At approximately 3:50am AEST on Monday morning, a piece of sporting history was created that many Down Under might not have realised.
With 12:34 remaining in the second period at the UBS Arena in New York City, Washington Capitals captain Alexander Ovechkin received a pass from teammate Tom Wilson, fired the puck towards the net and found himself beating New York Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin to score the power play goal and put his team within one goal of the Islanders.
But while it was an important goal in the context of the game, the true history making moment was the fact it was Ovechkin’s 895th career goal, taking him past the all-time record set by the Great One, Wayne Gretzky, to make him the all-time leading scorer in the 107-year history of the National Hockey League.
It was a momentous moment for the sport. A moment that everyone knew was coming. And in true American style, it was celebrated with large amounts of pomp and pageantry.
The game was stopped. A large scale presentation and ceremony was held. Gretzky was in attendance to congratulate the man referred to as ‘The Great Eight’, as both gave emotional and humorous speeches to celebrate the moment.
Could you image this happening in the AFL? When Tony Locket broke Gordon Coventry’s record for most goals in the AFL in 1999, the game being stopped with a stage being erected and speeches being made, before the game continued?
Of course not, because we just have fans run on the field instead. But hey, it’s still a weird thing to see in the context of a sporting match.
With that aside, Ovechkin’s history making moment does deserve all the celebration behind it, particularly in the context of all his other incredible achievements in the sport.
Ovechkin is playing in his 20th season in the NHL, and averages 1.6 goals a game. This season has seen him score 42 goals in 61 games, doing so in a season that he missed a large chunk due to a broken leg.
Amazingly he broke the record in his 1487th game, the exact same amount of games Gretzky played before he retired. A key difference however is the fact that Ovechkin has spent every single game with the same team, the Washington Capitals. Gretzky shared his games across four different teams: the Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, St Louis Blues and New York Rangers.
Along the way to this moment, the 39-year-old set a whole heap of other records. He has scored the most goals after the age of 30, has the all-time record for game-winning goals, first-period goals and goalies scored against in his career and has also moved into second place with 20 consecutive 20-goal seasons.
He also shares the record for most franchises he has scored a hat-trick against and became the first player in history to score 200 goals in three different decades.
Put it simply, his achievements are nothing short of remarkable.
Ovechkin’s history making moment adds to the golden age fans of the four North American sports have witnessed over the last 20 years, with the NHL joining the MLB and NBA in seeing their all-time scorer record broken this millennium.
And just like Barry Bonds and LeBron James before him, Ovechkin can now firmly set his mark on the history books and continue to increase his new mark for as long as he remains on the ice.
