Of Russians And Hat Tricks

In his brief career so far, Alexander Ovechkin has notched five NHL hat tricks. Alex Semin has two. Their fellow countryman, Sergei Fedorov, has six, and the Caps' fourth Russian, Viktor Kozlov, has a pair.

But where did the term "hat trick" come from, and why the Russian focus? Joe Pelletier (the genius behind Greatest Hockey Legends.com and a fellow J.P.) passed along this educational video that will answer both questions:

Sergei Fedorov: The Statutory Early Years

Late yesterday, someone asked me whether I'd use the Sergei Fedorov trade as an excuse to post pictures of Anna Kournikova on The Rink.

"Absolutely not," I responded, "And the mere suggestion that I might stoop to something so transparent and gratuitous truly offends my delicate sensibilities, thank you very little."

A day later, however, I am willing to cast my own puritanical morals aside and bring the following pics to you, my eight readers, because I know you want 'em - my one condition being that Fedorov be in all the pics so at least the post maintained some shred of hockey relevance. And while you're ogling, I will avert my eyes (other than to note that Liz Hurley is sitting in front of Anna in that first pic... damn). Oh, and if you don't much care for pics with dudes in 'em, there's always Google image search (the SafeSearch feature of which can be turned off, from what I'm told).