Why did I so dismissively describe this milestone Big Eight sniper in the title? Yes, before Columbus’s visit to the American capital, only Ovechkin and Gretzky scored more than 40 goals in 12 seasons. But our glorious Dynamo player has a much more historic achievement compared to the immensely promoted Canadian. For Alexander, the number 40 is just like that – a middle station. Because the Washington captain has 12 seasons with more than 45 goals, while Wayne only has nine. This is truly an all-time outstanding record, which proves the incredible stability of the Russian striker!
But, as we agreed again the day before yesterday, it’s too early to rest on Ovi’s laurels. The main goal is to be the first in the annals of the NHL to shoot fifty bucks for the tenth time. This, in my opinion, is generally the best you can think of for a scorer. Everest of constancy at the highest level. Ten championships with more than 50 goals: fantastic!
Today, in addition to Ovechkin, Gretzky and Islanders legend Mike Bossy have nine of those seasons. It is clear that the achievements of both Canadians do not measure up to what the Muscovite has achieved. Because they filled out their numbers in the ’80s, when the NHL was still a small-town league with clumsy goaltenders and leaky defense.
Dynamo sent their best student to the NHL when they became the world’s dominant structure in hockey. Where the cream of the whole planet is collected, where everyone has learned to defend, where giant goalkeepers block the entire goal line, and the salary cap does not allow you to collect monster clubs, which were Gretzky’s Edmonton and Bossy’s Islanders.
Well, okay, let them compare the incomparable, let them have fun with their Belarusian Big Truck, if they can’t offer anything else. Although McDavid is scary.
We passionately cheer on our captain. He made the first move toward $150 in the match with Colón. Here are our plans and predictions for the remaining ten games for the Capitals:
Chicago (home) – 1 or 2 goals;
Pittsburgh (out) – 0 or 1 goal;
Isleños (local) – 0 or 1 goal;
Tampa (away) – 0 or 1 goal;
Rangers (home) – 0 or 1 goal;
Montreal (away) – 1 or 2 goals;
Florida (home) – 0 or 1 goal;
Islanders (home) – no goals;
Boston (away) – no goals;
New Jersey (local) – 1 goal.
As a result, the worst scenario promises 3 goals, the optimistic – 10, the real – 6 goals, taking into account Ovechkin’s career average of 0.6 goals per game.
We believe in the best!
Well, last night in Washington, Ovechkin was honored as the second sharpshooter in NHL history. Why exactly before the match with Colón? It was for them in October 2005 that young Sasha scored the first two goals abroad!
The whole Ovechkin family was invited to the ceremony: mother Tatyana Nikolaevna, wife Anastasia with children Serezha and Ilya, brother Mikhail. The hero was showered with gifts, but the most valuable, to my early 70’s Soviet boy taste, was a gift from Mark Howe, Mr. Hockey’s son, whom Ovi knocked out of second place.
As you know, Alexander probably has the largest club collection in the world. At the end of his career, he promises to open a hockey museum in Moscow on this basis. So, from Gordie Howe’s personal containers, his son presented the puck abandoned by his father in the 1974 Canada Super Series (VHA), the USSR and, more importantly, a Soviet stick autographed by the players of the union team.
In the video report of the ceremony, I took a good look at this oddity. I immediately remembered my childhood. In the early 70s we did not even dare to dream of such a club. In stores they sold only a metal parody of the main hockey kit with numerous holes on the hook, so that this weirdo could at least be lifted. Therefore, immediately after the New Year, the whole yard went out to the skating rink with trees cut from branches, the upper part of which was bent, tied with a rope to the trunk and used as a hook.
MEFSI is a magic word for all Soviet guys. Like the Beatles, space, the United States, Cuba, communism, something never achievable. This abbreviation denotes only: the Moscow Experimental Factory of Sporting Goods. Such an inscription was stamped on the clubs, which at the end of the 60s played the masters in the top league of the USSR. But in reality, it was the same firewood as all the previous decades since the arrival of Canadian hockey in our country. The product is completely wooden, the hook is not bent. True, with a fiber tab at the end, but this did not affect the strength in any way.
Everything changed in the early 1970s. When the whole world, with the light hand of Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull, switched to bananas, so did fiberglass. They strengthened the lower part of the handle and the entire bent hook, thanks to which the novelty, unlike MEFSI, withstood tens and even hundreds of clicks.
This is how we got a new icon: KIM. Club game workshop. This is exactly what Mark Howe gave Ovechkin. On the handle of the relic is written:
Moscow EFSI Model KI-M – 73
EFSI – of course, the Experimental Factory of Sports Products. KI-M – 73 – 1973 model game club workshop. There was also the KI-U, a youth game club without fiberglass and with a straight hook. But I have never come across one like this. Since 1974, when I started playing for the Moscow championship, I have used only KIM – great, extremely durable clubs!
Yes, but how did Ovechkin score the 40th goal of the season? At minute 6 I opened the scoring and went… to congratulate Strom! At first it seemed that it was the Canadian center forward who sent the penny puck into Daniil Tarasov’s goal. But no, the Columbus defender touched the puck last.
This is how Alexander closed his fourth dozen goals in the regular season for the 13th time every day.
