Crosby vs. Ovechkin - tired of it yet?

I like the Pittsburgh Penguins almost as much as Robin from How I Met Your Mother likes emperor penguins. I think it's best to say this before I go into anything Crosby/Ovechkin related, just 'cause like...bias 'n stuff.

The Penguins Report on Pittsburgh's official website has some good tidbits about tomorrow's tilt between the Pens and the Caps. Here's what Ovechkin said when asked if he "hates Crosby":

I respect him as a player and as a person. When we step on the ice I only respect my teammates, only the red jersey or white, whether we play away or at home. Off the ice I can shake hands. I can say hi like normal people. I think on the ice you don’t have friends. If you have friends on the ice it’s bad for you. You may say I’m not going to hit this guy or stop him on a breakaway or something like that. I respect him as a player. He is one of the best players in the league. He will become more of an unbelievable player. For right now, on the ice he is my rival. That’s the same with everybody.

Darn. I was hoping for an answer that went something like, "I hate him a lot".

Also, Pens coach Dan Bylsma on the Crosby vs. Ovechkin rivalry:

Is there a rivalry? It’s based on the fact that they are two very, very good players, that they’re dynamic, that they’re some of the best in the league. It’s fueled a lot by the media. I don’t think there is a personal feud between the two...it adds a lot to the attention of the game. Those two guys are out there as a part of a team. There is a rivalry amongst the team. That’s a team that we’ve battled with and beat last year. There is a dynamic because they are a very good team as are we. Most of it’s media attention. When they snarl at each other or look at each other you guys want to make something of it. It’s based on how good they are as players, how competitive they are and that these are two good teams that seem to be butting heads at pivotal times in the season.

For the most part I think Bylsma is right: there's not as much hatred between the two players as there is between two highly competitive teams. However, let's not forget this bit of pushing and shoving that often plays on television whenever this well-worn discussion crops up. Both Crosby and Ovechkin are some of the hardest working players in the league, and they use their bodies in aggressive, sometimes confrontational ways - thus whenever these two clash, as has been shown in the past, a spark has erupted that feels a bit more like a heated rivalry between individuals, and less like a competition fabricated by the media, as Bylsma suggested. Eagerly anticipating tomorrow.

In other news, John Shorthouse just called a scramble near the Oilers blue line a "malfunction at the junction," which makes me very happy.