Ovechkin said he isn’t going to change. Good.

By CHRIS STEVENSON, SUN MEDIA, Dec, 1, 2009:

Ovie being Ovie?

I’m with him on that.

If he reels in his seek-and-destroy tactics, he takes away from one of the things that makes him so wonderful to watch and gives him the opportunity to score as often as he does. He creates his own space in his own unique way. The truly great players usually intimidate with their talent, backing off opponents with the fear of getting too close and being burned. Ovechkin can do that.

But he can also do it with a punishing physical game in which few 60-goal scorers are willing to engage. Old-school power forwards might have done it by dropping their gloves. Ovechkin does it by dropping players.

He knows who is going to be on the ice with him, put out to stop him. He targets them rather than the other way around. I once watched him run over defenceman Zdeno Chara behind the net, which is kind of like running up Mount Everest.

But Ovechkin knew Chara was going to be on the ice for most of the night against him and he gave Chara a lesson in what it was going to be like around the puck.

Ovechkin said he isn’t going to change.

Good.

Let skunks and rats whine and allow real hockey fans to admire you.



Let people write songs about you, let people call their kids and pets after you, 'cause you are the best hockey player in the World!

Let's go, Ovi! Let's go, Caps!





TSN.CA:

In an informal poll, TSN asked 25 NHL players whether they viewed Ovechkin as a hard-hitting player, or more often as a reckless and dirty player.

Eight of the 17 players who responded to the question said they regard Ovechkin as a very good, hard-hitting player, while seven consider him to be both reckless and dirty.

Two NHL players said he is normally very hard hitting, but that recently he has been reckless.

Detroit Red Wings forward Brad May is one of the 17 players who participated in the anonymous poll, but May asked that his opinion on Ovechkin to be revealed.

He said he saw no reason for the NHL to suspend Ovechkin for the hit on Gleason.

"Incidental contact! Remember, it's a physical game," said May. "People forget that. I have no issue with him. He's fast and aggressive and stuff happens."

Ok, I can see where the question in informal poll was not correct. If someone asks me if Ovechkin is reckless, I'd sure say he is, but he is not a dirty player. The poll didn't divide reckless and dirty, that's why it is not a correct question. If they would separate that, the results would be different.

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