MONTREAL – Since his first match in 2005, more than 7,000 days ago, Alexander Ovechkin has terrorized goalkeepers, so much so that he seems to have beaten all the masked men on the planet. So much so that Jocelyn Thibault and Mathieu Garon were convinced they had been his victim.
Well no!
The names of Thibault, Garon and Mike Condon will always remain engraved in history among the few who never gave in to the man who will likely become the best scorer of all time.
With his legendary scoring talent, Ovechkin has already hit the target against 178 different goalies! We preferred to speak to those who resisted him.
Condon and Garon are even guaranteed to remain in second and third place in this list. Condon held down the fort for 7 games and 18 shots from Ovechkin compared to 7 games and 16 shots for Garon. They are only ahead of Michal Neuvirth (8 games and 23 shots).
“Before I was told about it, a few years ago, I had the impression that he had already counted against me. I admit it’s special to think about it. It was always impressive to play against him, he was so dangerous,” Garon said.
“I didn’t know I was in third row. Maybe he didn’t have his best matches against me. But I don’t have to tell that part of the story,” Garon laughed.
“You tell me, I was pretty sure he had already scored against me. If I had played against him often, probably he would have scored a few goals,” said Thibault with the same humility as Garon.
For his part, Condon was unaware that his name was close to the first rank. But Condon is a hockey scholar. Yes, he reached the NHL because he worked hard, but also thanks to his intelligence and his analytical side.
“People often ask me who the players who have scored the most goals against me are. I like to respond to the third or fourth line players, I am a guardian of the people so to speak,” said the man who will soon complete his studies in sports psychology with a laugh.
Condon understood when Ovechkin said in Russian
Condon therefore had the last word 18 times against Ovechkin. Astonished, he finds an image to diminish his feat.
“Eighteen judgments against him? It’s like the slogan that even blind squirrels sometimes find nuts. Still, I never thought I was very good at tracking the puck. It was one of my weaknesses. But when I hear these statistics, I feel a little better,” he reacted, puffing out his chest for fun.
That’s not the only thing that makes Condon smile. He is also very happy to have frustrated him on a few occasions. Ovechkin not only threw pucks at him, he also threw a few “sacres” in his native language.
“I could understand a little bit of what he was saying around the net because I had learned some juicy words in Russian having played with Andrei Markov, Alexei Emelin, Alex Galchenyuk, Alexander Semin and Alexander Radulov,” Spy Condon revealed .
Instead of responding to Ovechkin, Condon tended to be quiet. When he started in the NHL, he admits that he was still “a bit of a fan” of these great players.
-Without forgetting that the opponents of the big number 8 were quick to understand that it was better “not to wake the sleeping beast”.
“That was always the game plan with him. Don’t insult him, don’t hit him with a stick, don’t hit him. Because when he gets angry and applies himself even more, we are all in trouble,” recalled Condon.
So predictable, but so hard to stop
In the world of professional sports, the law of the jungle prevails. So, Ovechkin has never been shy about using the same weapon to cause havoc. His opponents never managed to block his shot from his favorite spot, a few feet to the right of the goalkeeper.
“It’s amazing (that he beat 178 goalies) and to realize that he probably scored almost half of his goals from the same place. A bit like Steven Stamkos, we know it’s coming, but no one has been able to find a solution to counter them,” mentioned Garon between two hockey lessons within the Tampa Bay Lightning community program.
Never having to forget Ovechkin out of the corner of their eye, the goalies saw this image embedded in their heads.
“Yes and being a guard who caught from the right, I was exposed a lot on that side. It wasn’t my strength either, catching with my mitt so I felt a little vulnerable. Guess he didn’t manage to send it to the right place,” revealed Garon.
For Thibault, who witnessed Ovechkin’s sensational debut, he paid attention worthy of the greatest.
“He reminded me a lot of Brett Hull. They are incredible scorers and shooters, but their passing skills are underestimated,” noted Thibault.
For his part, Condon quickly understood that the tactical approach would hardly work against Ovechkin’s ball.
“A powerful close throw takes 0.5 seconds to get to the net. As a goalie, your brain needs 0.8 seconds to spot the puck, send signals and position yourself appropriately. In short, it was impossible to physically react to many of his throws. I was lowering my head to protect my neck hoping the puck would hit me and it was far from pleasant,” Condon described.
“It’s wonderful what he can do with the puck. I had the opportunity to look at the palette of his stick and it is unique. She is very thin and with such a strange curve. So much so that, most of the time, the puck takes off with a strange trajectory, looking like a butterfly ball,” he added.
With such an arsenal, “it’s nothing embarrassing” to have allowed a goal to Ovechkin, as Thibault said. For Garon, “it’s practically a privilege to be counted” by the right-hander.
But there is no question of wanting to rewrite history and add to the goalkeepers who were thwarted by the master scorer. And this, even if this list will remain, forever, engraved in the hockey archives.
” No! He has enough goals, he has enough money, he has earned enough praise. The guards are humans too. I’m very happy not to be on this list,” concluded Condon, summarizing Garon and Thibault’s thoughts well.
