Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin is spending this first week of August in China, flying from Washington to Beijing.
Alex Ovechkin’s trip to China serves as a purpose as well, as the “Great 8” was selected by the National Hockey League to serve as their international ambassador for the trip. The Washington Capitals forward will take part in some youth on-ice clinics, business development meetings, a media tour and more.
Ovechkin was greeted by lots of fans at the airport and had a pretty eventful day right from the beginning. Lots of fans, especially youth, were all rocking the red at the terminal. Ovechkin’s arrival came a little bit after midnight D.C. time.
https://twitter.com/Capitals/status/1158018837842976774
The Washington Capitals twitter account tweeted some video of Ovechkin talking about how excited he is for this once in a lifetime week.
.@ovi8 is ready excited for the week in Beijing! #Gr8inChina pic.twitter.com/ei3n74SZoH
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) August 4, 2019
As well as a video of his fans giving him a Chinese welcome. Ovechkin wasted no time after his landing. He went to drop the ceremonial first puck in a Renaissance Hockey Cup contest between ORG and Kunlun Red Stars.
https://twitter.com/Capitals/status/1157956803881263104
Later on, Ovechkin received a jade carving of a bull from Mr. Zhou Yunjie of ORG Packaging.
The fun has just begun and it’s going to be neat seeing what Ovechkin will be up to throughout the week.
Ovechkin said in the press release prior to the trip:
"“It is a huge honor for me to be an ambassador for the entire Washington Capitals organization and the National Hockey League for this special trip to China. I think it is very important to spend time to help make people all over the world see how great a game hockey is. I can’t wait to spend time with all the hockey fans there and I hope to meet young kids who will be future NHL players. I can’t wait for this trip!”"
Ovechkin signed, high-fived and posed for photos with his fans and Sunday was just the first day of what will be a special week in store.
Hockey is an incredible sport that needs growth and sending the biggest face in the league overseas to expand the game globally is a step in the right direction to expand the game worldwide.
Capitals fans are lucky to be able to watch a naturally gifted goal scorer night in and night out and this upcoming season will be a big one for him. In the meantime, it’ll be fun seeing what he’s up to in China throughout the week.