Bang, zoom...I mean, Let's Go Caps

(photo courtesy of the Washington Post)

What a great start to the season. Ovechkin proved that he really is going to be something big in the years to come. Yes, his two goals were great, but not only can he score, he can check too, according to the Post article:

On his first shift, the future star of the Capitals threw a body check so hard it dislodged the support between two pieces of plexiglass along the end boards, causing a three-minute stoppage of play -- not that the fans minded.

Fred was gleeful as he was recounting this to me. He said that one simple move really amped up the energy in the place and it was basically all over for the Blue Jackets from there, whether they knew it or not. Yeah, they outshot the Caps by a huge margin (37-19), but the final score is all that matters.

There was so much hockey on last night since all the teams played, and there were numerous free previews of the hockey package on Comcast and via the internet, that I don't even know what time Fred went to bed- he was surrounded by hockey and loved it. It pissed me off to see Bertuzzi on the ice in the Vancouver game. Asshole basically ended someone else's career and received no real punishment for it. The NHL should be ashamed (but of course they're not). That's a complaint for another day.

Besides that, the only other thing that irritated me was that Crosby got an assist in the Penguins game. I was so happy that they lost (and lost badly; 5-1: ha!), but I wish he hadn't gotten that assist because then there wouldn't have been anything at all to talk about with him. The commentators were really stretching to find something, anything, good to say about Crosby because of course they had to talk about him. Never mind that Ovechkin had a great game, but he's not the big phenom right now so they don't want to focus on him. I did love this bit from The Globe and Mail piece:

Late in the second, Gionta stole the puck from defenseman Brooks Orpik in the Penguins zone and skated in to beat Thibault unassisted. About then, the crowd started chanting, “overrated” — a swipe not just as Crosby but well-known Penguins teammates such as Recchi, John LeClair and Sergei Gonchar.

Hee! Ain't that the truth. Oh, I know Crosby will have better games, and there will be moments when he proves himself to be the Next Big Thing. But why not focus on the players who are doing that right now? Even this guy had a better game:

With the hockey world watching, the first-round draft pick lived up to all of his expectations and more with a goal and two points in his first NHL game. Sidney Crosby, it wasn't.

Zach Parise, New Jersey's first-round draft pick in 2003, scored a power-play goal and assisted on one of Brian Gionta's two goals in an outstanding debut that led the New Jersey Devils to a 5-1 victory over Crosby's Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night.

I just get so tired of hearing about one player all the time, especially when there's equally good or even better players out there but no one seems to notice (because all the attention is focused on that one guy). I call it the LeBron syndrome- sure, the dude may be an amazing player and all, but he's not the only one out there. Even when Wayne Gretzky was on the ice, Mario Lemieux was out there too. There's room for more than one great player in any sport.

p.s. and thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes :-)