Alex Ovechkin breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record brings joy to hockey and beyond sports

NEW YORK AP Alex Ovechkin could not contain his happiness moments after scoring his th goal to break Wayne Gretzky s NHL record and etch his name into the history books We did it he informed teammates in an electric visiting arena with over fans locked in on his every move It s history Yeah Ovechkin celebrated No with the same contentment he oozed after so several of his first bellyflopping onto the ice like he did into fountains in Washington when he and the Capitals won the Stanley Cup in That was the high-water mark for the franchise earning its first championship but this stuck out in a different way The Cup gets handed out once a year Ovechkin broke a record that stood for more than three decades with the chance for his reign to last even longer At a time of the season in a team-centric sport that is usually reserved only for playoff races Ovechkin s GR Chase captivated the hockey region and brought elation not only to the sport but the rest of the world eager to witness something special It s a testament to Ovi announced center Dylan Strome who along with Tom Wilson had the assists on Ovechkin s record-breaker Sunday in a - loss to the New York Islanders Everyone wants to see him succeed because he s such a happy guy It doesn t matter if he scores a goal or someone else scores a goal He s just as happy And I think that s a credit to him and his character and you could see why other people are so happy for him because of the way he treats other people The charismatic Russian superstar has made a career out of scoring like no one else and commemorating the moment even better Whether it was jumping into the glass or mimicking that his stick was on fire Ovechkin became one of the faces of the tournament for how he inevitably acted like a little kid playing a grown-up sport You just smile every time you see it coach Spencer Carbery revealed echoing Strome about Ovechkin being just as happy to see his teammates outcome It speaks to him but also who he is as a captain and as a leader of the happiness and gratification that he has to win and to see others have success and others to count goals as well No unit or goaltender required to be the one to give up No but the Islanders and netminder Ilya Sorokin specifically giving Ovechkin his stick when questioned still had full appreciation of the moment they were a part of No matter what group you were cheering for tonight everyone was a hockey fan Islanders captain Anders Lee announced Everyone on our side and their side can appreciate Ovi s accomplishment The run-up to the accomplishment was half the fun Goal-counters from Washington to Moscow tracked the quest Ticket prices surged and subsided based on how close Ovechkin was to catching and passing Gretzky If the pressure was mounting on Ovechkin at in the twilight of his career he sure didn t show it And the Capitals made it their life s work to get him the record It eventually came midway through the th meeting out of bringing relief to everyone involved Over the last couple of weeks it has now turned into he s right there Carbery announced And for us especially as coaches we go to the hundreds and hundreds of hours that we ve been trying to figure out approaches to get him the next goal When you ve been working -hour weeks for the last two years to try to help get the next goal it s a pretty special moment for us to celebrate The NHL and the Capitals put together a video montage of greats from Simone Biles and Michael Phelps to Tom Brady LeBron James and Derek Jeter to congratulate Ovechkin In that moment it was clear this accomplishment transcended hockey and even sports It s great for the match Ovechkin noted It s great for us to be involved for this moment Right now people celebrate people are happy and I m just happy to be a part of it Longtime teammate John Carlson who assisted on the tying th goal on Friday night in the first half of a wild weekend party disclosed he and the Capitals were just along for the ride So was everyone else watching and Ovechkin provided a ride of a lifetime AP NHL https apnews com hub nhl Source