- Tom Wilson opened up about Alex Ovechkin’s pregame Mamma Lucia ritual in ESPN’s new profile
- The Capitals had to clean a pillar beside Ovechkin because of all the tomato sauce splatter
- Read below for the full quote, Ovi’s other diet quirks, and where his future stands
The Capitals have a tomato sauce problem. And it has nothing to do with cooking.
Tom Wilson sat down with ESPN’s Emily Kaplan for her profile on Alex Ovechkin’s potential final season, and the longtime teammate cracked open the captain’s pregame Mamma Lucia ritual.
“He gets two big bags dropped off. There’s the team meal, and then there’s, like, the Ovi station of Mamma Lucia,” Wilson said. “Bunch of different sauces, bunch of different stuff. He’s very specific on toasting his garlic bread and making sure the sauces are right in what he’s eating. It’s a spectacle. I think at one point, we had to clean the pillar beside where he sits because there’s tomato sauce everywhere.”
A D.C. station got the kitchen tour back when the Ovi Special first went mainstream. Watch how the meal comes together:
The order itself is locked in. Chicken parm, spaghetti, four sauces, and two slices of bread, sourced from a local Italian chain Ovechkin started ordering from very early in his time with the Capitals. The team eventually had its in-house chef recreate the meal because Mamma Lucia kept driving the deliveries to the practice rink.
Coca-Cola in his bench water bottle. A Subway sub and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos before road trips. A postgame beer. Brooks Orpik once called the routine “borderline inspiring.”
Ovechkin shrugged off the idea that any of it should be different.
“Some people love Subway, McDonald’s, whatever, and they’re still playing hockey,” Ovechkin told Kaplan. “Maybe it’s not right for young generation, but you know, I grow up differently.”
Whatever’s in those four sauces is doing the trick. Ovechkin sits at 929 career goals, just wrapped his first 82-game season since 2017-18, and at 40 he is still leading Washington’s lineup. The bigger question is whether there’s a 22nd season ahead.
Last month, Ovechkin told the Capitals he’d take time after the year wrapped to talk things over with his family before deciding:
If he comes back, the equipment guys had better keep extra paper towels in the closet.
