WASHINGTON, DC — As a horde of media and eager kids gathered around a cereal bar, Alex Ovechkin burst through a crowd at the Cathedral Commons Giant with a red Washington Capitals-branded shopping cart, setting off a round of applause.
“Yep,” Ovechkin said, smiling.
Playing the role of a Hockey-Breakfast-Cereal Santa, Ovechkin arrived with gifts — primarily boxes of his new bran-flake cereal, Ovi’s Great Crunch — and parlayed a promotional event celebrating his own accomplishment into memories that would last a lifetime for others.
In one of many priceless moments during the day, a child approached the NHL legend, unsure they were actually in the presence of the same player they’d seen in books and on TV.
“Are you Ovi?” the kid asked Ovechkin.
“Yeah,” the real-life Ovechkin responded.
“OH! Hi!” they replied.
Excited noises and shrieks of “Ovi!” followed as the NHL’s greatest goal scorer set up shop behind a makeshift cereal bar to serve up bowls of Ovi’s Great Crunch with fresh toppings like fruit, marshmallows, and chocolate chips. Schoolchildren affiliated with Fort Dupont Ice Arena then lined up with their parents to make their selections.
“Do you want milk?” Ovechkin asked a tiny boy named Malcolm.
“What types do you have?” he replied.
“Well, we have organic. We have oat milk. Want this one?” Ovechkin said holding up a low fat option.
Malcolm, after some urging from his mother to make a decision, went with Ovechkin’s suggestion and the Stanley Cup champion forward began pouring, handing the finished product around the side of the glass.
Once the kids had their snacks prepared and were seated, Ovechkin got a bowl himself. His toppings choice, to the surprise of no one, was “everything.”
Ovechkin chowed down on his cereal as the crowd around him made a deluge of autograph and photo requests. Despite the anxiousness and chaos, Ovechkin remained calm and signed everything that was put in front of him, sometimes even for kids who were too scared to approach.
“My daughter is too nervous to ask you to sign her jersey,” one father said.
Ovi reached over and inked the sweater in silver Sharpie.
“Thank you!” the father replied.
Once he’d emptied his bowl, Ovechkin took photos with the group of children before embarking on a new challenge. The scorer of 897 career goals (and counting) roamed the store looking to give away boxes of Ovi’s Great Crunch and Giant gift cards to random shoppers and people in attendance for the event — even this hockey blogger.
Garnering bewildered Did I just see Alex Ovechkin? looks, the Capitals captain went up and down aisles with his number 8 shopping cart, posing for selfies and chatting with guests.
Once he was all out of gifts, Ovechkin jumped behind the counter as a cashier to ring up purchases of his cereal and other items — like Bounty paper towels.
He also covered an elderly woman’s grocery bill.
“Go get more,” Ovechkin encouraged her.
“Can you throw in a ticket to a game, too?” she asked.
Ovechkin acquiesced and pointed her in the direction of workers for the Capitals.
Another gentleman that checked out had a full-circle moment from years before. He was a worker at Giant who had met Ovechkin years earlier during the “Ovi O’s” promotional event.
He held up a photo of the two together for the media.
Meanwhile, during breaks in scanning, annoying reporters (me) prompted Ovechkin to say his cereal’s slogan.
Ovechkin signed more autographs for fans once he completed his work behind the counter. There, he ran into Giant employee Steve DAvanzo who had a fun request: please sign my body.
DAvanzo, a fan since their inception in 1974, already had two Capitals tattoos: on his left bicep, Ovechkin was illustrated lifting the Stanley Cup, while on the opposite arm, DAvanzo had the Capitals championship logo inked. Ovechkin signed near both and DAvanzo promised to visit a tattoo parlor later to get it added.
Ovechkin eventually made it outside the store, where he concluded his day by playing ball hockey with kids and talking to the media.
“You know, it’s a fun time right now,” Ovechkin said. “We do a good thing and spend time with the fans. It’s one of the most important things possible.”
When asked by RMNB if he ever thought he’d have his own cereal as a kid, Ovechkin replied, “No. It’s something that you never thought was going to happen, but it’s cool.”
The cereal also earned him some brownie points back home: “Most important thing, my kids love it.”
As the event closed and promotional material was taken down, Capitals fans walked out of the grocery store still trying to absorb what had happened.
“Um, I look up to him as the greatest hockey player of all time,” 12-year-old Asher said, stopping for an interview along with his nine-year-old brother Miles.
The two had ambled over to event with a family member after attending Rosh Hashanah services at their synagogue.
“It was surprising,” Miles said.
“Um, it was awesome,” Asher said of Ovechkin’s appearance. “He was, like, nice to everybody. He was playing with the kids and was able to answer questions.”
Miles already knew what he was going to tell his friends next.
“I’ll say, when I was out of school for Rosh Hashanah, I saw Alex Ovechkin and got Ovi’s cereal.”
Ovi’s Great Crunch is available for $2.99 at all Giant locations in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, and Washington DC while supplies last. A portion of sales proceeds of Ovi’s Great Crunch benefit “THE GR8 CHASE for Victory Over Cancer” fund.
