The Washington Capitals hosted Fatima Al Ali at Kettler Capitals Iceplex on Wednesday. According to the AP’s Stephen Whyno, Al Ali called the experience the “best thing” to ever happen to her in her life.
Al Ali took the ice with the Capitals after practice, getting to learn from and play with her favorite hockey player, Alex Ovechkin. Her brother, Mohamed, joined her on the trip to DC and watched practice with her from the bench. He later joined the media on the ice and filmed her experience with the Caps on his phone.
Several other players including Tom Wilson, Nicklas Backstrom, and Justin Williams chatted with Al Ali on the ice and offered further tips on playing the game. Before heading back to the locker room, Ovechkin gave her a game-used stick and signed it for her. Evgeny Kuznetsov spent the latter half of the post-practice-play going one-on-one with Al Ali. They passed the puck and took shots every few passes before getting into a game of juggling the puck.
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Being able to see and capture Al Ali’s moment with the Caps was amazing. She had a glow about her, and a smile that never left her face. When she was taking it all in, holding Ovechkin’s stick to her chest, you could just see how much it all meant to her.
Here are all my photos from the day.
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