Alex Ovechkin spoke to major news outlets media just days after breaking Wayne Gretzky’s goals record. The Capitals captain scored the 895th goal of his career against the New York Islanders on Sunday afternoon.
While Ovechkin turned down an appearance on The Tonight Show earlier this week, he did a few other national media spots via video call on Wednesday morning.
The 39-year-old winger spoke with both Fox & Friends and Good Morning America’s Michael Strahan and Rebecca Jarvis.
With GMA, Ovechkin opened up about what breaking the record means to him, how having Gretzky at the same felt, and why he decided to partner with the V Foundation to raise money for pediatric cancer research.
Transcript
The questions have been edited for brevity and understanding.
Michael Strahan: How does it feel to you to now have broken such an incredible record? And on top of that, what was going through your mind when you did it?
Alex Ovechkin: Well, thank you very much for having me. Yeah, it was a tremendous moment for hockey, for myself, for the Capitals organization, for all fans, obviously, for my family. And, yeah, no one thought this was going to be broken, but it’s just a tremendous moment for hockey, for myself. So, thank you very much.
Rebecca Jarvis: And Gretzky was there to experience it, and there he congratulated you. What did it mean to break his record?
Alex Ovechkin: You know, he’s a great one. He’s tremendous. He was the best player in hockey history. And, to have support from him, it’s tremendous. It’s such a big honor for me to know him, to have a dinner with him, and obviously to break his record. And he was there. His family was there. And, yeah, it’s biggest moments in my life, obviously. You know, I still can’t believe it’s happening. But, yeah, it’s a tremendous feeling.
Michael Strahan: Last month, GMA, we introduced the launch of your partnership with the V Foundation. For every goal scored, money was donated to help support life-saving children’s cancer research, which is an amazing thing, and thank you for doing that. Why is this work so important to you, Alex?
Alex Ovechkin: Yeah, you know, for all this attention, for all this sound of breaking that record, we decided to join V Foundation and raise as much money as we can to help kids and to help them to bring a smile on their face, energy, and hope we’re going to do it more and more.
Rebecca Jarvis: I got to ask, as a Minnesota girl, where everybody I grew up around was playing ice hockey as a kid, looks up to you, what would you tell that young hockey player right now?
Alex Ovechkin: Just keep going, working hard, and listen to your family, parents, coaches. And if you have a dream, go for it because you never know what’s going to happen.
