Sunday per Championat.ru, Washington Capitals Superstar Alex Ovechkin and recently-signed New Jersey Devil Ilya Kovalchuk held a charity hockey game at Sokolniki Arena in downtown Moscow. The reason? To raise money for the children affected by the terrible wildfires in Russia this summer. The high-scoring match ended in a 13-13 tie and raised 13,870,000 ruble or $451,900 American Dollars for the children’s fund.
Both teams were filled with past and present Russian Hockey Legends including on Team Kovlachuk: Evgeni Malkin, 2-time Stanley Cup Champion Vyacheslav Fetisov, and Dominik Hasek. Meanwhile Team Ovechkin featured Nikolai Zherdev and Vladimir Myshkin. Also, many Russian political figures participated in the game who were spread across both rosters.
Several famous Russian celebrities also showed up to support the game. The most notable of such was Leonid Yakubovich, host of the Russian Version of the “Wheel of Fortune.” Leonid is generally considered the most well-known television personality in the country. You can actually see him posing in a photo (center) with Alex’s Dad, Mikhail Ovechkin (right), below.
Three 15 minute periods were played in the charity game and both “Kapitans” fared well: Ovechkin managed to score two goals while Ilya Kovalchuk had a hat trick. At the end of the third period, Team Ovechkin “won” 9-7. However, since it is customary that charity games in Russia always end in a tie, the teams agreed to have a fourth period. The game-tying goal was eventually scored by Evgeni Malkin.
Naturally, the final score of the game was secondary to the reason for the event in the first place. Over 15,000 people have died in Russia this summer from the heat-wave and its subsequent wildfires and smog. And we here at RMNB couldn’t be more proud of Ovi for putting his celebrity to good use and bringing so many influential people together. The money raised will ultimately make a huge difference in the lives of others who have suffered through an unimaginable tragedy.
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If you’d like to read up more about the match and see some post-game quotes from the players, check out Alex Ovetjkin’s brilliant recap.
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