Alex Ovechkin finally gets his All-Star car, donates it to charity
Alex Ovechkin wanted a car at the NHL All-Star game so he could donate it. He finally got that car on Monday.
By
Adam Gretz
•
1 min read
Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin desperately wanted a new car at the NHL All-Star weekend in Columbus last month.
He was openly campaigning to be the last player chosen in the fantasy draft, and when that did not happen he was determined to win the MVP award in the game, both of which carried the prize of a new car.
It turned out, the reason he wanted the car wasn't for himself, but so he could donate it to a local youth hockey team for kids with special needs, specifically the family of a 10-year-old named girl with down syndrome by the name Ann Schaab that Ovechkin had spent some time with earlier in the season.
When the folks at Honda found out about Ovechkin's plan, they ended up giving him a car anyway so he could donate it. On Monday, he finally got the car from Honda and handed the keys over to the American Special Hockey Association.
Instead of giving it to just one family or one team, ASHA will raffle the car off with all proceeds from the ticket sales going to the 50 ASHA teams across the country.
Alex Ovechkin got his car today. Ann Schaab and her family decided more teams should benefit. So they're raffling it off.
— Alex Prewitt (@alex_prewitt) February 10, 2015
ASHA executive director David Lucia was on hand at the dealership on Monday when Ovechkin received the car. Here is what he had to say, via NHL.com.
"This car will go to help special needs players throughout the United States. Fifty cities, 30 teams and it will give them the dream to play the game of hockey. There are many barriers for our kids to play the game and the funding that will come from this raffle will all go to allowing these kids to play a great game.
"They not only learn to play the game of hockey, but first and foremost, they learn life skills through the game that translate into everyday life for them."
Ovechkin first met Schaab back in September during a post-practice skate with several local teams and the two eventually had a Sushi dinner together. It was that meeting that helped inspire Ovechkin to get them the car.
