Ovechkin will play hockey in a tournament named after him. But they won’t give him a club

Capitals captain Alexander Ovechkin has a busy off-season – first he took part in a charity match on ice, now he is going to play hockey at the Moscow online tournament.

Is Ovi going to take the prize?

Was a hockey player, became a cyber hockey player

Two days later, Moscow will host an NHL 22 tournament called the Ovi Cyber ​​Cup. The prize fund, according to the organizers, is the largest in Russia – 1 million rubles. Participants will be divided into three divisions – Pro, Semi-pro and Amateur. A large share of the prize money will be played by pros and semi-pros, but amateurs, who must qualify to participate, will fight for 200,000.

Ovechkin’s name in the title of the tournament is not accidental. It was organized by the Moscow Computer Sports Federation and the Ovechkin Hockey Academy. So the star forward will be the headliner of the tournament. But in which division he will play himself, it is not yet clear.

Does Ovechkin even like esports?

On hockey ice, he has no rivals. But what about esports? Like many hockey players, Ovi loves to play the console. According to him, this is the best way to pass the time during away matches, when watching movies or just lounging in a hotel room gets boring.

A few years ago, when Vancouver officially banned young hockey players from playing online games on the road, the Russian striker was asked what he thought about it:

“If I was banned from playing video games on the road or at home, I would not listen,” he said. “Sometimes there is simply nothing else to do. It’s everyone’s choice, isn’t it? When we have an away match, I go through one or two games and that’s it. I’m not old enough to play all night.

Photo: © RIA Novosti / Grigory Sysoev

Many fans know about his love for eSports. For example, he celebrated joining the 600 Club in 2018 by playing Fortnite with his friend. It seems that Ovechkin was more pleased with his results than with the celebration, which took place in a solemn atmosphere the day before.

Is he good at hockey too?

Not much is known about Ovechkin’s success in the NHL. He, of course, plays it, monitors his rating and even comments on his fall on social networks, as was the case after the release of NHL 20, where he received a rating of 92.

“I will accept it, but I will become better,” our forward wrote after the release of the game.

And he kept his word! In NHL 21, he improved his rating by one point, but most importantly, he graced the cover of the game.

And in 2020, Ovi hacked to death in NHL 20 with Canadian hockey legend Wayne Gretzky in an online charity match broadcast on Twitch. The match was epic: Ovi was the captain of the then-capitals, and Gretzky led the Edmonton legends team. Although many expected the younger Ovi to crush the veteran, Gretzky took the lead in the first period and held it until the 59th minute of the meeting. With the score 3:4, Ovi managed to level the score 2 seconds before the siren. How happy he was!

But the final success was for Gretzky, who decided the matter in overtime, and in general for the match transferred the Ovi team twice. After the victory, the 59-year-old forward admitted that he does not play much in the NHL, mostly with his sons.

Cybersport is also a sport

If Ovechkin took the defeat to heart, then over the past two years he should have trained very well. Then at the tournament in Moscow he will have a chance not only to be a star guest, but also to compete for a prize.

Although the money forward, of course, is not interested. The main thing is the promotion of eSports to the masses with the most important message, which is still not fully understood by everyone:

— It is important for us to emphasize both the fact that esports is a real sport and the direct connection between the esports skills of a person with good physical shape and training, — said one of the organizers.

If the name of Ovechkin allows as many people as possible to understand this, the result of a hockey player in the tournament will be absolutely unimportant.