Alex Ovechkin breaking Wayne Gretzky's record brings joy to hockey and beyond sports

NEW YORK (AP) — Alex Ovechkin could not contain his happiness moments after scoring his 895th goal to break Wayne Gretzky's NHL record.

After firing the puck into the net, Ovechkin turned and did a belly-flop slide down the ice like he had just won a pee-wee hockey game. The gap-toothed grin didn't leave his face for hours.

“We did it!” he told teammates in an electric visiting arena with over 17,000 fans locked in on his every move. "It’s history! Yeah!”

Ovechkin was the epitome of joyfulness on goal No. 895, just like he's been on so many of his previous 894, replicating jumping into a fountain in Washington when he and the Capitals won the Stanley Cup in 2018.

“Almost," Ovechkin said.

That title, the franchise's first championship, was the Capitals' high-water mark, but this stuck out in a different way.

The Cup gets handed out once a year. Ovechkin broke a record that stood for more than three decades, with the chance for his reign to last even longer. At a time of the season in a team-centric sport that is usually reserved only for playoff races, Ovechkin's “GR8 Chase” captivated the hockey community and reached the rest of the world clearly eager to witness something special.

“It’s a testament to Ovi,” said center Dylan Strome, who along with Tom Wilson had the assists on Ovechkin's record-breaker Sunday in a 4-1 loss to the New York Islanders. “Everyone wants to see him succeed because he’s such a happy guy. It doesn’t matter if he scores a goal or someone else scores a goal: He’s just as happy. And I think that’s a credit to him and his character, and you could see why other people are so happy for him because of the way he treats other people.”

The charismatic Russian superstar has made a career out of scoring like no one else and commemorating the moments like few others. Whether it was jumping into the glass or mimicking that his stick was on fire, Ovechkin has become one of the faces of the game in part because of his child-like love of the game, even in his 20th NHL season. He is a little kid at heart playing a grown-up sport.

It's a love of the game that resonates far beyond the Capitals.

"You just smile every time you see it," coach Spencer Carbery said, echoing Strome about Ovechkin being just as happy to see his teammates score. “It speaks to him, but also who he is as a captain and as a leader, of the happiness and joy that he has to win and to see others have success and others to score goals, as well.”

No team or goaltender wanted to be the one to give up No. 895, but the Islanders — and netminder Ilya Sorokin, 10 years younger than Ovechkin, giving the fellow Russian his stick when asked — still had full appreciation of the moment.

“No matter what team you were cheering for tonight, everyone was a hockey fan," Islanders captain Anders Lee said. “Everyone on our side and their side can appreciate Ovi's accomplishment."

The run-up to the accomplishment was half the fun. Goal-counters from Washington to Moscow tracked the quest. Ticket prices surged and subsided based on how close Ovechkin was to catching and passing Gretzky.

If the pressure was mounting on Ovechkin at 39 in the twilight of his career, he didn't show it. And the Capitals made it their life's work to get him the record.

It finally came midway through the 77th game out of 82, bringing relief to everyone involved.

“Over the last couple of weeks, it has now turned into he’s right there,” Carbery said. “And for us, especially as coaches, we go to the hundreds and hundreds of hours that we’ve been trying to figure out ways to get him the next goal. (When) you’ve been working 80-hour weeks for the last two years to try to help get the next goal, it’s a pretty special moment for us to celebrate.”

The NHL and the Capitals put together a video montage of greats from Simone Biles and Michael Phelps to Tom Brady, LeBron James and Derek Jeter to congratulate Ovechkin. In that moment, it was clear this accomplishment transcended hockey — and even sports. Vladimir Putin added his congratulations after the sun rose in Moscow on Monday.

“It’s great for the game,” Ovechkin said. "It’s great for us to be involved for this moment. ... Right now, people celebrate, people are happy and I’m just happy to be a part of it.”

Longtime teammate John Carlson, who assisted on the tying 894th goal on Friday night, said he and the Capitals “were just along for the ride.” So was everyone else watching, and Ovechkin provided a ride of a lifetime. He made sure it has been a fun one.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) celebrates after scoring his 895th career goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against New York Islanders in Elmont, N.Y., Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8), lower center, celebrates with teammates after scoring against New York Islanders during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Elmont, N.Y., Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) celebrates after scoring his 895th career goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against New York Islanders in Elmont, N.Y., Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) celebrates with teammates after scoring against New York Islanders during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Elmont, N.Y., Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) celebrates with teammates after scoring against New York Islanders during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Elmont, N.Y., Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.

In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.

Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.

“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.

If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.

For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.

“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.

Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.

"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.

Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.

Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.

Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.

The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.

“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.

As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.

What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.

The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.

One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.

Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.

“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.

The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.

Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.

“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.

Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.

“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)