When an opportunity presents itself to meet your favorite athlete, fans are often confronted with a lot of different feelings.
Some people get embarrassed. Some get butterflies. But for Alex Ovechkin superfan, Steven Medeiros, he was filled with pure excitement. So much so that he fell down a bunch of stairs and injured himself as he hurried to meet The Great Eight.
The encounter happened at the Washington Capitals’ February 10 game against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. The Capitals had just won 3-0 thanks to a Charlie Lindgren shutout and an Ovechkin goal — his 12th of the season and the 834th of his historic career. Ovechkin’s tally also gave the Capitals’ captain the most empty-net goals in NHL history, passing Wayne Gretzky, as his lamp lighter came late in the third period with the Bruins’ goalie pulled.
“My father-in-law’s best friend, Chris Dupont, knows the assistant coach, Scott Allen,” Medeiros said when asked by RMNB how he ended up in this position. “Scott is awesome. He got us into the lower bowl after the game. Chris said, ‘Don’t miss Ovechkin,’ and I turned and ran to catch him before he left.”
And that’s when disaster struck.
“I flew down the stairs, tripped, and fell down at least a dozen stairs,” Medeiros said. “I got up at the bottom and another fan was like, ‘Dude, you’re leaking.’ I said ‘eef it I’m meeting Ovi, I’ll figure that out after.’ I went over to the tunnel, Ovi was there and came right over. He made a comment, about how I was bleeding, smiled, and took the picture. He was very nice.”
In the legendary selfie, Medeiros looks like an enforcer who got in an epic fight during the actual game. He sports a cut under his left eye and blood is streaking down the face like he’s Andrew freaking WK. Ovechkin flashes a huge smile, seemingly amused by the whole situation.
Medeiros didn’t have any regrets about the blood, but the adrenaline did make him forget one thing.
“In the shock, I didn’t have him sign my jersey,” Medeiros said. “But that’s okay. The picture was awesome!”
Yes, yes it is.
And it could not have happened to a bigger fan. A lot of people call Ovechkin their favorite player, but for Medeiros, Ovi literally got him into the sport and the fandom shaped his adulthood.
“When I was a kid, my stepdad and I played NHL on my PlayStation,” Medeiros said. “He is the biggest Bruins guy and always used them, and I used the Capitals because of the Ovechkin excitement at the time of his rookie year in 2005. Turns out, the guy just flat and simple got me obsessed with hockey.
“I taped my stick like him, I used yellow laces on the ice, I tried to hit hard and score goals. I was obsessed with his style. Everyone around me knew it, I did not make any secret about it. The guy made me fall in love with the game. I wore number eight, had the jersey tuck. If I could have worn a visor, I would have. The guy just made me want to be a better hockey player. He is electric.”
Medeiros started playing hockey when he was six and continued into high school. Now he plays in a men’s league.
“I always played center for the most part,” Medeiros said. “Not very Ovi like of me, but I got stuck there when I was like 12 and stayed there.”
Despite being from Fall River, Massachusetts — located about 45 mins from Boston and in the heart of Bruins territory — Medeiros “lives and breathes my Caps and Ovi.” When his dreams of being a professional hockey player ended, Medeiros decided to open up his own hockey shop in New Bedford called Whaling City Sporting Goods.
“I couldn’t stop,” he said. “I needed to be around hockey all day everyday. And it all branched from Ovi. The community knows me from my former job where I worked for eight years through high school and college. We live in a hockey rich community, so I knew we would do well in the winter.”
As for his fall after the Capitals-Bruins game, Medeiros was emphatic that it happened due to the purest of reasons.
“I was not drinking,” he said. “I was doing my best to keep it classy.”
