Alex Ovechkin loves his hockey equipment both on and off the ice. The NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer can often be seen beckoning to members of the Washington Capitals training and equipment staff multiple times during games, and oftentimes they will come back with a new pair of gloves.
The constant changing of gloves is an interesting quirk that Ovechkin has employed en route to scoring 929 goals, and in a recent FONBET interview with former NHL forward Nikita Filatov and former soccer star Andrey Arshavin, he explained why he goes through the process every game.
“[It’s] a very important element, at least for me,” Ovechkin said, as translated via Google Translate. “I absolutely love new gloves. If they gave me new gloves every game, I would play only in new gloves. I have about three or four pairs per game. The first pair gets all worn out, so I can say after a shift, ‘That’s it. We’re done with them. Let’s start a new one.’
“Most of the time, I always have new, dry gloves, because I like it when the stick is in my hands, held right for shooting and passing. And when it’s wet, even when you have grip on the stick, it still slips for me. I don’t know why. And some people, on the contrary, like them very wet. Some even cut out the whole palms and make holes on purpose. I don’t understand that.”
Ovechkin has always been very meticulous about his gear, especially his gloves and sticks. He can often be seen asking for a new stick and new gloves ahead of a Capitals power play, where he knows he’ll be seeing a lot of the puck in his left faceoff circle office.
The Great 8 also cuts and tapes each of his sticks before the Capitals take the ice for a game. Head equipment manager Brock Myles revealed last season that when the team is on the road, Ovechkin even travels with a pre-cut stick to ensure every stick he cuts is the same length.
Ovechkin has kept Washington’s equipment even busier in recent seasons, as he has been collecting his own memorabilia to eventually set up in a museum he plans to open in Moscow.
Since scoring his 800th career goal, Ovechkin has had his Capitals teammates who assisted on goals sign the back of his game-worn jerseys. He has also collected the sticks, pucks, jerseys, and even socks from those goals.
