Two Cities, Two Big Events for Caps

Washington and Saskatoon are about 2,000 miles apart, but both cities saw big developments for the Capitals organization Tuesday night in a double-barrel of good news for the team - both its present and future.

In Washington, the brief mystery of who would be the next Caps captain was solved when Alex Ovechkin was tabbed as the 14th captain of the club. Already the emotional sparkplug of the Caps, while Chris Clark was an important leader as well, recent injuries over the past few seasons certainly limited the former captain's role in Washington.

Now, Ovechkin's truly ascended to the top, fully become the face of the franchise, not only in its marketing and goal production, but on the ice as well. While he had deferred an earlier chance to become the team captain when Chris Clark took over from Jeff Halpern in 2006, it was time for the team's emotional leader to officially take the "C."

"I said to Bruce (Boudreau) right away, if you want me to be captain, ask the guys if they want me to be the captain," Ovechkin said after last night's contest.

For his teammates, the decision also seemed to be an easy one.

"It's awesome," Poti said afterwards. "We’re very glad that they picked him. He’s been the face of the franchise for a long time and it’s well deserved and well earned."

"I know they were really happy when I told them this morning," Boudreau said at the podium after the game. "This doesn’t happen to often, but the group got up and cheered. I had talked to a lot of them in the last couple of days and they said that Alex [Ovechkin] was the only choice; he’s our leader, he’s our guy.

"I think the thing that really sort of shows how he was ready was, when I talked to him a few days ago, he said, 'I would accept the responsibility, but only if my teammates want me to.' Like, I mean, if they are happy with me as a captain, I would be glad to be their captain. So, he was already thinking about the team rather than thinking of himself, which is what good captains do."

While Ovechkin certainly had been the team's leader on the ice for the last couple of seasons, not only winning back-to-back Hart Trophies and being sure he stood up for his teammates, it was time to him to officially become the team leader.

One of his future teammates certainly put on a show in Saskatoon, as John Carlson ended what could have been an ugly U.S. collapse and gave the Americans just their second gold medal in the World Junior Championships with a nifty overtime strike in a 6-5 thriller over the Canadians.

Back on New Year's Eve, Carlson struggled as the U.S. blew a two-goal lead late in the third period, but after the Americans did so again Tuesday night, Carlson made sure he ended the festivities on the right note.

"I told everyone in the room that if we were to be told that we’d be able to go 5-5 into OT in the gold-medal game, at the beginning of the tournament, we’d take it any day," Carlson told the media scrum after his heroics.

Of course, if not for Carlson, the U.S. might not have even been in the title game at all. It was his goal from the blue line that gave the Americans a semifinal win over Sweden.

But, like his strong play with the Bears, Carlson got better as the tournament progressed, becoming a force in the medal rounds with his play and becoming only the second American to score a game-winning goal at the WJCs (and unlike the 2004 goal against Canada, it was no fluke).

While Caps fans and Bears fans know what they have in Carlson, now, the hockey world is now aware of his potential.