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‘The Last Of Us’ actor and Bowie youth hockey player, Keivonn Woodard, attends Caps practice and meets his idol Alex Ovechkin

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Keivonn Woodard is an incredible young man from Bowie, Maryland, that recently starred in one of 2023’s biggest television shows, The Last Of Us on HBO.

He also happens to be a youth hockey player for Bowie Hockey Club and is a gigantic Caps and Alex Ovechkin fan. Keivonn was in attendance at practice on Friday and got to meet The Great Eight.

Keivonn is part of a sixth-generation deaf family. He communicates through American Sign Language (ASL) in his daily life which translated fantastically into his portrayal of the character Sam on the show.

“Sam is deaf and I am deaf,” Keivonn told HBO in a behind-the-scenes video. “We both sign. And seeing how deaf people are and how they navigate the world, and that they can, I think is important.”

When he isn’t running away from infected mushroom people with Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, he is on the ice wearing his skates with yellow laces due to his idol, Alex Ovechkin. Keivonn met up with Ovi in the Caps locker room at MedStar Capitals Iceplex.

“Oh, you’re Ovi!,” he excitedly signed before giving his hero a big hug.

Ovechkin handed him a signed stick and Keivonn taught him some ASL in return.

The 10-year-old blossoming Hollywood star also got to get in some time out on the ice to take some shots on Caps backup netminder Charlie Lindgren.

Keivonn told NHL.com’s William Douglas, who writes the incredible The Color of Hockey blog, that he first became interested in hockey after he had a birthday skating party at the Bowie Ice Arena and noticed other kids playing the sport.

Keivonn stars for Bowie’s 10U Team where they have given him the nickname “Hollywood” due to how he loves to celebrate goals and because of his newfound acting skills.

“I like to celebrate and I’m flashy,” Keivonn said.

“He’s my top goal-scorer and he’s definitely one of the top three players on the team without a doubt,” Keivonn’s coach Chris Pozerski added. “He’s a very intelligent player, he is very attentive, he has to be because he’s using his eyes to observe.”

At first hockey was a little difficult for Keivonn due to the language barrier and having to get used to a whole new set of sports lingo. Due to that, Bowie added an American Sign Language interpreter through funding via the Capitals’ and MSE Foundation’s Capital Impact Fund, and Keivonn has taken off.

The fund also helped pay for a special lighting system that gets set up at rinks to alert Keivonn to play stoppages and when to hop over the boards for a line change.

“Before, we were having the players tap him on the shoulders or the refs, not grab him, but stop him from continuing on the play,” Pozerski said. “I think it’s built confidence in him because he knows he can play to the whistle now. He’s not worried about playing and going too far and a chance of getting himself a penalty.”

As for what is next for Keivonn, he is starring in a science fiction short titled “Fractal” which is now in post-production. But, he tells Douglas that he still has his heart set on becoming a professional hockey player.

Go for it, Keivonn!

Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB

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