Many young hockey fans are eager to get a glimpse of their hometown hero as Sidney Crosby and his Pittsburgh Penguins are in Nova Scotia.

The Penguins held a practice at Cole Harbour Place on Sunday morning ahead of their sold out NHL pre-season game against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax Monday night.

The majority of the crowd was made up of minor hockey players from Cole Harbour.

"It's really cool," said Nash Donaldson. "I like that he comes back to his hometown and plays for us to watch. I mean it's really inspiring."

Crosby wore the same Cole Harbour Wings jersey that many of the young players still wear today before he went on to the NHL and won three Stanley Cups.

He's scored 1,502 points in 1,190 games in the National Hockey League.

The young fans at Cole Harbour Place said No. 87 is a great example of someone who works really hard to be one of the best players. They're in awe of how Crosby is so good at so many different parts of the game.

"I think he practises a lot and he works hard and follows his dreams," said Josh Greer.

In 2018, Crosby was named Nova Scotia's greatest athlete of all time.

He has captained Pittsburgh to three Stanley Cup wins, scored the golden goal to give Canada an overtime win at the 2010 Winter Olympics and then captained Canada to another Olympic win in 2014 when he scored again in the gold medal game.

Monday's exhibition game will be the first time in 17 years Crosby has played in Halifax. The Penguins lost to the Ottawa Senators on Sept. 20, 2006, in another pre-season game.

The pre-season rematch between Pittsburgh and Ottawa was announced this summer. Tickets went on sale in July and sold out within minutes.

The Penguins are 2-2 in exhibition games so far and will wrap up the pre-season on Friday against the Buffalo Sabres.