My head cracked opened

The annual NHL awards show was held in Las Veags this year. Ovechkin was nominated for two awards the Lester B. Pearson Award (awarded to the most valuable player as voted by his peers) and the Hart Memorial Award (awarded to the most valuable player as voted by the NHLPA). He had already won the Rockey Richard Award (awarded to the player who scores the most goals in the season, and had won both the Hart and Pearson trophies last year.

All players nominated for an award were required to stay at The Palms hotel where the show would be held. During his free time Ovechkin could be spotted swimming in The Palms pools and hanging out with family and friends on the pool deck. Video of poker game and Ovechkin at the pool.

Ovechkin won both the trophies he was nominated for and left Vegas a big winner in the Awards Show. Video from the Awards Show

Every year the Washington Capitals hold a party for all Season Ticket Holders to attend. For the past two years the event has been held at Six Flags in Virginia. all members of the team attend the event and fans in attendance are given the chance to meet players, ride rides with them and get photographs and autographs. This is my second year as a season ticket holder and my first year going to any Capitals ticket holder party

Notes of Interest

• While waiting for rides to open for fans to ride, my friends and I headed to Superman to wait in line. We were not yet allowed to wait in line because players, coaches and their friends and family were taking last minute rides first. As we waited outside the entrance of the ride we notice Ovechkin coming down the path followed by a mob of fans. It was like a scene from a movie where time slowed down, music was played and everyone was watching the same person. With a confident swagger and a quick smile Ovechkin passed by us and the party had officially begun

• All Capitals players were shadowed by a member of the Capitals staff to make sure they kept their schedules and did not sign for fans until the designated signing time. My term for the night to describe these handlers...babysitters.
  
• Players could be seen riding rides with family and friends, Ovechkin, Semin and Ovechkin's Dad rode Superman a good 5x in a row, and waved to fans on the way down.

  

My friend Jessica is a huge Matt Bradley #10 fan and got to ride Batwing with him and David Steckel #39 and Steckel's wife.

Ovechkin held up Batwing for fans to ride because he is Ovechkin after all and wanted to ride it 3x with other players and once by himself for Caps.com But it is Ovechkin and fans seemed more than happy to snap pictures and capture videos of their own then get upset about it.

• Michael Nylander #92 and Tyler Sloan #89 played a basketball shooting game, and after several rounds of missed baskets, Micheal Nylander won by sinking a basket and winning bragging rights. Video
  
• Alex Semin #28 and Alex Ovechkin #8 rode the Tower of Terror ay least 5x in row. Everytime they were waiting for the ride to take them up in the air they would talk russian to Ovechkin's Dad and their friends waiting in the crowd.

• Alex Ovechkin, Ovechkin's brother and Alex Semin rode the skycoaster 3x in a row. They soared over fans as everyone flashed pictures of the flying players above them. Ovechkin's babysitter informed the two Alex's that they had to sign autographs for fans soon and it was time to stop riding rides. Ovechkin begged several times "one more time, last time, I swear, one more time please" After a short pause and a hesitant look his babysitter responded, "one more time, then that's it you have to sign autographs" He is Ovechkin, how can you say no?

• Snacking on a hot dog Ovechkin signed his predertimned number of 250 autographs for fans.

A lot more pictures can be seen on my facebook album.

Video of Ovechkin having fun at the season ticket holder party.

I am going to update this blog with some poems (which has been a while since I have posted one), but more than that I am going to start writting about my most memorable hockey experiences. I am going to start with the most recent and work my way back. Some will involve trips I went on, and special events I attended and others will be game or practice memories, some will be just a random but interesting fact that I would like share. Mostly this is for my own use so I can go back and remember certain things, hopefully somebody, somewhere might find something I write of interest.

I am a huge fan of the Washington Capitals and have been since 1993, most of my postings will involve a Capitals player in some way, and then probably 90% of those postings will involve my favorite player, Alex Ovechkin. enjoy!