Kukla's Korner Hockey
Different Styles For Ovechkin And Crosby
by Paul on 02/15/10 at 01:22 PM ET
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from Lucas Aykroyd at IIHF.com,
It is, of course, unfair to label 2010 the “Ovechkin versus Crosby Olympics”, because hockey is a team sport. But these are both players that have the ability, not just to make a play that changes a game, but to go ahead and impose their will on the game.
However, the captain of the Washington Capitals and his Pittsburgh Penguins counterpart achieve their goals in such different ways.
It’s hard to pin down intangible qualities that make a star what he is. But if I had to try, I’d say that Ovechkin’s success stemly mostly from passion, whereas Crosby’s mostly reflects his drive. (Their skill sets both go without saying, and they have both diversified their games to the point where the old “Ovechkin shoots, Crosby makes plays” label is no longer adequate.)
One dictionary defines passion as “a powerful emotion, such as love, joy, hatred, or anger”. And that’s what you see every time Ovechkin steps on the ice. He’s blowing kisses and throwing himself into the boards when he scores goals. He gets angry when his team falls behind and spurs himself to play better. A classic example occurred in Washington’s come-from-behind 5-4 OT victory over Pittsburgh on February 7, where Ovechkin led the way with a hat trick.
The same dictionary defines drive as “the trait of being highly motivated”. To that, you might add “focused” in Crosby’s case.
Filed in: Non-NHL Hockey, International Hockey | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Alexander+Ovechkin, Sidney+Crosby, Team+Canada, Team+Russia,
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