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I think Ovechkin is everything the NHL needs.

When you think of hockey, when you think of Canada, you think of Wayne Gretzky.

When you think of Canada, you think of hockey and you think of Wayne Gretzky.

In the '80s, when Gretzky came to the World Championships in the second or third game, you'd see this guy skating circles around the other ones. Unbelievable.

Canada is hockey.

I'm a 'frotteur,' someone who likes to rub words in his hand, to turn them around and feel them, to wonder if that really is the best word possible. Does that word in this sentence have any electric potential? Does it do anything? Too much electricity will make your reader's hair frizzy. There's a question of pacing.

Plush velvet conjures up kings and opulence.

Hockey seems completely lawless and, therefore, inexplicably sexy.

You see a hockey player, you'd never know he's a professional athlete. But you put the skates on him, and he becomes a beast.