“Unbelievable Twist: How Alexander Ovechkin’s Miracle Goal Defied All Odds and Captivated Fans Worldwide”
“Coming out of the lockout, I would say the fan base was not really high,” Halpern says. “Washington is a fairly transient sports town. Football was always big, but hockey catered to the hockey community and that was it, really. So when Ovi came, there was buzz, but not in the way if he was going to Toronto or Montreal.”
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Ovechkin debuted in the NHL at the exact moment the league was implementing some significant rule modifications — increasing the size of the neutral zone, for instance, and removing the center red line to permit longer passes — designed to step up offense. He couldn’t have skated into a more perfect situation for his skills.
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