{"id":139308,"date":"2025-08-12T09:25:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T09:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/139308\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T09:25:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T09:25:09","slug":"alex-ovechkin-on-what-moments-of-his-career-he-would-like-to-relive-when-dad-was-alive-the-world-championship-and-the-stanley-cup-were-won","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/139308\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Ovechkin on what moments of his career he would like to relive: \u2018When dad was alive, the World Championship and the Stanley Cup were won\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alex Ovechkin<\/strong> has had many signature moments throughout his storied career, from being drafted first overall in the 2004 NHL Draft to breaking Wayne Gretzky\u2019s all-time goals record two decades later.<\/p>\n

However, there are a few memories that stand out to Ovechkin, and neither of those moments tops his list. In a recent interview at the Ovi Cup in Moscow, Russia, Match TV\u2019s Stepan Karpushin asked Ovechkin<\/a> which moments of his career he would most like to relive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe moment when dad was alive, the World Championship and the Stanley Cup were won,\u201d Ovechkin said<\/a>, as translated by Google Translate. \u201cHandshakes and hugs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ovechkin\u2019s father, Mikhail Ovechkin, passed away in February of 2023<\/a>. Mikhail, a former professional soccer player and\u00a0later a taxi driver<\/a>, had a huge impact on his son\u2019s hockey career, continuing to support him as he rose through the ranks.<\/p>\n

The Ovechkin patriarch was a constant presence at Capital One Arena to watch his son\u2019s games before moving back to Russia when his health began to fail. Even after the move, he and his wife Tatyana stayed up well into the morning<\/a> to watch their son pass Gordie Howe for second on the NHL\u2019s all-time goals list in December of 2022.<\/p>\n

Mikhail was able to see his son win three World Championships (2008, 2012, and 2014), as well as the 2018 Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n

He got to see the Cup in person later that summer when his son brought the trophy back home to Moscow. While visiting his hometown rink at the Dynamo Hockey School in Novogorsk, Alex handed the Cup to Mikhail for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watched the game alone at the house,\u201d Mikhail Ovechkin said of the Cup win then<\/a>. \u201cThere was such joy, I cried from happiness. I cried. There was no way I could sleep all night after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c[My son] called me and said, \u2018Dad, I love you,\u2019\u201d he continued. \u201cThis is such a happy time, not just for me and my family, but for all of Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ovechkin will be back on the ice next season, looking to secure a second Cup for the Capitals. The 2025-26 campaign is the final year of his contract with the club, and he has not yet decided<\/a> whether it will be his last in the NHL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alex Ovechkin has had many signature moments throughout his storied career, from being drafted first overall in the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":139309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-139308","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115015078825602963","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}