updated 9:03 p.m. ET Jan. 24, 2006

PITTSBURGH - In only 26 games playing with Mario Lemieux, Sidney Crosby acquired a lifetime of memories.

Lemieux, already a Hall of Famer with 1,723 career points, announced his retirement Tuesday.

Crosby, taken No. 1 overall 21 years after Lemieux came to the Penguins, has been living with Lemieux and his wife and four children.

Bright spots have been rare for the struggling Penguins this season, but one came against the New York Islanders, when Crosby and Lemieux each scored three points playing on the same line.

“That’s probably the highlight of my career,” said Crosby, the 18-year-old rookie and heir apparent to the greatest hockey player to play in Pittsburgh. “I scored a couple goals, it was a fun game. We made some great plays, some fun plays. That sticks out in my mind.”

Lemieux assisted on two of Crosby’s goals and both got assists on Mark Recchi’s game-winner in that game Nov. 3

In a 7-5 victory over Atlanta on Oct. 27, Lemieux had two goals and three assists.

“Just seeing him score five points in one game this season ... those were memories I will take,” Crosby said.

But those were two of only six games Lemieux played in his final season that the Penguins won.

The team’s poor record, as much as anything else — including the irregular heartbeat that sidelined him most of the past seven weeks — is what Lemieux’s teammates say led him to hang up his skates.

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“He’s got a lot going on in his life right now,” said Recchi, whose relationship with Lemieux goes back to 1988. “And he obviously feels that this is the time.”

Like Lemieux, Recchi makes his year-round home in western Pennsylvania, and the two have grown close after winning two Stanley Cups together with the Penguins in 1991 and ’92.

“It hasn’t been easy what he’s had to do,” Recchi said. “The team’s losing more and he’s trying to keep the team in Pittsburgh. It’s got to wear on you after a while.”

Slide show   Lemieux retires Click to see pictures from the career of one of hockey's greatest stars.

As the only Pittsburgh-area native on the team, Ryan Malone grew up idolizing Lemieux.

“He’s been a great friend, a great teammate,” Malone said. “He’s the best thing going right now. He’s one-of-a-kind, a special person.”

Recchi added: “It’s been a great 20 years. We all should be so fortunate we had the opportunity to be around him.”

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