Ovie's THANK YOU for Mike Komisarek

 There was a lot of buzz about Komisarek not wearing his number 8. Remind you number 8 is kind of sacred for Ovechkin because of his Mom, for Komisarek it was not a big deal...

By Tarik El-Bashir, The Washington Post, Jan. 26, 2009:

Ovechkin had a lengthy conversation with Gordie Howe on Friday night after bumping into the Hall of Famer in the lobby of the players' hotel. Then before the game, Ovechkin met Canadiens greats Dickie Moore, Guy Lafleur and Jean Béliveau.



"I ask [Howe] everything what I can ask him," Ovechkin said. "Lots of legends were here and I shake hands with them. It's history; they play before in us in the NHL. It's funny how they are getting older and the same is going to be with us."

Ovechkin's impressive collection of autographed sticks also grew this weekend. He collected sticks from Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Brian Campbell of the Chicago Blackhawks as well as from Edmonton's Sheldon Souray, Los Angeles' Dustin Brown and St. Louis's Keith Tkachuk. Ovechkin also gave autographed sticks to seven fellow all-stars, including Montreal's Mike Komisarek as a thank you for allowing him to wear No. 8, which also happens to be Komisarek's jersey number with the hometown Canadiens.

Ovechkin had a memorable weekend on the ice, too. He defended his Breakaway Challenge title on Saturday night in the SuperSkills competition, then added to his all-star totals on Sunday.

Ovechkin scored the Eastern Conference's first goal by finishing off a beautiful display of passing with Savard. Ovechkin snapped a pass to Savard, who promptly returned the favor. The Capitals' winger wasted little time firing the puck past Jean-Sebastien Giguère to tie the game at 1 at 6 minutes 26 seconds of the first period.

Ovechkin's first career all-star assist came later in the period when he set up Montreal defenseman Andrei Markov with a no-look, cross-crease pass. Markov's goal increased the Eastern Conference's lead to 4-1.

The Capitals' all-star, however, did not record a point in the second period, which featured 10 goals and ended tied at 8.

I also had a feeling Ovie wanted Kovalev to get MVP, old timer was so grumpy when he lost to Alex in a breakaway competition... Alex only had two shots on goal and mostly was feeding other players... He really didn't care if he would score or not, but he did care about winning the game at the end...


MONTREAL - JANUARY 25: (L-R) Eastern Conference All-Stars Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Andrei Markov and Alex Kovalev of the Montreal Canadiens, Ilya Kovalchuk of the Atlanta Thrashers and Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals pose for a photo before the 2009 NHL All-Star game at the Bell Centre on January 25, 2009 in Montreal, Canada. (Photo by Dave Sandford/Getty Images)

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