The current vacation turned out to be one of the brightest and most memorable for Alexander Ovechkin.
And first of all, this concerns the part of it that he spent in Russia.
In just a week, several bright events took place in the life of a hockey player.
What is worth at least a debut goal in the football "Dynamo" in a friendly match with "Amkal".
The athlete celebrated the milestone event in the company of Yegor Creed, who on the same day celebrated his 26th birthday at the VTB Arena.
The singer was very happy to see the attacker and even addressed him with a speech.
“You know, I had an idol as a child - Justin Bieber.
Once he posted a photo with Ovechkin and wrote "I'm with a legend."
Then I realized that even for Bieber, Ovechkin was a legend.
Drake's new album is out - he's reading about Ovechkin there.
We in Russia have such a fucking legend that we are proud of.
And he is also my friend.
Brother, thank you so much for being you,” Creed said.
A couple of days later, Alexander went to Krasnoyarsk to another close friend - Alexander Semin.
The former striker of the Russian national team held his farewell match in his hometown.
The organizers kept the names of its participants a secret to the last, but the fans still found out that the Washington Capitals forward would also take to the ice.
In addition to him, such stars as Danis Zaripov, Pavel Datsyuk, Viktor Kozlov, Anton Khudobin, Dmitry Orlov, Arseniy Gritsyuk, Andrei Nikolishin, Maxim Afinogenov, Andrei Markov, Anton Burdasov arrived.
It is not surprising that the confrontation caused a huge stir, and the stadium was packed to capacity.
Not only the audience, but also some hockey players looked at the main star with delight.
So, young Gritsyuk, who got on the same team with him, admitted that he was shy.
“You flew to Turkey, dad said that Semin invited you to the match.
I replied that I did not believe.
Saw a message from him.
Of course, this is hard to refuse.
I didn't know Ovechkin.
Haven't talked to him yet.
Of course, I'm shy.
I just look at him and drool,” admitted the athlete.
All the time of Alexander the Great in Krasnoyarsk was strictly scheduled.
So, before the game, he, along with Semin, Datsyuk and Orlov, went to the city park to lay the apple-tree "Alley of Champions".
And then they finally hit the ice.
The hero of the evening played on the same line with Alexander.
It was they who built the debut goal.
The first gave a lacrosse pass, and the second threw it in touch.
As a result, Semin's team defeated Datsyuk's team with a score of 10:9.
The forward of "Washington" turned out to be one of the most productive here too, scoring a hat-trick.
After the final whistle, he spared no kind words to his old friend.
“Semin has great hands, a throw, great skating, so I think he had a very good career.
An open person with a wonderful sense of humor, there would be more such people.
He managed to combine talent and training.
He developed talent and achieved great success.
Krasnoyarsk is his hometown.
Many athletes have grown up here, but you don’t often see someone like Alexander Semin, ”Match TV quoted Ovechkin as saying.
He also expressed the hope that thanks to the experience of the former partner, a KHL team will appear in Krasnoyarsk.
On July 30, when the forward saw off Semin from big hockey, his father Mikhail celebrated his birthday.
Ovechkin later congratulated him warmly.
“Just saying hi to dad if he’s watching.
I love you very much, my whole family loves you very much, well done!
Health, love and all the best,” said Alexander.
In Krasnoyarsk, he did not linger, because on Saturday, together with his wife Anastasia Shubskaya, he was going to attend a big concert of the Hands Up!
at Luzhniki.
There, the athlete did not hide his emotions, going on stage and performing the chorus of the song “My Baby” with the audience.
The attacker took the microphone from the soloist Sergei Zhukov and personally sang one chorus, bringing a crowd of thousands.
After that, he confessed his love for his wife and went down to her.
“I think every one of my generation knows all the songs by heart.
Therefore, it was very cool and sincere.
I got high!
There were a lot of positive people.
I really enjoyed the fact that I was present at the concert of a star and a friend, ”the striker shared his impressions.
The busy vacation of the athlete will soon come to an end.
According to the striker, he will resume classes in just a few days.
But now he lives with the expectations of the next NHL season.
“I have four more years on my contract, I would like to win the Stanley Cup.
I hope we will be combat ready next year.
Of course, I have personal goals, but the main thing is that the team wins, ”the Championship quotes Ovechkin.
In the US, they are also waiting for Alexander the Great to return to the ice and start scoring again.
For example, ESPN journalists Kristen Shilton and Greg Vyshinsky, analyzing in detail the composition of the league's teams, in the section about "Washington" separately dwelled on the Russian.
“Ovechkin continues to be Ovechkin, which means the Capitals are still in contention for the playoffs.
He has 22 more goals left to pass Gordie Howe for the second most goals of all time, and only 115 to surpass Wayne Gretzky's seemingly unattainable record of 894 goals, ”the text says.
And in another material on the publication's website, on the contrary, it is noted that the Capitals, in light of the injuries of Niklas Beckström and Tom Wilson, need to be strengthened in the attack line.
According to the author, Ovechkin will not always remain an elite forward and will not be able to constantly drag the team alone, and therefore the management should look for newcomers in the free agent market or through exchanges.
According to Ovechkin's partner in Washington, Dmitry Orlov, everyone in the team dreams that the veteran would ever rewrite the aforementioned achievement of Gretzky and are doing everything possible for this.
“It happens more intuitively.
When you're in the game, adrenaline is pumping and you're focused.
If there is an opportunity, and Sasha is open, even without Gretzky's record, everyone will make a transfer to him.
The guys understand: after his throw, the puck goes into the goal more often than not.
Yes, now everyone is thinking about the record, calculating the numbers.
And we, as partners, want him to succeed.
And the whole Washington system wants this, because he did a lot for the franchise and became the most popular hockey player in the city, ”said the defender in an interview with Match TV.
But not all American journalists treat Alexander the Great with warmth.
So, Keith Olbermann, in response to the arrest in Russia of the well-known local basketball player Brittney Greiner, called for Ovechkin to be detained in the United States.
Perhaps, the two-time Olympic champion Alexander Kozhevnikov reacted most succinctly to his post, calling the correspondent an idiot.