Alex Ovechkin turned 35 years old on Sept. 17, and had a huge belated celebration this week at Orion Hall in Moscow.
In attendance were some of Ovechkin's Capitals teammates -- Ilya Kovalchuk and Dmitry Orlov -- and many of those who could not attend sent in video messages wishing Ovechkin well that played on a screen during the party. Some of Ovechkin's other teammates from the Russian national team, including Evgeni Malkin, attended the party as well:
Malkin delivered a heartfelt speech (with some jokes mixed in) about one of his earliest encounters with Ovechkin during a World Junior tournament when the two were teenagers.
The following is translated from the Russian transcription of the speech on Sport-Express.ru:
"Ovi, this very touching video was shown at the beginning of the evening," Malkin began. "We all saw this - your entire hockey history, starting from childhood: how your mother said that you were given a hockey stick and you fell in love with hockey. I just sat and remembered one story.
"We were 16-18 years old," Malkin continued. "They played the junior championship in Yaroslavl. We were young, beautiful ... Me, at least. We played on the same line. - I still remember: the first faceoff, we were in the opponents' zone. I lost there, as usual. And out of the corner of his eye on the left side - for those who do not know, Ovi plays on the left - just such a rocket runs into the corner, kills the opponent's defenseman gives the pass to our defenseman - he shoots the puck. Ovi is already in front of the goal, struggling with the goalkeeper, yelling something to the referee. And I’m standing there, I haven’t even had time to make a movement - I’m just in shock.
"Then I realized that inside this person there is such a fire, such a passion, such a fire of hockey. Now he is 35 - and nothing has changed. It doesn't matter how many years have passed, how many gray hairs have been added. I wish that this fire always burns in you."