As a child growing up in the Nova Scotia community of Cole Harbour, Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby had a lifelong dream — to win the Stanley Cup. That dream was realized just over five months ago when, at the age of 21, he became the youngest captain in NHL history to hoist the Cup after the Penguins beat the Red Wings in seven games.

Another dream, one that he had never thought possible, came true Wednesday on the streets of downtown Halifax when Crosby became one of 12,000 Canadians who will carry the Olympic Torch en route to Vancouver, where he will make his first-ever appearance in the Winter Games.

“You look at people out there, you see the signs, the excitement and things like that and like I said, you never dream of carrying the torch,” Crosby said. “For me, that wasn’t something that I ever thought would be a possibility, so when Bell came and said would you like to participate in this, I said ‘yes, it’d be great.’ I was honored.”

For the second time in a little more than three months, Sidney Crosby got to celebrate with the people of Nova Scotia.

The Penguins’ center and captain had the Stanley Cup in his hometown of Cole Harbour and nearby areas in August, including the city of Halifax.

Last night, Crosby was an Olympic torch-bearer in an historic area of Halifax packed with spectators.

“It was really nice,” Crosby said of the experience. “It was a lot of people. We get spoiled by the support people show here, but the torch was something pretty special.”

Hundreds of people lined a downtown street in Halifax, N.S., on Wednesday to watch Pittsburgh Penguins captain and Nova Scotia native Sidney Crosby carry the Olympic torch.

Crosby wore an official torchbearer’s uniform as he ran about 300 yards before passing the torch to snowboarder Sarah Conrad, a native of Dartmouth, N.S.

Crosby, whose hometown of Cole Harbour, N.S., is across the harbor from Halifax, is one of 12,000 torchbearers who will carry the flame across Canada as part of a massive relay that began in Victoria last month. The relay will make stops in every Canadian province and territory leading up to the Winter Games in Vancouver in February.