SPORTS
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
East Oregonian
B3
Orpik retires after 15 NHL seasons, 2 Stanley Cup titles
By STEPHEN WHYNO
AP Hockey Writer
Brooks Orpik called it
a career Tuesday after 15
bruising NHL seasons in
which he established him-
self as a big-hitting, shut-
down defenseman and won
the Stanley Cup twice.
The 38-year-old played
1,171 regular-season and
playoff games for the Pitts-
burgh Penguins and Wash-
ington Capitals. He won
the Cup with Pittsburgh in
2009 and Washington in
2018.
“I’ve been extremely
lucky to have the best job in
the world for many years,
but my body is telling me it
is time to move on to some-
thing new,” Orpik said.
“I’m excited for more fam-
ily time and to experience a
lot of the things that being
a professional athlete forces
you to miss out on.”
Orpik was more known
for his physicality and
defense than his offense.
He put up 194 regular-sea-
son and 26 playoff points
but also scored the Game
2-winning goal for Wash-
ington in the 2018 final on
the way to the franchise’s
first title.
“We wouldn’t have a
Stanley Cup if it wasn’t for
him,” Capitals goaltender
Braden Holtby said at the
end of this season. “The
impact he’s had on our
team is probably second to
none, the way he’s changed
the culture and pushed guys
to make them better. One
of the true leaders in our
game.”
Orpik
became
a
respected alternate cap-
tain and leader during his
five seasons in Washing-
ton. Teammates nicknamed
him “Batya” — Russian for
“Dad.”
“Batya was a great leader
in our locker room and was
so important for us to win
our first Stanley Cup,” cap-
tain Alex Ovechkin said
in a statement Wednesday.
“We will miss his presence
AP Photo/Nick Wass, File
In this Jan. 18, 2019, file photo, Washington Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik, center, poses with Dick Patrick, left, team
president, and Bill Daly, deputy NHL commissioner, after he was given a silver stick during a ceremony to honor Opik for
playing 1,000 NHL hockey games, before the team’s matchup against the New York Islanders in Washington.
in the room and on the ice.
Not only was he a great
leader and a player, but he
was a better person. I’m
so happy I had a chance to
play with him and for our
young guys to have had the
chance to learn from him.”
Orpik implied through-
out this season it could be
his last in the NHL. He had
surgery in November to
repair a torn meniscus in
his right knee.
“Trying to maintain
that level, efficiency was
tough,” Orpik said. “So I
think there were times of
the year, I was frustrated
just that I couldn’t do what
I wanted to do.”
Orpik was back to his
vintage self in the playoffs,
emptying the tank for 18
minutes a night during the
Capitals’ seven-game series
against Carolina. After
AP Photo/Nick Wass, File
In this April 13, 2019, file photo, Washington Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik (44) cele-
brates his game-winning goal in overtime of Game 2 of an NHL hockey first-round playoff
series against the Carolina Hurricanes in Washington.
the first-round exit in late
April, the San Francisco
native conceded he thought
he may have played his final
NHL game but didn’t want
to make a rash decision.
“You got to be 100%
committed to it,” Orpik
said of potentially playing
another season. “If you’re
not, then it’s unfair to your
teammates and other peo-
ple that are trying to help
you out. In terms of like
wanting to play or being
committed to play, I think
that’s something that, I
think when stuff doesn’t
go your way after the sea-
son you got to take a lot of
time off to let things settle
down.”
Orpik came to that deci-
sion and will now turn his
attention to finishing his
communications degree at
Boston College. He said
he wished he had a better
post-playing career plan in
place but will see where the
degree takes him.
He will be remembered
for being the muscle behind
two Cup champions —
Sidney Crosby’s first and
Ovechkin’s first. He often
toed the line on hits and
was suspended three games
during the 2016 playoffs for
a late, high hit that injured
Pittsburgh’s Olli Maatta.
“He’s a little bit of a dino-
saur because he hits and
there’s not a lot of hitting in
this game,” said Columbus
coach John Tortorella, who
knows Orpik well from
U.S. teams in international
play. “A lot of people think
he might hit hard. I think he
plays the game hard. I think
he plays the game the right
way.”
Orpik’s ability to play on
the edge and defend other
players made him beloved
in Washington. The Capi-
tals prepared for his depar-
ture by trading for big-hit-
ting defenseman Radko
Gudas, but teammates
know there’s no replacing
Orpik and what he meant
on and off the ice.
“He’s been a force for
all of us to gain knowl-
edge from — how to bet-
ter understand certain parts
of the game, what it takes,
the mental side of it,” Capi-
tals defenseman John Carl-
son said. “He’s just a really
aware person that can help
anybody at any part of
their career at any level
of play. He’s just been so
important to us.”
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