Tank's 2018 Star of the Year
2018 Star of the Year
Alex Ovechkin
After years of frustration, the Washington Capitals have finally won the Stanley Cup, as their superstar Alex Ovechkin finally fulfilled his promise of carrying Washington to the promised land. Along the way, the Capitals had to slay multiple dragons. In the first round, the Capitals lost the first two games at home and needed a 3-2 win in double overtime to avoid falling behind 3-0 against the Blue Jackets. The Capitals would go on to win the series in six games. Next up was the Penguins, whom Washington beat for just the second time in 11 playoff meetings as Evgeny Kuznetsov got the game-winner in overtime in Game 6. In the Eastern Conference Finals Washington won Game 7 on the road, with Braden Holtby getting shutouts in the last two games. They then went on to beat the Vegas Golden Knights in five games as Alex Ovechkin won the Conn Smythe with 15 goals and 12 assists in the postseason.
This was in a year in which Alex Ovechkin reached the 600-goal milestone in his career. There are just 20 players in NHL history that have scored 600 goals. He is the first of those 600 goal scorers that was born in Russian and just the third to be born outside of North America. Ovechkin has led the NHL in goals in five of the last six seasons and is leading the league again at the end of December with 29 goals. As of December 31st, Alex Ovechkin has 636 career goals. At the age of 33, it is not beyond the realm possibility that he will score more than 894 goals to break the record of Wayne Gretzky.
Upon winning the Stanley Cup Alex Ovechkin set a record in celebrating, taking the Stanley Cup in to Las Vegas Casinos, college bars near Georgetown and doing keg stands, which did not make Phil Pritchard the keeper of the cup happy. Ovechkin also took selfies sleeping with Lord Stanley and he made every member of the Washington Capitals feel special and though they were part of the celebration for that he is named my Tank Star of the Year.