Who am I?
Aside from Most Popular Freshman Boy Sidney Crosby, John Niyo of
The Detroit News has made a list of
five other "rookies to watch." Among them: an obscure Russian player you might remember as the number one overall pick in 2004.
Double-you tee eff? How did 2004's top selection develop such a low profile?
The New York Times calls him
"the best-kept secret inside the beltway." WPRI in Providence deems it necessary to include a
phonetic spelling of Ovechkin's name in their recaps even though it's pronounced just like it looks. (They phoneticize Jagr's name too, but not Petr Sykora's or Steve Eminger's. Hard G or soft, WPRI? Hard G or soft!?)
Cypher though he may be, the Dynamo alumnus is a prodigious talent, leading the Caps in scoring with five points already. Just Wide's pal Tim mailed us this
recent quote that offers special insight into the budding superstar's highly developed hockey sense. Describing his game-winner against the Rangers this past Monday, Ovechkin said:
"I saw the puck come to me and I thought: 'Oh, my God, the puck is coming to me, I must shoot it."
In fairness, Ovechkin
admits he has some difficulty with the language. "I understand pretty much everything, but I can't talk yet," he said in Russian. "Too many mistakes. So, I still need to work on my English."
As his fluency increases, he'll probably give more sensible quotes, like "We gave it 110% and took it one shift at a time."