“Wow, You Know My Name”: Blue Jackets’ Kirill Marchenko Gushes After Meeting Idol Alex Ovechkin

Bally Sports Columbus

Since he entered the National Hockey League, Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin has become not only the inspiration to scores of young hockey players in the DMV, but in his native Russia. Ahead of the Caps’ Tuesday night matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets, one of those young players responded like a kid in a candy store when asked about meeting his idol.

While it will be purely competitive in Columbus on Wednesday night, Russian players from both teams met the night before for dinner, among them Blue Jackets’ star rookie Kirill Marchenko, who lit up when asked about meeting Ovechkin.

“Wow, you know my name”, Marchenko told reporters prior to tonight’s contest, “It’s cool…I’m very happy. We talk no hockey, only life. For me it’s a great dinner.”

Ovechkin, who is in his 18th season in the league, was asked to reflect on his status as a mentor for young Russian players coming into the league.

“He’s great, we met up, lots of Russians went for dinner, talk, have some stories, and yeah it’s pretty cool. I try do my best, obviously I can tell ‘follow me, look at me’, but it’s nice if young players growing up look at how I play, what I’m doing out there, it’s pretty cool.”

Marchenko, who is tied for second in the NHL among Rookies with 13 goals with Dallas’ Wyatt Johnston, showed his admiration for the league’s second all-time leading goal-scorer when given the suggestion he could score a goal against Washington.

“I hope, no, no, when he stays on the ice?”, he responded, “No, no, he sits on the bench then I can score, if he stay on the ice, then no goal. I joking, I joking”, he said smiling.

The rookie forward’s 13 goals makes him just the fourth player in NHL history, and the first in almost a century, to have the first 13 pr more points of his career come via lighting the lamp. Through his first 25 Games Played, he had joined a notable list of his countrymen in Goals Scored.

By Michael Fleetwood

About Michael Fleetwood

Michael Fleetwood was born into a family of diehard Capitals fans and has been watching games as long as he can remember. He was born the year the Capitals went to their first Stanley Cup Final, and is a diehard Caps fan, the owner of the very FIRST Joe Beninati jersey and since then, has met Joe himself. Michael joined the NoVa Caps team in 2015, and is most proud of the growth of the NoVa Caps community in that time. An avid photographer, Michael resides in VA.
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3 Responses to “Wow, You Know My Name”: Blue Jackets’ Kirill Marchenko Gushes After Meeting Idol Alex Ovechkin

  1. Jon Sorensen says:

    That’s the most wholesome thing I’ve seen in quite some time. Kirill is a keeper.

  2. Anonymous says:

    That’s adorable.

  3. Anonymous says:

    He was totally floored. 😂

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