I Can't Believe This Is An Issue
Last night, Alex Ovechkin made a beautiful play in the waning minutes of regulation. He had the puck in the slot and Marty Biron came out to face the shot. Instead of shooting the puck (which would have been saved since there wasn't a screen and Biron was ready for it), Ovechkin faked the shot and slid the puck to Sergei Fedorov, who was WIDE OPEN and would have scored if he had gotten any part of the puck. However, Fedorov wasn't ready for the pass and missed it. Still, Ovechkin was right to pass the puck and it would be foolish to blame him for not shooting, right? I mean, only an idiot would do something like that.
Good thing we all know better.
(By the way: Ovechkin has 47 assists on the season. The reason for this is that he knows when to shoot and when to pass. This was a time to pass. Still, I look forward to 5 years from now when people reference this game as an example of Ovechkin's un-clutchness.)
8 comments:
i think you got that link wrong... you were probably looking for one describing how milan michalek forgot to either pass OR shoot on a 3-on-1 in game 4....
;)
Now if he passed it to a wide open Rob Niedermayer, then yeah, I'd give him grief. Can't blame Ovechkin whatsoever. I hate those ESPN writers
Ok that's a little harsh on Rob. Sutherby is a better example since he was actually on Washington. Then again he was a healthy scratch most of the time, and that was on a last place Washington. So nevermind.
Even the Versus guys broke down the play and explained why the pass was the better option even though it didn't result in a shot.
But this is ESPN, where they are always looking for an angle on the story. Alexander Ovechkin shooting the puck means one of two things: "Alexander the Great's Heroics Lift Capitals to Second Round" (presumably by shooting the puck so hard it goes right through Biron's body) or "Alexander the Great Robbed by Biron". Ovechkin making the right play by passing to Federov isn't as compelling to those jokers. Not as marketable to your average SportsCenter highlight junkie.
Say what you like about TSN commentators, but none of them are EJ Hradek. He's lucky he's on ESPN instead of in Canada where he'd probably be run out of the country for his idiotic commentary.
Plus his ESPN profile picture is so smug. Makes you want to punch him.
The only thing nice I can say about Hradek is that he has the pneumonia of last names.
Yeah, I saw Barry Melrose ranting about that, and all I could see is that he was passing it to Sergei Federov, who, while he's not what he once was, isn't exactly a ham-and-egger. (And imagine what Ovie must think of him.
Post a Comment