It's always fun when athletes from one sport deliver pep talks to athletes from an entirely different sport. It's like when stars of one sitcom show up on another sitcom, except it's cool. Last night's hockey game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins had one such occasion. It's one of the better cross-sport combos we can recall.Before the puck dropped on the Habs home ice, a certain 76-year-old Golden Bear popped into the Bell Centre locker room and delivered a few words of encouragement. Canadiens goalie Carey Price was blown away. Here's the recap from Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette:"Carey Price said he's not awestruck very often, but he was taken aback when he looked up from his stall in the Canadiens dressing room and saw golfing legend Jack Nicklaus delivering a pregame pep talk to his team."'It threw me off because he had his back to me,' said Price. 'I was doing my stuff and I looked and there was someone standing three feet in front of me. I was kind of awestruck and I don't get awestruck very often.'"Before revealing the starting lineup to the team, Nicklaus offered advice that served him well throughout his career. He said one of the things he always focused on was to "never try to do anything I couldn't do, meaning I always played within myself … and as long as I did that, I was successful and I think that applies to about every sport." From outside the locker room, Nicklaus's pep talk might sound like your typical anodyne jock-speak, but it did wonders for Price, according to Hickey:"Price took those words to heart as he guided the Canadiens to victory in yet another game they could easily have lost. The Bruins outshot the Canadiens 43-23 but Montreal escaped with a 3-2 win when Paul Byron scored with 62 seconds remaining in regulation time."The Canadiens have been outshot 123-61 in Price's last three starts but he has allowed only six goals for a .953 save percentage. He has an 8-0 record on the season."Montreal now sports a NHL-best 11-1-1 record.For Nicklaus, who turned pro 55 years ago this week, it was simply nice to be recognized by fellow competitors, not like those know-nothings down in Augusta.
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