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Blog:
10 April 2008-The Playoffs are just around the corner More…
12 May 2008, №17522
P. Lysenkov
Team Russia Forward Alexander Ovechkin: I Dedicate My Goal to Mor and Kovy! Athlete of The Month for April
According to a viewer's poll on the TV Channel "Sport", Russian national team and Washington Capitals forward Alexander Ovechkin has been named the athlete of the month of April. Sasha took home 51.4% of the votes, barely edging out Evgeni Malkin of Pittsburgh, who received 48.6% of the votes. The hero of the month gave this interview to me and my colleague, Vitaly Slavin, in the hotel Concorde just two hours after the end of the game against Sweden (3:2), in which Alexander the Great scored the winning goal.
"I WOULD HAVE STARTED BEATING THE SWEDE TOO"
To be honest, we really didn't think that Ovechkin would agree to a candid interview. Right after the game Sasha came out to the mixed zone, but he seemed so tired that he only gave interviews to the TV reporters. Seeing the crowd of print reporters, he sighed and returned to the locker room. Such incidents are rare for the carefree Ovechkin.
We were saved by the fact that yesterday Sasha promised to give us an interview, and he is a man of his word.
Are you getting ready for dinner? We can wait for you at the hotel.
"No, its better if I wait" Ovechkin parried back. "How much time do you need? 20 minutes? Then let's sit down right here on the couch and have a chat."
Congratulations on being named Athlete of the Month!
"Thank you, fans. But I would have given the prize to Evgeni Malkin. He is still active in the playoffs, carrying Pittsburgh on his back. In my spare time I am watching the Stanley Cup playoffs and I am happy with the way Malkin is playing. What a goal he made against Philadelphia, eh? Zhenya took a hard hit, but he took to the end and whipped it past Biron...I stand by my prediction that the Penguins will become the champions this year."
And what do you have to say about the game against Sweden?
"I would say that the Swedes played extremely dirty in the first period and did not give us a chance to play our game. They started hitting us immediately. As a result of this we lost Morozov due to an injury and then Kovalchuk was ejected for fighting. Kovy did absolutely the right thing in standing up for his captain. If I were him I would also have bared my fists against the Swede."
"I was very surprised that Ilya got a game penalty. Why? Kovalchuk didn't even drop his gloves. If he had taken them off, there wouldn't have been anything left of the Swede... I also think that Sweden intentionally went for a tradeoff-- they sacrificed Murray in order to take out our captain and our best scorer."
Was it really tough without Morozov?
"We were left with six wingers instead of eight. A heavier load has been placed on the remaining guys. But Nabokov played very well and saved us."
Was it hard for you?
"For me personally, no. I played through shifts, just like I did in Washington."
Do you think that Murray did it on purpose?
"I am sure of it. The puck was nowhere near. Morozov was turning, going back on defense, and he took a huge hit."
After which you started playing more physical.
"I started playing more severe. And I didn't care if I got a 2+10 penalty or a game penalty. I was extremely mad that the Swedes had taken out two of our players in such a vile manner."
But if you had taken a game penalty then the team would have been without a third leader!
"I wasn't thinking about that at the time. My mind was fixated on hitting someone or creaming them on the boards."
"LEKHA WAS SPITTING BLOOD"
Did Bykov calm you down during the intermission?
"Not only him but also Danya Markov, who said "If we are going to beat the Swedes, we need to do it completely. It doesn't help anyone to take a 2 minute penalty." We all then calmed down and got back to our game."
So the cool-headed Swedes provoked us into recklessness?
"Yes, in the first period they were successful. And we are the guilty ones for that. For example, we needed to play more simply when we had the power play. We needed to score, but after Morozov was injured it went nuts out there. Our emotions got the better of us."
Have you seen Alexi?
"He says that he is okay. He only has a headache and his chest hurts. But how can everything be okay when you are spitting up blood in the locker room?"
It seems that team Russia wasn't ready for such an aggressive game from Sweden
"We were ready. But the Swedes and the Czechs are always such...little rats. You know what I mean? Yes, we expected a more technical game from the Swedes, they have some really good hockey players. But they started whacking us with sticks and whatnot."
Do you remember your game winning goal with six seconds left in the game?
"Six seconds? I wasn't even paying attention. I was trying to shoot at the goal, because Sema's (Alexander Semin) pass to me had a lot on it. If he had made a normal pass, I would have taken a one-timer. As it was I had to skate towards the net, dribbling the puck along the way. I made a shot, it ricocheted off Lundqvist's pad and the puck went up..."
And what were you thinking?
"There were so many people in the crease I couldn't even see where it was going. If I could have seen it I would have tried to hit it in the air. It actually seemed to me that the puck went behind the net. It was only then that I realized that it was a goal. I raised my hands and Sema was jumping for joy on me."
"NABOKOV SAVED THE GAME"
What is your general relationship like with Lundqvist?
"We aren't friends...Do you mean professional relationship? I scored twice on him this season. Not the most difficult ones, but important ones."
Nabokov and Lundqvist are up for the Vezina trophy.
"I would give the prize to Zhenya. Lundqvist was good, but Nabokov saved the game for us."
Let's get back to the topic of "tradeoffs". Has this already happened in your career? I'm immediately reminded of how a Canadian player injured your shoulder in the finals of the youth world championship, after which they beat the Russian team barehanded.
"That is not really a good example. When I was injured I was not prepared for it. That was my fault. I play differently now and I don't get lost in a physical game."
What were the key moments of the game?
"When Nabokov stopped a 3 on 5, when he deflected a one-on-one."
We could meet up with Sweden in the quarter finals. Will there be any special preparations for this?
"We will be prepared for the quarterfinals. We won't plan on killing anyone or getting revenge. The most important thing for us will be a win, not injuring our opponent."
We saw a couple of fans holding up a sign saying "Ovechkin for President".
"That's interesting. What did they mean by that?"
Either Washington will win the President's Trophy as best NHL team in the regular season or Ovechkin will become president of the USA.
"I absolutely don't need the second one. I'm a Russian guy."
"IT IS A PROVOCATION"
We spoke with some Quebec City locals and they all said they were rooting for Russia. Do you feel like you are playing at home?
"No way. We feel like we are playing in Canada."
It is curious that after the game against Belorussia, Afinogenov's goal was attributed to you. Why did this happen?
I have no idea. Here is how it happened: I shot, Max touched the puck and it ricocheted into the net. Everyone could tell that Afinogenov made the goal. When I learned about it the next morning from the papers, I immediately went to Max and said "I don't know how what happened. Here we are in Canada, the home of hockey, and these kinds of mistakes are happening here". (Yesterday evening the truth won out and the goal was attributed back to Afinogenov).
"And here is another interesting thing: Mozyakin was scratched from the Sweden game, but he is credited with ten minutes playing time in the official statistics. Very funny. He played that much from the bench?"
You were yelling up a blue streak after the first period when the ref penalized Zinoviev.
"It was amazing, because the Swedes once again provoked our player, hitting our defender after the whistle. Zina went up to him and didn't do anything, just gave him a little love tap. Nothing unusual. But for some reason our guy gets sent to the box and not the Swede?"
"To be honest, I don't understand what is going on sometimes here at this World Championship."
Would you like to say that the Moscow tournament last year was better organized?
"That's not it. The refs are the same, and they make the same mistakes and punish the wrong players. I think that at this moment the refs have a natural bias against the Russian team."
Russian head coach Bykov thinks that this situation should be handled by our representatives in the IIHF, for example Alexander Steblin.
"I don't know this Steblin. I just call it like I see it. If this type thing continues it will be difficult for us. There are times when the refs are simply killing us."
Maybe it is because they want to see Canada in first place, and Russia as her main competitor?
"When the Worlds were in Moscow last year, for some reason you never saw the refs trying to drown Canada. And here the accent is on leaving the Russian team shorthanded as much as possible."
For example, in the game against Belorussia, Fedorov was hit in the face with a stick, but the ref was silent.
"We could fill a book with all the disputable calls made against us in this tournament."
Do we have a chance to win the tournament with such officiating?
"I don't know what is going to happen. But at the present time I see that the refs could be doing a better job. Nobody asked for Russia to be pulled around by their ears."
What would you like to tell the fans?
"Thank you so much for naming me athlete of the month of April. But I read our newspapers on the Internet and I see the comments that fans have made under the articles. After every game there are statements addressed to Team Russia such as: we played poorly, someone didn't score, someone made a mistake in defense,...You get the impression that we aren't so much a team as a couch pillow" Ovechkin nods. "Hey guys, settle down! We are playing for our country and are doing everything in our powers. We want to see good comments, and feel your support. Recognize our pluses! We haven't lost a single game yet. And if we beat an outsider by 10:0 it doesn't mean that we are World Champions by default."
"Again, let's take it easy. Let's amicably root for Russia. You know we are playing for you" Ovechkin concludes. And then he leaves his autograph "For Mor and Kovy". No need to explain to whom Ovechkin dedicated his winning goal.
