"I Can't Imagine A Player Who Says He Doesn't Drink" -- Alex Ovechkin Is Keeping A Time-Honored Hockey Tradition Of Locker Room Beers Alive
Josh Lavallee. Getty Images.Alex Ovechkin is the greatest goal scorer that most of us have ever had the pleasure of watching throughout their entire career. Gretzky is obviously still the GOAT until Ovechkin hits 893. But as someone who was born in 1992, I've never been alive for a year where Gretzky has scored at least 40 goals. So for anyone who born from 1990 on, Ovi is the greatest that we've ever got to actually witness.
While the man might be a goal scoring machine of the likes which we've rarely ever seen before, part of what makes Alexander Ovechkin such a superstar is the fact that when he's not playing hockey, he's just a pretty regular Russian dude. The man loves to eat good and drink good. He's not your new age superstar who has a nutritionist feeding them grilled chicken and broccoli all day, and then maybe treating themselves to a vodka soda at the club. He's going to crush some steak, and he's going to hammer some beers. He's one of the last of a dying breed in the NHL, but he's making sure to show the next generation the way by keeping a fridge full of beer in the coaches room for after games.
RMNB -- He recently talked about the role alcohol plays in NHL locker rooms with his friend and blogger Amiran Sardarov…
“I don’t hide it,” Ovechkin said per a sports.ru transcription and a translation by Google Translate. “I like the taste of beer. I like light beer, sometimes I can drink Guinness.”
He continued, “I can’t imagine a [player] who says he doesn’t drink, ‘he quit.’ You can take a break for a certain time, but after the game, 2 to 3 cans of beer – with pleasure. It’s useful. In Washington, we have a refrigerator with beer in the coaching room. It’s normal.”
It's not a shake and an ice bath after games to recover. It's a few cans of light beer, and maybe a Guinness at dinner while he's crossing sauces. I'm sure if it wasn't so frowned upon, he'd work a post-game locker room cigarette into the routine as well. 853 career goals in the NHL and he has the same post-game routine as you and your buddies in beer league.
Phil Kessel is the owner of the most consecutive games played in NHL history, and the man sucks back a 2 liter of Coca-Cola ever day. Alexander Ovechkin is damn near close to scoring the most career goals in NHL history, and he's gassing a few beers after every game. Don't ever tell me that hockey players aren't the biggest freak athletes in sports ever again.