Home / News / Alex Ovechkin plays street hockey, surprises Special Hockey players outside Capital One Arena

Alex Ovechkin plays street hockey, surprises Special Hockey players outside Capital One Arena

By Ian Oland

 0 Comment

September 22, 2017 3:27 pm

After making more than a dozen stops across North America, the NHL Centennial Fan Arena finally visited the nation’s capital Friday. Set up just outside the newly renamed Capital One Arena, fans can could take photos with the Stanley Cup (please do not touch the Cup if you’re wearing Caps gear), view the NHL’s traveling museum truck, and explore its interactive exhibits.

Tonight, the Caps will lace up for their first preseason game at home against the St. Louis Blues. Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin will not be in the lineup, but he did work up a sweat playing street ball with some very lucky kids.

Video

A little after 1pm, Ovechkin walked out of the Arena and surprised the special-needs played, primarily from the Nova Cool Cats, Washington Ice Dogs and Montgomery Cheetahs.

Ovi was just a bit of a ball-hog.

And yes, Ovi’s “girlfriend” Ann Schaab was in attendance.

Photo: Washington Capitals

Here are more photos and video of Ovi playing.

When Ovi and the kids were done playing, the Russian machine presented a $5,000 check to the American Special Hockey Association via NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

The kids, in turn, gave Ovi his NHL 100 portrait, for being one of the top 100 players of all time.

This was not Ovi’s first time playing pick-up on F street. Back in 2013, Ovechkin filmed a Verizon commercial with a similar setup.

Headline photo: Washington Capitals

, , , ,