PITTSBURGH - The moment is etched in Canadian hockey lore for all eternity, a mosaic of joy, relief and unfiltered ecstasy.

There's Sidney Crosby standing in the corner of the ice after scoring the biggest goal in a life filled with big goals, arms raised, gloves flung halfway to the Rogers Arena ceiling, the weight of a nation mercifully off his shoulders.

Crosby's gold medal winning overtime score in the 2010 men's Olympic hockey final was supposed to be the last step in an ascension that seemingly began the second he laced up skates in his native Nova Scotia as a toddler.

In an instant, years of pressure and two weeks of chirping about Crosby's lackluster play — by his nearly impossible standards — in the tournament were gone. The Canadians were Olympic champions. Order to the hockey world restored with one brilliant flick of Crosby's wrist.

Sitting on the Team USA bench after a bitter 3-2 overtime loss, defenseman Tim Gleason watched Crosby get swarmed by his teammates and did his best to put his disappointment aside and drink it in.

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"That's the kid that's Hockey Canada himself, so it was almost like a too-good-to-be true story that he scored the goal," Gleason said.

Maybe it was.

Flash forward two years. The roars have quieted, replaced by questions the ever-patient 24-year-old has grown weary of answering.

The truth is, Crosby doesn't know when the concussion-like symptoms that have limited him to eight games over the last 12 months will abate.

He doesn't know when he'll be able to practice at full strength, let alone play in a game. While he remains certain he'll return, until he's cleared by doctors his routine will continue to consist of occasional tests, light exercise and watching the Pittsburgh Penguins fight for a playoff spot without him while going to bed every night wondering how he's going to feel in the morning.

While the Penguins spent the week trying to right their season following a six-game losing streak — the franchise's longest in two years — Crosby was in Atlanta visiting with Dr. Ted Carrick, the chiropractic neurologist who successfully treated the 2009 NHL MVP for lingering concussionlike symptoms last summer.

Crosby didn't intend to become the league's poster child on the need for increased player safety and the nexus for a harder stance on shots to the head.

Yet here he is more than a year after taking a pair of vicious hits in consecutive games last January still limited by an injury that unlike a broken ankle or a torn-up knee, can't be treated with rest or surgery.

It's not exactly the way Crosby wanted to spend his prime. It's an exquisite kind of torture. And his teammates know it.

"It's got to be really hard on him," Pittsburgh defenseman Brooks Orpik said. "That's something that people have got to know about him. I mean at home he watches other hockey games. It's always hockey. To take hockey away from him has got to be a lot harder on him than most of the other guys in the league."

Part of the reason why Sid the Kid has become Sid the Ghost.

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Though blessed with unique talents and a nearly unmatched work ethic, Crosby can be a reluctant superstar. Polite and accommodating to the last, Crosby is also very aware of his status as the face of the game.

He wants desperately to fit in, to live the life of a regular player even if he knows he's not. Though Crosby was highly visible during training camp as he aggressively worked to get in game shape, he's been nearly invisible after going back on the injured reserve when the symptoms returned following a loss to Boston on Dec. 5.

Crosby went more than a month without speaking publicly. Because he wasn't skating, he didn't travel with the team. Updates from coach Dan Bylsma were brief, if they were given at all.

Being vague about injuries has long been a part of hockey's culture and Crosby was one of a handful of Penguins who spent part of the season dealing with concussion-like symptoms.

Bylsma, however, wasn't pestered about the condition of defensemen Kris Letang or Zybnek Michalek, both of whom have missed extensive time this season with diagnosed concussions.

Crosby technically doesn't even have one, having passed the IMPACT test administered to detect head injuries.

Though Michalek and Letang didn't speak during their rehabs, Crosby's month-long silence fueled speculation his career was in jeopardy and led to reports of the Penguins holding a closed-door meeting to discuss granting a temporary captaincy until Crosby's familiar No. 87 is back on the ice.

Crosby called the supposed controversy "far-fetched" and responded by joining the Penguins on a three-game road trip through Washington, Miami and Tampa Bay, even hopping on the ice for 25 minutes during practice last week.

When his black jersey appeared out of the tunnel, Crosby saw his teammates all wearing taped "C"s on their jerseys as a sign of unity.

"He's our captain and he'll always be our captain for as long as he plays," Pittsburgh forward Matt Cooke said. "We just want him to be healthy."

And there's the problem. Crosby looks healthy. At least on the outside. He doesn't limp. He doesn't need crutches. He doesn't wear a special helmet.

Perhaps that's why the whispers about Crosby's commitment to the team persist, even though they didn't dog Philadelphia defenseman and future Hall-of-Famer Chris Pronger when the team announced in December he would miss the rest of the season due to post-concussion syndrome.

Then again, Pronger isn't Crosby. Nobody is.

"He's probably held to a different standard than everyone else, fair or unfair," Orpik said.

And that standard puts Crosby in a bind. He's stated repeatedly he doesn't want to be a distraction, yet his presence — or lack thereof — will always be noted and scrutinized.

"I've been doing this long enough to know that if there's information to give, it's part of my role and responsibility that comes with what I do to provide that and I've always been willing to do that," Crosby said. "But if there's no information to be given, then I'm not going to give any or make something up."