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‘Ok, let’s do it, we’re champions’: Alex Ovechkin on being convinced to swim in fountains after winning Stanley Cup

By Ian Oland

 3 Comments

February 26, 2019 4:49 pm

The greatest moment of Alex Ovechkin’s career happened on June 7, 2018, when the Russian machine lifted the Stanley Cup for the first time. But Ovechkin’s championship win may be best remembered for the epic celebrations that followed.

Ovechkin invented the Cup stand, slept with the Stanley Cup, and swam shirtless in the shallow waters of the Georgetown Waterfront.

The epic and ridiculous fountain celebration will forever be a part of DC hockey lore. Monday night, at The Theater at MGM National Harbor, Ovechkin discussed how the swim came about along with Tom Wilson and Lars Eller in at a private event hosted by Fanatics.

Video

The fountain celebration happened on June 9. Videos and photos documenting the event went viral within minutes.

Ovechkin credited Wilson and TJ Oshie for the idea when asked by Capitals’ senior writer, Mike Vogel, about the craziest place they took the Stanley Cup.

Mike Vogel: Where’s the craziest place you took the Cup after you won it?

Tom Wilson: I don’t think anything too crazy. Ovi’s bed for a couple nights.

Alex Ovechkin: Everybody saw the Cup at Waterfront in Georgetown. But when you have it at the house, you just want to share it with your family and your friends, you don’t want to do anything stupid and crazy, obviously, but I think it was Waterfront, probably, the craziest one.

Tom Wilson: Yeah, it’s a pretty prestigious trophy, you don’t want to be the guy that does something stupid. When you see it you want to be so careful with it. It’s a cool trophy, but I mean Ovi–we were swimming in the fountains–

Alex Ovechkin: You too! It was your idea. You and Osh!

Tom Wilson: [laughing] No–

Alex Ovechkin: Yeah, we had a couple beers. Osh and Tom came to me like, “Hey let’s go swim in the fountains.” I’m like, “What?” “Yeah let’s go.” I said, “Ok, let’s do it, we’re champions.” There were policemen and we said, “Hey, is it ok we’re going to do it?” And they were like, “You can do whatever you want, guys.” So I think it was a pretty fun moment for all of us and for you guys as well.

Lars Eller: Yeah, I think that was for sure one of the best moments afterwards, that time down in Georgetown. I remember we had a pretty good night in Vegas too, at a club.

Tom Wilson: You’re having a good time and you turn around and the Cup’s there, like, “Oh!” It’s pretty cool.

Alex Ovechkin: It’s a good thing they have security for that. So if we’re too drunk and forget about it, a guy goes there, take care of it. We always felt safe.

Mike Vogel: The Cup handlers are very protective and make sure that the honor of the trophy is not besmirched.

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