While Sidney Crosby celebrates being the youngest captain in NHL history to hoist the Stanley Cup over his head, his on-ice rival, Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, is celebrating a different kind of achievement: being chosen as the NHL 2K10 cover athelete!
Captured in the heat of one of his frequently criticized goal celebrations, Ovechkin is now forever immortalized in videogame cover history with mouth agape, fists clenched, and missing teeth. While the cover is very characteristic of the Russian superstar, I think 2K Sports should have opted to use his 50th goal celebration from the 2008-2009 season instead, writing “Alexander Ovechkin thinks this game is HOT” on the cover in massive bold letters. Brilliant marketing opportunity missed!
Ovechkin is also rumoured to be providing motion-capture performances for NHL 2K10, which will be recorded in Las Vegas prior to the upcoming NHL Awards ceremony.
Richard Mitchell is a video game addict living in Toronto. He has been gaming for more than two decades, and despite multiple interventions, continues to game today. He has an Xbox 360, a PS3, a Wii, a Nintendo DS, a gaming PC, and a life, and does his best to juggle them all.
Mental note: don’t draft Ovechkin in our pool next year. Actually, we should do a research on the hockey cover curse. Is it only EA? I need to know before October!
The curse only applies to Madden, actually. Rick Nash was on the cover of NHL 2K9 and he had his best season to date last year. If anything, Ovechkin will be even BETTER.