Tretiak: Ovechkin is half Canadian

I've spent Thanksgiving in a cabin with no electricity and no internet (a guy across the creek had a satellite dish with a solar panel though). It was great. Even learned how to square dance under the full moon with my friend playing the fiddle. Lol, it was a lot of fun.

• So what, I missed two games and now Alex Ovechkin is the only NHL player to lead his team in scoring and PIM (washcaps)?
  
  
  By John Vogl, The Buffalo News, November 27, 2009:

  
  Another of the week's biggest hits came during the Sabres' 2-0 loss to Washington on Wednesday. Alexander Ovechkin boarded Patrick Kaleta, earning a five-minute major and a game misconduct.
  
  That's enough punishment for Ruff.
  
  "He got what he deserved, and let's move on," Ruff said. "It wasn't that he ran at him. He just finished him at a time he shouldn't have finished him. I didn't think there was any brutal force involved. He just caught him after Pat had made the pass, and Pat's head went into the glass."
  
  
  Ovi's Sabres - Caps stats:
  1st period, 06:24 Alex Ovechkin (17th goal) Wrist Shot - Assists: J. Schultz (5 goals)
  3rd period, 03:38 Alex Ovechkin, Boarding (maj) - 5 min (served by Chris Clark), Game misconduct
  1 goal, +1, total ice time 15:25, 16 shifts, average shift 00:57, 3 shots on goal, 5 attempts blocked, 1 shot missed, 3 hits, 1 giveaway.
  
  


• Ovi mania hits Montreal again?
  
  washcaps: The Ovechkin fascination in Montreal is intense. Coach Boudreau quipped it was "like the Beatles" as we left the hotel for Centre Bell.
  
  
  By RED FISHER, The Gazette, November 29, 2009:

  
  Ovechkin is the NHL’s best and most exciting player for all of the right reasons. Loves to shoot the puck. Never stops skating. Time after time, he can’t be stopped when he’s one-on-one with a defenceman. He’s the complete package from game to game and remains one of the very few players worth the price of admission alone.
  
  
  Ovi's Caps - Habs stats:
  1 goal, 1 assist, +1, total ice time 25:32, average shift 01:03, 8 shots on goal, 8 attempts blocked, 2 missed shots, 0 hits, 1 takeaway, blocked 1 shot, 1 faceoff win.
  



• Ovi now at 237 pounds? When the season started he was 233.
  
  
  (H/t to Emily for video)
  



• Ovi's DNA in question?
  
  
  By G. Boguslavski, Sovetsky Sport, November 30, 2009:

  
  What are your observations as a general manager of team Russia?
  
  Tretiak: I do like Varlamov. This guy will play better and better, gaining experience. And, of course, I admire the play of Ovechkin. You look at him and you have no clue what he will kick in next second! Imagine how difficult it is for goalie to play against such a forward.
  
  Ovechkin has a sea of energy. He does not look like the Soviet hockey school player. From a side it seems that he is half Canadian. Kharlamov and Mikhailov had never shot on goal like from a machine gun, Ovechkin does. In our time, we passed the puck until there was an ideal chance to score. But the Canadians in 1972 played in Ovechkin's style.
  
  www.sovsport.ru/gazeta/article-item/358921
  


In other words, this is what some anonymous GM said about Ovechkin: "Ovechkin is as Canadian as Gordie Howe".



• Ovi could be named Russia's Olympic Captain?
  
  
  By DAVE STUBBS, The Gazette November 30, 2009:

  
  Likewise greeted, times 10, is Washington's Alex Ovechkin, who on Saturday dazzled Tretiak and everyone else in the Bell Centre. Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said Ovechkin snapped to attention when the Russian goaltending legend appeared on the scoreboard, the superstar later admitting "it was pretty cool when I saw him in the stands."
  
  With a straight face, Boudreau said, "I think Alex is pretty well on the (Russian) team, but he wanted to go out there and do a good job for (Tretiak)."
  
  Ovechkin did so with a game-high eight shots, another eight that were blocked, two more that missed their target, a goal, an assist and a deke of Canadiens' Marc-André Bergeron that demonstrated how a defenceman can start a shift wearing a jockstrap and finish it without one.
  
  All that's left to be decided about all-universe Ovechkin is whether he'll be named Russia's Olympic captain, a decision to be made by a secret players' ballot.
  
  "Ovechkin is unbelievable," Tretiak said. "Every time he touches the puck, you wonder, 'What's he going to do with it now?' I'd like to watch him all day."
  
  Then, in his delightful English: "He has too many energy inside."/fieldset>
  

Just two games and so much has happened...

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