Wayne Gretzky knew what was belonging to him. The day before he came across the feeling that the sixty -four -year -old reported that it was “now that far”. He therefore booked a flight to the American capital and then sat, on this evening, which added another illustrious chapter to the heroic stories of the ice hockey, with the best view of the things in a lodge of the arena in Washington – to applaud. But Alexander Owetschkin rewritten the story. In the 5: 3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday evening (local time), the Russian scored his next two goals, with which he improved his yield in the North American professional league NHL to 864 goals and thereby equated with Gretzky. And he already took his first chance: On Sunday afternoon (local time) he scored the 1-2 goal in the second third in the game at the New York Islanders. Afterwards Owetschkin dropped her stomach on the ice, slipped a few meters and was then violently hugged by his teammates. Then the game was even interrupted to honor the new record holder out of the ice in a ceremony. “I always said it: It is a team sport. Without my boys, without the organization, without the fans, without the coaches, I would never be here and could never have overtaken ‘The Great One’,” said Owetschkin at the indoor microphone and thanked his family too. “Owi, Owi” speaking choirs echoed through the arena. The fact that the game was lost for Owetschkin’s team 1: 4 was only a marginal note. Gretzky, “The Great One” on this special day, as the fans worshiped as a runner-up, also sat in the tribuna in the Halle and was already part of the first shoulder knockers when the top mark was hired, which is alluded to the ” Great 8 ”is congratulated after the departure from the ice oval. External content activate the legend Gordie Howe from the throne with his accuracy in 1994, the Primus he replaced sat as a contemporary witness in the stands. At the time, said Gretzky, he swore that he would actually get this form of appreciation, should actually get so far, also to be given to his successor in order to pay him the honor. “Alex is great for sport, Washington and his country. This is wonderful,” said Gretzky. His determination in 1487 regular seasonal games had led him to the record. He stopped in 1999 and switched behind the gang. “That means a lot of me” Six years later Owetschkin made his debut in the land of milk and hookse with the like and now needed exactly one game less to do it. “That means a lot to me. It is so emotional,” said Owetschkin on Friday and added that you could imagine him as a “very happy man”. He would “always be grateful for this”, as he supported him and advised him to “be patient and not put me under pressure”. After moving from Dynamo Moscow in North America, there was continuously faithful to the capital. When the captain won the Stanley Cup (2018) with them, was awarded three times as the most valuable player of the year and secured the “Rocket” trophy as a shooter of most NHL goals nine times. Never during the current game, the goal scorer is honored at a ceremony. Gretzky was looked after: Owetschkin took the puck on the center on January 15, 2006, skated in the third of the attack when a defender brought him out of balance, but the striker remained focused on both hands on the racket, even though he turned a pirouette on his back, and gave his head behind his head without seeing the keeper Pane from an acute angle an unsustainable shoot. The stroke of genius is considered the “gate” of his career. Regardless of the cheering scenes, it is important to shake off what praise is pressing on him, “and finding a way, winning games,” he said, who lost his brother Sergei at the age of ten, who died after a car accident. Owetschkin’s mother was a first -class basketball player in the 1970s, who won twice gold at the Olympic Games (1976 and 1980) with the Soviet national team. His father was a football professional. Owetschkin’s performance is also followed in Russia, specialist media celebrate him. “Owetschkin, that’s just a machine, a locomotive,” says ice hockey player Wadim Berdnikow, which runs for the Swedish club Borås HC, according to the portal “Sports.Ru”. External content activate football professional Pawel Pogebnjak says that Owetschkin’s record is a big event. He also referred to his colleague Artjom Dsjuba, who recently became a record goal scorer of the Russian national soccer team. Owetschkin and Dsjuba, “these are two masters who are not an easy time with their danger to the Russian Federation”. Successful athletes are always the focus of politics in Russia. All the more when you succeed in the West, especially with the suspiciously -courted arch -rivals, in the United States. Owetschkin firmly stood on the Wladimir Putin, who himself follows the Russian national sport of ice hockey. Connection to Putin seems closely to his number of photos that show the athlete in T-shirts with the portrait of his president. The connection seems to be tight. A former coach of the Capitals, Adam Oates, once said that he was a guest in Russia when Putin called. As Owetschkin in July 2017 in Barwicha west of Moscow, a refuge of the Russian power and money elite, wedding with the model Anastassija Schubskaja, who congratulated Putin at that time G-20 summits in Hamburg, the couple with an official telegram and telephone and also gave the two of them a tea service. There is hardly any more attention. The Americans live their soft stamps and statistics fully. Putin thanked Putin: at the end of 2017, three and a half months before the permanent president wanted to be confirmed again in 2018, he appeared as the founder of a movement called Putin Team, who joined other athletes and celebrities. “I never hid my relationship with our president,” Owetschkin wrote on Instagram to a photo of him and Putin, “I always supported him openly.” The sports star called on “showing everyone a strong and closed Russia!” Owetschkin even said the desire to play again in Russia, but prevented him from doing so. “No politician, I am just athlete” Owetschkin stayed in America, but continues to support Putin. At the end of February 2022, shortly after the Russian major attack on Ukraine, he said at a press conference that Putin was “my president”, but he, he, Owetschkin, was not a politician. I am simply athlete. And I very much hope that all of this will end. But I can’t influence anything. “This is not misunderstood as a criticism of the war of aggression; Putin also obviously hoped to quickly siege Ukraine. Owetschkin’s Instagram profile image continues to show the athlete at Putin’s side in the Kremlin in front of one of the large, gold-colored wing doors. The picture is likely to come from a reception that Putin organized at the end of May 2014 after Russia’s ice hockey selection won the World Cup. In June 2023, Putin Owetschkin thanked “for the work success achieved and the long -term conscientious work” as a consultant in the general director of the Moscow ice hockey club Dynamo. For him, the focus is currently on the charm offensive towards the American president. After the telephone call of the two of March 18, the Kremlin announced that Donald Trump supported Putin’s idea of organizing ice hockey matches in the United States and Russia between Russian and American players. This should apparently advance the approach between the two men or countries. If such an encounter occurs, Owetschkin would certainly have a prominent role.
