http://www.nhl.com/features/iceage/main.html
If you watched that replay, then now you all realize why I haven't posted in a week. Holy Crap! How do you describe that? Ovechkin was laying on his back, the puck was behind his head, out of his line of site! He wasn't even looking at the goal, for pete's sake! Yet, he still scored?!
Let me tell all of you loyal reader's a great story. Once Upon A Time: A 30-something dude, myself, actually--with too much time on my hands-- decided that Washington Capitals rookie Alexander Ovechkin wasn't getting the publicity he deserved at the start of the NHL season. I felt the league and the press were not doing enough to acknowledge the talent young Alex had begun to display in the early part of the year. The league was touting highly praised rookie Sidney Crosby as the next great NHL player. Crosby was supposed to follow in the footsteps of Wayne Gretzky, "The Great One". Sidney was dubbed "The Next One". How original. ( By the way, can I use "footsteps" in a hockey article?) Ovechkin, drafted 1st overall in 2004, right before the lock-out, was hardly an after thought.
I took it upon myself to raise awareness of this gifted hockey player in a non-hockey-town, Washington D.C. Redskins, basketball and now the Nationals are more importantthan hockey, especially after the sport took a year off. I began peppering friends and relatives with e-mails just for the hell of it, trying to get Ovechkin's name to stick in their heads, hoping more people would take notice. I wanted them to know that there was a very unique player in town, one that played on skates. (I had a good friend tell me he doesn't read my pieces on Ovechkin because I write about The Big "O" all the time. Mission accomplished... my friend knows Oveckin by name.) Those e-mails turned into this blog, and this dude (me, again!) continues to write about Ovechkin on a weekly basis.
Although the happy ending may be years away, or perhaps may never happen at all, Ovechkin has stated his case; he has grabbed the spotlight away from Sidney Crosby (from here on out known as "The Diving Whiner".) Ovechkin has carried his team almost single handedly, not just with that indescribable goal against the Phoenix Coyotes, but with many other jaw-dropping moments at this season's midway point. Click on the link above and click on "all" to watch the other 6 or so highlights. Awesome!
If you follow hockey as long as I have, you see spectacular goals once in awhile. They do happen on occasion. Whether it is in the NHL or the minor leagues --the college ranks or overseas-- fluky, unbelievable goals dot the highlight shows on late-night cable from time to time. But the Big "O"'s tally last Monday against Phoenix was unique. It was extraordinary. It was spectacular. It was... indescribable. And it was all over the news!... It led the 11pm Sportscenter the night it happened. When was the last time that happened? Yeah, I don't know either. Ovechkin's goal was one that grabs the attention of people outside the sport of hockey and gives them pause...makes their jaws drop as they turn to ask the person next to them at the bar if they really just saw what their eyes told them.
There are moments in hockey--if you pay attention--that stick with you like any other sport. However, it is rare to see something so... sick!!! So... unbelievable that you have to watch it again, and again, and again... just to make sure you saw what you think you saw. Even now, a week later, sitting here writing this, I can't stop laughing when I watch the replay. I watch hockey all the time, and I've never seen anyting like that! Don't wait until the 2007 Espy's, when Ovechkin's goal is elliglible for the award. Click on the link above and watch it. It's worth it. I keep trying to tell everyone that!
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