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
Arnold Heft, 92, who once co-owned the Baltimore Bullets and Washington Capitals with the late Abe Pollin, owns Eighttofasttocatch with Sylvia, his wife of 71 years. They named him after the Capitals’ star player, Alex Ovechkin, who wears the No. 8 jersey and is often too fast to catch on the ice.
It is a trait the Hefts hoped their horse would have.
People don’t always get the meaning — “I had to leave the spaces out because of the jockey club requirements for the length of names,” Heft said — but the horse is living up to his name.
EightToFastToCatch was just that Saturday at Laurel Park, as he ignored the rain, mud and closinghorses to win the $150,000 Maryland Million Classic and set off a joyous celebration in the winner's circle.
WASHINGTON, DC, September 30, 2011 - RIA Novosti, Maria Tabak. Russian hockey player Alexander Ovechkin will personally introduce his own wax figure to the visitors of Madame Tussauds wax museum in DC.
On Tuesday, October 4, Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin will meet face to face with himself, opening his own wax figure and pose with it," said the representative of the museum Gladwyn Lopez to RIA Novosti.
According to Lopez, Ovechkin will become the second hockey player immortalized in wax. The first one was Canadian Wayne Gretzky.
"The opening of the figure is related to the beginning of the new Capitals season, scheduled for Oct. 8. At the ceremony Ovechkin will sit with the children of Ft. Dupont Ice Hockey Club, and they all will have one tooth painted black, a reference to the missing Ovechkin's and his wax figure tooth, " said Lopez.
The museum's spokesman said that Ovechkin took an active part in the creation of his wax alter-idem. He spent many hours with the artists of the museum, who took more than 250 different measurements and photographed the hockey star from all possible angles.
"Since July a group of artists worked hard to make the wax figure fully consistent with the unique style of Ovechkin, to match the color of his eyes to be exactly the same as the original, to match the shape and the overall look of a real person and his twin, and to make the smile of wax Ovechkin just as charming as a hockey player himself, " said Lopez.
"Ovechkin gave his wax figure the Washington Capitals hockey uniform and all the necessary items," added the museum's spokesman.
Ovechkin was selected by "Washington" as a number one draft pick in 2004, and since then has spent six seasons with the Capitals, scoring 614 points in 475 games. The Russian is one of the most popular players in the US. One can often see on the streets of Washington, DC Americans, proudly paced in red Ovechkin T-shirts and jerseys. We can therefore assume that his wax figure will attract a lot of Madame Tussauds visitors.
Madame Tussaud is Marie Tussaud, born in Strasbourg on 1 December 1761. She had a lot of talent for the art of wax modelling, and made wax figures of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire and Robespierre. During the French Revolution she was arrested on suspicion of royalist sympathies and barely escaped the guillotine. In 1802 Marie Tussaud moved to London, where she died in 1850.
Here's what Carrie Underwood said at the unveiling of her wax figure:
“I am honored to have been asked to pose for a Madame Tussauds wax figure as this is truly a once in a lifetime experience. I am really excited to attend my unveiling today!" said Underwood.
There's some confusion about Canadian wax museums that might have wax figures of hockey players other than Wayne Gretzky.
Kuzya is looking good. His team won the last game against Torpedo and he scored his third goal. He gave an interview to Sport-Express, here are few excerpts...
By Alexei Shevtsov, Sport-Express, Sept. 29, 2011:
For the first time this season you played on the first line. How does it feel?
Trust works both ways. Thanks a lot to the coach who put me on the first line.
You looked pretty good in the last game...
You can't allow to come back from the road trip with no points. After a bad loss in St. Petersburg our team has made several changes that led to victory.
In almost every game you lead your team in shots on goal. Usually it is no less than five shots on goal. To paraphrase a classic saying from soccer player: I shot, I am shooting and I will shoot?
That's right. In principle, every forward should try to complete the attack with a shot. Andrey Nazarov, who gave me, a 17-year-old, the opportunity to play for "Tractor", told me back then, "The more you shoot at the goals, the more goals you will score. And less chances for giveaways, to be cut and counter attacks by an opponent." I try to follow this advice.
I've heard that you finally decided that this season in Russia is you last. I am not mistaken, am I?
This is a difficult question for me. So far I don't want to go anywhere. It all depends on how I will play this season. Of course if Washington will offer me a contract, I would think about it. But personally I still want to play in my hometown, where everybody loves me, everybody knows me. The club management has complied with all conditions in the summer that was needed, so now you only have to play well. And this is what I'm going to work on now.
...
Two of your friends from the national team, Urychev and Sobchenko, recently died in a plane crash...
It was very hard. It is sad, but this is life and you can't avoid what happened. You know, we could be in their place. I think that in Russia we need to have more responsibility for such everyday things. In America people check, then once again double-check before they allow the departure. All accurate, all on schedule. As for us, if a little neglect is allowed, they just turn a blind eye.
I do not want to offend anyone, I don't know details. I pretty much just fly and see what kind of aircrafts are sometimes there, in what condition and how they are fly. Yes, we are ordinary people, but we pay big money for our flights, and we must be provided with good aircrafts and be ensured of our security. Otherwise we simply will not fly if, God forbid, that happens again.
After the tragedy in Yaroslavl have you had a thought that you need to go to Washington?
Even to get to US from us is pretty dangerous. Because you will first need to fly from Chelyabinsk to Moscow.
Ovechkin gave me permission to call him simply Sasha. Before leaving to America, where a new NHL season will start in couple of weeks, the Washington Capitals captain confessed to Sobesednik.ru why he can leave his favorite team, when he would fix his teeth, and revealed some little secrets of his personal life.
I can be traded if they decide so
Sasha, your team is called "Young Guns", but it is no longer as young, and Washington never had success in winning the Stanley Cup. Maybe it is time to rebuild again?
That's true, we are not that young anymore. Most of us are 25, some over 35. However our general manager George McPhee knows his job and is doing everything, in my opinion, to improve the team. If we signed few veteran players this season again, then it will do us a favor. But look who joined us! Jeff Halpern, former captain of the Washington Capitals, plus incredibly strong and skilled defenceman, a forward...
Plus Tomas Vokoun, Czech national team goalie, whose team beat Russia in the finals of the World Championship last year. You probably remember that game?
Yes, this is an incredible goalie! I'm happy now that he plays for me, not against me! I was so glad that Washington was able to entice him, at first I did not even believe it. My friends and I learned it by accident; we were in a restaurant and one of us had nothing to do but read the news on the Internet from his mobile phone. And then he caught a headline that my team signed Vokoun. To be honest, at first I thought it was a joke, this couldn't happen. I even called general manager to double-check. We got a lot stronger from that last trade. And I hope it will make us closer to the long-awaited victory.
How do you respond to the other side of the trade, when your friends leave the team?
it's always hard to part with anybody who had played at least one season. This time it was my close comrade Semyon Varlamov, but I hope that his transition to Colorado Avalanche will help him. He'll be better off there, as a number one, than here... Well, I hope our friendship will not suffer after what happened.
It is probably pointless to ask whether you can go to some team other than Washington Capitals. At least for the next 10 years, while you have your $124 million contract with your club.
Why not, ask me. My answer is that I can be traded. Easily.
What's that? Do you think there will be someone who can pay for you... even more?
Ha ha, maybe there is someone. Who knows? Or do you think that there won't be? Well, I am not going there. I just have such a crafty contract where the club has a theoretical right to trade me to anyone for any money. But in the next three years it can only happen with my consent.
Which...
Of course I won't give it. Well, after 3 years no one will ask me, this paragraph will be gone. And then there will be nothing that I can do. Hockey is business. That means I can leave Washington Capitals too.
No speed limit for one day in DC
Sasha, if we forget about the obligations, would you like to come back to Moscow? Even in your debut in the rap video you emphasize that you are Moscow Dynamo alumni.
Come back in Moscow, in what capacity? Dynamo is my Alma Mater, I love it, root for it, trying to help and support at every opportunity, but as a hockey player it is not in my plans to change the NHL for the KHL. And if just to live here like a normal person... then many years after the end of my career I would definitely come back. I'm a Russian, this is my homeland, I am playing for Russia at the world championships. Have to say, it is very nice in America, it's incredibly comfortable to live in the country where everything is thought of. At first I was amazed that people here seemed stilled, nobody was in a hurry. Then I realized that different services have provided them with all the details, that's why Americans can afford not to hurry anywhere. They have all sorts of cool innovations.
Do you really think there's something that will never be thought of in Moscow?
Well... how to say it. I guess not. Here, in the capital of America, you can order almost any product through the Internet, so everybody does it. It saves a lot of time. In our capital, it is not so large-scale...
Well, we've got it. But Moscow doesn't have a tradition to give the symbolic keys to the city that you were handed by the mayor of Washington, DC. I can imagine how you felt.
Yes, it was wonderful. But the keys, incidentally, were not symbolic!
Could you open some door with them?
Ha ha, because of them I was allowed to rule the city as I wish. But for only one day.
And what did you do?
I declared no speed limit for motorists.
Oh! I hope no one crashed.
On the contrary, on that day there were less accidents than usual. I am confident that people in Moscow would be less likely to get into accidents if the speed limit was removed, but other traffic rules were followed.
What things do you miss the most over the ocean?
Home food! I especially like my mother's dumplings (pelmeni), she always makes them by hand. I also like rissoles and borscht with Borodininsky bread.
Do you know how to cook?
A little bit, but not complicated dishes, of course. However, even without my favorite foods, I am more than satisfied with my life in America.
The national team's head coach should visit the West more often
Sasha, this is what happens: Russia develops great hockey players out of the ordinary kids and then they leave to play overseas. Maybe it is more profitable to recruit average players? They won't go to the NHL for sure.
This is the question... The vice-president of Dynamo recently also argued that by allowing talented young kids to go to America we are giving a free gift in which we invested the money, a lot of effort and time. I have a somewhat different view on this matter. You should definitely invest in developing gifted kids. And what if they won't want to leave? Even if they do, they still will come back to play for the national teams, right?
Recently Capitals signed a contract with another young and promising Russian, Stanislav Galiyev.
We do have a lot of Russian guys. Besides Galiyev we have Yevgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitri Orlov, Dmitry Kugryshev... All the guys are set to fight for the place in the roster, they all want to get into the National Hockey League. What can you do if it is the NHL, not the Russian KHL, that provides great opportunities for development?
How do you evaluate our young players? Will we be able to take the gold at the Olympics in Sochi?
We'll see. Sometimes we just miss something strategically important in our preparation for the tournaments. For example, I know that the Canadians study many hours of video on every team and eventually know all the teams very thoroughly. And we sometimes can not wisely develop an elementary tactical play. We can learn from the West, it's nothing to be ashamed of. The national team head coach should fly to America more often to watch opponents live. It is a normal practice throughout the world. No need to adjust to how the backbone of the team used to play in their clubs, you need to adjust to the opponent! It's more complicated, but more effective. Examine the weaknesses, the most frequent combinations and go! Everyone knows that in Sochi we are expected to get the first place. But if we won't think more about the strong opponents, we won't get it.
No problems with weight, touch my belly
Sasha, and is there's anything that you would like to change personally, in yourself, before Sochi?
You mean something like improving my skills?
Since I am a girl, I allude about something else. Oh well, let's just ask... You even sing now, but did not fix your teeth.
Oh my gosh!
It is true though that even without the tooth you have a charming smile...
But you still feel that I need to fix it? Well, well. (Laughs.) I'm not a Hollywood actor (yet), somebody will knock my teeth anyway in any game, even if put the tooth in. But many years later, when I finish my career, I'll take care of it. If I will ever be given "Grammy" then you have to look the best.
But you do watch your figure, don't you? Why are your fans constantly discussing if you need to lose weight or not?
They are worried, apparently. There recently was a case: I was giving an interview and it was recorded on video for our official site, I was shot looking so fat, my dear mother! And my hands looked swollen, like I was a hardened drinker. My teammates were teasing, saying "Sasha, why did you put on weight?"
You really have a reason because this summer you've started to advertise the American chocolates.
Actually I love acting in commercials and I see no shame in that. But how could I gain weight from these chocolates? Look at my stomach, is anything wrong with it? (Taking advantage of Ovechkin's kindness, I am not only look but touch his belly, washboard abs, nothing to worry about. Sasha is pleased with a little experiment too.) That's right, please emphasize in your interview that I have no problems with weight!
I will definitely marry Russian woman
Sasha, since you have no problems with your weight, then put in our way, you are a hot bachelor! This summer, you've been invited to two weddings and now your fans are wondering whether or not you get married.
When?
You know it better.
Of course, I will get married. But not as soon as one would like it. Or I wouldn't like it soon (laughs). I am a family man. I do not want to be considered a womanizer or a ladies' man. I do not want to be attributed to romances that I never had. And example for me is my parents, who have created a strong family for life.
And yet who you like more, our girls or Americans?
Ours, no options. I think I will only marry a Russian, well, I mean, a girl from Russia. Russians are sincere, understanding and cook well.
Sasha, who you'll go to see before your departure to America? My Granny! Ha ha. I always visit her when I'm in Russia, I love her so much.
Besides Russia where do you like to spend time on your vacation?
Turkey! It's sunny and the sea is wonderful.
Interesting choice. Many believe Turkey is not very prestigious destination for vacation, especially when you talking about rich people.
Who cares? I like it. I chose Turkey because there were no problems with visas. All you need is to buy tickets and come instead of applying for visa a month ahead and then going in line to get it. And the sea, to my mind, is the same everywhere.
What gifts do you usually bring from vacation?
Oh, this time I'm taking a dagger! I was presented with it in Makhachkala, where I was at a football game "Anji - Zenith". A friend invited me there and I really enjoyed my time in Dagestan. They were so hospitable and before leaving I got the dagger, the real thing. it's a very nice dagger. This is what I'll take with me.
The Capitals are fond of saying that Ovechkin never has a bad day. When he arrives at the practice facility at 8 in the morning and teammates are still groggy, he's screaming good morning! "Sometimes you wonder if he ever sleeps," Laich said.
What a great read, I kind of forgot about this article...
Here's another:
While his mother said Ovechkin eats normal portions at home, teammates still joke about his pregame appetite. Two veterans refer to him as "a farm animal" feeding from a trough. "I couldn't eat that much," Green said. "He consumes," forward Mike Knuble added.
LOL.
The trough is there, but the feed has been greatly reduced since Ovi lost 9 pounds.
“It seemed like in the third period if we made a mistake it was the veterans that made the mistake, not the kids,” Boudreau said. “They were on for all three goals. . . . They should be smarter than that.”
TJ, I found these YouTube video clips today. They must be very recent since Ovie is wearing Nike apparel. I'm guessing it was around the time Bauer visited him in Moscow for the Dynamo facility tour
No, I believe it was shot in New York at NHL headquarters. No idea who is interviewing Ovi though...
Ovechkin: My summer was pretty much the same as in previous years, except I've spent more time in Moscow than in previous years when I'd came back from America. Everything was the same, I rested, and at the end, one and a half month before the season, I started training.
Interviewer: Did you change your [fitness] coach?
Ovi: Not really, it was Dima's [Dmitri Kapitonov's] brother Sasha [Alexander Kapitonov]. I've prepared well, and he gave me the plan to work out. It's a month before the season starts and I still have things to do.
Interviewer: Is there a big difference between last year and this year?
Ovi: Of course there is, but to say that last year I prepared bad is not correct. In principle I've prepared well, but it was mostly planned for the season and playoffs, and... with every new year I come to better undertanding what it needed and what is not needed. It 's because you mature and get more experience.
Ovi: Again like my previous answer, I became older by one year and I got more experience, more knowledge and it's not like the rookie year when everything was new. Of course, everything could turn different, I could've returned back to Russia if my first season wouldn't be good or first 3 seasons wouldn't be good as it, thanks God, turned out. And I wouldn't be sitting here, but would be sitting in Russia. Thanks God for what happened and you can't complain about it.
Ovi: No, it was not because I played bad or Syoma [Semin] or Backie or Green. All guys played, of course everyone has different role, but to blame one person why we lost because he didn't score or played bad in one episode... that's not right, everybody worked and played hard, you can't blame a one person
Ovi: You know, for 4 years in a row I have only one goal; to win the Stanley Cup. That's why the plan is to play well and prove that you have earned your place on ice and that you are worthy of playing this game.
Was there ever a hockey player in such museum? According to their web site, sports stars are represented by Babe Ruth, Tiger Woods, Muhammad Ali. And now... drum roll... by Alexander the Great Ovechkin!
We're excited to announce our newest figure to be immortalized in wax: ALEX OVECHKIN!!!
Ever dream of scoring that winning goal with Alex Ovechkin by your side? The captain of the Washington Capitals will take his place in history alongside our monumental sports figures.
When Ovechkin and Brouwer skate together, it puts two of the NHL’s top-10 hitters from last season on the ice at the same time. Brouwer ranked fifth with 262 hits and Ovechkin was 10th with 241.
When I asked Boudreau the reasoning behind put two huge hitters on the same line, the coach said:
“Well, I mean, it’s to have two big hitters on the same line,” he said. “And not necessarily have Alex going do all the hitting and getting the puck [and having] somebody else to do it.”
Wow, Brouwer had more hits than Ovechkin? That's going to be interesting...
Ward spent the last three seasons being a full-time player with the Nashville Predators as a grind line guy. Ward was able to make a big impression on the Preds and the rest of the world in the playoffs last season scoring seven goals and six assists in the Predators’ 12 games in the postseason.
7 goals and 6 assists in only 12 playoff games? Wow.
While the second group on the ice at Kettler skated hard, the early group got in a normal workout. That's some evidence - along with the players who were in the first group - that those guys are going to Chicago on Friday for the 8:30 game at United Center.
Here's your lines, with the interesting placement of Joel Ward with Alex Ovechkin:
My Gawd, Semin gave a second ENGLISH interview to Jill Sorensen. I think this is because he likes her (wink, wink). Could it be why this is the best Jill's interview ever conducted? :) And she looks extra hot here... :)
What Ovi would say? ahahahahahahahahahaha :)
Jill Sorensen:
Hi! Привет! [Привет is Hi in Russian]
Alex Semin:
Как дела... [How are you?]
Jill Sorensen:
Как дела?
Just to remind, Semin's Dad was CFO of the second largest aluminum plant in the world, where this introvertedness comes from? No idea...
Never been Alex Semin's fan, but I can repeat what I said before, yes, Semin does care.
Why?
Because if he says, "Ovechkin is like brother to me...", do you need any extra explanation?
I was listening to the game today and remember the announcers commenting on a hit Ovie laid out. "welcome to the NHL kid" or something along those lines when then Nashville young kid Ryan Ellis apparently tried to hit the great 8 and Ovie promptly showed him what he is all about. Here's the video.
Ovechkin knocks the shit out of a predators player, preseason game 1 at 1st Mariner Arena
Warning:
Since my ears are still recovering from the first time i watched it, I'd recommend watching it on a very low volume setting or mute like I do now :)
I was at KCI on Saturday to watch the grueling practice and those sprints were crazy. The guys looked like they were going to puke.
I took some video of Ovi and Mojo's groups, including the one where Ovi started early and fell down, lol.
Ok, here's the short one, Sorry for the shot of my shoes but I was laughing
Now the test begins...
Sorry for the wait in the beginning...
This was the last endurance test before they took their lactate readings to measure how they held up. They pretty much looked ready to puke that point.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011.
Alexander the Great on the front page of the Washington Post; tonight Capitals will play their first preseason game of 2011/12 NHL season against Nashville Predators at First Mariner in Baltimore.
Each of Washington’s vaunted “Young Guns” foursome of Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin and Mike Green is expected to suit up for Tuesday’s pre-season opener in Baltimore. Washington will be bringing along a veteran group of forwards and a more youthful blueline corps.
It seems like the season will start with Marcus Johansson centering Alex Ovechkin and Mike Knuble, and, who knows, maybe this will be the permanent line. Mike Knuble, in spite of his age of 39, led Group A in the last suicide sprint (Great Eight has won the first two). This line will be flying!
TarikElBashir: 39 year old Knuble just led that segment of the test, edging Laich, Ovi and Semin. Boudreau approved.
“Marcus played so well at the end of the year and I thought he had good chemistry with Alex at the end of the year, so we just wanted to see how much he grew over the summer,” Boudreau continued. “Not physically or anything, but mentally having that year under his belt. I thought they made a couple pretty good plays out there today, this morning. It will be interesting to see how they play together.”
Two most exciting Caps forwards on one line, is it October yet?
In early September we spent the whole day on the ice and in the locker room with Alexander Ovechkin, who flew to Moscow to shoot his first advertising campaign for Nike. The video premieres here and now. This is the total look of Ovechkin nobody else hasn't seen yet.
In other news, I think Galiev spilled some beans on Ovi's girlfriend situation in this article......
"a girlfriend he met on a Russian dating site"....which one would that be, new or old?
"He tells us what we have to do off the ice, that we have to be disciplined and not to do stupid stuff,'' Galiev said. "He is a real professional and a great guy, and I am happy to be friends with him."
Ovechkin has his own clothing line, a girlfriend he met on a Russian dating site, and a knack for dead-panning in funny TV commercials. He is also extraordinarily talented at video games.
"Every night we go out together and then come back and play FIFA soccer on a Sony PlaySation,'' Galiev said. "We always play two to a team, with me and Dmitry (Orlov) on the same side.
"The first three times we played Alex and his teammate, we beat them."
Then Ovechkin challenged them to another game, with the winner buying dinner. Picture a mongoose inviting a cobra to supper.
Ovechkin easily won his dinner.
"He wanted to go to a steakhouse,'' Galiev said. "Not Subway."
I conducted a short interview in English with Semin on Saturday, the first he has ever granted in English to my knowledge. While there are those who believe Semin can speak English and chooses not to, I can refute that. He is still struggling a good deal with his second language. Questions need to be short, and sometimes translation/clarification is still needed. The important thing is, Semin is putting in the effort. We’ll have the video up on Caps365 today or tomorrow.
я забыл как?... [I forgot what?] opinions... LOL
Frankly I was expecting much better English from Semin, but "the journey of thousand miles starts from the first small step..." :-)
"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
