Photo: Tom Guilitti/NHL.com

There is an old saying that goes, “Rank has its privileges”.  Within the NHL, so do team captains. This is no evidence more greater than Capitals’ captain Alex Ovechkin getting a second “Day with the Stanley Cup”.  The recap of his first official day with the Cup can be found here. In this piece, NoVa Caps takes a look at Ovechkin’s second day of excursions with Lord Stanley’s mug.

The second day with the Cup, which incidentally was the first anniversary of Ovechkin’s wedding celebration (but not of his original civil wedding that took place during the summer of 2016)  began with Ovechkin lying down in the twin bed of his childhood apartment where he slept as a child.  He was holding the Stanley Cup as documented in a picture by the Keeper of the Cup, Philip Prichard, and captioned, “Good morning, Sunshine.”

Photo: @keeperofthecup

Ovechkin went to the cemetery with his parents where they visited the grave of his older brother, Sergei, who died shortly after Ovechkin turned 10-years old.  Sergei passed away from a blood clot after being injured in a car crash. After that, Ovechkin took the Cup to Red Square in Moscow at around 5:30 p.m., sans any security.  Fans initially had a double take but, as soon as they realized it was Ovechkin with the Stanley Cup, they followed him as though he were the Pied Piper, taking pictures and videos and trying to get his autograph.  When Ovechkin finally reached Red Square, the Capitals’ Director of Communications, Sergey Kocharov, and his agent, David Abrutyn, cleared an opening so the Ovi could pose for photos and video with the members of the media that accompanied him, including Washington Post beat writer, Isabelle Khurshudyan, and NHL.com writer, Tom Gulitti, who both documented the proceedings.

Ovechkin then went to a party held in his honor, which was attended by Capitals teammates and countrymen Evgeny Kuznetsov and Dmitry Orlov and their wives.

They served black caviar in the Stanley Cup at that party, and for dessert, there was a Stanley Cup-themed cake, which included a figurine of Ovechkin dressed in a Caps jersey and holding up the Cup.  This cake was brought into the gathering to the tune of “We Are the Champions”.

Photos: Tom Guilitti/NHL.com

At the end of the night, when the Cup was put away, Ovechkin kissed it, recorded a greeting for Michal Kempny, the next player who will get his Day with the Cup, and said, “See you next year. Sleep well. I will miss you.”

Next up, Michal Kempny #ALLCAPS #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/5sX4CKrTyT

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) July 8, 2018

By Diane Doyle