Sidney Crosby + Tim Hortons = Another Sweet Ad

For years, Sidney Crosby has been starring in TV commercials for Tim Hortons, the ubiquitous Canadian coffee and doughnut chain that has a longstanding endorsement deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins captain. The ads are hugely popular. The 2023 version just dropped, after Crosby went to Rimouski, Quebec, last summer to film it.

There is usually some sort of story line or setting, and this year is no different. According to several reports, the new spot harkens to a night when Crosby was playing — and starring — for his junior club, Rimouski Oceanic. One night the team bus was returning from a road game when those on board saw a line of people waiting in frigid temperatures to buy tickets for an upcoming home playoff game.

Those fans were in for a long, cold night, and many had already been in line for hours, so Crosby and then-teammate Eric Neilson went to a Tim Hortons to buy many coffees and all the baked goods in the display case and distributed them to the fans (such a Crosby thing to do, even when he was a teenager). This story is recounted in the new ad, and Crosby reunites with some of those fans.

Tim Hortons as a corporate entity long has been associated with hockey, beyond its NHL player founder. It’s a ritual for teams and families to go there after games. The chain also sponsors hockey for the youngest players, and Crosby himself was a Timbit player.

The ads often appear primarily, or exclusively, in Canada but American fans often find a way to view them. PHN chronicled a touching one in 2018. You can have some fun searching for videos of bloopers, too.

Without further ado, the new ad (but keep scrolling after that for a couple of the best ones from the past).

Crosby has been joined a few times in recent years by fellow NHL star and fellow Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, native Nathan MacKinnon, sometimes to hilarious results. This just has to be the funniest:

And the one for those who have a thing about heights: