- Alex Ovechkin says his young sons, Sergei and Ilya, got hooked on hockey without any pushing from mom or dad
- The Capitals captain set up a shooting area at the family’s house, and the boys already know every player in the league
- Read below for Ovechkin’s full comments and video of the brothers copying their dad’s celebrations
Alex Ovechkin has two little hockey players at home, and he swears he never had to talk them into it.
The Capitals captain went on Match TV’s “All on Match!” on Monday and got asked what he would tell his sons, Sergei and Ilya, if they got serious about the game. Ovechkin said the boys are already all-in on their own.
Host Dmitry Guberniev asked whether Ovechkin’s wife minds all the hockey around the house.
“No, she’s all for it. But, then again, we don’t push them,” Ovechkin said, per a translation from RMNB. “They ask on their own: ‘When is practice?’ Forcing them won’t lead to anything good.”
Here’s Ovechkin talking about his kids:
The family set up a shooting area at the house, and the boys went out to fire pucks for the first time this week. Grandma Tatyana could barely drag them back inside to get to practice.
Ovechkin said the game takes up the boys’ whole day. “They know all the players, they’re constantly playing hockey,” he said. “Their godfather even gave them a tabletop hockey game, and they play it all the time. So, for them, it’s hockey 24/7.”
Sergei is the older brother and the one setting the pace. Ilya just tries to keep up. Ovechkin said the little one has made his idol clear.
“The younger one even says, ‘I want to be like Seryozha when I grow up,'” Ovechkin said. “Well, we’re a hockey family. What can you say?”
The brothers have already picked up a few of their dad’s signature moves. Back in March, they hit the ice after a Capitals skate and started working on his famous celebrations:
Both kids are fixtures around the Capitals, fist-bumping their dad through the glass and hopping on the ice at practice. They even leaned on him to re-sign this offseason. Ovechkin is chasing 1,000 career goals after passing Wayne Gretzky, and he hasn’t ruled out playing a few more years.
The shooting area at the house isn’t going anywhere, and Grandma Tatyana might want to get used to dragging two boys off the ice.
