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Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Ovechkin celebrates Gagarin Cup victory with Dynamo plus his exit interview




Photos by Izvestia.ru
Vladislav Domrachev of SE talked to Alex:

Does your injured leg bother you?
It's okay.

And what about the size of a boot? Is it hard to walk?
I was just given this huge walker-boot. They couldn't find anything else and now there is no reason to change. The first two minutes it was painful, uncomfortable, but then I found the correct angle to place the foot on the ground, got used to it. Now I am even ready to dance.

So, it seems like you have committed a heroic act coming to Helsinki in the quarter-finals vs US with a broken foot, haven't you?
Well I did not know that the injury was so serious. I thought it was a bruise. The doctors told me to do x-ray, but I kept putting it off. Like, when it'd be over, then I would.

Mike Vogel sits down with Caps captain Alex Ovechkin for a Monumental Network exclusive one-on-one interview before Ovechkin leaves to Helsinki.







Monday, May 20, 2013

Ovechkin's adventures in Moscow :)


Translation:
Ovechkin got out of his Geländewagen (Ghelik) with the injured leg in a cast to take a photo with me!!! real honorary man!!
In other tweets @OmarWalkerStar says that the picture was taken by Maria Kirilenko and that he actually was behind them in a line at McDonalds, but after he drove to the gas station and was behind them again, he decided to approach Ovechkin. :)

Good news, Ovi is not slacking and wearing his boot! :)


Mercedes-Benz G 63 AMG. This is what Ovi drives in Moscow nowadays.


King of the Ring





Thursday, May 16, 2013

Ovechkin: Injury? What injury? It's just a bruise!



"Injury? What injury? It's just a bruise." (Ovechkin upon arrival to Helsinki, face of torture, broken foot)

Alex had hairline fracture of his left foot in game 6. Played with it to the rest of the game 6, in game 7 and flew to IIHF World Cup in Helsinki, Finland to play one more game there vs. USA. Russia was eliminated, but Ovi, after 10 hour flight and hairline fracture in his foot, was the best Russian player in that game.


Team Russia's doctor Valery Konov said at the Moscow airport (http://news.sport-express.ru/2013-05-17/587005/) that it was "a fracture of the metatarsal bone of the foot" and added that it was "a serious injury."

If it is serious, why Capitals let him go to Finland?

Update:








Wednesday, May 15, 2013

GM George McPhee: Alex wasn't wrong.

I remember watching that game and even NBC commentators were puzzled. You could tell it by the tone of their voices, "five consecutive penalties to Capitals." Alex Ovechkin, in an interview to Russian Dmitri Shumin and Slava Malamud had his guess, it was league's conspiracy. Personally I just don't believe it is. However my guess is that refs are humans and they have their own prejudices. And prove to it are people like Mike Milbury and Don Cherry, the first is known for his dislike of Alex Ovechkin, the latter is well documented for his bias against the European players. If the refs are influences by those or share their views, then they act accordingly.

Via CSN Washington:

“I don’t think there’s a league conspiracy,” McPhee said Wednesday, “but it sure didn’t feel right. And Alex wasn’t wrong.”

McPhee said he liked the way the Capitals were playing through the first two games of the series and noted they took a 1-0 lead in game 3 in New York.

“Then things changed,” McPhee said. “I don’t know why there were six penalties [against the Caps] in the first 30 minutes of that game. I don’t know why. What did we do to deserve that?

“And then you come back to Washington, you win [Game 5] and now you’re up 3-2 going back and it’s five-nothing in power plays [in favor of the Rangers]. It’s probably unprecedented in a 1-0 hockey game in this league. One team gets five power plays and one team gets nothing. I can’t explain that. I don’t know why that happened.”

McPhee said he spoke with someone from the league offices during the series, “but at some point you stop. They referee the way they referee.”

What can be done about it? I think the head coach or GM should talk about when it happens, not after the team lost the series. Yes, they can be fined by the NHL, but at least they can make it more difficult and/or raise awareness of what is going on.





Tuesday, May 14, 2013

The words of encouragement from Maria Kirilenko




May 14, 2013: Alex Ovechkin is speaking to the media before leaving to IIHF World Cup in Finland.
@BrittMcHenry:

Ovi said he just "picked this out of his closet" for today's media availability

Russian R-Sport has interviewed Maria Kirilenko who has won her starting game in the prestigious tournament in Rome Tuesday. Right now Maria has the highest rating in her career, she is number 12 in the world. The interview is fairly long, so here are some excerpts from it related to Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals.
This year, judging by the photos on your Twitter, you went to see the hockey games in Washington. Last night, unfortunately, Capitals with your fiancé Alexander Ovechkin were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs. Did you watch the games during European tournaments or athlete's regime is more important?
Well, I certainly did not watch the games at night, but I certainly rooted for them and followed the events, even being here, that's the fact. There were some games that were starting earlier, and then I was able to watch them here, the time coincided. I've watched a couple of games.

Are you very upset that Washington has lost or maybe there is a silver lining because Sasha will now be able to come to support you in the tournaments here, in Europe?
I know how important the Stanley Cup playoffs were for them, for the team. They wanted to win it. Even if you just watch the games, you can see how they are giving all in a tense struggle. It was a real battle, almost like a life-and-death situation. So, looking at it, I certainly would love to see them to win. Stanley Cup is the most prestigious thing in hockey. So now I am very sad. I know how upset Sasha is, and I am very worried. But on the other hand, there are many more years to come. Sasha is relatively young for hockey. And I'm sure that his time will come, no doubt, that they will win this Cup. Well, and if they lost, it was meant to be. Of course, for any athlete the defeat at first seems like a tragedy, but you don't quit, you continue to train. And if you do, the luck be with you.

The IIHF World Cup is going on now, Alexander can still join team of Russia...
Yes, he's already told me that he was summoned. It's good. You can win the World Cup and get positive emotions. I think we should be happy that you are alive and well, with your family doing well. And sport, this is what you do in life, what you like to do. And everything that happens in it, should be treated with optimism.

Source: http://rsport.ru/interview/20130514/662092154.html