It's impossible to blame people for not noticing. I mean, hockey wasn't exactly the hot sport this weekend. But while everyone watched Peyton Manning go from the possible G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time) to simply the goat, the best game of the day had already been over for about five or six hours.

That's not to say the Super Bowl wasn't exciting. It was great to see New Orleans take the title, and the outcome of the game was really in doubt all evening until Manning's TD pass — to Terry Porter of the Saints.

Overall, though, it's hard to really get that into a Super Bowl without a rooting interest. And I certainly didn't have one.

So, for me, the Big Game (or at least most interesting game) on Sunday started at 10 a.m. (MST) between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals.

Sure, it's hard to ever argue that a regular-season game is more entertaining than a title tilt, but in this case, it actually was.

The reason? The game featured the best player-against-player rivalry in all of sports: Sidney Crosby versus Alex Ovechkin.

If you think what I'm writing is crazy, that's OK — it simply means that you're one of the millions of people who watch hockey about as often as you watch “Sports Jobs with Junior Seau.” (And, yes, that is a real show.)

That's the only problem with this rivalry (and hockey, in general) is that no one ever seems to see it. I really can't blame anyone, as the NHL is aired on a network (Versus) that's synonymous with pro rodeos and the World Championships of Mutton Bustin'.

If anyone was to watch one hockey game a year, though, Sunday's game would have been the one to showcase everything that's great about the NHL today.

And it all starts with Crosby and Ovechkin.

These are two players that — similar to the NBA's Magic Johnson and Larry Bird a few decades ago — will always be linked together. They both entered the league five years ago as teenagers, with Ovechkin edging Crosby for the Rookie of the Year Award. Since then, they've each won scoring titles and MVP awards, and Crosby won the Stanley Cup last year.

But, while they're both, without a doubt, the sport's two best players, they couldn't be more different from each other.

Crosby, the slick-skating 22-year-old Canadian, is the epitome of a smart hockey player and simply elects to let his play do all his talking. Ovechkin, on the other hand, is as loud as a hockey player gets in both interviews and in his all-out, almost reckless style of play.

The clash of personalities and styles is evident every time they play, which is so often that the two have a genuine animosity for each other. Unlike any other rivalry today (Kobe-LeBron, Manning-Brady, etc.) Crosby and Ovechkin truly dislike each other, and that's what makes the rivalry so great.

And, in every meeting, that hatred brings out the best in each of them.

Sunday, Crosby scored two goals to stake the Penguins to an early 4-1 lead, only to have Ovechkin net a hat trick and add an assist to help Washington pull off a thrilling 5-4 overtime win. The game was fast, hard and incredibly gritty for the regular season, and it'll likely stand as a preview for the Eastern Conference Finals come playoff time.

It was also a sign of things to come for the NHL, because like Magic and Bird did for the NBA in the 1980s, the Crosby-Ovechkin rivalry is what will take the NHL to the top tier of professional sports.

Who knows, in 10 years from now, it might not be that strange for people to have watched hockey over the Super Bowl. Or at least, it won't seem as crazy to write about it.

Bryce Evans can be reached at (970) 668-4634 or at bevans@summitdaily.com.