Clear The Crease

I’m getting sick of hearing about the Penguins-Capitals/Crosby-Ovechkin rivalry. Well, it’s not that I’m sick of hearing about it, it’s that I’m sick of the two separate, yet related, rivalries being treated as the same thing. Back in 2005, I declared what I thought to be the obvious:”Crosby is overrated. Ovechkin, that’s the guy.” Now, I may, possibly, have been a bit wrong on the Crosby side, but, Ovechkin is a fucking tank, with more natural goal scoring ability than anyone I have ever watched (possible exceptions: Pavel Bure (doesn’t count - dead to me) Wayne Gretzky (still think Ovechkin wins) Jaromir Jagr (loses on account of ever having that hair) Mario Lemieux (close one… Ovie)), and he has as many assists as he does goals. In terms of a personal rivalries it’s pretty close, probably gotta give it to Crosby though, as much as that fucking tears my balls off to say. Now on the team to team rivalry side, it is nowhere near as close, no matter how ESPN or TSN or whoever wants to portray it. The Penguins, in addition to Crosby, have Malkin, Staal, and Fleury (i.e. some of the best young players in hockey) and several seasoned vets. Now, as for the Caps, you’ve got Ovechkin, Semin (heh-heh), Backstrom, and a bunch of (sorry, Olie) fogies. Sure, they have some other young guys who might turn out, but none of them stand out yet Considering that Semin (heh-heh) is out, and Backstrom is not up to the level of Malkin or Staal (yet), and that the vets on the squad just don’t match up to the Pens vets, and, that, no matter how much I like Olie Kolzig, he is no Marc-Andre Fleury, you have yourself a one sided situation. Ovechkin is a straight up badass, no doubt. But under such lopsided circumstances, even he can’t put that team on his back and carry them over to the promised land (of fairly meaningless, regular season wins, over a manufactured rivalry. OK, all wins are meaningful, but it’s not the playoffs.). The Capitals have some work to do, and I hope, for Ovechkin’s, Semin’s (heh-heh), Backstrom’s and hockey in general’s sakes, that they get it done. The Ovechkin/Crosby rivalry? That’s real. Caps/Pens? Not yet.