AJC > Sports > Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2009 > January > 11
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Captain Kovalchuk, a very happy man
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ilya Kovalchuk celebrates goals as exuberantly as any player I’ve seen, but I can honestly say I’ve never seen him happier than when he was awarded the captaincy tonight at the Thrashers’ Casino Night.
This clearly meant a lot to him, and that’s great, for him and for the team. It’s more than just a recognition he’s a great player. He knew that. We knew that. It’s recognition that the team looks up to him. There’s something very special about that.
Special enough to make him want to re-sign with the Thrashers this summer? I don’t know. Credit the Thrashers with this: Naming Kovalchuk captain is a smart move if they’re trying to solidify his ties to the team.
Every time I speak with him, though, he talks about winning. And, as anybody reading this blog knows, the Thrashers haven’t been doing that. If, somehow, some way, he could become convinced he could stay here and win … well, that’s a way’s away.
For tonight, though, I choose to smile along with a guy who was so very happy up on that stage in front of his teammates.
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New guy, new number
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rich Peverley has new teammates to meet and a new number to pick. He wore No. 37 with the Predators; the Thrashers no longer use that number because it belonged to Dan Snyder.
Peverley played at St. Lawrence. Todd White played at Clarkson (but not in the same years). Having them in the same locker room is a bit like having an Alabama and an Auburn football player together. The Clarkson-St. Lawrence rivalry is pretty fierce, and hockey is THE sport up there in northern New York. The campuses are only about 10 miles apart.
Ron Hainsey, Boris Valabik and Mathieu Schneider didn’t practice today. Coach John Anderson said they had minor injuries. The Thrashers just finished a stretch of 14 games in 26 days, so you’d expect some bumps that needed a day off to get better. Garnet Exelby, returning from a hairline fracture, skated after practice.
The original plan was for Sunday to be the off day, but because Saturday’s game was a 1 p.m. start and Sunday night is Casino Night, they changed to a Sunday practice so players could have all of Monday off instead. Things return to normal on Tuesday.
