ARLINGTON, Va. — When Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals held their pre-practice meeting at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Friday, they could hear the sound of excitement building from the rink through their locker room doors.
Packed into the bleachers were more than 800 fourth- and fifth-graders from Arlington Public Schools, chanting “Let’s go Caps!” and ‘Ovi! Ovi!”
“I knew it was going to be loud, but not that loud,” the Washington captain said. “I think that’s probably the loudest practice since we made the (2018) Stanley Cup Final. It was fun.”
The students, from five elementary schools, were there as part of the celebration of Ovechkin becoming the third NHL player to reach 800 NHL goals, against the Chicago Blackhawks on Dec. 13, and passing Gordie Howe for second in League history when he scored his 802nd goal against the Winnipeg Jets on Dec. 23. Ovechkin will also make a donation to the American Special Hockey Association to pay for the ice time of 100 special hockey teams across the United States and plans to grant multiple wishes throughout the remainder of the season.
In addition, the Capitals will temporarily install “Ovi’s Office” logos in the left wing’s familiar shooting spot in the left circle at local rinks and Ovechkin will make surprise visits to select rinks later this season.
“I think the organization and all this 800 [celebration], it’s come out great,” said Ovechkin, who is up to 809 goals, including 29 this season, heading into Washington’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers at Capital One Arena on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSWA, NBCSP, ESPN+, SN NOW) “The kids, people get involved. They get to start to love hockey more and you never know. Maybe one of the kids is going to be excited to play hockey, and we’ll see.”
Ovechkin has been active in the community throughout his 18 seasons with the Capitals, particularly with events involving children. Erin Healy, the principal at Discovery Elementary School, met Ovechkin in 2008 when Ovechkin, former Capitals defenseman Mike Green and former Capitals assistant Dean Evason (now coach of the Minnesota Wild) held a floor hockey clinic at Williamsburg Middle School in Arlington, where she was assistant principal at the time.
“Last time, he was standing right next to me having a conversation,” Healy said. “… It was very exciting. But this was actually more fun because I’ve been with some of these fourth-grade students for six years and to be able to share it with them, we had two weeks building up to this looking forward to it, it was super exciting.”
As preparation for Friday, students participated in Ovechkin- and 802-related educational content that included having groups read 802 pages from a book, creating and solving 802 math equations and using the letters from “Alexander Ovechkin” and “Washington Capitals” to spell 802 words. .
Lukas Grohs, a fifth-grader from Discovery Elementary, admitted his group “didn’t quite finish” the 802 math equations.
“We were really close, though,” he said. “We were kind of in groups and each person did 200, if we had four people.”
This was the first school field trip for these students since before the coronavirus pandemic began in March 2020, so that contributed to the excitement. But Dillon Parekh, another fifth-grader from Discovery Elementary, said it was easily the best field trip he has been on.
“The most exciting,” he said. “We haven’t had one in three years, so it’s really exciting.”
Lukas and Dillon were among the students who made signs to commemorate Ovechkin’s milestones and brought them along. Following a spirited 45-minute practice, Ovechkin took group photos with each of the classes.
Video: Local kids commemorate Ovechkin’s achievements
“He’s so tall,” Lukas said of Ovechkin, who stands 6-foot-3.
Healy, a Capitals fan who admitted to being starstruck, said she admired how easily Ovechkin interacted with the children.
“And I remember that from back in 2008,” Healy said. “He tried so hard to try to answer all those tricky questions that students came up with. It was really nice. He gave a lot of time to them.”
Ovechkin said it was enjoyable for him to spend time with the children as well. He didn’t recall having any school field trips like this when he was their age.
“When I was 12, I was in practice,” he said. “For the community, especially for kids, for a Capitals player to reach that milestone, it’s history. They’re going to remember that forever.”
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