Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals is hailed by many as the greatest hockey player in the game today. He can skate, shoot, pass and check with the best of them. This year, for his birthday, he’d like to pass some of that knowledge along to your son or daughter.
The Crazy Eights Skills Session will be held on September 15 at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex atop Balston Commons Mall. Ovie will instruct almost 100 youth hockey players between the ages of 6 to 14. The on-ice festivities will take place between 5:15pm and 6:15pm. There will be an autograph session immediately following the on-ice instruction that will last approximately 30 minutes.
All of the kids participating are members of the Kettler Capitals Iceplex’s youth hockey house league’s mites, squirts and pee wee/bantam teams. The league will hold its first practice following the Crazy Eights session, which is brought to you by Pulte Homes.
For those that aren’t familiar with Ovi’s Crazy Eights, here’s a brief description from the press release:
Ovi’s Crazy Eights is a program Ovechkin established in 2006 to give back to the Washington, D.C., community. Ovechkin purchases eight tickets to every Capitals home game and donates them to Most Valuable Kids (MVK). MVK, in turn, distributes the tickets to needy children and soldiers in the Washington, D.C., area. The group sits in a special section at Verizon Center and Ovechkin regularly meets with them personally after the game.
That’s a pretty cool way to spend your birthday each year, giving back to the community. Its cool in this day-and-age, to see a phenomenal player that’s also a phenomenal person. Hockey players are so much different than most other professional athletes.