2 break that resulted in Rimouski’s lone goal on the night. It was a goal that was indicative of his work ethic, having gone in after Crosby took out one of the Maineiacs’ defenders after making a flip pass to his backhand.

Crosby and the Océanic will visit the Central Maine Civic Center three more times this season, while Lewiston has two more games at Rimouski.

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