Are you an Ovechkin or a Crosby person?

Photo: Washington's Alex Ovechkin (L) has supplanted Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby as the face of the league, according to our experts. REUTERS/Jason Cohn


National Post, Canada, Sept. 30, 2009 "Post Panel: Answers to the 2009-10 NHL season's burning questions":
The 2009-10 National Hockey League season kicks off on Thursday night. As a part of our season preview, columnist Bruce Arthur and hockey writers Michael Traikos, Joe O'Connor and Sean Fitz-Gerald sat down to answer 20 questions before the first puck drops.

4 Who would be your first pick in a fantasy hockey league and do you have a sleeper pick?
Arthur Depends on the scoring system, but Alexander Ovechkin, just for the fun of it. My sleeper: Marco Sturm, filling in for Phil Kessel next to Marc Savard.

Fitz-Gerald Ovechkin, if only for his goal-scoring celebrations. Detroit’s Valtteri Filppula had 16 points in 23 playoff games last spring.

O’Connor Do penalty minutes count? If they do, Evgeni Malkin (113 points, 80 PM) is the cornerstone. And the Preds’ Steve Sullivan is the 100-1 shot.

Traikos With Crosby already bothered by a nagging groin injury, Ovechkin is the safer top pick. Henrik Zetterberg is a sleeper in the sense that he could sneak into the top five in scoring.

5 Are you an Ovechkin person, or a Crosby person?
Arthur I am an Ovechkin person, in that I too have a soft spot for liquor and smiling. And I’m a sucker for the most entertaining player in generations.

Fitz-Gerald If you have not seen it, run — don’t walk — to watch Ovechkin’s ad for Eastern Motors on YouTube. Would Crosby sing, a cappella, into a hockey stick?

O’Connor What about Malkin? He can’t speak much English, but the scoring title and a playoff MVP award speak volumes.

Traikos Crosby might be just as skilled as Ovechkin. But the carefree Russian, who treats the sport more like a game than a job, is simply more fun to watch.

9 Who wins gold at the Olympics?
Arthur Russia. Their top line will be Ovechkin, Malkin and Ilya Kovalchuk; their goaltender will probably be Evgeni Nabakov or Ilya Bryzgalov; and they won’t be under skull-crushing pressure, the way Canada will be.

Fitz-Gerald Some of Russia’s best have already begun lobbying for NHL involvement at Sochi 2014, and they will look awfully threatening in Vancouver.

O’Connor Canada. Home-ice advantage will be the difference.

Traikos The home-ice pressure will be too much to handle for the Canadians. Instead, count on the Swedes — with great goaltending from Henrik Lundqvist, leadership from Nicklas Lidstrom and a possible cameo from Peter Forsberg — to repeat as Olympic champs.

14 With which one player would you want to start a franchise?
Arthur If I was in a market where I had to sell tickets, Ovechkin. If I was in Canada, Crosby because he’s two years younger.

Fitz-Gerald I am not employed to say only nice things about Ovechkin. But, um, Ovechkin.

O’Connor If you’re the Las Vegas Gamblers, contact Steve Mason’s agent and give him whatever he wants.

Traikos Despite his looks and his grasp of the English language, the gap-toothed Ovechkin has surpassed Crosby as the face of the NHL. The Capitals were in danger of being as relevant as the Coyotes without him.

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Catfight

Cast:
Corey Masisak, The Washington Times writer
Ted Leonsis, Owner of Washington Capitals
Tarik El-Bashir, The Washington Post writer


Location:
Washington, DC


Date:
Wednesday, September 30, 2009

By Tarik El-Bashir, The Washington Post, "Is This the Year?"

(Jonathan Newton -- The Washington Post)

Ted Leonsis, Ted's Take, "Thank you"

The Washington Post print edition has an entire section devoted to the start of the NHL season and to the Washington Capitals.

Corey Masisak, The Washington Times, "Is Ovechkin the next Great One?"

Allison Shelley / The Washington Times

Tarik El Bashir's tweeter:

Ovechkin reading The Post's NHL section after todays practice. If you don't get it, you don't get it.

Corey Masisak's tweeter:

That's weird - I saw him wiping his nose with it. Zing!

hehe... Who won?



But who can help me to solve this? Ovi is wearing gloves with a sign in cyrillic:
Николай

It is upside down and it's Nikolai in Russian, who Ovi steal these gloves from? Nikolai Khabibulin? That fella has big gloves...

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Ovechkin,Semin, Varlamov and Ted Leonsis at the Open World

A. Ovechkin and S. Varlamov outside the Lib of Congress after they visited a group of Russian diplomats w/ A. Semin.
Photo by Nate Ewell


Voice of America, Sept. 29, 2009:

James Billington, the Director of Library of Congress, thanked participants for supporting the program "Open World", "Your initiative and optimism inspire enthusiasm of ordinary Americans. It inspires a desire to know more about Russia and better understand it. Today we have invited those who wonderfully and greatly represent Russia in America: Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and Semen Varlamov.

As soon as Dr Billington utter these words three hockey players and owner Washington Capitals Ted Leonsis have entered the hall.

"We are honored that we have the best hockey players in the world. These are the Russians for whom Washington has become a second home. In addition, each of them is just a symbol of exchange between the two great countries," said Ted Leonsis. "In my opinion," he said, "President Obama, when he was in Russia, sincerely believed in the fact that our peoples have much in common. We are entrepreneurial, we have the greatest respect for our history and try to find a balance between the private business and a strong government."

The owner of Washington Capitals called muskovite Alex Ovechkin, Krasnoyarsk' Alexander Semin and a native of Samara Semyon Varlamov not just the members of his hockey team, but also the envoys of Russia and at the same time the citizens of the world.

According to Alex Ovechkin, who in the past two years is the most valuable player in the NHL, it was an honor to be an ambassador twice, at present with Washington Capitals, and in 2014 at the Olympic Games in Sochi. "Now," said Alex Ovechkin we have the Olympics in Vancouver. And after that, Russia will gradually become the face of the Olympics in 2014. For us, it will be great, wonderful event. And I as a hockey player, as an athlete, represent my home country.

"We are not only represent Russia in America, but we ourselves go to the museums of Washington, learn American history, become acquainted with people. Washington is our second home, but our first home is Russia. For it we are competing in sport arenas. And we want the Russians to be healthy, but still sick for us," [tj - in Russian rooting also means be sick for the team you are rooting for] said Alex Ovechkin in an exclusive interview to Voice of America.

H/t to Emily!

Related post...

Update:

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Writing For New York Times

Not exactly for a print edition, but nevertheless... :-)

September 29, 2009, 1:32 PM

Hockey Night in Blogdom: 30 Teams in 30 Minutes, Eastern Edition

By THE NEW YORK TIMES


tj of Alex Ovetjkin

Will the Capitals be better or worse than last year, and where will they finish?

They’ll finish first in their division and third in their conference. Good enough for playoffs, and that’s all that matters.



What team would you most like to see fail this year, and why?

Both Stanley Cup finalists will struggle with hangovers from the last playoff run; Wings lost Hossa, Hudler and Samuelsson.

Your fondest memory of the Caps or a Washington player?

Ovechkin’s four goals vs. Montreal and his spinorama goal.

What player would you most like to see checked right through the Zamboni doors?

Sloppy and Whiny. Solve the puzzle. Can’t give the real names, too rude. :-)

Automatic penalty for a check to the head – yea or nay?

Nay, keep it like in old-time hockey, besides it would a nightmare for refs.

* * *

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Ovi interviews Boudreau and some

The Washington Capitals' star left wing interrupts Coach Boudreau while he takes questions from the media. Earlier in the day, teammate Alexander Semin jokingly stole Boudreau's rolling suitcase and Ovechkin wanted his coach's reaction. (Lindsay Applebaum)





Caps are ready for a ride



At the annual media luncheon Bradley, Ovechkin and Bruce Boudreau speak about this year expectations



Tomorrow's issue of TWT:

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Whew, that was nasty!

Google reported that few posts had some images and videos from Life.ru that were infected with malware. We have deleted all the links based on that report. If you notice that some images are gone, that's the reason. If you still see some images with Life.ru logo, they are not connected to that web site. You can check it by looking to the page source.

We promise no direct links, pictures or videos from Life.ru. This is the same site that reported about Ovechkin's Grandpa's death while Grandpa was still alive and in the hospital.

We applied for review to Google and have been cleared. Whew, that was nasty!

We apologize for inconvenience, but that's a life in a Cyberspace nowadays. :-(

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More of paintball action: Ovechkin and Caps

"Chicks dig me!"


More photos from Pev's Paintball Park & Pro Shops's Photos - NHL Washington Capitals

H/t to Marge!

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Annual Team Photo 2009

Annual Team Photo 2009

TarikElBashir: Boudreau said on Sunday that he expected The Nylander Situation to be resolved by today. But he's on the ice now and took the team photo.

Examiner:

They'll be on the team plane to Boston for the season-opener against the Bruins on Thursday night and both wore huge smiles on their faces as they headed out for a day of team-bonding activities, including paint ball.

Some pix from Slava Malamud's blog:

Ovechkin's ready for paint ball action



"Dad! What's up?"

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Ovechkin at the Library of Congress tomorrow?

Our blog's reader Emily found this tweet by Open World Program:

• Wow! We just got word that Alex Ovechkin and some other Russian Capitols players will come by tomorrow for a photo op w our gala guests.

More tweets following the one above:

• Working hard on getting the Library of Congress Stradivarius collection in order for the Soloists of the Moscow Symphony to play at the gala


• Just concluded a great dinner with our Russian guests that will be attending our gala tomorrow. Great group! Lot's of energy and ideas.

Open World Hosts Ten Year Anniversary Gala at the Library of Congress

Washington, DC – The Open World Program, managed by the Open World Leadership Center at the Library of Congress will host a gala celebration Tuesday, September 29, 2009 for an international cadre of policy makers, activists, politicos, foreign and U.S. ambassadors, and cultural luminaries. The gala event will be held in the Library of Congress’ historic Thomas Jefferson Building, in the stately Great Hall.

Open World’s anniversary gala is generously sponsored in whole by Donald M. Kendall, Former Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo. Mr. Kendall is well-known for his role in the famous "Kitchen Debate" during the1959 exhibition in Moscow, where Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon entered into an impromptu and often humorous discussion of U.S.-Soviet issues. Prior to the Kitchen Debate that day, Mr. Kendall handed Khrushchev a cup of Pepsi and asked him if he could tell the difference between American made Pepsi and that of a Pepsi made in Russia with Russian water. The colorful Soviet replied, “Drink the Pepsi-Cola made in Moscow. It's much better than the Pepsi made in the U.S.”

Approximately 130 invited guests will attend and take part in a special program of events, enjoying a lavish Slavic-influenced dinner menu. For musical entertainment the Soloists of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra will be making their debut performance in the United States in honor of the event.

Open World’s 15,000th delegate, Ms. Diana Badtieva, of Vladikavkaz, the capital city of the Russian republic of North Ossetia-Alania in the North Caucasus, will attend the gala event as an honored guest. Ms. Badtieva is the director of the State Center for the Prevention of Drug Abuse, Alcoholism and Crime Among Youth and Minors, an agency within the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania’s Ministry of Youth Affairs. Ms. Batieva’s Open World professional programming will be provided by our partners, Supporters of Civil Society in Russia, Inc. and the Moscow School of Political Studies, and take place in Chicago, IL.

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Peter Forsberg's daily schedule

7 am: reanimation, looks like Forsberg might be on his way back to NHL

8 am: breakfast

9 am: morning skate, Forsberg goes in the corner and his foot turned 180 degrees, injured again

11 am: previous report about morning skate injury turned out false, the foot batteries went dead; recharging the batteries

Noon: lunch with Swedish meatballs on the smörgåsbord

2 pm: nap with the skates on to prevent yet another foot injury

4 pm: switching to Energizer batteries

6 pm: playing for Modo, NHL scouts salivate

8 pm: media reports that 5 NHL teams expressed interest

9 pm: yet another undisclosed injury, could be a clinical death, announcing retirement...

7 am: reanimation, looks like Forsberg might be on his way back to NHL

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Ovechkin at 2009 Capitals Convention (update)

Ovechkin and Green Hardest Shot Challenge

morienewman:

At the 2009 Capitals Convention, Alex Ovechkin and Mike Green challenged each other in the hardest shot booth.

Caps Convension Recap (Mike Vogel)


From Washington Capitals tweeter feed. :-)





Bonus: Great Eight at yesterday's practice (Sept. 26, 2009)



fearlessbabyy:

I got to go to the Caps practice today, 9/26 for my b-day weekend :) this is just a short video i put together of some of the clips i filmed. i love him , he's amazing, and i got his autograph !!!!...

Update:

Ovechkin's interview to Versus during the intermission of Arizona - Oregon State college football game

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Ovechkin: Drop that puck! (Versus Ad)

Versus "We Are All Fans" Opening Night Commercial

Bruins blogger thinks that Versus is basically taking a dump on the Capitals as a team (minus Ovechkin of course)...

Whatever...

Ranger Rants quote of the day:

"Sully (assistant coach Mike Sullivan) warned us if (Ovechkin) came across the midddle to keep our sticks inside and don't make a move on him," Gilroy said. "He can make you look like an idiot."

Remember how Fedorov got rejunivated when he joined Ovechkin? Guess what, Peter Forsberg wants to become younger too, he wants a piece of Ovechkin as well:
Adrian Dater, Denver Post:

No. 2, I’ve heard Foppa does NOT have Colorado at the top of his wish list should he return to the NHL. I’m hearing that he’d rather play in Philly or Washington. But a Philly source I trust told me the Flyers have “moved on” from Foppa and won’t be signing him. But the Caps? I have to believe they might be intrigued.

C'mon, where this believe came from? At least Fedorov never had any major injury... Enjoy retirement, Peter...

The word was last season that Foppa tried to land a job in KHL, but when they've heard how much he wanted... they didn't know if they should laugh or cry...

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Ovechkin: Even the cops stop to shake my hand

These quotes are actually cited from Sport-Express, but I couldn't find the article on their web site. What can you say, they are slow as usual...

championat.ru, Sept. 25, 2009:

Alex Ovechkin:

We have some unfinished job from the last season. It didn't end the way we wanted. So we have something to prove. I am not going to save anything [with the long season and Olympics ahead - tj]. I'll work in every game to the fullest. It's not going to be a problem, I will come up to the Olympics in a great shape. I'll keep in touch with Dmitri Kapitonov in Moscow, will call him to ask what to do next. He has already given me the plan on what to do now and I try to accomplish it.

In Washington everybody recognizes me on a street, everybody greets me, wishes good luck. Even the cops stop to shake my hand. On ambulance, firefighters trucks I saw the Capitals flags. It is very nice, no question. I even feel better because of it, the fans attention just jump-starts you...

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Brashear, Sugden and Ovechkin's weight

Caps lost the game tonight vs. Rangers 2:3. Donald Brashear and Brandon Sugden fought twice, it was interesting to see how Sugden would handle Brashear, more about it later.

Ovechkin had the highest ice time (23:26), more than any defenseman (Green 21:38), 7 hits and 1 assist. To me he looked rusty, maybe it was also back to back game, but his timing was off for sure. This is expected, but I also felt like he lost a bit of his explosiveness. (Remember that episode when he was chasing Drury after his giveaway? Drury was barely moving his legs. Update: To be fair I think it was at the end of PP when Ovi and Green stayed for two shifts for entire PP). Everybody noticed Ovi's upper-body bulk when he arrived to the training camp. Even his Dad said that "Sashka has matured a lot".

The 2009/10 Capitals media guide lists Ovechkin's weight at 233 lbs, last year it was 220 lbs! A noticeable jump by 13 pounds. This doesn't make anybody faster, even a Superman named Ovechkin. The hockey database lists Ovi at 212, which is definitely his first 2005/06 NHL season. EuroHockey.net has him at 200 lbs, probably in 2003-2004.

Here is Alex' weight over the years:

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

The announcers actually were saying his weight was 235 lbs.

Back to Donald Brashear and Brandon Sugden, I found a very good interview from last year with Sugden...

Here he talks about the confidence that allows you to keep the optimal distance in the fight, the guy definitely knows the subject...

Hockey Fights.com

You see, the thing about fighting is, that it's all about hitting and not getting hit. Now, that's the two most important things about fighting and you got to make a punch miss you by just a hair. If you make it miss you by a foot, then¸ you're going to be way out of time and out of place to throw a counter-punch. So, if you're not confident enough in your eyes to make a punch miss you by a tad, then, you're going to make yourself miss too much, you're going to be off-balance.

First fight


Second fight, Brandon got worn out at the end a bit, but he started really well...


And then there was more about the optimal weight in his interview:

Hockey Fights.com

When you came to camp in 2004-05, you looked bigger and stronger. You looked like you were in the best shape that you've been in. Was there anything different at the off season before 2004-05 that helped motivate you to get you into that kind of shape?
I think it was the thought of being in the AHL. I worked out like a weight lifter. I didn't work out like a hockey player.

Well, I came in and I was a lot slower but, I mean I could fight like a mother fucker, knocking guys out left and right. I was 245 pounds and I was ripped because I was lifting like a weightlifter although I couldn't skate fast and I couldn't play well. You know, all I could do was fight. So, I had to change my training and the problem with that is when you change your training to be like a hockey player, a hockey player isn't always supposed to be big. Then you find a weight at which you're quick and that weight to me is about 225 to 230. I can't be 245 and be quick. So I had to chang mindset-wise, and change my training.

You started that season with a barrage of TKOs... it was like a TKO parade...
I had 8 fights, 8 TKOs I think

McGrattan, Perrott, Robinson and Bonvie, I mean, how the hell did you feel after that? Did you feel invincible?
I did.

What accounted for that? Was it your conditioning or was it just your mindset?
It was how big I was. I was 245 pounds and I hit like I was 300 pounds. That was how it was and I just had so much upper body strength. I mean, look at a picture of me back then and I was a monster. I was huge. Right now, I'm 227 but I think I had one day, I came out, I was like 248 pounds. How big is that? And that was just with squats and dead lifts and but I couldn't do shit at practice. I was slow as hell but I could fight and knock guys out and that felt great

What you're saying is that eventually you have to give that up in order to play the game?
Yeah. I mean, I was skating everyday. I think by Christmas I was down to 235. Just with skating. I mean, I did no cardio that summer., The next year, I'd do skating every day because there is an NHL and, you know, I can't play in NHL that slow. So, I came into camp this year, at 233 and by Christmas, I'm like 229.

Here's the hope that Ovi will be 229 at Christmas. :-)

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Ovechkin's post game video

After the exhibition game vs. Chicago, September 23, 2009.

Ovechkin's stats:
goals 2, assists 1, points 3, +/- +1, ice time 16:42, shots 4, hits 3

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It's good to be Ovi

It's good to be Ovi!

Exhibition game vs. Chicago, Sept. 23, 2009:

OVECHKIN, ALEXANDER:
goals 2, assists 1, points 3, +/- +1, ice time 16:42, shots 4, hits 3

Knuble has the same 2 goals and 1 assist, +1, Semin and BAckstrom also had 3 points each and +1.


more pix here...

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