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The hottest ticket in hockey right now is for Friday night’s QMJHL game in Rimouski.

It’s not because the Oceanic are hosting the Sherbrooke Phoenix but because Sidney Crosby will be in town to see his No. 87 raised to the rafters.

“We are still getting demands (for tickets) but even for my closest friends I can’t manage anything,” joked Oceanic head coach and general manager Serge Beausoleil. “It’s been sold out for a long time.

“Everybody is buzzing. Of course we have to prepare the team for Friday’s game but at the same time it’s a huge event. When you have that kind of player and that kind of human being coming to your city for this kind of event, it’s special. The legacy he left here, I have a lack of words.”

Crosby was a superstar for the Oceanic from 2003-05. He racked up 303 points in 121 games, won the 2005 President Cup and was named the CHL’s player of the year for his two seasons in Rimouski. The Pittsburgh Penguins captain also took the Stanley Cup there two years ago as part of his day with the trophy, showing that he still has a strong bond with the city of 50,000.

“Sidney is one of the greats from our league,” Beausoleil said. “But it’s also the way he is as a human being, how he is so kind with everyone. You cannot invent that kind of thing. It’s honest and it’s (genuine). The way he is as a person is from the heart. You can feel it. There’s nothing fake about Sidney Crosby and, for me, that’s the best thing we can teach our kids.

“Being talented is nice for anyone but it’s how you care about the people around you that is important. When I saw Sidney with the Oceanic t-shirt on his last vacation in Spain, it means a lot for the organization to see a guy who respects where he came from.”

The Cole Harbour native will become the sixth player in Oceanic history to have his jersey retired. Receiving the honour before him were Allan Sirois, Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards, Michel Ouellet and Jonathan Beaulieu.

Sidney Crosby poses with a fan in Spain during a May 2019 vacation.- Twitter

Significant among those in a way other than being a great hockey player is Richards, who did not hesitate to report to Rimouski as a teen even though he was an anglophone from Prince Edward Island.

The Murray Harbour native played there for three years and won the 2000 Memorial Cup in Halifax, a sign to a then 12-year-old Crosby that playing in a smaller francophone market wasn’t only something to be accepted reluctantly but enthusiastically embraced.

Even to this day, Crosby will sometimes reach out to unsure young Oceanic prospects to sell them on the benefits of playing for the organization.

“When you talk about that part of his legacy, you cannot put numbers on something like that,” Beausoleil said. “I understand if you’re from Halifax, for example, you would want to play there. That’s the same for anywhere in the Maritimes. But with the draft, if the Oceanic picks you and you don’t want to go, for me that’s nonsense, not with the experiences Brad Richards and Sidney had here.

“The way they played and the way they became huge players in the NHL - not just top players, but huge players in the show - of course we believe that playing in Rimouski can be good for any hockey player.”