A Few Words About Alex Ovechkin

Today's NYTimes Sunday Magazine has an article about Alex 0vechkin that draws a fast pencil-sketch of the deadly Washington Capitols winger.

Now, I'm a die-hard, super-partisan Penguins fan, in awe of the sheer skill and talent that Sidney Crosby shows every time he puts on his skates. I.m bleeding and sweating black and gold with the best yinzer out there, but that doesn't diminish in any way
my admiration for players from competing teams who are, simply put, breathtaking to watch. Players who bring a level of wizardry to their game that make you sit back in your seat and just say, "How the FUCK did he do that?" Pavel Datsyuk. Marian Gaborik. Steven Stamkos. And the insane Alex Ovechkin.

Ovie and Sid are clearly the best the game has to offer, but they are two completely different players, as the Times article makes amply clear. If Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin were muppets, Sid would be Kermit the Frog, measured in speech and self-effacing to the point of invisibility. Ovie, on the other hand, is Animal from the Electric Mayhem, wreaking havoc all over the ice (go on youtube and search for "Ovechkin hit on Jagr". During the Games it was the hit heard 'round the world, with Ovechkin counting coup on the last generation's greatest European player, and basically stealing his spirit in the process.)

While Crosby looks like he just might be wearing a necktie under his sweater, Ovechkin is all grinning uni-browed sweatiness, rearranged features and missing teeth. At the risk of sounding disloyal, Sid looks like a hockey product, and Ovie looks like a hockey player.

So I'm reading this Times article about Ovechkin and it says "he has included a Crosby stick in a collection he has been assembling of sticks owned by the players he most admires."

Now, only hockey nerds might remember how Crosby's Olympics gear --including the gloves and stick he tossed aside in jubilation after scoring the game-winning goal against USA's Ryan Miller -- went missing after that game. Trust me, this was a national crisis in Canada.

After a few days of national anxiety, it turns out the missing gear ended up "mixed up" with a bunch of Russian gear after the Games before being recovered and returned to Crosby.

Hmmmmm. I'm not saying j'accuse, Ovechkin, but really?

I'm just sayin'.

Afterthought -- the Times says that Ovie is not a goon, and I do take issue with that, a bit. The Great Eight is known to be reckless on the ice, and has been suspended at least twice this season, and he is known to League officials, delicately, as a -- ahem -- repeat offender. The guy leads his team in penalty minutes, 'nuff said. I'm still holding a grudge against him for that knee-on-knee (an Ovechkin specialty) mugging of Sergei Gonchar last year.