Thursday, October 30, 2008

It's Like Déjà Vu All Over Again

As Caps fans delight in Alex Semin's scintillating start to the season, the rest of the League is taking notice of the "other" Alex as well.

Here's a sampling of what they're writing:
"Alexander Semin, goal machine. Most prognosticators expected a Russian ... to lead the Washington Capitals in scoring all season. But it wasn't Semin.... Nevertheless, there he is." - Adam Proteau, ESPN.com

"THAT a Russian named Alexander is leading the Washington Capitals in scoring should surprise absolutely no one. Except in this case the last name is Semen [sic], not Ovechkin." - Pierre LeBrun, Winnipeg Free Press
Wait, what's that you say? Those articles are both two years old?

Sure enough, two years ago today, Alex Semin was leading the Caps in scoring with eight goals and four helpers in ten games (Alex Ovechkin had six goals and four assists), and his "sweet hands" were the talk of the town.

Semin would go on to score 38 goals for the season, which was good for 13th in the League (and just eight fewer than Number Eight would score), but took a bit of a step backwards last year, due to injuries. He's a different player today than he was two years ago (thanks, Sergei!), but what's being written about him is hardly anything new.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great find JP. Let's hope this year is different and Semin continues not too far off of the pace, and gets 50.

Anonymous said...

It funny how several of the articles written about Semin seem to forget his performance just a season before. Call it short-term memory loss...

Debcapsfan said...

It's his commitment to defense that makes the difference this year. He works his butt off on every shift. It's terrific to watch.

Anonymous said...

Along the lines of Semin off to a great start, so is Thomas Vanek. So Saturday's game should be pretty entertaining. This blog has a great comparison of the two

http://simplysensationalcaps.blogspot.com/

Hazardous said...

Wow, misspelling a name is expected every once in a while, but how does "semen" make it's way to the final draft?

<3 me some Semin. Hope we can keep him around for a long, long time.