The situation in Ukraine was strongly present in the NHL match hosted by Edmonton against the Washington Capitals. Edmonton is home to Canada’s largest Ukrainian population.
Captain of the Washington Capitals hockey club was hacked in advance on Wednesday night To Alexander Ovetshkin.
Capitals visited Edmonton on Wednesday, home to Canada’s largest Ukrainian population. Ovetsh, in turn, has become known as the president of Russia Vladimir Putin as a supporter. For example, a Russian striker is posing with Putin in his profile picture on Instagram.
The colors of Ukraine have been strongly featured in many sporting events around the world, including the hockey NHL. On Wednesday, Edmonton once again showed strong support for Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia.
The Edmonton Ukrainian Choir performed the Canadian national anthem in half in Ukrainian before the match began. There were also a lot of Ukrainian colors and flags in the auditorium, and the Edmonton Oilers played the colors of the Ukrainian flag on their helmets, as in the previous match.
The audience did not make it unclear what they thought of the Russian striker, but buzzed as Ovetshkin touched the puck. Instead, the Oilers guard, who blocked the passage of the Russian striker Mikko Koskinen received huge applause.
Ovetshkin did not succeed in scoring, so he has not yet passed the Czech legend Jaromir Jagria. In the previous match against Calgary, the Capitals captain scored twice and rose 766 in the NHL regular season to hit Jagr. In the statistics above, there are no more Canadian puck icons Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe.
Fortunately, the Edmonton crowd scored for the home team, which knocked Washington 4–3 Connor McDavidin with extension paint.
Washington announced its support for its Russian players
Tuesday at the Washington Capitals published output (switch to another service), in which it said it condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as did other NHL clubs. In the same press release, the club said it fully supports its Russian players, who are “in an awkward situation” and is ready to offer help to them and their families.
In addition to Ovetshkin, the following represent Yevgeny Kuznetsov, Ilya Samsonov and Dmitry Orlov.
– This is difficult. I have a family in Russia, so these are scary moments. There’s nothing I can do, I just hope all is well again soon. Hopefully it will be over soon and peace will return to the world, Ovetshkin commented.