Entries with the tag: ilya+kovalchuk

Update On Kovalchuk

by Paul on 01/31/08 at 12:52 PM
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Don Waddell was just on Fan590 radio in Toronto and mentioned Kovalchuk will have an MRI today, but the team doctors feel it is not a serious injury.  He won’t play Friday or Saturday, and hopefully will be ready sometime next week.

Kovalchuk Injured

by Alanah on 01/30/08 at 10:11 PM
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From the AP via USAToday,

The Thrashers snapped a five-game losing streak, but Atlanta’s 4-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night might have been costly as leading scorer Ilya Kovalchuk left the game with an apparent knee injury.

Kovalchuk scored his 38th goal, but was forced out of the game for good in the second period. He was injured in a knee-on-knee hit from Pittsburgh’s Jarkko Ruutu and made a brief return later in the frame for one shift, but didn’t return.

Kovalchuk was leveled by Ruutu 3:21 into the second period. The collision left Kovalchuk laying on the ice in obvious pain in front of Atlanta’s bench before he limped to the locker room.

Updated 11:55pm ET: Video of the incident below.

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The Mature Kovy

by Paul on 01/26/08 at 08:37 PM
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from Ray Glier of the New York Times,

This season, Kovalchuk, 24, is considered a leading candidate to be the league’s most valuable player. He has evolved into a more complete player, and he has carried the Thrashers into playoff contention after an 0-6 start. He is second in the league in goals (37) and fourth in points (63).

“This is my sixth year now; you learn the game more, the coach trusts you in situations more,” Kovalchuk said. “It’s a good feeling for me, because I want to be in the situations to help us win.”

read on

Kovalchuk Gets A Game

by Paul on 01/23/08 at 05:19 PM
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Ilya Kovalchuk gets a one game suspension for his hit on Rozsival last night.

added 5:23pm, via TSN,

After the game Kovalchuk tried to explain the hit. “I just tried to finish my check, and he kind of turned right before I tried to hit him,” he said.

“He hit the boards; it wasn’t my [intention] to hurt him or anything,” added the 24-year-old. “It’s a contact sport. I wasn’t trying to kill anybody.”

added 5:27pm, via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution,

“Personally, what I can’t judge is they see these every night in the room. I’m only looking at one circumstance. I don’t think it’s that bad, but they’re the ones that review it. They see it every night,” said Waddell when asked if he thought the NHL would suspend Kovalchuk. “He has no history at all, that all weighs in your favor.”

The AJC also reports Kovy received a fine.

Kovalchuk Gets A Major & Game Misconduct

by Paul on 01/22/08 at 08:03 PM
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Michal Rozsival hit by Ilya Kovalchuk who received a major for boarding and game misconduct.

Rozsival went off the ice on his own with a cut near above the eyebrow I believe.

Recognizing Kovalchuk In Atlanta

by Paul on 01/18/08 at 02:43 PM
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from ESPN The Magazine,

SportsCenter doesn’t acknowledge the game or Kovalchuk. Its lead puck story? Sidney Crosby’s first fight. Atlanta will host the NHL’s best and brightest during All-Star Weekend, Jan. 26-27, but Atlanta’s best and brightest is a forgotten man having a season for the ages.

Not that it bothers him.

“I’m not that kind of guy who wants to be on front page,” says Kovalchuk, 24, forsaking the occasional definite article as he sits in a café the next day.

read on and thanks to Thrashers Blog for the pointer…

He Is Who He Is

by Paul on 12/15/07 at 07:19 AM
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from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

“I am who I am,” the 24-year-old says. “I never change.”

He thinks somebody, maybe him, could score 70 goals in today’s NHL. That’s the limit.

“When Gretzky scored 92, the game was different,” he says. “I don’t think anybody is going to score 92 anymore. I think 70 is the most ...

“I think that’s possible.”

He admits to being selfish and doesn’t apologize for it.

“You have to be,” Kovalchuk says. “When it’s time, it’s time. You don’t have to be shy. You take over. It’s an emotional game, a team game, but sometimes you need to be selfish (to score).”

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Vote For Kovalchuk - Watch Blogger Get His Head Shaved

by Paul on 12/12/07 at 10:52 AM
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from BenWright of Blueland Blog,

I’m not one to ask you to do something I wouldn’t do myself, so here’s what I’ll do. If you guys can get Kovy voted into the starting lineup of the NHL All-Star Game I’ll let someone shave my head at a game or practice (logistics to be determined later). Seriously. I’ll bring the clippers and pick a fan or reader (or maybe even a player if I can pull some strings) and let them buzz off all of the hair on my scalp. Do we have a deal?

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Don’t Forget Kovalchuk

by Paul on 12/11/07 at 10:56 AM
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from Jim Kelley at Sportsnet,

...Then one could argue that in a league in which five-on-five goals are once again difficult to come by, Kovalchuk leads the league with 17 even-strength tallies while Lecavalier has 13 and Crosby 10. Kovalchuk also has more road goals (15) than he does home goals (eight) while Lecavalier has 14 at home and a mere five on the road and Crosby is split at seven and seven.

And while I would argue that all three players make the players around them better, we are talking about individual talents here and Kovalchuk’s shooting percentage bests the other two by a wide margin. He has hit on 21.1 percent of his offerings. That’s a far sight better than Lecavalier’s 16.0 and Crosby’s 15.4

In addition, Kovalchuk has twice netted a hat trick on the road this season.

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Can Kovalchuk Score 70?

by Alanah on 12/07/07 at 01:50 PM
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From Craig Custance at Thrashers Blog,

As we sit here right now, Ilya Kovalchuk is on pace for 70 goals. It’s been quite awhile since that’s been done (since 92-93 season) but do you think he can do it? I asked around the Thrashers lockerroom this morning, if players thought it was going to happen. My new favorite corner is the Eric Boulton - Eric Perrin and Chris Thorburn corner of the room, so I presented it to them. I asked Perrin, and Boulton piped in, saying basically ‘good luck answering that. If you say yes you jinx him, if you say no, you’re saying no.’ So Perrin thought about it a moment and said “If anybody can do it, it’s Kovy.” Thorburn refused to talk about it altogether. So what would you put the odds at — How about this, I’ll set the over/under at 64 goals. You going over or under?

NHL Stars of the Week & Month

by Alanah on 12/03/07 at 02:31 PM
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Goaltenders Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks, Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils and Niklas Backstrom of the Minnesota Wild have been named the NHL’s ‘Three Stars’ for the week ending December 2.

Atlanta Thrashers left wing Ilya Kovalchuk, Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo and Tampa Bay Lightning center Vincent Lecavalier have been named the NHL’s ‘Three Stars’ for November.

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Therie Is No “I” In Ilya These Days

by Paul on 11/14/07 at 01:18 PM
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from Blueland Blog,

Getting Ilya to talk about himself right now is like pulling teeth. When he was asked about his OT goal last night the first thing he said was that it was all about Todd White’s hard work. He’s deflecting attention from himself and heaping praise on his teammates at every opportunity. I’m convinced that if a reporter offered him $1,000 in cash to take credit for a goal he’d pass it up right now.

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Kovalchuk Driven To Succeed

by Paul on 11/10/07 at 12:13 PM
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from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution,

Kovalchuk credits his father for handing down an intense, competitive drive, a drive Thrashers opponents have seen up close over the past two weeks.

It’s a competitive hunger that former teammate Dany Heatley got to know well in Atlanta, and saw again recently in Ottawa.

“It all goes back to hockey,” said Heatley, who still keeps in close touch with Kovalchuk. “How hungry he is to score. ... You can see that in games, his competitiveness. What I find is he’s like that in practice, scrimmages, a two-on-one drill — he wants to score. He’s hungry to score. He wants to win.”

more

thanks to Blueland Blog for the pointer…

Kovalchuk Wakes Up With A Stiff Back

by Paul on 11/07/07 at 03:17 PM
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from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution,

Ilya Kovalchuk was scheduled for a precautionary MRI Wednesday afternoon, the results of which probably won’t be known until Thursday.

Thrashers interim coach and general manager Don Waddell said Wednesday it was too soon to know if the back spasms that forced Kovalchuk out of Tuesday night’s win over Washington would cost him the Florida game Friday as well.

continued

Kovalchuk Breaks Out

by Paul on 11/05/07 at 03:04 PM
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from Darren Eliot at Sports Illustrated,

Many people are going to jump to the conclusion that Ilya Kovalchuk’s amazing run of goal-scoring—nine in seven games—is a direct result of the Atlanta Thrashers removing head coach Bob Hartley after the team’s 0-6 start. Well, that assessment might be right for the wrong reasons.

You see, the coach and the prodigy co-existed for four-and-a-half seasons. Hartley brought needed structure and consistency to both a young franchise and a young player with star potential. But once it was clear that Kovalchuk had absorbed the lessons of accountability, his offensive verve wasn’t quite the same. His kinetic dashes down the left wing—once filled with the promise of brilliance—became tempered, or even worse, predictable.

continued

Update 3:41pm ET
Transcript of Kovalchuk’s NHL press conference call today:

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Hot Kovalchuk

by Paul on 11/04/07 at 08:21 AM
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from Blueland Blog,

So as fans, how should we show our appreciation for Ilya Kovalchuk on Tuesday night?

* A KOV-AL-CHUK chant during warm-ups? KO-VY, KO-VY? How about during the first faceoff he’s on the ice for?

* He had back-to-back hat tricks on the road. Can we throw hats on the ice for him on Tuesday since most of us weren’t there on Thursday and Saturday? It’d have to be during warm-ups or else you could spark a delay of game call. then again, you might want to save your hat for when he scores three at home. The way he’s playing it could happen any time now.

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You Don’t See This Very Often

by Paul on 10/12/07 at 08:59 AM
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Ilya Kovalchuk in a fight last night, coming to the defense of a teammate who he thought received a cheap shot.

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