“The mansion, gorgeous girlfriend, hot car and public adoration come right out of an American dream. But the iron will that made the Capitals’ Alexander Ovechkin hockey’s future came straight from Russia.”
That is how April Witt’s cover story on Alex Ovechkin starts in the November 26th edition of The Washington Post Magazine. The story tells us about Alex’s parents growing up in Moscow including his mother’s struggle to walk after being struck by a car. We learn of Alex’s earliest hockey memory, dealing with the death of his older brother and the decision to pursue his American dream in the NHL.
Among the story’s funnier moments are the words “Sex Bomb” and the sentence “A stray jock strap rests on one kitchen counter.”
The story is a must-read and refreshing look at our superstar which ends with Alex’s dreams of winning the Stanley Cup.
“It’s not a recurring dream,” he said. “My dreams are never exactly the same from night to night. But the Stanley Cup is there quite often.” Winning the cup is never easy, not even in his dreams. “It’s a difficult fight,” he said. “We are always behind in the series. We struggle. We win in overtime. It is never easy. But we win in the end.”
Author April Witt (a staff writer for the Magazine) will be fielding questions and comments about this article in a WashingtonPost.com Live Discussion Monday, November 27th at noon.
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From the article -
Alex’s mother, angry at Dynamo and uncertain about when the Caps would skate again, urged her son to go to Siberia and accept a lucrative offer to play for the team in the city of Omsk.
“Omsk is like Pittsburgh,” Alex said. “It’s not like New York.”
Why does it please me so that Alex singles out Pittsburgh as an example of a, shall we say, less-than-ideal place to play? Has he bought into the rivalry with the team to the northwest we love to hate?
Why am I not suprised to find editing errors. Offensive Lineman???? WTF
“Lineman” or “line mate” - this is Washington media - and I’m happy for a well-written, insightful article focused on Ovie. The images conjured from the word describing the ball park and 21st birthday scenes were well done in my opinion.
The million dollar question, to me, is: with so many references to the Meehan agency assisting with everything from cell phone plans to sticks to Arlington real estate, why fire him?
i love you ovechkin kidding i love sidney patrick crosby i love sid
Sports is my passion. So this reading brought tears to my eyes. It is always good to see someone come to America and make it. It proves that hard work does pay off.
Excellent story about a young man playing hockey and winning a battle in life.
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[...] As mentioned in an earlier post, April Witt’s profile of Alexander Ovechkin was the cover story for yesterday’s Washington Post Magazine. It was shocking and refreshing that the Post not only had a lengthy and positive article on anything hockey, but that they made it the cover story. This naturally made me wonder how the article came to be. Have the editors of the Washington Post finally realized that the best athlete in the NHL and arguably in all of sports plays right here on F Street? [...]
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