When I read through the translation of an interview Ovi gave about his plans to move back to Russia when his hockey career ended, it made me sad... Russia, with their unjust invasion of Ukraine? Good God, WHY?! But, as he said, Russia is his home... he isn't a political creature, so he says, though he is a friend to Russia's dictator, Vladimir Putin, and, well... there's a limit to what he can say in public. His family lives in Russia, under Putin's dictatorship, and we know what Putin is capable of... why would he want to go back to THAT? I wish to God I knew... Ovi was born in the USSR. Most Russian players, as far as I can tell, don't really participate in Pride events during the hockey season, but I don't know if that is a reflection of their true feelings or a reflection of their projected feelings while living under a dictator. He could raise his sons here, where they could grow up free... he's wealthy, he's the most successful hockey goal scorer of our age. Why Russia? But, of course, his mother lives there, a widow, and he loves his mother dearly. I can see why she wouldn't want to change, after living and breathing Russia her entire life. Ovi has spent more than half of his playing hockey for the Capitals, and considers Washington, DC to be his second home. It makes me sad. I have some hopes for Russia to come out of their obsession with having Putin in charge... all of the death coming from the invasion of Ukraine... but most of the people in Russia believe Putin's propaganda: Ukraine is evil. Ukraine is Fascist. Ukraine is... a place we want because of its lithium, its arable land, its wheat... Putin is a monster. I don't want Ovi to be. I just want my hockey hero to be a hockey hero... but Putin's cloud is over his head.
Ah, enough of politics... on to the important stuff.
Ovi finished last season with 31 goals, largely because he only started scoring about 36 games from the end of the season. Why this happened, I don't know. New coach, the loss of his long-time assist partner Nick Backstrom, his own age starting to catch up with him... doesn't matter; it happened.
Wayne Gretzky 1487 894 +41
Alex Ovechkin 1426 853
Ovi needs 41 goals to tie, 42 goals to break Gretzky's all-time record. Can it happen this season? Only time will tell... Will he retire immediately, or will he try to score six more goals after breaking Gretzky's record to get to the first and only NHL player with 900 goals? I don't want the Ovi era to end... is it because he's so exciting to watch? But I am starting this season with a sense of... depression, I think? The war in Ukraine, the idea of Ovi wanting to go to a home that is under the thumb of a dictator when he stops playing for the Caps... I don't know. I'm just.... not all that excited this year, about hockey, or anything else.
I hope to Christ Harris wins in November. If the wannabe dictator does, I'm going to Iceland.
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