Community Levee Association

Ovechkin Unlikely to Be Punished for Hit
Former Teammate Heward Believes It Was Accidental
By Katie Carrera
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 3, 2009; E08
As he sat on a table near the visitor's locker room at Verizon Center after the Washington Capitals' win over Tampa Bay on Thursday night, Alex Ovechkin asked former teammate and current Lightning goaltender Olie Kolzig to tell Jamie Heward he didn't intend to hurt him when he finished his check in the third period.

Ovechkin likely won't be disciplined by the NHL for the hit in the corner that knocked Heward unconscious, but there was a definite effect on the Capitals star.

"After this [happened] I didn't want to hit any guys," Ovechkin said. "It's hard afterwards to hit sometimes. I didn't want to injure him."

Both players were pursuing the puck during the Capitals' 7-4 win when Ovechkin checked a slightly bent-over Heward into the boards, sending the defenseman's head into the plexiglass.

Heward suffered a concussion and was taken to Sibley Memorial Hospital after being face-down and motionless on the ice for more than a minute. He was released from the hospital yesterday morning, though, after testing determined there was no damage to his cervical spine, the Lightning said in a news release. There is no timetable for his return.

Lightning General Manager Brian Lawton told reporters in Tampa yesterday that he doesn't expect Ovechkin to be sanctioned by the NHL after officials told him they felt the collision was not a targeted hit to the head and that Ovechkin didn't leave his feet.

If the league does take action, it will be announced before the Capitals face the Rangers tonight at 7 at Verizon Center. Ovechkin has never been suspended by the NHL, but he has been disciplined before.

In December 2006, Ovechkin was fined $1,000 for a shoulder check that sent Daniel Brière, then of the Buffalo Sabres, flying headfirst into the boards and originally brought a five-minute penalty for boarding and a game misconduct.

There was no in-game penalty assessed after the hit on Heward, who played with Ovechkin during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons in Washington.

A high number of injuries from blows to the head early this season prompted the NHL's chief disciplinarian, Colin Campbell, to send a memo to players warning that the league "will not tolerate blows to the head that are deliberate, avoidable and illegal."

But even Heward doesn't believe that Ovechkin's hit fits that criteria.

"I didn't really ask who hit me until" yesterday, Heward told reporters once he returned to Tampa. "Once I found out it was Alex . . . he's probably one of the cleanest players in the NHL as far as being honest. He'll play hard on you, but now that I know it was him I know it wasn't intentional."

While Ovechkin was pleased to hear that Heward was well enough to return to Tampa and everyone involved seems to agree that the hit was not malicious but rather an unfortunate result of a quick-moving play, it's hard to determine how having injured a friend could ultimately affect Ovechkin's game.

"It's hard. I don't worry about it most of the time," Ovechkin said. "Sometimes hits [are] just a moment, like if you shoot the puck and it goes to ankle or wrist and maybe it's broken. You never know what's going to happen."

Capitals Note: Washington reassigned left wing Chris Bourque to the American Hockey League's Hershey Bears yesterday afternoon. The move is likely to make room for Donald Brashear, who is expected to return to the lineup after missing the past two games with a leg bruise.

Survey Finds Growing Deceit Among Teens
64 Percent Admit Cheating on Test In High School
By David Crary
Associated Press
Monday, December 1, 2008; A06
NEW YORK, Nov. 30 -- In the past year, 30 percent of U.S. high school students have stolen from a store and 64 percent have cheated on a test, according to a new, large-scale survey suggesting that Americans are apathetic about ethical standards.

Educators reacting to the findings questioned any suggestion that today's young people are less honest than previous generations, but several agreed that intensified pressures are prompting many students to cut corners.

"The competition is greater, the pressures on kids have increased dramatically," said Mel Riddle of the National Association of Secondary School Principals. "They have opportunities their predecessors didn't have [to cheat]. The temptation is greater."

The Josephson Institute, a Los Angeles-based ethics institute, surveyed 29,760 students at 100 randomly selected high schools nationwide, both public and private. All students in the selected schools were given the survey in class; their anonymity was assured.

Michael Josephson, the institute's founder and president, said he was most dismayed by the findings about theft. The survey found that 35 percent of boys and 26 percent of girls -- 30 percent overall -- acknowledged stealing from a store within the past year. One-fifth said they stole something from a friend; 23 percent said they stole something from a parent or other relative.

"What is the social cost of that -- not to mention the implication for the next generation of mortgage brokers?" Josephson remarked in an interview. "In a society drenched with cynicism, young people can look at it and say, 'Why shouldn't we? Everyone else does it.' "

Other findings from the survey:



· Cheating in school is rampant and getting worse. Sixty-four percent of students cheated on a test in the past year and 38 percent did so two or more times, up from 60 percent and 35 percent in a 2006 survey.



· Thirty-six percent said they used the Internet to plagiarize an assignment, up from 33 percent in 2004.



· Forty-two percent said they sometimes lie to save money -- 49 percent of the boys and 36 percent of the girls.

Despite such responses, 93 percent of the students said they were satisfied with their personal ethics and character, and 77 percent affirmed that "when it comes to doing what is right, I am better than most people I know."

Nijmie Dzurinko, executive director of the Philadelphia Student Union, said the findings were not at all reflective of the inner-city students she works with as an advocate for better curriculum and school funding.

"A lot of people like to blame society's problems on young people, without recognizing that young people aren't making the decisions about what's happening in society," said Dzurinko, 32. "They're very easy to scapegoat."

Peter Anderson, principal of Andover High School in Andover, Mass., said he and his colleagues had detected very little cheating on tests or Internet-based plagiarism. He has, however, noticed an uptick in students sharing homework in unauthorized ways.

"This generation is leading incredibly busy lives -- involved in athletics, clubs, so many with part-time jobs, and, for seniors, an incredibly demanding and anxiety-producing college search," he offered as an explanation.

Riddle, who for four decades was a high school teacher and principal in Northern Virginia, agreed that more pressure could lead to more cheating, yet spoke in defense of today's students.

"I would take these students over other generations," he said. "I found them to be more responsive, more rewarding to work with, more appreciative of support that adults give them.

"We have to create situations where it's easy for kids to do the right things," he added. "We need to create classrooms where learning takes on more importance than having the right answer."

On Long Island, an alliance of school superintendents and college presidents recently embarked on a campaign to draw attention to academic integrity problems and to crack down on plagiarism and cheating.

Roberta Gerold, superintendent of the Middle Country School District and a leader of the campaign, said parents and school officials need to be more diligent -- for example, emphasizing to students the distinctions between original and borrowed work.

"You can reinforce the character trait of integrity," she said. "We overload kids these days, and they look for ways to survive. . . . It's a flaw in our system that whatever we are doing as educators allows this to continue."

Josephson contended that most Americans are too apathetic about ethical shortcomings among young people and in society at large.

"Adults are not taking this very seriously," he said. "The schools are not doing even the most moderate thing. . . . They don't want to know. There's a pervasive apathy."

Josephson also addressed the argument that today's youth are no less honest than their predecessors.

"In the end, the question is not whether things are worse, but whether they are bad enough to mobilize concern and concerted action," he said.

"What we need to learn from these survey results is that our moral infrastructure is unsound and in serious need of repair. This is not a time to lament and whine but to take thoughtful, positive actions."