Zapashny predicted Ovechkin's serious lead over Gretzky's record

Russian forward of the Washington Capitals hockey club Alexander Ovechkin, who equaled the record of four-time Stanley Cup winner Wayne Gretzky for goals in the regular championships of the National Hockey League (NHL) and will break it any day, may seriously surpass the result of the Canadian hockey player in the future. Edgard Zapashny, director of the Bolshoi Moscow State Circus, told Izvestia on April 5.

He noted that sports fans are currently witnessing the history of Russian and Canadian hockey. And, as strange as it may sound, now both hockey schools are united in the person of Ovechkin.

"I am glad that we will see not only a new record, but also a serious change in this record. I know that Wayne Gretzky's record is called eternal, but it turned out not to be eternal. But Sasha, God bless him, has the opportunity to greatly increase the number of pucks and the opportunity to make this record truly eternal, because for a long time no one could repeat Gretzky or even get close to him," he said.

Zapashny added that he was proud to meet Ovechkin and expressed the hope that the 39-year-old hockey player would play for some more seasons and score a lot of goals.

"I hope that over the next seasons (only he decides how much more he will play), he will score and score a lot. I am proud to know Sasha, to have played football and basketball with him, and to have attended hockey matches. So I congratulate the Russian hockey school on a worthy representative who broke such a serious world record," the circus director concluded.

Ovechkin is chasing Gretzky's great record. What you need to know

Earlier that day, in a match against HC Chicago, Ovechkin scored his 894th goal in the regular season of the NHL and repeated Gretzky's sniper record. The Canadian hockey player personally congratulated the Russian player on repeating his record for NHL goals. The athletes also took a photo together in the locker room after the match. The NHL recognized the Russian as the first and second stars of the last game day.

Soviet and Russian hockey forward Ravil Yakubov also told Izvestia that when Ovechkin surpasses Gretzky's achievement, his new record is unlikely to be beaten for many decades. According to him, the success of the Russian was influenced by proper upbringing, as well as genes, since his mother Tatiana Ovechkina is a two-time Olympic champion, world champion and six-time European champion in basketball.