Washington Capitals players are a good bunch and on Sunday, Bally Sports Ohio’s Dave Maetzold shared another example.
The rink-side reporter for the Columbus Blue Jackets revealed that Capitals players helped a fellow fan and cancer survivor meet Alex Ovechkin at the team bus after missing the Caps captain the Columbus Blue Jackets preseason game. Ovechkin signed the fan’s jersey and took a photo, sending them “over the moon with excitement.”
Ovechkin, who played the night before against the Detroit Red Wings, did not dress against the Blue Jackets on Saturday, but watched from above at Nationwide Arena as a healthy scratch.
Maetzold pointed out that the interaction was private and “organic.” He added, “Just great players being human.”
Witnessed a cool moment long after #CBJ game v. #allcaps Sat night. Cancer survivor and Caps fan thought he'd missed a chance to meet Alex Ovechkin who was at NWA but didn't play. But, another Caps player took the fan out to Caps bus and OVI gladly took a pic & signed his jersey.
— Dave Maetzold (@DMaetzMedia) October 3, 2022
The fan was over the moon with excitement. What struck me was the graciousness of the player to escort the young man to the bus and Ovechkin's willingness to say hello and offer an autograph.This was organic, not a meet and greet. Just great players being human.Well done!
— Dave Maetzold (@DMaetzMedia) October 3, 2022
During the same night, the Capitals captured Nic Dowd giving his stick away to a tiny Capitals fan near the tunnel after warmups. The Washington Post’s Samantha Pell got the full story, saying that Dowd noticed the eight-year-old fan crying and told her, “There’s no crying in hockey.”
that dowder is a great guy pic.twitter.com/RhRH2bdNDU
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 1, 2022
The night before in Detroit, Evgeny Kuznetsov noticed two excited kids watching the team warmup and slid them both pucks through the photo hole before leaving the ice.
This is absolutely the type of goodwill you want to see your favorite team extend to others — especially in private moments away from TV cameras.
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