I’ve had enough of all this Ovechkin business. So he celebrated after a goal when he scored his 50th of the season against the hapless Tampa Bay Lightning? In the words of George Bush, “so what?” Every fan of hockey (Caps fans not included) has been burned by AO. It feels bad. It makes you angry. It makes you wish your team would check him through the boards. It makes you wish he was on your team. It makes you…want to watch Ovechkin.

Now that the likes of Don Cherry, Tampa Bay coach Rick Tocchet, his coach Bruce Boudreau and, naturally, the legions of Crosby fans are raining down criticism, guess what? NHL ratings will skyrocket. This is bad?

The NHL wants it all and they want it both ways: they want to compete with the glitzier leagues and capture some of their dollars, all the while with down-to-earth players who need to act as if they have no ego and will always put the team first. The NHL wants the players to show their personality so they can better sell the sport, but never go too far.

Sorry folks, that’s asking too much. And it makes no sense for every reason in the book of marketing and justice in the NHL.

Rick Tocchet was mad. Had that happened, he said, at the Spectrum in Philly during the first period, it might have been a 3-hour first period. Don’t take this out on Ovechkin. Don’t get mad, get even! Take your complaint directly to Gary Bettman and let him know that you don’t want fighting to be slowly eliminated from hockey for the very reason that you don’t want someone like Ovechkin celebrating his ‘hot stick’ in your house. (Oh, and ask him about parity in your league, and maybe considering moving your team to a more fan-friendly state for hockey, like one that produces natural ice in winter).

Let Ovechkin be Ovechkin. Because there will be a time, and that time is coming soon, when someone decides to either light him up with a check that will live endlessly on highlight reels, or teams will shut him down with a double-team that will syphon all his glory. Either way, people are watching. Just as they were when Sean Avery returned (after his exile by the hyper-sensitive morals police at the NHL and the Dallas Stars).

Don’t worry, Mr. Cherry. If you believe in the game of hockey, the perceived lack of class demonstrated by Ovie will be remedied by good old fashioned on-ice justice.

Just take a look at the intros for the Syracuse Bulldogs in Slapshot. Imagine Ovechkin getting away with his stick routine against “Dr. Hook” McCracken, “Screaming Buffalo” Swamptown, “Mad Dog” Madison and, of course, Ogie Oglethorpe.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 23rd, 2009 at 12:10 pm and is filed under Fantoo Blog Home. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.