Alexander Ovechkin - the latest news
(Александр Овечкин - последние известия)
Ru: Александр Овечкин, Sv: Aleksandr Ovetjkin, CS: Alexandr Ovečkin, FI: Aleksandr Ovetškin, FR: Aleksandr Ovetchkine, DE: Alexander Owetschkin
In this video Tarik basically echoes Slava Malamud on Ovie skating upright (which I kind of share). But I can tell you this: it could be a big reason or excuse for Ovie to skip the practice and go with Kapitonov, especially if Dmitri is in town for a short time. You know, Kapitonov tunes, but once. :-)
Kapitonov made a superman from Ovechkin. Kapitonov ended Ovechkin's slump last year. Kapitonov is worth of skipping the team's practice. He is that good and Boudreau knows it.
As of Ovechkin nursing an injury and playing on painkillers last year? He went to Quebec after that and got gold for Russians after 15 year drought.
Thursday's practice was the first for the Capitals since their 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers Tuesday that ended their seven-game Stanley Cup Playoff Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series, so the players worked more on getting loose than strategy.
The Capitals performed a group of routine drills following a brief, brisk, but not taxing, warm-up skate. They practiced breakouts from their defensive zone, followed by lone players taking a long route around a cone at the far blue line and skating into the offensive zone for a long shot on goal.
The third drill had two forwards, trailed by two defensemen, entering the zone and one taking a shot, after which the forwards screened the goalie for a long shot from a defenseman. The team then split in two and ran regroup drills designed to launch a second attack after a foray into the offensive zone was cleared to center ice. Next, they practiced three-on-two attacks into the offensive zone. The Capitals then expanded that drill into five-on-five play in the offensive zone, pretty much a one-zone scrimmage.
In short, the Capitals started with simple drills and then increased the complexity. The drills sharpened the Capitals in their defensive-zone breakouts, their neutral-zone regroups, setting screens, and getting passes to the open man in the slot. Players on the defensive side got practice in clearing the zone under odd-man pressure.
Defenseman Mike Green said a Penguins-specific video session is scheduled Friday to help the Capitals make the transition from playing the Rangers to preparing for Pittsburgh's different type of offense.
A reporter told Ovechkin the NHL had marketed Crosby as its superstar, but that Ovechkin had superseded Crosby in the past two seasons. Ovechkin demurred.
"He's a superstar," Ovechkin said, laughing, and then when asked, described himself. "Me? I'm just like you guys."
Here is what Sid said about playing Ovechkin and Caps:
Both downplayed the rivalry between them and emphasized that the series will be about Penguins and Capitals.
"Goalie stands on his head " translates into Russian as "Goalie stands on his ears"... Good video clip about Varlamov from Comcast, worth watching. (Varlamov, Pothier, Boudreau, Ovechkin, Fedorov)
Ovechkin is not practicing. The team denies the fact of injury, but no one can forbid me to speculate. As you recall, I said it yesterday. I repeat today. Here we go.
I have every reason to believe that Alexander is injured and played on injections. Last year he confessed at the end of the series with Philadelphia "that last month he played on painkillers given by injections." And this year it looks exactly the same as it was back then. Watching him in the first round, it was impossible not to notice the way he played without a puck, especially on the transition from defense to offense. Ovechkin, my friends, never skates upwards. Never. Except for those moments when there is something wrong. And by "wrong" I mean "lower body injury."
I've just talked with Michael Victorovich (Ovechkin-Senior) and he said that Sasha is now working individually with Dmitri Kapitonov, Moscow Dynamo's doctor. In a bit I'll try to talk to Alexander myself.
Bad, bad Slava. Though there's some truth about Ovie's skating, I just hope that it's all garbage and Alex is really working with personal trainer. By the way, Slava, Dmitri is not a doctor, he is a fitness trainer with Dynamo. I guess it's just a typo.
While it's not completely unusual for Alex Ovechkin to take a practice off, it does strike me as a bit odd that he's not out there this morning. All of the other big minute players, like Mike Green, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin and Brooks Laich, are skating.
A team spokesman said Ovechkin is not hurt. But let's see what Coach Bruce Boudreau has to say afterward.
Both Coach Bruce Boudreau and Alex Ovechkin said that Ovechkin is not nursing an injury after this morning's practice at KCI, where the reigning MVP was conspicuously absent from what seemed to be a pretty important on-ice session.
"He'll be practicing tomorrow, okay," Boudreau said. "Sometimes his body gets beat up because he plays so much. He just plays a lot. So he needs a little bit more rest than other guys. So he's just resting today."
When asked why he did not practice today, Ovechkin smiled and said: "Just take more day[s] off."
I'm hearing that Ovechkin's personal trainer from Russia, Dmitry Kapitonov, has come over this week to work with the Caps' star winger.
"He's not my doctor, he's my trainer," Ovechkin said when asked why Kapitanov is here.
Kapitonov gave no reason for Ovechkin's seven-game goal drought, but said on a recent visit he found Ovechkin had neglected off-ice exercise to maintain his endurance. Kapitonov got Ovechkin back on the exercise bike, improved Ovechkin's aerobic capacity and then got out of the way.
ERIC MCERLAIN: Having enjoyed a shaving cream pie immediately after his win in Game Seven over the New York Rangers, Washington Capitals goalie Simeon Varlamov cleans up before talking to the press.
Simeon: "You can't do that, my mouth is full of [shaving] cream, bl..."
WASHINGTON -- Ted Leonsis vividly remembers the moment when he and Alex Ovechkin boarded his private jet after the new Russian Rocket collected four trophies at last June's NHL Awards Show.
"He had so many awards we had to kick someone off my plane to fit the awards," the Capitals' Chairman and majority owner said Tuesday night in the winning dressing room after a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers in game 7. "We were sitting there and he said, 'OK, I've won all the awards, I get it, but they can have them all back, I want to win a Cup. I don't care if I score 10 goals if we win a Cup.'"
Ovechkin scored three goals and finished with seven points against the Rangers and the Capitals are only one step closer to winning a Stanley Cup, but what he showed in this series is an ability to adapt and play a role, albeit a big one.
More than anything, that proves how much Ovechkin has grown into a leader in his fourth NHL season and his second playoff run.
"You have to be able to adapt and adjust in the playoffs," General Manager George McPhee said. "In baseball they call it 'little ball,' you just have to find a way to get on base and don't take the big cuts. Alex learned to dump it in instead of trying to go one-on-one all the time. He's really effective at that, but there are times when you just have to get it in and he did it. Alex was one of those guys that did it in the third."
Ovechkin, known primarily as a goal-scorer, didn't score a truly meaningful goal in the series (unless you count the one he scored in the third period of Game 4, but the Capitals still lost 2-1), but he was without question still the best player on the ice.
Michael Connor / The Washington Times Alex Ovechkin, Sergei Fedorov and the Caps rebounded from a 3-1 series deficit to advance to the conference semifinals. The Star, Apr. 29, 2009:
"It's been a long time since I scored a goal like that," said Fedorov.
It was, really, a $4 million (U.S.) goal. That's how much the Caps decided to pay Fedorov on a one-year-deal last summer even though his performance level in general didn't justify that enormous salary.
"We decided to bring Sergei back for his mentoring and leadership and for what he could do in the playoffs," said a jubilant Washington owner Ted Leonsis in the victorious dressing room.
"Looking back, it was an investment I'd make again."
"My brother Fedor was with us for last three games," Sergei said, alluding to Washington's three straight wins. "Now he's stuck with me. I can't let him go."
Fedor Fedorov?
"Old Russian name, very old," Sergei said. "My grandfather was named like that. He went through three wars."
Ovie and his teammates were lost in the grandeur of Game 7, spectators to their own demise for much of the evening.
How could this happen two years in a row, five times in their history, in Game 7?
And then Feds happened. Then his countrymen happened.
The Russians were coming in that third period, all right -- all of them.
Outshot 14-11 the first 40 minutes, the Caps put 13 shots on goal the final 20 minutes. Eleven of those came from this Russian Five: Semin (five shots), Ovechkin (three), Fedorov (two, his only two of the game) and Kozlov (one).
When Fedorov finally broke the scoring drought with that laser from the last millennium, when Sergei's shot broke the Rangers' back, only two things were certain after the noise finally went away last night:
1) The Washington Capitals were going to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
2) Someone was buying at Russia House, and it wasn't Sergei Fedorov.
"We're not going [to Russia House]. We have to stay disciplined," he said.
Spoken like a golden oldie, like a gracefully aging pro who knows when to rest, when to play and when to go high when the goalie goes low.
What a horrible, horrible start. No due or die, but sit back and wait. The score should've been 1:4. Caps got really lucky. After Semin has scored a flucky goal, Caps finally got into their flow. Wake up Caps! Opporknockity tunes, but only once. Go out there and give everything. Don't screw up this time.
Not much from Ovie in the first, he is -1, no shots on goal, no missed shots, no blocked shots, ice time 06:49, average shift 01:08, 1 hit. Of course, 3 Rags players are after him, but it is normal by Ovie's standards. Gotta do something, Ovie, gotta do something!
Caps had only 2 shots on goal, Rags had 8! Caps have slight advantage in faceoffs wins, 53%.
End of 2nd, Caps 1, Rag 1.
Caps are doomed? It's close to it. For a long stretches of time Caps looked like they were killing penalties, but it was 5 on 5. Caps couldn't even throw the puck out of their zone. Rags are playing with reckless abandon and this is what Caps did in the previous two games. Now the teams have changed their roles.
Ovechkin: -1, ice time 14:01, average shift 01:04, 2 shots on goal, 2 blocked, 1 hit, 2 giveaways, 1 blocked shot.
History teaches us nothing.
End of game 7. Caps 2, Rags 1.
Whew. Caps are really lucky to have a hockey legend, the one and only Sergei Fedorov.
He is the oldest player in the entire history of the NHL to ever score a game 7 game winner.
I think he also topped the list of game winners in playoffs, something like that.
WASHINGTON -- The Washington Capitals have plugged the gaps in the glass, hoping to prevent a repeat of the nasty attack on their fans by New York Rangers coach John Tortorella.
Before Tuesday night's Game 7, the Capitals filled the 1-inch spaces between the panes of glass behind the visitors' bench with seven I-shaped, Plexiglas stanchions. The Capitals said they were also considering adding extra security personnel.
The last time the teams met in Washington, Tortorella squirted water at fans and tossed a water bottle into the crowd during the third period of the Capitals' 4-0 Game 5 victory. The NHL suspended him for Game 6.
More Caps-based hilarity from Cabbie's Journey to the Cup, the droll Canadian sporting program featuring one-liners and high-fives from NHL players. In this episode, Nicklas Backstrom and, oddly, Brooks Laich teach our host how to say many valuable phrases in Swedish, mostly related to picking up women.
To mark this year's highly anticipated Stanley Cup Finals, Cabbie's Journey to the Cup, brought to you by Ford Fusion, will film in one city per playoff round, then in both cities during the Finals. In each city, Cabbie will showcase the NHL players and unique stories in the weeks leading up to the big game. Expect to gain a perspective from the athletes not seen anywhere else in Canadian sports TV as Cabbie delivers hilarious, behind the scenes coverage of locker rooms, players and game rituals. His camaraderie with players is evident as he brings out an often never seen before side of these sports superstars.
Seeing your coach lose his composure on the bench in the form of grabbing a player's stick, holding it like a sword aimed at a fan and needing to be restrained from doing anything more, well, that's probably the exact definition of making yourself a distraction.
And if that wasn't bad enough, the Rangers responded by making sure everyone saw a letter they sent the league in response to Tortorella's more-than-justified one-game suspension.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with sending that letter, because the security situation needs to be addressed. But by sending it out through the media in lieu of any comment from Tortorella makes it appear as if they're telling the world: Hey, don't blame our coach for going bonkers in the middle of a big playoff game! Look at what he was dealing with here! Blame the fan! Blame the security guard!
The irony here is that in the middle of a playoff series, the last thing any team ever wants to do is talk about its plans for Game 7 when it's not guaranteed to be played. Yet the letter from Rangers president Glen Sather talked about putting extra security in place for that potential Game 7.
But, really, if the Rangers worried so much about going back to Washington, they could have avoided it by winning Game 6.
Sergei Fedorov even in the age of 39 remains professional to the core. Despite the difficult sixth game of the series he decided to work out on the stationary bike for half an hour. There, at the gym, took place the conversation with the SE correspondent Vasily Osipov:
What was it that allowed Washington to completely outplay the opponent in the sixth game? We showed a strong offensive hockey. Our forechecking pressure was so dense, especially in the first period, that we, in fact, did not allow Rangers to turn towards our net. This was particularly important in light of the fact that New Yorkers love to crush the opponent in the starting minutes. We did not give them such a possibility, completely seizing the initiative.
Even when the score was 5:1 Ovechkin was physical, was constantly going to the hot spots. Do you think that it is risky and can cause the injuries? Alex always plays like that, you can't probably change it. He does not spare himself and has never shirked from physical play. I try to remind him that sometimes it's not necessarily go to a clash with two or three players, he nods, like, I understand, and continues to play the same. It's not for nothing that he is the best hockey player in the NHL.
What do you need to win in the crucial game? Score first and play our offensive hockey. The main thing is that the puck must be ahead of us rather than behind us.
What would you say about Varlamov's play? I believe that he has changed the momentum of the series. It was very difficult for Simeon, because he, a rookie, was thrown into a battle when the team had already lost the first game. But it is somewhat good that this is his debut season in the league, Varlamov was able to focus strictly on hockey, not paying attention to the stuff around the game.
Do you feel fatigue at the end of the season? The season has just started (smiles). And you don't feel tired because the playoffs are a continuous adrenaline. Now we need to come home to Washington, and be well prepared for the most important game.
While Brandon Dubinsky showed off what looked to either be bite marks or deep scratches on his right wrist today, and added in addition to a tetanus shot he had taken antibiotics to ward off infection, an incredulous Shaone Morrisonn, the accused biter, swore he sank no teeth marks in Dubinsky.
Objectively, I can report I saw a wound on Dubinsky's right wrist. But there's no way I can confirm that it was from being bitten.
4/27/09: Shaone Morrisonn denies that he bit Dubinsky: "I have no idea. I have no idea what he's talking about, what that's all about actually. It's weird that they're talking about that. I was kind of shocked that they would say that. But this is what they do. But whatever. I'm just getting ready for Game 7."
With all due respect to Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, whom I both admire for their skills and talent, the best player in the National Hockey League right now has to be Alexander Ovechkin.
If there's a player in the NHL more valuable to his team this season than Ovechkin, if there's one more talented and more exciting, I've yet to see him play.
What's put Ovechkin a cut above in my opinion is his goal-scoring ability. He drives to the net with a bulldog tenacity not seen in a goalscorer since the great Maurice Richard. He simply will not be denied. From the blueline in there's nobody better in the NHL right now.
Ovechkin also handles the heavy physical play, as capable of dishing out punishment as he is in absorbing it.
His offensive wizardry puts me in mind of another Rocket, the Russian one named Pavel Bure. Unlike the Russian Rocket however Ovechkin seems better able to withstand the heavy going.
Speed, skill and toughness combined in one package is enough, but nobody puts it all together with the ebullience for scoring like Ovechkin. As more than one commentator has noted, the kid loves to score goals, and his enthusiasm has been infectuous amongst his teammates.
The best example of how exciting Ovechkin is can be summed up in the goal he scored against the NY Rangers during Game Five of the Capitals-Rangers series.
If you can't appreciate the skill that went into scoring that goal and how exciting it was to watch it then you're not a hockey fan.
In that one goal we see everything that makes Ovechkin the NHL's brightest star.
If someone else wins the Hart this season in my opinion Ovechkin remains the NHL's best player.
It is actually unbelievable, isn’t it, that John Tortorella hasn’t issued a public apology, a mea culpa, for A) hitting a woman in the head with a water bottle and B) being suspended for Game 6 of a playoff series after talking about discipline? That he feels no need to make amends with the fans?
Blair Betts has a broken orbital bone in addition to a concussion. So he’s out long term. Donald Brashear has a hearing with the NHL today regarding the hit—which Tortorella said was not an elbow, but said it was “a head shot and late.”
Here’s the text of Larry Brooks of the Post having the guts to go face-to-face with Tortorella, and Tortorella stubbornly refusing to take any responsibility, or to be accountable, for his actions in D.C. that left his team short-handed for a crucial playoff game:
Your response to being suspended? I have no response. I’m not discussing that.
You’re not discussing the fact that you were suspended for a playoff game? That’s just what I said. I’m not discussing that. Next question.
You’re unbelievable, John. Unbelievable. You guys have your opinions on that, write ‘em.
So, like, a player commits a mistake during a game, he doesn’t have an obligation to talk about it? You guys think you’re entitled to all information, Larry. I’m not giving you any information.
I’m not asking for information. I’m asking your opinion of being suspended in the middle of a playoff series. You have an opinion. You don’t need me in the conversation.
I need your opinion. You don’t need mine, and I’m not gonna give it to you. Next question, please.
Rick Carpiniello's opinion: Tortorella couldn’t be more wrong here. He messed up royally, on the day he scratched an important player, Sean Avery, for his lack of discipline. He put his team in a bad spot at a huge time, and he brought embarrassment on the franchise—which doesn’t seem capable of being embarrassed.
Sean Avery should be deported to Canada. :-) He is the real embarrassment and shame to NY Rangers to employing such trash.
How were you preparing for this game? As usual, tried to calm myself and not to think that this could be the last game. Tried not to think about the goal that I let in in New York, of course. This is hockey and I am a goalie, if I made a mistake I must quickly forget about it. What else to say? Today we started well, scored two quick goals. In such games it is much easier when you score first.
You always say that you are nervous before the game, but when you are on the ice it is unnoticable. You have cadaverous calmness. I wouldn't say so. Perhaps from the outside one can think that I am as calm as a corpse. But the nervousness is there, and it is there through the whole game.
The Americans eventually learned how to correctly pronounce your name. Yes, we made the adjustments before the fourth game, and now everything is in order. I watched the recording of the game, they were pronouncing my name right (before they were putting the stress on the first syllable. ~SM Note.), and it pleases me.
Was it easier without Avery today? No, it's the same. When Avery is in, he always tries to stand in front of the net. For a goalie it is, of course, unpleasant, but I did not notice his absence.
You have recorded the second shutout in the last three games. How much is the pressure to continue to do that? No pressure because you think about the result first and foremost. After all, we can't lose. I just think about winning, not about my stats.
Who did you throw a puck after the game? To my girlfriend.
Did you hear the stadium was chanting "Varly"? Yes, even saw it was displayed on the scoreboard, my name... nickname, more precisely.
Which you have written on your mask. Yes, indeed! How did you notice it!
What are you and your partners doing the best so far? First of all, they respond quickly to my rebounds and don't allow to use them. Because if you take the first shot, it is very hard to react to the second.
Is there anything that can rattle you? I think any person has something he can be rattled for. But even if there's something, I can't tell you.
Happy Birthday to Varly! He is 21 today. A legal age in US for going to a brewery. In Russia you can do it at the age of 16. And you can get married at 16 there too.
Dubinsky should be thankful he didn't end up as a chicken without a head. As I said his boarding hit on Green was clearly with intent to injure. If he won't get a swine flu for game 7, I'd feel sorry for him.
The Capitals are moving in for the kill. And they'll have their fans - maybe even some of the same ones who prompted John Tortorella to heave a water bottle into the crowd Friday, which drew a one-game suspension - behind them for Tuesday's Game 7, which means there will be even more blood in the water.
Washington, which completely dismantled the Rangers again in yesterday's 5-3 win, tied the series at 3. It was the second straight game in which the Capitals have sent Henrik Lundqvist to the bench after two periods.
"He can't play every game like a god," said Alex Ovechkin, who redirected Tom Poti's shot to give the Capitals a 5-1 lead with 3:16 left in the second period. "He can't save the game all of the time. When we play our game, we play simple, we play hard and nobody can stop us."
Betts left with a concussion and Brashear was not penalized for the hit, although he and Paul Mara each got two minutes for roughing after Mara challenged him. "Great hit," Brashear said of the check. "When you do that, it takes a guy out of the lineup, forces them to change things around. A good hit can always change things."
Brashear said he does not expect to hear from the NHL regarding a suspension. Also, the Rangers alleged that Capitals defenseman Shaone Morrisonn bit Brandon Dubinsky during a scrum, though the Capitals had left Madison Square Garden by the time the Rangers made that allegation public.
I mentioned earlier that Shaone Morrisonn denied the Rangers' claims that he bit Brandon Dubinsky on the arm. Here's what the defenseman had to say about the alleged incident:
"I have no idea," he said. "I have no idea what he's talking about, what that's all about actually. It's weird that they're talking about that."
Asked if the league had requested a hearing, he said: "I think [GM] George [McPhee] is handling it. It was news to me when we landed last night. I didn't really understand what he was saying. I don't know what to say. That's not what happened. I didn't do that or anything like that."
"I was kind of shocked that they would say that," he added. "But this is what they do. But whatever. I'm just getting ready for Game 7."
Dubinsky, though, reiterated after the Rangers' practice in New York this morning that he was in fact bitten by Morrisonn.
Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau supported his player, saying, "I get so ticked off when I hear that. Shaone doesn't know what the heck they are talking about. And I don't either. I looked at it from every angle and I don't either. To me it's a moot point and let's move on. I did come up and [asked him] and he steadfastly denied anything. He was angry was more of the emotion he had, like, 'What are you talking about?' type attitude. I said, 'I was just asking.'"
Ovechkin's total ice time in the first is 06:58 with 00:52 of average shift, +1, 2 shots on goal, 1 hit. Rodzival got him pretty bad, Ovie went into the boards with his head first, but, you know what Russian machine does.
End of 2nd. Caps 5, Rags 1. Kozlov scored a beautiful goal beating defenseman and shooting up at close range. That's how you score on Lundqvist. He is too good facing shots from a distance.
Another great goal from Ovechkin. Why great? Because it's how you solve a hot goalie. Nobody can stop deflections. And also it is a very rare goal by him. I was preaching since game 1 for him to go to the net and park there. He just started doing that and he needs to do it in the future.
Ovechkin's stats in the second: total ice time 7:59 (14:57), average shift 00:59, +1, 1 goal, 3 shots on goal, 0 hits.
Mike Emrick: "Caps are toying with Rangers now". After he said that Dubinski gets boarding on Green. It was definitely an intent to injure.
The third might get ugly, thanks God Caps have Brashear, the nuclear deterrence. :-) He just needs to get as much time as possible, just skate around, you know.
Games' over. Caps 5, Rags 3. Ovechkin played 5:53 in the third.
Another good quote from Mike Emrick: "President Obama has not attended a game in Washington. I don't know what he is doing, but I would not miss game 7." :-)
Brashear's hit. I think it was a clean hit and not "very" late, come on. We've seen a whole lot of hits coming after the player shoots the puck.
Washington forward Donald Brashear laid a vicious shoulder hit right to the head of unsuspecting Rangers forward Blair Betts at centre ice with around 10 minutes left in the first frame.
Betts didn't have the puck at the time, having just dumped it in seconds before. He was face-down on the ice for several minutes and had to be helped off. The 29-year-old didn't return to the game.
Brashear took a two-minute penalty on the play for roughing in the scrum that followed, but he didn't get one for the hit.
Bobby Orr is the most mesmerizing player I have ever seen. Well, he was. He was until The Alex Ovechkin Show hit the NHL.
Ovechkin's combination of ferocity, passion, talent and showmanship is unique in NHL history. He is a great player, already an all-time player after just four seasons in the league, who isn't afraid to let the world in and see the excitement he gets from performing, from excelling; from playing.
This is the athlete who would be worth the price of admission in even Yankee Stadium, and please, while we're at it, let's get the Caps into The Bronx for an outdoor game.
Can anything be sillier than what passes for debate among the shallow thinking screamers in Canada about whether Ovechkin is good for the game? About whether his showmanship somehow goes too far?
Please. It's good, all of it's good, from the (poorly) choreographed 50-goal celebration in Tampa, to the glass-thumping, skate-hopping merriment following essentially every goal his team scores with Ovechkin on the ice, to the hip-bump hop with Nicklas Backstrom following Washington victories.
It's rare indeed when a sport's greatest player is also its greatest personality. The NHL is blessed to have Ovechkin filling both those roles. He plays hard. He plays to win. He plays to the fans in the crowd who pay big money in order to be entertained.
You can't take your eyes off Ovechkin when he's on the ice. If you do, you risk missing something like the circus goal he scored on Friday in which he made would-be Ranger defenders Chris Drury and Derek Morris into unwitting human props for his latest act.
The ice is Ovechkin's stage. This is his time. The NHL has the greatest act on earth.
"He's like the shark in Jaws, circling in the water waiting for blood. They should play that music from the movie – da-duh, da-duh, da-duh - when he's out on a shift. He doesn't just go after loose pucks, he hunts them down."
~John Davidson, President of Hockey Operations for the St. Louis Blues.
Blog o Alexovi, psaný anglicky, je vážně kvalitní a aktuální
Just wanted to thank you for posting my book on your blog, which I consulted a fair bit while researching and writing the book. In particular, the comprehensive list of links on alexovetjkin.blogspot.com is the best library on Ovechkin material available anywhere.
Regards,
Geoffrey Lansdell
"The fan blog Alex Ovetjkin does a fine job of tracking all things OV on a daily basis..."
Stu Hackel, Slap Shot The New York Times hockey blog
"Your work on the Ovechkin and Semin interviews was wonderful, and both are just great reads. Thanks for the time and effort..."
Greg Wyshynski Editor - Puck Daddy, Yahoo! Sports Blogs The Bill Murray Award -- For Outstanding Work From a Bilingual
Nominees: On Frozen Blog, The Alex Ovetjkin Blog
Winner: The Alex Ovetjkin Blog has seriously upped its game over the last twelve months and they continue to be the offseason's premier blog for info on our Russian players. OFB has the connections, but The AO Blog has the heart. Tic Tac Toe Hockey
"If you don’t read “Alex Ovetjkin,” you’re missing out on information on the Caps’ star forward that you probably won’t find in other places." The Peerless Prognosticator
"Alex Ovetjkin: This is a very cool blog, all Alex Ovechkin. If you are a Caps fan it is a good read. If you are a Alex Ovechkin fan, it is a must read. This is one of the best sources to track Ovechkin! Link partner of DCPSR! Rank: * * * * * DC Pro Sports Report
Donate to The One Fund - Boston 2013
Posts
