Ovechkin's new CCM commercial

Ovi's CCM new commercial




The making... Via Capitals Insider

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Caps sending a message

By Joe Haggerty, CSNNE.com, Sept. 29, 2010:

BOSTON – Here are five thoughts from the first period with the Capitals leading the B’s by a 1-0 score at the TD Garden in Boston’s final exhibition game prior to leaving for Europe.

1) The Gregory Campbell fight with former B's minor leaguer Matt Hendricks two seconds into the game is likely a carry-over from last night’s third period fireworks with Alexander Ovechkin in Washington DC. Campbell was cross-checked by AO, and he promptly threw Ovechkin into the boards before the Russian sniper came back with a hard slash at Campbell. Johnny Boychuk came to Campbell’s aid and both players were sent to the penalty box before it escalated. Clearly Washington looking to send a message that “you don’t go after our Ovie” and rightfully so.

By Mike Petraglia, Sept. 29, 2010, Capitals 4, Bruins 1:

The 24 hours leading up to Wednesday night’s red-eye, 5 1/2-hour flight to Belfast, couldn’t have been more hectic for the Bruins.

They played Tuesday night in Washington and lost to the Capitals, 3-2, in a tense game that featured third-period rough-housing between Gregory Campbell and Alexander Ovechkin.

They hopped on a plane and had to come to Boston for the team’s annual media day Wednesday morning.

They then went home to finish up packing for a 12-day trip to Europe and came back to play the same Capitals team at TD Garden.

So it was hardly a surprise that in their final North American preseason tuneup before getting on a plane for Belfast, Ireland and their season opener on Oct. 9 in Prague, the Bruins dropped a 4-1 decision to the Capitals.

Tim Thomas saw his first action of the preseason and played all 60 minutes, allowing four goals on 24 shots. Niklas Backstrom scored the first two goals before the Capitals built their lead to 4-0 early in the third period.

Mark Recchi scored his first of the preseason midway through the third on a power play, with assists from Patrice Bergeron and Michael Ryder. The Bruins left immediately after the game for Logan Airport, where they caught a charter flight to Belfast. They will play an elite area team in Ireland on Oct. 3 before opening with the Phoenix Coyotes in a pair of games Oct. 9 and 10.

The Bruins finished their NHL portion of preseason with a 1-3-1 mark, while the Capitals, who did not travel superstar Alexander Ovechkin to Boston, remained perfect at 4-0-0 in preseason.

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Ovechkin's weight

The Washington Capitals Official Guide for 2010/11 season lists Alex Ovechkin at 234 pounds.

Is it more than last year? Yes, but only by one pound.

Here is Alex' weight over the years:

2003/04: 200 lbs
2005/06: 212 lbs
2008/09: 220 lbs
2009/10: 233 lbs
2010/11: 234 lbs

As you can see the biggest change was between 2008/09 and 2009/10 seasons. So we've got DJ King is at 233, Mike Knuble at 227, John Erskine at 224, Jeff Schultz at 232 [Joe Finley is 259, but he probably won't make a roster]

Player               Height    Weight      Born

1. Ovechkin, Alex     6’2”       234      09/17/85
2. King, DJ           6’3”       233      06/27/84
3. Schultz, Jeff      6’6”       232      02/25/86      
4. Knuble, Mike       6’3”       227      07/07/72  
5. Erskine, John      6'4"       224      06/26/80   

Ovi is the heaviest Caps player since Jurcina's trade...


From Jan. 2010 post:

"Updated Training Camp Roster 9-23-08":

Player             Height    Weight      Born

1. JURCINA, Milan     6’4”       240      06/07/83
2. KOZLOV, Viktor     6’5”       237      02/14/75
3. BRASHEAR, Donald   6’3”       237      01/07/72  
4. SCHULTZ, Jeff      6’6”       227      02/25/86      
5. OVECHKIN, Alex     6’2”       225      09/17/85  

Knuble 230 lbs
Schultz 227 lbs
Steckel 222 lbs
Erskine 216 lbs
Poti: 200 lbs

Compare around the league:

Chara 255 lbs
Lindros 240 lbs (at the age of 36)
Bertuzzi 231 lbs
Pronger 214 lbs

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DJ King vs. Thornton and more

AP:

WASHINGTON -- Alex Ovechkin recorded a pair of assists in a feisty preseason debut, helping the Washington Capitals defeat the Boston Bruins 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Ovechkin took three shots and delivered several checks. With 3:03 left in the game, Ovechkin got into a shoving match after being run into the boards headfirst by Gregory Campbell. Ovechkin retaliated by slashing Campbell with a one-handed stick swing, and both players earned minor penalties.
The Capitals are unbeaten in three exhibition games.

washcaps: Caps 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins, King vs. Thornton and more...
Gregory Campbell hit from behind on Ovechkin at 9:40.


Katie Carrera, Capitals Insider:

The physical contest -- with Boston outhitting the Capitals 22-14 -- was just the kind of atmosphere Ovechkin needed to reacclimate himself, even if his high-energy and hard-hitting style make the coaching staff worry about his health every now and again.

"Yeah, he makes us nervous," Coach Bruce Boudreau said. "But it was his first game. He was getting his feet wet and he didn't play anywhere near the way he can play, but the check at the end made us nervous. Ovie is the leader and he plays the way he does but when [Gregory] Campbell hit him, if he doesn't duck his head he could have been seriously hurt. So, I don't blame him for going back at [Campbell]."

Katie Carrera, Capitals Insider:

Here's King's reaction to when Alex Ovechkin got into a scrum late in the game:
"It's tough watching when you're not on the ice and to see him go into the boards like that. It's something you put up in the head there and the next time you play them and you get a good chance to run at someone, you can get a good hit on them."

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Ovechkin talks to media after morning skate

washcaps: Ovi, Green, Bradley, Boudreau, Eakin, Perreault all speak after morning sk8 about playing at VC tonight


Who could've believe it? :-) Paul Kukla got tricked by Life.ru via Pravda.ru!

By Michelle Scalise, CSNwashington.com:

The Pravda Newspaper out of Russia must have their facts wrong. The paper reported that Alex Ovechkin will be recording a hip hop track with international sensation Eminem.

"It would be such an honor for me, because I am a big fan of Eminem. I always have his CDs in my car, and I would be very glad to meet him. By the way, Eminem's 8 Mile film is just great," Alexander told Life Sports, according to the article.

Nate Ewell, the Capitals VP of Communication confirmed the reports are just not right.

"Not to ruin everyone's fun, but all signs I have point to the Ovechkin/Eminem story being false."

Mike Vogel, Dump'n'Chase:

With Fleischmann out, Mathieu perreault gets the top center slot tonight, skating between alex Ovechkin and mike Knuble. Those two big rig wingers are used to skating with Nicklas Backstrom, who has a tendency to slow the game down somewhat. That’s not Perreault’s style; he’s more “go, go, go.”

I asked Boudreau how he thought Perreault’s style would mesh with his new linemates.

“I think they’ll be able to adjust,” says Boudreau. “Knuble doesn’t go, go, go very fast. I don’t think [Perreault] will be in awe of those guys. That’s why I’m putting him up there. Sometimes, you put guys in that position and they go, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got to get the puck to Ovi.’ And that was the greatest thing about Nicky. He didn’t give a crap. He was playing his game and if [Ovi] was open, he’d get him the puck.

“I think Matty should do pretty well.”

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“Get Pucked Up!”

By Steph Greegor, the Other Paper, Sept. 27, 2010:

Top 20 reason to get "Pucked Up" for hockey season, according to Maxim magazine's October issue
...

14. Tough superstitions — Maxim said that before games, Capitals Alex Ovechkin has sex, Penguins Sidney Crosby won't talk to his mother because he "gets injured when he does."

There was also something about Crosby, pucks, dryer and the basement. :-)

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HBO filming today

Our freelance journalist O., recently cited on Puck Daddy, reports from Kettler Capitals Iceplex arena (Sept. 27, 2010):

A long day of on-ice filming ended around 4:30 today. Alex was in the first group practice with wiring attached around his waist. 3-4 cameras were set up to follow proactice and big lights were in the bleacher areas. Lots of crew members, equipment, wires, and a cherry picker to hoist lights or cameras higher.

I couldn't tell if the second practice had a camera following it or not, but while the other guys were on the ice some players from the first group were being filmed in the locker room/weight room areas and being interview.


Ovechkin and Backstrom on the set for an HBO 24/7 promo. Photo by WashCaps


After lunch, Ovie (who was wearing his yellow crocs with shorts and his sweater), Nicky, Knuble, and Poti came out for more filming with the Kettler lights out but spotlights on. Nicky had a harness on with gadgets attached to his helmet, chest and shoulder. The boys did passing drills, close-ups of skating and puck handling, etc. with a tight ring of cameras around them. After and hour, all left the ice except Ovie.

A generic Penguin them came out along with Steckle and King. While the latter two waited, Ovie was filmed checking the Penguin into the boards.

Also, the job no one wants: To be the guy wearing a Penguins jersey for repeated takes of Ovechkin checking him into the boards. #Capsabout 7 hours ago via TweetDeckRetweeted by 4 people

kcarrera

Katie Carrera

Around 3:40 Ovie got to leave the ice. (He was patient and good natured about the process, but you could tell he was getting tired and restless - started twirling in circles between setups.)

Next, King was filmed checking the Penguin into the boards. I don't know what Steckle was going to be used for since I left before the filming was done. Six hours was long enough for me. :)

Also, Papa Ovie is back.

Photos by Katie Carrera, Capitals Insider.

Katie also reports that "Alex Ovechkin should make his preseason debut [vs. Bruins] and said he will likely skate on a line with Tomas Fleischmann and Mike Knuble."

Here's more from her WaPo post:

By Katie Carrera
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 27, 2010; 8:20 PM

Alex Ovechkin has never been one to prefer extended periods of practice time over game action.

The marquee left wing's wait will end Tuesday night, when he is expected to make his preseason debut at home against the Boston Bruins. The game will mark Ovechkin's return to Verizon Center for the first time since the Montreal Canadiens eliminated the Capitals from the Stanley Cup playoffs last spring.

"It's going to be fun; being in a game is always good," said Ovechkin, who added that he would likely skate on a line with Tomas Fleischmann and Mike Knuble. "Game is always better than practice. It's nice to get back feeling the puck, feeling the ice and get in game momentum again. I'm ready for that."

Along with Ovechkin, several other veteran players, including Matt Bradley, Boyd Gordon, D.J. King and David Steckel, could make their preseason debuts in the first of back-to-back contests against the Bruins. Goaltender Semyon Varlamov is expected to start and play the entire contest. It's also possible that Tuesday's lineup will include more players who will remain in Washington for the regular season than the two previous preseason games in Columbus and Nashville.

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Alex Ovechkin and Eminem "Till I Collapse"

Yo left, yo left, yo left right left...



'Cause sometimes you feel tired,
feel weak, and when you feel weak, you feel like you wanna just give up.
But you gotta search within you, you gotta find that inner strength
and just pull that shit out of you and get that motivation to not give up
and not be a quitter, no matter how bad you wanna just fall flat on your face and collapse.


Yo left, yo left, yo left right left
Yo left, yo left, yo left right left
Yo left, yo left, yo left right left

Till I collapse I’m spilling these raps long as you feel em
Till the day that I drop you'll never say that I'm not killing them
...

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The song remains the same

Washington Capitals 2009-2010 Season Opener from Zachary Hollifield on Vimeo.

Washington Capitals Alex Ovechkin Headshot 2008-2009 from Zachary Hollifield on Vimeo.

Washington Capitals 2008-09 Season Opener from Zachary Hollifield on Vimeo.

Washington Capitals "Unleash" from Zachary Hollifield on Vimeo.

Washington Capitals "My Ride" from Zachary Hollifield on Vimeo.

Washington Capitals Red Rockers Bumper from Zachary Hollifield on Vimeo.

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Sam Adams and Ovechkin

No, not "Sam Adams" the beer, Sam Adams the rapper...


Alex Ovechkin and Sam Adams at UltraBar where Sam was performing. Sept. 24, 2010



Wikipedia:

Before attending Trinity College, Connecticut Wisner attended Hobart and William Smith Colleges for two years where he played for the Statesmen soccer team. Wisner studied political science at Trinity College, Connecticut. Here he has found success and was placed on the All-NESCAC soccer team in 2008. Sam Wisner Played for Trinity College and was named captain.

On September 10, 2010, Wisner was arrested in Manhattan, KS for incitement to riot and disorderly conduct. He was arrested while performing a concert for the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity at Kansas State University. Riley County Police instructed Wisner to shut down the concert even though a proper noise permit had been given to the fraternity. Wisner then allegedly yelled “Fuck the police” and “Fuck that”. Police then approached the rapper on stage and took him into custody.

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Ovechkin: Поехали

Ovechkin CCM commercial shoot viral video

From Greg Wyshynski, a.k.a. Puck Daddy, Sept. 24, 2010:

Ovechkin has been a CCM pitchman since 2005, and this video obtained by Puck Daddy is the viral kickoff to a huge marketing campaign for new skates -- the CCM U+ Crazy Light -- being rolled out this fall. It's also fairly amusing, if you like Ivan Drago imitations

In the following clip, a stubborn, prima donna Alex Ovechkin(notes) refuses to remove his skates and causes a commercial director to throw a profanity-laden fit on set.

Ovi says, "Поехали" [Poyekhali] (Let's go)

This phrase or word is famous in Russia because the first man in outer space Yuri Gagarin said it when his rocket went up.

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Now I have to sign up for HBO, great :-)

Ovi, Green, Bradley reactions to HBO's 24/7 series on Caps-Pens

The series will debut with a show Dec. 15 at 10 p.m. ET with an encore at 11. Ensuing episodes will debut at 10 p.m. ET on the subsequent Wednesdays -- Dec. 22, 29 and Jan. 5 -- all with an encore at 11. All four episodes will have multiple replay dates on HBO, and the series also will be available on HBO On Demand.

It's the first time HBO Sports will divide its cameras between two teams and also the first time the network will document teams in the middle of their regular seasons.

HBO Sports' cameras will have unprecedented access to film "24/7 Penguins/Capitals Road to the Winter Classic."

Is that right?

"We've been pretty strict with access to the locker room and we've always felt that the locker room at the practice rink or the main rink is really a player sanctuary," George McPhee said. "They have to have some place where they can work and have some privacy; that's why we've been strict. But with HBO -- after watching what they did with 'Hard Knocks' and everything else and seeing some of the other programs that they've done, they're big time. We're going to give them unfettered access, because we thought 'Hard Knocks' was great."

The cameras will be here next week for some promotional work, but they wont' be joining the team full time until Dec. 5. They'll remain with the team for about a month.

What will be off-limits?

They wanted to put a camera in Ted Leonsis's office. He said that seemed "a little bit over the top." But essentially, nothing is off-limits. Cameras will accompany players to their homes, to their cars, to restaurants, to film study, in the dressing room and so on.

"We have told them that we will say no to no request," Ted Leonsis told reporters. "And so they have to decide who they want to follow, how they want to follow, what storylines, what they want to do, and we'll approve it."

Am I the only one who doesn't have HBO?

Most [players] seemed to [have it]. Some weren't sure.

"I don't know if I have it or not," Brooks Laich said. "I don't have TV right now. They haven't hooked up my satellite."

Ovechkin said he has HBO at home but only his family members watch it. He said he doesn't watch television shows, sticking with movies. (He just watched The Town.) But he said he'd make an exception.

"Oh yeah. I'm gonna watch this show. This is gonna be probably my favorite show," he said. "It's pretty cool experience, sick. For the team, for the guys, for the organization, it's a big step forward. We're gonna be on TV again, so it's good."

What language NHL hockey players speak?

Profanity.

But why there are so many English words in it?

Not so fast, Ovi says:

"Well, if I'm gonna say some bad words it's gonna be Russian words. Probably you guys don't understand it. I don't know. We'll see."

So whose mouth will you have to watch out for?

Matt Bradley:

"Schultzie. Schultzie gets pretty crazy behind the scenes. A guy like him, him and Tom Poti, those two guys, when you get them alone behind the scenes might get pretty crazy."

What would you want to see as a culmination of HBO's reality show?

Fluto Shinzawa, Boston.com:

It would be a better use of everyone’s time to turn the Winter Classic (Washington vs. Pittsburgh at Heinz Field on New Year’s Day) into the sport’s yearly midseason celebration.

Capped, preferably, by Alex Ovechkin running over the potty-mouthed Maxime Talbot.

What do you think?





Source:

• DC Sports Bog
• Capitals Insider
• NHL.com

BB speaks about it and says something like, "I went ahead and watch some of HBO's 24/7 and it's a good stuff. It will be a 'must see' show..."

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Ovechkin: "What is it? 6 hour [drive]?"

Katie Carrera:

Lineups for preseason opener in Columbus:

Forwards
Brooks Laich - Tomas Fleischmann - Alexander Semin
Jason Chimera - Mathieu Perreault - Eric Fehr
Andrew Gordon - Marcus Johansson - Matt Hendricks
Kyle Greentree - Cody Eakin - Joel Rechlicz

Defense
John Carlson, Karl Alzner, Tyler Sloan, Brian Fahey, John Erskine and Sean Collins

Goaltenders
Semyon Varlamov
Braden Holtby

Alex Ovechkin isn't making the trip for tonight's game, but he joked with Nicklas Backstrom after practice Wednesday that maybe he would drive out to Columbus just to watch.
"What is it, six hour?" Ovechkin said.

It actually can happen. Ovi drove to Philadelphia once to a pre-season game. Was it like two years ago? That's Ovi.



Ovi with Ronnie Ortiz-Magro from 'Jersey Shore'

McFadden's restaurant and saloon: Jersey Shore Party with Ronnie!


Update: Nicklas Backstrom confesses to Lindsay Czarniak that he watches the "Jersey Shore" show:

Washington Capitals 2009-2010 Season Opener from Zachary Hollifield on Vimeo.

If you haven't heard yet Ovechkin's Team A Takes The Duchesne Cup [Dump n’ Chase].

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Ovechkin helps his alumni club juniors again

Alexander Ovechkin will send a hockey equipment/uniforms to Moscow Dynamo hockey school for juniors. This was announced at the "Russian news service" broadcast radio by the president of UHC Dynamo Mikhail Tyurkin.

"Alexander Ovechkin has expressed such a desire, and literally in October he will send us a whole lot of ammunition for the children," said the President of the club. "And we'll be pleased to hand out the uniforms on his behalf to the kids and once again to say "thanks for your support, moral, material, and just in general for you being with us". It is Great honor for us, that one of the greatest players of our time is an advisor to the club management," said M. Tyurkin.

Alexander Ovechkin works as an adviser to the President of UHC Dynamo since July 1, 2010. During this time the famous hockey player had time to meet with the young inmates of the club and watch some games of the Dynamo team.

Source: http://www.rusnovosti.ru/news/111362/

Just to remind you, Ovi has also paid for the renovation of the junior club facility.

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Alex Ovechkin plays center in the third day of training camp (video)

By Katie Carrera, Washington Post, Sept. 20, 2010:

As the Washington Capitals begin to get reacquainted with familiar linemates or adjust to new ones during training camp, there's a good chance of seeing things that might not happen much in the regular season. Say, for example, captain Alex Ovechkin temporarily filling in at center during Tuesday's scrimmage at Kettler Capitals Iceplex.

Down a center because Andrew Joudrey had a doctor's appointment, Team A rotated through playing the position, with even Ovechkin, a prolific scorer on the left wing, taking a few shifts in the middle.

"I was surprised when [assistant coach Dean Evason] told me, 'You're going to play in center,' " Ovechkin said. "I was like, 'Okay.' I won one faceoff, so I was happy, but I think I didn't play well in the defensive zone . . . so that was bad."

Team A (which also featured Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Knuble and Semyon Varlamov) defeated Team C (which included Mike Green, Jason Chimera and Eric Fehr), 6-3, in the session, with Ovechkin adding the final goal of the contest with a shot straight off the faceoff.

But on an earlier goal that broke a 3-3 stalemate, Ovechkin was in another unusual situation.

After a turnover at the blueline, defenseman Dylan Yeo scooped up the puck and rather than feed it to Ovechkin, who was waiting unobstructed back door, shot it himself. Yeo's shot beat goaltender Dany Sabourin for a 4-3 Team A lead.

"Dean [was] on the bench, I heard him say that was a good decision," Knuble said. "It takes [guts] to blow off Alex when he's sitting there ready to shoot the puck."

RT @bmcnally14: Mike Knuble on Dylan Yeo ignoring wide-open Ovechkin, scoring himself: "It takes balls to blow off Alex when he's ready to shoot the puck."



Willsie and Nycholat 5 years ago helped Ovi and Green make the transition to NHL.

Willsie: "It's funny, wherever I went people asked me about Ovechkin, guys like Rob Blake..."





Ovi, Knuble, Beagle, Perreault, Sloan and Bruce speak about the intensity of the scrimmages

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Happy B-day contest

Whole lotta Ovi's pix from Marge and all of them were taken by her...

So here is my Bday present for a Ovie. a video compilation of all the pictures I have taken of him over the past 5 yrs. great memories, and great ovie moments. thanks from all your fans.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY OVIE!!!


~Marge

keep up the good work Marge! :-)


Update:

The contest ends with another haiku from BobbyG:

Russia’s Favorite Son Also Rises

Toy stick in his hand,
He forges dreams of glory;
Dynamo his heart

All to be the best
Hockey world has ever seen;
None are his equal

Mother Russia calls,
Passion is his true karma;
Hopes and dreams embraced

Washington beckons
To fulfill his destiny;
Rock the Red intense

Rookie of the Year,
MVP and more sublime:
THE GOAL in Phoenix

Ballet pirouette,
Montreal eyes wide shut see
Great 8 shoot and score

Live life to the max,
Each moment might be the last;
Moscow never sleeps

Russian Machine bends
And drips his sweat to the ice
For twenty-five years

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Sokolova in DC

Photo by Amy P.

Here's how our reader "O" describes it:

For those who care and want the details...

Valeria was at practice today. I didn't notice her until I saw her go to the Caps store with the man I usually see shepherding Ovie's friends and gfs around when Papa Ovie isn't around.

Anyway, her features aren't as defined as they are in her photos, the lips are the most noticeable feature and in person she has a completely different shaped nose then I thought she had. Her face is softer, with a bit of gentleness, and she looks much, much younger in person. In photos I thought she looked 22-25, but face-to-face she looks 16-20.

She is also extremely thin, thinner than in the photos. I'm size 2 petite and 8 inches shorter, but her ankles looked like my wrists. She doesn't need a cheeseburger, she needs a truckload of them, and yet, her weight didn't look unhealthy.

She was dressed in designer duds, nicely dressed but not overdone - skinny jeans, hightop sneakers, short jacket, Coach bag and Coach diamond earings. Her hair was in a ponytail held by a scrunchie and (refreshingly) she continues to prefer a natural face (make-up free as far as I could tell).

Personality-wise, she seems nice with a soft voice speaking passable English. Not a trace of arrogance unlike the most recent gf. Since she was buying gifts to send/take back to her nephew, I'd also say that she is family oriented.

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Ovechkin: "Yeah, its first day in training camp" (video)

Ovi: "Yeah, I've missed hockey."

More from Katie Carrera, Capitals Insider, Sept. 18, 2010:

Alex Ovechkin, who appeared a little winded at the end of the session, spoke to the media after Group A's skate about the expectations facing the Capitals this season.

"You know, this is, I think, our problem. Everybody expects we're going to beat everybody and win. Let's just play one game and then another one. We'll see what's going to happen. ... We feel we have a pretty good team, and it doesn't matter what somebody says about us. We're ready for a fight, and we're ready for a battle."

The team's training camp t-shirt should give a pretty good idea of the Capitals' attitude this season. The back reads: "Stay angry. Believe in yourselves."

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More of Happy B-Day contest

From Amy P. "двадцать пять" (twenty five)



More haiku by our reader "O":

• Quick intensity
  bringing joy to hockey fans
  Zip. He scores again
  
  
• Elfin grin warms hearts
  Blades scurry across white ice
  Unguarded five-hole
  

You've got another 12 hours, people! The contest ends tomorrow at Noon.


Original thread...

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Camp is closed today

Ted's Take, Sept. 17, 2010:

I saw Alex Ovechkin yesterday. He looks tight, tough and ready. He was smiling and he seems happy about being back with his friends and teammates. He is just a joy to be around. He lifts the energy level of any room he enters.

Camp is closed today as the pros take physicals but on Saturday you can come out and get reintroduced to the team. See you then and there. Go Caps!

Jill Sorenson talked with Alex Ovechkin yesterday, on his first day at ice arena...




Ovi: No staying up all night [anymore :-)]

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Happy 25th Birthday to Great Eight!

The First Day of the Rest Of Ovie’s Life

BobbyG

Dreams are born in youth

And honed on endless ice sheets

Hungry for the fight

Master skills, technique;

Unleash a shot so deadly

Mortals quake in fear

Test yourself in ways

We can only dream about;

Time and space vanish

A lost brother speaks;

You kiss your glove in tribute

And celebrate life

Fifty goals season,

A hot stick is set on fire,

Your light hot and bright

Losses, open wounds;

Undaunted you persevere,

Strive for perfection

Beware Russian bear;

The Kremlin dome rises up,

Inspires your fierce pride

Capitals faithful

Appreciate your greatness;

Bend, but do not break

Ovi,

Let the season begin and let the season end like you'll have it in your mind when you will blow out the candles on you birthday cake.

Happy 25th Captain Ovechkin!


С днем рождения Капитан Овечкин!

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Ovechkin watching Flyers - Caps rookie game

Sept. 16, 2010: Ovechkin, and Backstrom behind him, are watching the Flyers - Caps rookie game...



...somehow Ovi misses the fight between Zac Rinaldo and Trevor Bruess...

More from @DailyForehand:

• Peter Laviolette and Craig Berube are both here. Both wearing Eagles windbreakers.
• Alex Ovechkin and Nick Backstrom are in the house. Backstrom shouted "RED!" during the national anthem. Ovechkin is wearing yellow crocs.
• Flyers get nothing started on the unofficial first PECO of the season. Zac Rinaldo trying to start something with Johansson of the Caps.
• Rinaldo has now switched his aim from Rinaldo to anyone in red, it appears.
• Wasn't tough to guess that Rinaldo would be the one to fight. Just as it ended, Ovechkin came running out of the locker room to watch it.
• Ovechkin then asked a security guard who won, who landed more punches. Really looked sad to have missed it.

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GMGM: It was a very difficult summer, maybe the most difficult ever

By Barry Svrluga, Washington Post, Sept. 16, 2010:

The move that defines the current Capitals was all but a no-brainer: Selecting young Russian winger Alex Ovechkin with the first pick in the 2004 draft. To surround Ovechkin, the Capitals have assembled a core of talented young players, many of them draft picks executed by McPhee and his scouting staff.

With Ovechkin, twice the winner of the Hart Trophy as the league's MVP, the Capitals have attracted legions of fans, many of whom don't remember how hard it was to get to this point, where Verizon Center is sold out nightly and the team is considered a Stanley Cup contender.

All of which made the loss to the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs last spring even more difficult to take. If the hours before regular season games aren't fun for McPhee, imagine the hours after an excruciating Game 7 loss to a No. 8 seed in a series in which your team had a three-games-to-one lead.

"You're looking for a trap door to hide from everybody for a while, and sort of get over this," McPhee said a couple of days after the season ended.

That process wasn't easy.

"It was a very difficult summer, maybe the most difficult ever," McPhee said this week.

Yet that night last April, when he left the arena following the loss to the Canadiens, McPhee thought back: What could I have done differently? His conclusion: Nothing.


His anticipation of the upcoming season isn't blind optimism. It's based on his life in hockey.

"You fantasize about what a group like this can accomplish," he said.

A grown, hardened man dreaming like a little boy. That, surely, is fun.

Read more...


That was exactly what I thought, GMGM did everything possible to make a long playoff run, but it didn't happen.

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Ovechkin talks to media after morning skate

Here is the transcript via Capitals Insider:

On the summer:
It was a pretty fun summer, just chill with my friends; go out almost every night.

On the longest he went without being on the ice:
Probably month and a half. I have a pretty hard workout in the summer so I feel pretty good and ready to go.

On his summer training:
I changed my coach. I worked with a different coach and we'll see how I'm going to feel this year. It's probably the same but different group of guys I work with, some different drills and it was good.

On what the team learned from last year:
We lost couple guys but we have different guys here. But most group of guys we have last year are staying together, so again it was hard experience but we move on. We have to work the same as we did in the regular season but we have to think about the playoffs differently.

On whether there will be a different approach to this season:
We know what we have to do. We have to play our game and be ourselves and don't listen to nobody, just concentrate on game.

On having essentially the same team back from last year:
It's nice when you can come back to locker room and you know more of the guys and you have chemistry with them. So the new guys, I hope they will enjoy here and we do everything we can to say hello to them.

Ovi trained with Kovalchuk's fitness coach. His former fitness coach Dmitri Kapitonov moved back to St. Petersburg and is working together with his brother for SKA.

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A friendly reminder

A friendly reminder about Ovi's birthday contest. He will be 25 tomorrow.

You are not limited to just photos or photoshop, you can write an essay, a poem, a song, your imagination is your limit. We would like to keep your submissions unique and please don't submit the same stuff you've already sent somewhere else.

We are also extending our contest to this weekend till Noon on Sunday.

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Cocktail party for Ovechkin and other NHL stars by Vanity Fair

By Dan Rosen, NHL.com Staff Writer, Sept. 14, 2010 "NHL, fashion go hand in hand at Vanity Fair party":

NEW YORK -- A who's who from the hockey world mingled with big wigs from the arts, entertainment and fashion worlds in midtown Manhattan on Tuesday night. If appearances mean anything, their worlds collided with grace.



(Photo by Andy Marlin/Getty Images for the NHL)




Ovi wearing D&G's Virgin Mary t-shirt chats with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman during the cocktail reception hosted by Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter at The Monkey Bar on September 14, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Andy Marlin/Getty Images for the NHL via Yahoo Sports) More from Getty Images...



Vanity Fair editor and native Ottawan Graydon Carter hosted a cocktail party for the NHL and 20 of its biggest stars at his restaurant, Monkey Bar, on 54th Street between Madison and Park Avenues. Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, among others, shared stories and snapped photos over cocktails and appetizers with notables like designer Vera Wang, actor Tom Cavanagh, director Jason Reitman and gold-medal winning figure skater Evan Lysacek.

This wasn't the first time Vanity Fair and the NHL hooked up in a cross-promotion -- it wasn't even the first time Tuesday (Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby were in a photo shoot together earlier in the day for Vanity Fair with photographer Bruce Weber). However, it was yet another sign that the NHL is a player in the pop culture society, even during Fashion Week.

"We've done a lot of hockey things over the years and the thing is with hockey guys, they look normal," Carter told NHL.com. "They're not huge-sized guys, 350 pounds, so they fit in with normal life a little better. It works for us. The NFL and professional baseball are covered to death in this country, and hockey is just cooler."

read more...

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Live from New York, it's Alex Ovechkin and Mike Green

NHL media day, Sept. 14, 2010, NYC:


WashCaps: Live from New York, it's Ovi.

LeBrun: Mike Green sitting down with my pal @ESPN_Burnside

Update:

WashCaps: Greenie and Ovi between interviews

WashCaps: @greenlife52 taping a promo for TSN

Ovi and @GreenLife52 enjoying borscht at a NYC restaurant

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"Eminem the best"

BirthplaceMag.com, Sept. 13, 2010:

Whole lot of shakin’ going on in the Bronx as Jay-Z and Eminem light up New York City at Yankee Stadium, bringing the likes of B.o.B., J. Cole, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, Kanye West and Nicki Minaj on stage. 

Eminem and Jay-Z invaded the Boogie Down Bronx tonight, hitting Yankee Stadium with their highly anticipated Home & Home concerts, taking place tonight, September 13 and tomorrow, September 14. The long-sold-out events are a follow-up to mirrored shows, held last month in Detroit, at Comerica Park.

Update: President Barack Obama did not appear. That was a joke. He wasn’t supposed to.

But second man in DC Alex Ovechkin did. :-)


AlyonkaLarionov:

• Heading to Jay-z and Eminem!!!
• Eminem, D12, B.O.B. Whaaat!
• Yankee Stadium going crazy.
• Intermission, Jay-Z's up next
• Jay looking good as ever
• And Kanye joins him on stage. Red leather suit .. Vma style.
• Kanye and Jay "welcome to the good life"..

Me:

• Is Ovi impressed?

AlyonkaLarionov:

• Oh yes "Eminem the best". RT @tj_ovetjkin: @AlyonkaLarionov Is Ovi impressed?
• Coldplay fans, Chris Martin joins Jay on stage. <3
• Aww Queen B, Beyonce joins her man on stage.

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Ovechkin welcomes Kugryshev

You've probably seen this video before, but this is HD quality...

By Katie Carrera, Washington Post, Sept. 13, 2010:

In planning for his third rookie camp since he was drafted in 2008, Dmitry Kugryshev knew he wanted to come to Washington early - not a week or few days early, but almost a month prior to the start of official practices - to train and work with the Washington Capitals' strength and conditioning coaches.

But Kugryshev, 20, needed a place to stay, so he called Alex Ovechkin.

Ovechkin, who spent the offseason in Russia, won't return to the Washington area until later this week, but he didn't hesitate to help his young teammate and fellow countryman.

"He just said, 'No problem,' " said Kugryshev, who stayed at the Arlington house with Ovechkin's older brother Mikhail, until rookie camp formally began this past weekend. "It's good to have Ovie's help. It's better when I come early for me to stay there than be alone. We can talk in Russian all day, have fun . . . it's more like home."

Read more...

Ovi, can I borrow your AMG? :-)

Well, Mikhail has his own house, so where exactly Dmitry stayed?

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