When the Capitals defeated the Penguins in Game Six of the second round, to advance to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time in 20 years, they did more than just make franchise history.
They also sealed the fate of one tiny, future Caps fan.
Made an agreement with my husband that if the Caps made it past the Penguins in round two, we'd name our baby after Alex Ovechkin. I'm a woman of my word. Hopefully his birth this morning is a good omen! @russianmachine #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/mDiK99sDyF
— Grammaurai ⛸️🏒 (@mamawrench) May 23, 2018
Alexander Kelly, born May 23, 2018 at 5:13 AM — yes, on Game Seven day — was named for Capitals captain, Alex Ovechkin. The name was part of an agreement that Grammaurai made with her husband. Should the Capitals make it past the Penguins in round two, the baby would be called Alex.
“I’m a DC native but only really became a fan about eight years ago, mostly because of Ovechkin,” Grammaurai said, when we asked how long she’d been a Capitals fan for. “I used to watch the Bruins, and when I first saw Ovi play I could tell that he would totally change the game. Since then it’s been all Caps.”
As for how the agreement even came about, Grammaurai admitted that it had all been her idea.
“It was my idea to name him Alexander,” she said. “We’d had a hard time picking a name after having two other boys so I decided to leave it to fate! I think my husband went along with it so he wouldn’t have to keep dodging suggestions.”
When we asked if she’d had any doubts over making the agreement, we weren’t surprised at her answer.
“Honestly, I didn’t have any doubts,” she said. “Like everyone else has said, this year is just different. We can all feel it. Ovi is back to his hard-charging, weightless, optimistic, self-assured self. Trotz is focused. Everyone is just enjoying being the underdogs of the East. This may be their last real chance of the Ovi era and they’re clearly enjoying it. So I felt pretty good about the choice.”
Here’s hoping, like Grammaurai said, that baby Alexander’s birth is a good omen for Wednesday night’s Game Seven.
Headline photo: @mamawrench
