Alex Ovechkin is not one to usually mess around with his hockey sticks, but he made a funny exception during the 2011-12 NHL season.
Ovechkin taped a toilet plunger to his stick and used it for a few drills during a Washington Capitals practice. The joke, which stemmed from something head coach Dale Hunter told him at the time, was recently explained by Ovechkin during his appearance with the Powers brothers on the Empty Netters podcast at Fanatics Fest.
Chris Powers: We had to ask. There was a day in practice where you did the entire practice with a toilet plunger taped to your stick. Please explain what was going on that day.
Alex Ovechkin: Dale Hunter was my coach. After one game, I think we lost or something like that happened, and he called me a plumber. He’s like, “Ovi, you’re plumber. Yeah, you can score goals, but you’re a plumber. You have to be a plumber.” I didn’t know, like, what does it mean? So, next day, I asked my teammates, “What is plumber?” And I said, “Okay, I’m going to be a plumber.” So I put the plunger. I tape it up with my stick and I skate maybe like two drills. I think it was a funny moment.
Dan Powers: That’s incredible. Did he think it was funny or was he kind of rolling his eyes?
Alex Ovechkin: No, it’s all about fun.
Hunter had taken over behind the bench that season in November after Bruce Boudreau was fired following a 12-9-1 start to the year. The Capitals decided to bring in their former captain to get the team playing a more ultra-defensive style that would help them win in the playoffs after multiple heartbreaking defeats playing Boudreau’s more run-and-gun system.
Under Hunter, the Capitals eliminated the defending champion Boston Bruins in 2012’s first round but eventually fell in seven games to the Rangers in the second round.
Ovechkin later admitted he felt “trapped” when playing for Hunter. The longtime head coach of the OHL’s London Knights implemented his hardcore dump-and-chase system, which ran counter to Ovechkin’s instincts as an offense-first player, and Hunter once benched the legendary winger in that series against New York.
“He is a coach purely for defensemen,” Ovechkin said in 2024. “And if, let’s say, we’re losing, he would put me, [Alexander Semin], [Nicklas] Backstrom on. We would all go out together, play, try to create something, score. But as soon as we were winning, Semin and I would sit on the bench, like this to each other, ‘Okay, let’s watch hockey.’”
The 2011-12 season saw Ovechkin skate under 20 minutes per game for the first time in his career. After Hunter chose not to return for another season, Ovechkin immediately returned to playing more than 20 minutes in each of the next four seasons.
Ovechkin has since referenced his time under Hunter to joke about how players could learn to play better defense. In 2019, he replied, “Call Dale Hunter,” when a Toronto Maple Leafs reporter asked him how Auston Matthews could become more of a two-way forward.
