Gretzky congratulates Ovechkin on setting new record for NHL goals

A ceremony was held at the UBS Arena in New York in honor of the Russian forward of the Washington Capitals hockey club Alexander Ovechkin, who broke Wayne Gretzky's record for goals in the regular championships of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Canadian personally congratulated the Russian on his historic achievement.

Ovechkin scored his 895th career goal against the New York Islanders on April 6. After the record goal, the game was interrupted to honor the forward — the league allowed all Washington players to enter the court to celebrate their captain's achievement.

In addition to Gretzky, Ovechkin was also congratulated by NHL commissioner Gary Battman and Capitals owner Ted Leonsis. The Russian's family also participated in the celebration.

The NHL started making plans for a record goal a few months ago. Ovechkin's award ceremony after the record will be broadcast live on all major US news channels. In addition, the technical staff team rehearsed the award ceremony on the ice for the last time before each match of the Russian hockey player.

"We treat this and every next game Alex participates in like a Stanley Cup Playoff game. We take all the materials for the ceremony to each city. Wherever we go, there is a full-scale rehearsal. The video that will be a part of it. The ribbon board. The whole place will turn into Ovie Land," said NHL president of Content, Events, and Production Steve Mayer.

ESPN and TNT TV channels assigned OviCast personal camera to Ovechkin. She was involved for the first time in the match against Carolina, in which Washington lost 1-5, but it was the Russian forward who scored the only goal of the capital's team.

The NHL allowed all of Washington's players to take to the ice and celebrate the broken record with him, interrupting the match. The last time this happened was in 1994, when Wayne Gretzky broke Gordie Howe's record.

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On April 6, Ovechkin scored 895 goals in the NHL regular season against the New York Islanders, breaking the record of Canadian Wayne Gretzky, who scored 894 goals.

The TV channels of the National Media Group (NMG) holding and the performer, the leader of the band "Hands up!" Sergey Zhukov congratulated Ovechkin with a world record clip for his favorite song from the repertoire of the musical group.