Alex Ovechkin is just made different. He eats Italian pregame that would put a normal man in a food coma. It’s also been well documented that Ovi drinks soda during games.
With the Capitals-Penguins game streaming exclusively on ESPN+, reporter Emily Kaplan took time to investigate these legendary tales about Ovi and she learned new details about The Great 8’s soda habit during games.
Alex Ovechkin's drink of choice during games may surprise you🥤
📺: Penguins-Captials, ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/ZU5qSh0OfU
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 11, 2021
“Alex Ovechkin is pretty famous that he has the same pregame meal,” Kaplan reported. “It’s a heavy meal from Mamma Lucia’s. I’ve also heard a rumor that he has Coca-Cola during games. I got to the bottom of it. It’s in this water bottle. It’s not Coca-Cola. It’s actually Pepsi during games. I saw him sip it a little during the first period. In the first intermission, he actually likes Dr. Pepper.”
The news is surprising considering Ovechkin has long promoted, drank, and been sponsored by Coca-Cola.
Here’s a sampling of the Ovechkin-Coca-Cola RMNB headlines over the years.
- Alex Ovechkin got sent several pallets full of Coke products
- After the Nazem Kadri hit, Alex Ovechkin was chilling in the locker room drinking a Coke
- Nastya Ovechkina holds up Coke can reminding us Alex Ovechkin is the MVP
- Alex Ovechkin drinks three Cokes before games, Justin Timberlake once let team into locker room
10 days to Relay goes home @CocaCola So sick!!! http://t.co/BRZtQKodGK
— Alex Ovechkin (@ovi8) September 28, 2013
Former Capitals teammate Matt Niskanen once got the full experience when he grabbed the wrong water bottle during a game.
Talked to Niskanen today, asked him about playing with Ovechkin.
He told me once he came off the ice exhausted, reached for a drink on the bench, and it was full of Coca-Cola.
It was Ovi’s.
More on that coming soon on @NBCSPhilly
— Taryn Hatcher (@TarynNBCS) August 29, 2019
Ovechkin is such a Coca-Cola fanatic he has multiple Coke vending machines in his house.
He’s posted pictures drinking bottles of Cokes on his Instagram.
And to cap it off, Ovechkin’s worn Coke branded t-shirts, resembling a can of soda himself.
It’s unclear what spurred the change. To the best of my knowledge, Capital One Arena exclusively sells Pepsi products during events.
According to Quora, Dr. Pepper is not a Pepsi product, but “a brand in Keurig Dr Pepper’s Dr Pepper Snapple Group division” which includes drinks like Snapple, Green Mountain Coffee, Peets Coffee, Caribou Coffee.
Headline photo: John McArthur on Unsplash
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