Matt Irwin was a journeyman NHL defenseman at the end of his professional career, spending his final five seasons with five different teams: the Nashville Predators, Anaheim Ducks, Buffalo Sabres, Washington Capitals, and Abbotsford Canucks.
During a recent interview with Paul Haysom for CHEK Media’s MicChek, Irwin’s stint with the Capitals was highlighted, particularly his interactions with captain Alex Ovechkin. Irwin played 78 total games for the Caps under head coach Peter Laviolette from 2021 to 2023.
“Yeah, I mean, still (a) pinch-me moment,” Irwin told Haysom. “You shake Ovi’s hand and introduce yourself. He knows who I am, and you don’t expect that, especially where he was in his career in the goal chase and all that.”
While with the Capitals, Irwin saw one of the biggest moments of the now-completed goal chase firsthand as Ovechkin scored his 802nd career goal and passed Gordie Howe for second on the NHL’s all-time goals list. Irwin was in the team’s lineup for the historic December 23, 2022 game against the Winnipeg Jets, skating 17:36 of ice time in the 4-1 victory.
“I’ll never forget that moment,” Irwin said. “He’s obviously super happy and excited. But the cool thing about Ovi is when I scored a goal, which is very few, he is just as excited as when he passed Howe or passed Gretzky. He is like a little kid. It means a lot.”
In the final five seasons of his career, Irwin spent more than one year with just one team: the Capitals. He signed two separate one-year, $750k contracts with the Caps in 2021 and 2022. Irwin believes one of his unofficial off-ice duties, becoming Alex Ovechkin’s go-to postgame beer guy, had something to do with that.
“I was in charge of getting him his adult beverages on the bus, and that was one of my roles that I found to stay on the team, basically,” Irwin said. “I was always making sure that the beers were on ice. There’s times I’d be walking – I remember in Tampa Bay, I was walking down with two cases in my hand, walking down the street, sweating, made sure the big man had his beverages, his protein shakes after the game.”
Ovechkin is well known for his propensity to cap off a hard day’s work with a cold one (just like Sidney Crosby apparently). “We just like to relax,” Ovechkin said in 2024 after revealing the Capitals have a beer fridge in their coach’s room. “After hockey, you are tired, a couple of glasses of wine or beer is normal… It relieves tension.”
Two of Ovechkin’s most recent famous celebrations included beer baths after scoring his 894th and record-breaking 895th career goals. His openness about enjoying beer potentially even led a Russian state official to believe that Ovechkin could help bring beer back into the country’s stadiums after a 20-year ban imposed by President Vladimir Putin.
Irwin presumably passed his beer-related duties on to another member of the Capitals when he departed the team after the 2022-23 season. The veteran rearguard would play just one more year of pro hockey in the AHL with the Canucks before announcing his retirement on November 14, 2024.
The 37-year-old now resides in his hometown of Victoria, British Columbia, with his wife and two kids.
