The Ottawa Sun reported this morning that Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was arrested in a driving-related incident in Ottawa.
The article, attributed to QMI News Agency, claimed that Crosby was arrested by Ottawa Police late Tuesday night and cited unknown sources. The news item was released on social media and featured prominently on the paper’s website.
The problem is that none of it is true. Several media outlets reported the story to be false. Ottawa Chief of Police Charles Bordeleau tweeted that the department had “no dealings” with Crosby and TSN’s Darren Dreger confirmed that Crosby is actually training in Vail, Colorado.
Penguins confirm, Crosby is in Vail, Colorado training this week.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) September 3, 2014
The team released a statement saying “The Pittsburgh Penguins have spoken to Sidney Crosby. He is not in Canada, and was not in Canada yesterday. He is continuing his training in preparation for training camp.”
QMI News Agency completely retracted the article without explanation other than saying the story had “no basis.” The Ottawa Sun and QMI News Agency are both owned by Québecor Inc., a Montreal-based communications company.
Crosby and the rest of the Penguins are scheduled to report to training camp in Pittsburgh on September 18th.
