Wednesday’s trip to the grocery store started out like any other visit for Capitals fan Alex Mun. He had parked his car and had just gone inside a Harris Teeter.

Then it happened.

“I was walking down the aisle, and Alex Ovechkin and his family were walking towards me,” Mun said in an interview. “Immediately, I recognized them even though everyone was wearing their masks.”

How was Mun certain it was indeed the Capitals captain? Earlier in the day, Ovi was featured on Instagram playing hockey with his son Sergei inside his house. “He was still wearing the bright red Nike sweats from that video,” Mun said.

“I started walking towards him and nervously waved,” Mun said. “I said, ‘Ovi, man I freaking love you. I named my dog after you.”

Ovechkin laughed, and Mun asked if he could show him a picture of tiny Ovi.

“Sure,” Human Ovi replied, a dog owner himself.

“My wife and I named our dog after him because of not only what Ovi means to me as a lifelong DC sports fan, but the entire DMV area for what he’s done and continues to do on and off the ice,” Mun said. They also were inspired by the team’s recent Stanley Cup win in 2018. The couple went to the viewing party at Capital One Arena for Game Five.

“I used to joke that the night we won the Cup, was the fifth happiest day of my life behind when I accepted Christ, I got married, when she said yes to marry me, and when she became my girlfriend.

Ovi the dog is a cockapoo, a mix of a cocker spaniel and poodle. Here are a few photos from Ovi the Cockapoo’s Instagram page.

After the two took a legendary selfie together, Mun congratulated Ovechkin on recently scoring his 718th career goal to jump into sixth on the NHL’s all-time goals list.

“There was definitely so much more I wanted to say but I had to respect his time and let him go!”

For Mun, the chance meeting with his favorite athlete was especially powerful after feeling horror and a lack of belonging due to the Atlanta spa shootings that happened earlier in the day.

“It had really been a tough week mentally and emotionally for us with all the hate and everything going on in the country, so this was seriously such an uplifting moment,” Mun said. “I’m just so appreciative that Ovi took the time to acknowledge a fan and be who he is.”