Hockey Jerseys at HockeyHermit.com

Though known primarily as a sniper Alexander Ovechkin has also made quite a name for himself in his NHL career as a punishing hitter as well, and many times when he shows up on the highlight reel it is for a crushing bodycheck rather than a goal.

Today, in the round robin Olympic men's hockey game between the Czech Republic and Russia Jaromir Jagr found out firsthand just how much punch the Great 8 packs. Ovechkin absolutely crushed the Czech star at center ice, laying out Jagr, and causing a turnover that led to a Russian 2 on 1 and an eventual goal by linemate Evgeni Malkin.

Missed the hit? Check out the footage of the Ovechkin hit on Jagr below:

Wow, talk about the hit of the playoffs so far. The Philadelphia Pittsburgh series might not be as nasty as some of the other first round match-ups, but the temperature just got cranked up several degrees after this massive hit by the Penguins' Chris Kunitz on Philly d-man Kimmo Timonen. Scott Hartnell jumped to his teammate'd aid, dropping the mitts. Normally I think it is a bit silly when a guy has to fight just because he delivered a good, hard clean hit, but in this case it is probably warranted. Timonen is Philadelphia's Nicklas Lidstrom, and controls the game from the back end. If he gets hurt they will be all but done. Good on Hartnell for jumping in.

Check out the video of Chris Kunitz's hit on Kimmo Timonen below:

Sidney Crosby is starting to make quite the name for himself as a scrapper. Earlier this year he jumped Florida's Brett McLean at the faceoff dot to earn his first fighting major of the year, and now he has doubled his total after tangling with Florida's Keith Ballard today.

Ballard absolutely leveled Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin with a clean hipcheck that resulted in Malkin flipping end over end through the air. Crosby came rushing to his teammate's aid and dropped the mitts with Ballard, who seems to have to defend himself by fighting every time he delivers a clean check.

Check out the video of the hit on Malkin and the Crosby vs. Ballard fight below: