Ovechkin escaped unharmed, no Swedish jersey :-)
There are multiple tweets that Ovi is skating in his normal red jersey. I guess Ovi knows when to bet, hahaha.
Congrats to Marcus Johansson, Nicklas Backtrom and to all Swedish readers of our blog with the victory. Here's Nicklas Backstrom via hockey.expressen.se:
Washington's Swedish centerduo, Nicklas Backstrom and Marcus Johansson, watched the game on TV in San Jose. "Me and Marcus sat here in San Jose and we were nervous, haha. Sweden definitely deserved the victory. They had the whole game, I think," said Bäckis.
Nick talks about WJC game (at 00:40) last night:
Me and Marcus are happy that Sweden won today. Otherwise we would be hearing from the Russians. I think me and Marcus are a little calmer than them. I think it's good for the whole team that Sweden won.
Q.: No jersey bets or anything like that?
No, no jersey bets. I wanted to keep Ovi out of that jersey.
Q.: Bottle of wine ???
Yeah, that's fair and I was nice to him.
Correct me if I am wrong, not sure about wine's question
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Booh, he would have looked so good in blue and yeallow. But you're probably right, he's a smart man and knew when to bet and when to pass ;-)
I think he says, "yeah, that's fair. And I was nice to him"
Sounds like he meant he'd give Ovi a bottle of wine.
Thanks, D... Corrected.
and it sounds like he didn't Ovi to wear his Swedish jersey, lol....
From Whyno's article, it sounds like Ovi and Nicky bet a bottle of wine, and Ovi was fine betting that instead of wearing the jersey.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/capitals-watch/2012/jan/6/capitals-swedish-players-bask-world-junior-gold/
Malin (@rabiesmalin) translated that quote by Nicky last night as:
“Me & Marcus watched the game here in San Jose, we were really nervous, but Sweden deserved the win. They controlled the game completely.”
In this article by Whyno, he said Ovi and Alzner also bet a bottle of wine. So maybe Karl gave Ovi a bottle which he'll pass on to Nicky?
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/capitals-watch/2012/jan/5/karl-alzner-pays-price-russia-canada-world-junior/
So maybe Karl gave Ovi a bottle which he'll pass on to Nicky?
That sound like right. Nicky didn't go hard on Ovi and Ovi gave him the bottle of wine he got from Karl.
Don't you think Nicky is comment about jersey reveals some tensions between Ovi and Backis?
Like I don't see Backie setting up Ovi as he used to be. And it's not just me, a lot of people noticed that.
When Ovi plays with Mojo, he always gets a good pass from Mojo no matter what.
So I think something is going on between Backie and Ovi.
Not good for team's chemistry for sure.
But it's a life, it's just like Paul McCartney was picking up on George Harrison.
I kind of disagree-- I don't see tension between Nicky and Ovi simply because people think (and I'm not sure I'd agree with the assertion) that Nicky has been passing to Ovi much less than usual. I think it's much more a case of Nicky growing more confident in his own shot and choosing to shoot instead of passing more often-- as Dale Hunter has encouraged. Pucks on net comes up all the time.
In conjunction with the way the lines bounced around a lot in the beginning of the season and sometimes splitting them up, that would make it seem lower. However, I'm pretty sure that over half of Ovi's goals this year have in fact been set up by Nicky, if you check his stats. As for Marcus dishing the puck to Ovi more often, I think it's more because he's young and has that instinct to get it to the star player rather than take the shot on his own.
In conclusion, I really doubt that we can extrapolate tension between Nicky and Ovi and negative chemistry between them based on a throwaway comment about a jersey-- in an interview where Nicky was smiling and appreciating the joke. I think Nicky's just a calmer person than Ovi.
Besides, didn't Bruce say they were made for each other? :)
I think Nicky's comment was more of a joke and a pride in Sweden thing, nothing about how he feels about Ovi.
I don't think you can take anything from Nicky passing/not passing to Ovi as much. Honestly I haven't noticed that but I haven't been looking for it. Nicky has been playing on other lines sometimes without Ovi as well. Marcus and Nicky seem to play well together recently.
I did hear some rumor about Nicky and Ovi having an argument once in the locker room recently, but who knows, it could have been over Ovi's lame choice in music.
It does seem like Nicky hangs out with Green, Marcus, and his brother Stoff more than Ovi now, but that's not a big deal to me, they don't need to be BFFs to play together effectively.
One other thing, I saw a google translate of an Swedish article that I think was from around September where Nicky said he doesn't really hang out with Ovi outside of the rink anymore.
But the summer of 2010 there was also a Swedish interview asking Nicky about his new house he built in Sweden, and he said he invited Ovi to visit anytime, but Ovi didn't want to leave Moscow then (too busy hanging out with Valeria and hitting the clubs).
I believe Nick said once that he already considered Ovi as a best friend.
Also, if there were any tension between them then Ovi wouldn't have celebrated Nick's goals like he always does.
LOL at the Caps players bets on the WJC outcome. National pride is a wonderful thing. :)
And as for any tension between Ovie and Nicky, I agree with those who say there isn't any. Nicky is proud of his Swedish heritage, just as Ovie is equally proud of being Russian. I don't see any problems or lack of chemistry between them. I think both players are adapting to Dale Hunter's style, beoming more confident and comfortable of their respective game within the system. I see only good things ahead for both players and the Caps team as a whole.
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