National Post (National Edition)
Overcoming Ovechkin a test of nerves
Facing giants of game puts rookies to test
So you’re a rookie, trying to secure a place on the team, and it’s early-season, and into town rides The Boss.
With a larger than life persona, a tank for a body, a blink-and-you-miss-it release, a palpable hunger to score and an archive of highlightreel goals you’ve been watching since you were in Peewee.
But no worries, kid. Just go out there and act normal.
Yeah? It’s harder than it looks.
The trap is to get caught watching Alex Ovechkin play, hoping he doesn’t score one like he once did against Wayne Gretzky’s Phoenix Coyotes while sliding flat on his back, hooking the puck backwards past the goalie after being tripped.
“I think that’s the one that stands out the most. I could try that a hundred times and never do it,” said Jake Virtanen, one of five 23-and-under skaters in the lineup the Vancouver Canucks iced against the Washington Capitals on Thursday night.
Not all of them are raw rookies: Bo Horvat, 20, solidified his place a year ago, Sven Baertschi has had a few stops and starts here and in Calgary. But for Virtanen, Jared McCann and defenceman Ben Hutton, facing a big-league superstar in his prime is still very much virgin territory.
When both teams practised Wednesday at UBC, Virtanen said he hung around for 10 minutes watching Ovechkin shoot the puck.
Hutton’s “aha” moment came against Anaheim.
‘I was battling with (Ryan) Getzlaf in front of the net, and then I got to the bench and was like, ‘Oh s--t, that was Getzlaf!’ ” he said.
Getting over that throat-constricting feeling of “Am I really going to be out there against this guy?” is a comingof-age obstacle every young player has to hurdle.
“Oh, yeah,” said Caps coach Barry Trotz. “Wayne Gretzky’s first time in Nashville he got five assists and we were trying to get his autograph the whole time. No one wanted to go near him. “With a young team, you see some of that, but I think young players now, there’s less of it. They get to brush shoulders (with the stars) through their agents, a lot of the high-profile kids are going to the same camps with the Crosbys and people like that. I just think they’re a little more confident now.”
“I remember when I first started, I was really starstruck playing against Eric Lindros or Tie Domi, playing in the same league as them,” said Alex Burrows.
“But for me, when it really kicked in was when I started playing with the (Sedin) twins, and I was in the opening lineup against Detroit and everyone on the ice was an Olympian, and I was the only guy that didn’t belong at all.
“We had Sami Salo and Mattias Ohlund and the twins and they had Zetterberg and Datsyuk and Lidstrom … so for me, it was like ‘ Boy, I gotta pull my weight tonight and be a difference-maker.’ ”
Ovechkin’s stock has risen steadily, after a mid-career plateau, ever since Trotz moved from Music City to take over the Caps last season.
He has become a better, more complete player while losing none of his physicality or scoring skills; hardly a 200-foot player, but more group-oriented than he was in the days when a coach, according to a possibly apocryphal legend, suggested Ovechkin needed to be more of a team guy so he bought all the players Rolexes.
Early–season returns have been positive. He had four goals and six points in five games for the 4-1 Caps heading into Thursday’s game, and keeping him in check is always going to be a handful for anyone who draws the assignment.
“He’s that rare combination of pure skill and ability to shoot the puck and do some one-on-one stuff that is eyepopping,” said Trotz, “and also physicality and toughness.
“He’s not afraid of big challenges. When I first got here, we were playing Boston and I said, ‘I’ve got last change here, I’d better get a matchup that’ll get you away from Chara.’ And he looks at me and goes, ‘ Why?’
“So we don’t worry about matchups with Alex. He loves to play against the best. That’s pretty rare. Guys look for an advantage. He says, ‘I’ll make my own advantage.’ ”
For a kid, facing that level of athletic arrogance can be intimidating. Virtanen admits it may take a little time.
“I mean, maybe after a couple more games. It’s still soaking in right now,” said the six-foot-one, 208-pound winger from New Westminster. “It’s pretty cool going head-to-head with those top guys you watched growing up. If they’re out there and you’re out there, hitting them or something, you go, ‘Holy, this is not happening right now’. ”
“These guys have grown up watching Ovechkin and Crosby and all the goals they scored, and I’m sure they have gone straight out to their driveway trying to score on that same shot,” said Burrows, “so now to finally play against them, it’s special.
“But it’s like golf. The guys who get matched against Tiger … they have to play their own games, because they have bright futures, too.”