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Picture this: Mikael Kingsbury's memorable encounter with Sidney Crosby

GANGNEUNG, South Korea — Several months before Mikael Kingsbury cemented himself as the greatest mogulist of all time, the Olympic gold medallist was reminiscing over a legendary encounter with NHL superstar Sidney Crosby.

It was last June and we were at the Canadian Olympic Media Summit in Calgary, where dozens of athletes were being paraded through a gauntlet of interviews with members of the press. Kingsbury, then 24, was our 18th interview of the day – the second-last athlete to hang out with us in the basement of the Telus Convention Centre.

Kingsbury, aka the G.O.A.T., as he’s been appropriately referred to as in PyeongChang, busted through our door like a ball of energy, not unlike the epic mogul runs he’s become famous for. Impressively, he looked no worse for wear as he neared the end of his media obligations. The same probably couldn’t be said for us.

Nevertheless, Kingsbury delivered a pair of rockstar stories, which shouldn’t be all that surprising. After all, this is the same guy who went shirtless to cheer on Olympian teammate Alex Beaulieu-Marchand during the men’s slopestyle event here in Korea.

When we asked him what he does with all those World Cup Crystal Globe awards he’s won (six straight and counting), Kingsbury hilariously told us he drinks beer out of them with his friends and rival competitors. How resourceful.

The next nugget he shared was pure gold. Literally.

During the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, a star-struck Kingsbury said he saw Sid the Kid eating in the athlete lounge and thought to himself, “This is my chance. Oh my god, Sidney Crosby is right there. I want to get a picture with him.”

The re-imagined encounter between Sidney Crosby and Mikael Kingsbury at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. (Yahoo Canada Sports)
The re-imagined encounter between Sidney Crosby and Mikael Kingsbury at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. (Yahoo Canada Sports)

We won’t spoil the story — check out the video above — but it goes without saying that it was a pretty cool moment Kingsbury shared with us. How cool? Well, shortly after returning to Toronto, we decided to bring this first-time encounter between two elite athletes to life, using Kingsbury’s entertaining recollection of the Sochi memory to build a re-imagination of the moment using Kingsbury’s voice over animation.

Unsurprisingly, Kingsbury has done his best to provide memories for everyone who’s crossed his path in PyeongChang. There was his electric gold-medal winning performance up at Phoenix Snow Park, and of course his Hallmark moment with Justine Dufour-Lapointe during the freestyle ski team celebrations at Canada House.

Something tells me there might be more where that came from before the end of these Games.

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