Sidney Crosby puts Robin Drodge 'on Cloud 9' with Stanley Cup visit

When Newfoundland's Robin Drodge learned he needed to be flown to Halifax last weekend to deal with serious liver and kidney problems, he had one thought.

"He said, I want to get to Cole Harbour somehow and meet Sidney Crosby. That's my dream," his mother Dianne told CBC's Maritme Noon on Monday.

His mother joked they'd be unlikely to convince the plane to land in the Halifax suburb where Crosby is from, but Drodge wasn't to be deterred. He listens to the Pittsburgh Penguin star play regularly on TV (Drodge is blind) and has entered countless contests to meet the star.

And Drodge's medevac flight to the Victoria General Hospital overlapped Crosby's planned Stanley Cup parade in the city.

Once in Nova Scotia, the Clarenville man got to work. He secured a day pass from his doctors and enlisted his mother and aunt to help him get his wheelchair in the vicinity of the celebration.

Under a red hot sun amid thousands of other fans desperate to touch glory, the Drodges sought a way to Crosby and the Cup.

His mother said Robin drove the adventure, inspiring his mother to get through the crowds to the stage. But they needed help to actually meet Crosby.

"I saw a man coming through this gate and he had a jersey on. He seemed to be one of the important people who were on the inside, so I said to my sister: Go see that guy," Dianne says.

"That guy" turned out to be Halifax Mayor Mike Savage. Her sister told the mayor what was up, and a few minutes later he waved them in. There was still 30 minutes of waiting to do in sweltering heat before it Robin found himself face to face with the Stanley Cup — and Crosby.

"Once we got him up in the wheelchair, Sidney greeted him, he talked to him — he said, 'You're from Newfoundland?'" Dianne recalls.

Robin said he recognized Crosby's voice as soon as he spoke. He told Crosby a bit about his time in the hospital "and how I tried everything in the past to meet him."

He had written to his agents, and had the hospital write to him, trying to bring Crosby to the hospital. "But I didn't need no visit at the hospital because I got to meet him there in person. And that was a lot better."

Robin says the two talked about Newfoundland and hockey. "He's a great player and I told him so," he said. Drodge also noted the hockey player had struggled earlier in the season.

Crosby asked him if he'd ever touched the Cup before; Robin said he had. Luckily Crosby had another trophy — the Conn Smythe — handy to make Robin's day. Robin said he was "on Cloud 9."

"Normally when you're dealing with the Stanley Cup and the Conn Smyth trophy, the protector of the [Cup] – Phillip Pritchard — is around with white gloves. They're very protective of who touches the Cup," Robin said.

Crosby took Robin's hand and toured it over the storied Conn Smyth trophy.

"There was a maple leaf — he said that came from Maple Leaf Gardens — he [took] my hand all the way up to the top," Robin said.

"Just to see Sidney taking the time to take Robin's hand and glide his hand over that trophy and explain to him all the different things on it — it just touches my heart. To take the time that he did to speak to him and listen to him was very, very heart-touching," his mother said.

"A lot of people said before they were never a Pittsburgh fan, but right now because of Sidney they definitely are."