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Alexander Ovechkin
Born	(1985-09-17) September 17, 1985 (age 39) Moscow, Russian SFSR, USSR
Height	6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight	220 lb (100 kg; 15 st 10 lb)
Position	Left Wing
Shoots	Right
NHL team	Washington Capitals
NHL draft	1 overall, 2004 Washington Capitals
Playing career	2001–present

Alexander Mikhaylovich Ovechkin (Template:Lang-ru; born September 17, 1985 in Moscow, USSR) is a Russian professional ice hockey left winger for the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League. He currently resides in Arlington, Virginia, USA.

He was the number one pick in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, but due to the 2004-05 NHL lockout only started playing in the 2005-06 NHL season.

Playing career

Alexander Ovechkin is the son of Mikhail Ovechkin, a former professional football (soccer) player and Tatyana Ovechkina, who won two Olympic gold medals while competing for the Soviet basketball team in the 1976 Summer Olympics at Montreal and in 1980 at Moscow.

He began playing hockey at the age of eight. Soon after he began, however, he had to postpone his hockey career because his parents were unable to take him to the rink. One of Ovechkin's coaches saw his talent and communicated to his parents that he should continue to play hockey. Ovechkin's older brother, Sergei, who later died in a car Alexander loved hockey and insisted that he be allowed to return. Ovechkin did not start playing again for almost two years.

Due to his studies at the Military Institute for Border Guards, he apparently does not have to serve in the military in Russia. Military duty is supposed to be compulsory in Russia, but it is so in name only and is enforced selectively rather than uniformly; for instance, young Russian star Ilya Kovalchuk has never served in the military, while Ukrainian-born Nikolai Zherdev was forced to go to arbitration court in Switzerland because Russian authorities claimed he had to serve in the military. It is thought that Ovechkin will not have to face these circumstances.

Dynamo Moscow

Ovechkin began playing in the Dynamo Moscow system from the very start. In Russia, hockey teams build players in their systems from childhood. Of course since the fall of the Soviet Union the players always have the option of which team they play for, but teams encourage players to stay in the system and hope that some of those players will eventually reach the Russian Superleague, the best hockey league in Russia (and also considered the second best league in the world after the NHL).

Over the years Ovechkin worked his way up ranks of the Dynamo system and at the age of 16 he made his debut for Dynamo Moscow in the Russian Superleague in the 2001-2002 season.

In the 2003-2004 season, at the , he won the award for Best Left Wing in the Superleague and was the youngest player in the history of Dynamo Moscow to lead the team in scoring.

In 2004-2005, an ongoing shoulder injury sustained in the Gold Medal Game against Canada in the World Junior Championships caused him to miss nearly two months of play.

NHL Entry Draft

On June 26, 2004, Alexander Ovechkin was drafted 1st overall by the Washington Capitals. Only the second Russian in NHL history to be drafted first overall; Ilya Kovalchuk was made the first by the Atlanta Thrashers in 2001.

Washington Capitals

Following the 2004-05 NHL lockout, Alexander Ovechkin played his first game with the Washington Capitals on October 5, 2005, scoring two goals in a 3-2 victory over Columbus.In a shootout against Anaheim, Ovechkin scored the winning goal to end the game at 5-4. Despite being offered a $1,900,000 by Omsk Avanguard, a RHL team owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich Ovechkin opted to play for a salary almost two times lower in NHL team Washington Capitals, because it had been his dream to play in the best league in the world since he was a child( source "pro sport magazine www.prosports.ru)

Ovechkin was named the NHL Rookie of the Month for December 2005.

On January 13, 2006 in Anaheim, Ovechkin scored his first career hat trick against the Anaheim Mighty Ducks to help Washington win the game. His hat trick goals went past Jean-Sebastian Giguere for his first ever hat trick game.

On January 16, 2006, Alexander Ovechkin scored a goal that veteran hockey reporter Bill Clement called "one of the greatest goals of all time." Knocked down by Paul Mara, a defenseman for the Phoenix Coyotes, then sliding on his back and facing away from the net, Ovechkin was able to hook the puck with one hand on his stick and slide it into the net past Coyotes goalie Brian Boucher for his second goal of the night. Ovechkin simply stated, "I was lucky. I never did it before."

On February 1, 2006, Ovechkin was named NHL Rookie of the Month for January 2006 as well as being named Offensive Player of the Month, becoming only the third player in NHL history to earn both honors in a single month.

Ovechkin's 52 goals and 106 points both ranked third all-time among NHL rookies and he led all 2005-2006 NHL rookies in goals, points, power-play goals, and shots. He finished third overall in the NHL in scoring and tied for third in goals and his 425 shots not only led the league and set an NHL rookie record, but also was the fourth-highest total in NHL history. Ovechkin’s point total was the second best in Washington Capitals history and his goal total was tied for third in franchise history.

Ovechkin received the Calder Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the NHL's best rookie, and was also named to the NHL First All-Star Team. He was the first rookie named to the NHL First All-Star Team in 15 years. In addition, EA Sports made Ovechkin the cover athlete for NHL 07.

On December 15, 2006, in a game against the Atlanta Thrashers, Ovechkin scored his second career hat trick, scoring the game-winner just 6 seconds into overtime and tying the NHL record for quickest overtime win. Ovechkin scored past Kari Lehtonen of the Thrashers to seal the Washington win.

Following the 2006-2007 NHL season, Ovechkin was awarded the Kharlamov Trophy, which is named after Valery Kharlamov and presented by Sovetsky Sport. The Kharlamov Trophy honors the best Russian NHL player as voted by other Russian NHL players.

Ovechkin participated in the 2007 NHL All-Star Game in Dallas, Texas. He played long side with Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins during the festivities. Ovechkin even scored his first career All-Star game goal on January 24, 2007.

Russian National Team

At the age of 16, Alexander Ovechkin surpassed the scoring record set by countryman Ilya Kovalchuk in the World Under-18 Junior Championships by scoring 14 goals and 4 assists in 8 games. Ovechkin still holds the scoring record today.

At the age of 16, Ovechkin helped lead the Junior National Team to the Gold medal with two hat tricks, one against Switzerland and one against USA, and an assist.

At the age of 17, when he was selected by Russian coach Victor Tikhonov to play in the Ceska Poistovna Eurotour tournament, Alexander became the youngest skater ever to play for the Russian National Team in the history of Russian hockey. In that tournament he also became the youngest player ever to score for the National Team.

At the age of 18, Alexander Ovechkin was named Captain of the Junior Russian National Team. Russia finished 5th in the tournament.

At the age of 19, Ovechkin was named to the Russian National Team for the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. He was the youngest player in the tournament.

Also at the age of 19, Alexander Ovechkin was named Captain of the Junior National Team in the 2005 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. The tournament, lasting from December 25, 2004, to January 4, 2005, was Ovechkin's third and last. At the end of the tournament he had collected 7 goals (tied for tournament lead). His team received the silver medal after losing the gold medal game to Canada on January 4, and Ovechkin was named the Best Forward of the tournament as well as selected to the tournament All-Star Team.

In 2005 Ovechkin played in his first IIHF men's World Championships. He scored five goals and three assists, landing eighth in the top scorers list and sharing third place in goal scoring.

In 2006, Ovechkin played in his very first Winter Olympic Games. Although Russia came away from the games without a medal, Ovechkin scored 5 goals in the tournament, including the game-winner against Canada's Martin Brodeur, eliminating Canada from the tournament. Ovechkin was the only player not on Sweden (Gold) or Finland (Silver) to be named to the all-tournament team.

At the 2006 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships, Ovechkin scored six goals and three assists (nine points) in seven games before losing 4-3 to the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals. For his efforts, Ovechkin was one of six players selected Media All-Star Team.

Career statistics

International play

Played for Russia in:

• 2002 World Junior Championships (gold medal)
• 2003 World Junior Championships
• 2004 World Cup of Hockey
• 2004 World Junior Championships (silver medal)
• 2005 World Championships (bronze medal)
• 2006 Winter Olympics (4th place)
• 2006 World Championships
• 2007 World Championships (bronze medal)

International statistics

Awards

NHL

• Calder Memorial Trophy NHL Rookie of the Year: 2005-06
• NHL First All-Star Team: 2005-2006, 2006-2007
• NHL Rookie of the Month: December 2005 and January 2006
• NHL Offensive Player of the Month: January 2006
• NHL Offensive Player of the Week: Week Ending December 31, 2005 and Week Ending January 23, 2006
• Kharlamov Trophy Best NHL Russian player: 2005-2006, 2006-2007

International play

• 2005 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships – Best Forward
• 2006 Winter Olympics – Ice Hockey All-Tournament Team
• 2006 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships – Media All-Star Team

Records

NHL records

• Most shots on goal (SOG) by a rookie (2005-2006) - 425 SOG
• Point streak in consecutive games to start an NHL career by a No. 1 overall pick - 8 games
• Most regular season points by a Russian-born NHL rookie - 106 points
• Most points scored by a NHL left-wing rookie - 106 points
• Fastest overtime goal - 6 seconds; (12/15/2006 vs. Atlanta; tied with Mats Sundin and David Legwand)

Team records

• Most career penalty shots attempted - 3 shots (tied with P. Bondra and M. Gartner),
• Most regular season goals by a Washington Capitals rookie (2005-2006) - 52
• Most regular season assists by a Washington Capitals rookie (2005-2006) - 54
• Most regular season points by a Washington Capitals rookie (2005-2006) - 106
• Point streak by a Washington Capitals rookie - 11 games (17 points; 5 goals, 12 assists), [March 18 -

April 7, 2006]

• Point streak by a Washington Capitals rookie to start season - 8 games
• Goal streak by a Washington Capitals rookie - 7 games

References

1. Terry Koshan. "The Last Word". Retrieved 2006-09-18.
2. Margaret Lillard. "Caps nab Russian winger Ovechkin with first pick". Retrieved 2006-09-18.
3. "Ovechkin Named NHL Rookie of the Month". Retrieved 2006-09-18.
4. Template:Google video
5. Thomas Heath (2006). "Shot Heard 'Round the World". Washington Post. Retrieved 2006-09-18.

External links

• Ovechkin's profile at NHL.com
• Alexander Ovechkin career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database

Template:NHL FirstOverallDraftPicks Template:EA-NHL-series

Template:Persondata

• 1985 births
• Living people
• Calder Trophy winners
• Hockey players at the 2006 Winter Olympics
• National Hockey League 50-goal seasons
• National Hockey League 100-point seasons
• National Hockey League first round draft picks
• National Hockey League first overall draft picks
• People from Arlington, Virginia
• People from Moscow
• Russian ice hockey players
• Washington Capitals players
• Washington Capitals draft picks
• National Hockey League All-Stars