Earlier in the week, reports surfaced that former Capitals star Alex Semin was officially retiring from hockey. Semin planned to have a farewell game in his hometown of Krasnoyarsk.

While at the Dynamo Moscow soccer game Saturday, Ovechkin was asked if he would attend to support his former teammate.

“Yes, I will. I will definitely be with Sam,” Ovechkin said. “And I know that Krasnoyarsk is a hockey region. Once Sasha and I went to the forest, a remote taiga (a forest of the cold, subarctic region), a hut, next to it was a store. And we were recognized even there!”

The game will take place at the Platinum Arena. Other players invited to attend include former Caps winger Ilya Kovalchuk, Evgeni Malkin, Pavel Datsyuk, and Kirill Kaprizov, among others.

Denis Petrovsky, the Minister of Sports in Krasnoyarsk, collaborated with Semin on the idea as a “beautiful end to a playing career”.

The proceeds from the ticket sales will go to orphanages in the area as well as to the development of sled hockey in Krasnoyarsk.

Semin scored 197 goals for the Capitals – sixth-most in franchise history. His 40-goal season in 2009-10 remains the only season a Caps player has reached the 40-goal mark in the Ovechkin era besides Ovi himself. Semin also played for the Carolina Hurricanes and Montreal Canadiens before moving back to Russia to end his playing career.

Headline photo: RMNB