Being a superstar is not easy – journalists follow your every step, and you cannot go unnoticed in public places.

To secure your belongings, you have to think outside the box. Like, for example, Alexander Ovechkin.

Pretend to be noname

Twice over the past summer, footage from the dressing rooms of two matches flashed on social networks: the farewell match played by Alexander Semin and the charity match played by Artemy Panarin. Both times the camera focused on the place of Alexander Ovechkin, who took part in them. The most attentive fans paid special attention to the standard training bag with the emblem of the NHL and Washington in the traditional red colors of the Caps. The same as Orlov’s in the photo:

Dmitry Orlov / Photo: © Personal archive of Dmitry Orlov

Since the number on it was unusual – not Ovi’s legendary “eight”, but 69.

“This is probably some kind of confusion,” every hockey fan would think if he did not know the background of the case. It turns out that once in the early era of NHL play, Ovechkin lost his equipment at the airport. An enterprising and not very honest passenger, who was waiting for luggage after boarding, spotted a bag with the number “8” and decided to pocket it. Her further fate is unknown: perhaps the person kept the equipment as a keepsake, or sold it to Washington fans.

In general, Ovechkin didn’t like it very much, and he decided to change the number on the training luggage so that it would not catch the eye of others. The choice of number was probably random: How many NHL players do you know who played with 69 on their backs? In fact, there were only two of them, and none was known to the general public.

They even stole Ovechkin himself

Ovi’s idea is brilliant: over the years, no one has encroached on the bag with the number 69, because they did not suspect that it contained the things of the Washington legend. However, now that the media has drawn the attention of fans to how Ovechkin has been hiding from potential thieves all these years, the Russian will apparently have to come up with a new number for his luggage with equipment.

If you think the Caps captain has been blown away by popularity and is doing bullshit, here’s another example of how Ovie is idolized in the US. Four years ago, before the Winter Classics match between Washington and Toronto in Maryland, someone stole a meter-long Ovechkin dummy set in front of the arena. When the media published a photo of the alleged thief, the figure was returned.

Photo: © Jeff Chevrier / Icon Sportswire / Global Look Press

Put on another NHL team jersey

Ovechkin has another funny story, not related to theft, but also related to equipment. His former Capitals partner Mike Knuble recalled that Ovi once impressed the entire team when he showed up in the locker room in … a t-shirt with the Carolina emblem. At first glance, it was clear that he had received it before the draft as a souvenir from the Hurricanes. Then, in 2004, every club dreamed of getting a Russian striker. Surely the clubs then filled up Ovechkin with equipment with their logos.

Alexander Ovechkin / Photo: © Sporting News Archive / Contributor / Sporting News / Gettyimages.ru

But it was 5-6 years after the draft! By that time, he had already played for Washington for a long time. Obviously, the T-shirt was lying around in the forward’s closet, and everyone else was in the wash.

“This guy made 9.5 million a season and still kept that shirt,” Knuble wondered. Needless to say, after that incident, he never wore it again?