Sergei Ovechkin didn’t just skate alongside his father on Friday - he stole the show.
At the Ovi Cup match in Russia, the son of Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin ripped off a hat trick in regulation, added a shootout goal, and finished with his dad on the same line in an 8-8 tie against Ilya Kovalchuk’s team.
Sergei was serving as an alternate captain while Alex wore the captain’s “C” - called a “K” in Russia - and the younger Ovechkin kept finding the back of the net. One of his goals came after a coach’s decision tried to shuffle things around and move him to center, but Sergei held his ground and stayed on the wing.
That decision paid off quickly. He scored his first goal from that spot and went on to keep piling them up from there.
Alex Ovechkin added two goals of his own, but the night belonged to the family connection as much as the score line. Evgeni Malkin served as the head coach for Ovechkin’s team, giving the game even more star power.
“A sense of pride, a sense of joy. I get nervous because he's playing against grown men, after all. He's so fearless - always eager to get out on the ice - so I'm just happy for him," Ovechkin told sports.ru, per a DeepL translation.
The gala game is part of the annual Ovi Cup in Moscow, which includes 24 top youth hockey teams from Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, and also brings in several NHL and KHL stars.
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