Archive for January 6th, 2010
Ovechkin Adds a “C” to His Jersey
Alex Ovechkin made his debut as captain of the Washington Capitals last night in a game against the Montreal Canadiens. Ovechkin, 24, of Moscow is the 6th Russian native to be a captain in the NHL. He is the Capitals 14th captain and the second youngest captain in the team’s history. The youngest captain at the age of 21 was Ryan Walter in the 1979-80 season. Ovechkin takes over from Chris Clark who was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets on December 28th.
Washington general manager George McPhee and coach Bruce Boudreau made the decision to name Ovechkin as the new captain. Ovechkin told them to talk to his teammates first before he would accept the position.
“Our team has adopted Alex’s personality and the energy, passion and drive to win that are his hallmarks have become our team’s as well,” GM George McPhee said in a press release. “He sets the tone on the ice as well as off. He’s respectful to everyone and a great ambassador for our team and our sport. We look forward to him leading the Washington Capitals for a long time.”
With Ovechkin’s new position, I’m sure that the Ovechkin jerseys will be selling like hot cakes!
The Feel of a Franchise
Let’s face it—despite the fact that we are constantly preached the old adage of “don’t judge a book by its cover,” we are all influenced by appearances. One place where this is most evident is in professional sports. Although the players on a team largely create a squad’s character, the logo and uniform color scheme also plays a role in how we view the franchise.
In the NHL, for example, the NHL team logo, name and colors of the New Jersey Devils conjures up images of aggressive play and ruthless defense—although this was also the case during their glory days in around the turn of the millennium. Teams such as the St. Louis Blues, on the other hand, I always associate with finesse and somewhat timid play. This is in large part due to their team name and colors I am sure.