Alex Ovechkin celebrates his goals.
He celebrates his teammates' goals, too.
Other than blowing a now-occasional kiss to his brother in the heavens, most of what he does isn't premeditated. It's a spontaneous release of joy: a crash into the glass, a sliding deep-knee-bend, a leap into a teammate's arms.
Important goals prompt explosive celebrations, as powerful, and as quick, as a bomb blast.
Workmanlike goals yield a skate back to the bench.
He doesn't celebrate in front of the goalie he just scored on or the defender he just beat.
I've never seen him pull his jersey over his head and skate around the rink, or pull a Sharpie out of his skates and sign an autograph, or do a choreographed boogie with his linemates, or skate back to the bench and don a cape that says "Hall of Fame." (Yes, soccer and football players, I'm calling you out.)
If Don Cherry is saying that every player, even Ovechkin, needs to be mindful of sportsmanship when they celebrate a goal, I agree with him.
If Don Cherry is saying that players need to act like they're in a pew instead of on a pond, then he's wrong.
TillyCapsFan for CK
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Don Cherry is an anti-European, Xenophobe who's calling out of Ovechkin and trashing of Pavel Datsuyk last night on "Hockey Night in Canada" is just more rancid, toxic crud. It's all just really "sour grapes" that the world including many of his fellow Canadians now realize there are many stars in the NHL who aren't born in little towns like Flin Flon and Moose Jaw can play his Nation's past time well.
ReplyDelete