Alex Ovechkin may not be a general manager, but he did some wheeling and dealing at Monday’s Washington Capitals practice.
The NHL’s all-time leader in goals acquired a bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos from a tiny Caps fan, sending back in return a practice puck after noticing her sign along the glass. The sign read, Ovi will trade Hot Cheetos for a puck!
“Thank you,” a smiling Ovechkin said after walking through the curtain and completing the deal.
Ovechkin is notorious for his love of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, which he eats with his Subway sandwich order during every road trip.
The girl who put red marker and glitter glue to poster paper is named Cambree, a self-proclaimed Ovechkin superfan. The 10-year-old attended practice with her family, who had traveled up from North Carolina ahead of Tuesday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers with school out for spring break.
“We had tickets to go to the game on Tuesday and this coming up Saturday, but have never been to a practice, so we decided to go to Monday’s skate,” Cambree’s mom, Mallory, explained in an interview with RMNB. “We have seen posts on social media where Ovi said he loved Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, so we went and bought some and made a sign. Cambree pressed the sign against the glass, basically the entire first half of their practice.”
Seeing Ovechkin actually walk over to them through the curtain, admittedly, stunned the entire family.
“We were all star-struck and didn’t think of trying to talk more to him or anything,” Mallory explained. “It all happened so fast and was very unexpected, as we had heard he didn’t interact with fans much anymore.”
The best part was Cambree’s reaction.
“She ended up crying her eyes out after and saying it was the best day of her life,” Mallory said.
Somewhat incredibly, the puck from Ovechkin wasn’t the only souvenir Cambree got at the skate.
“Later she got a puck from Tom Wilson as we were sitting behind his wife and son and drew enough attention for him to throw her one,” Mallory said.
There was more.
“At the end of the practice, Charlie Lindgren and Ryan Leonard skated over and signed and took some pictures,” Mallory said. “We then waited outside by the parking lot with some other fans for about an hour to try to meet more players.
“Lindgren, Martin Fehevary, and Hendrix Lapierre all came out and took pictures and signed our jerseys,” she continued. “We then went to the game on Tuesday night against the Flyers & Ovi hit a puck off the ice, and my boyfriend Nik ended up catching it! The guy sitting next to us was a season ticket holder and said he had never had a puck come over in that area in over 10 years. It’s been an amazing experience.”
The family’s experience is a good reminder that while wins and losses matter, these are the types of moments that endure and make hockey fans for life. Well done, my favorite team.
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