Alex Ovechkin wanted to win a car at All-Star Game so he could donate it

Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin finally got his new car at the NHL All-Star Game. But he is not keeping it.

By Adam Gretz

Jan 25, 2015 at 4:50 pm ET • 2 min read

Alex Ovechkin ended up getting his new car. But he is not keeping it. (Sportsnet/YouTube)

One of the running jokes throughout the All-Star weekend was Alex Ovechkin's desire to win one of the cars that was up for grabs for either going last during Friday's draft or for winning the MVP award during Sunday's game.

It turns out, it was no joke. Ovechkin really did want that car. But not for himself.

He wanted to win a car so badly so he could donate it to Nova Cool Cats Special Hockey, Inc, a hockey club in Northern Virginia for kids with special needs. A member of that team, a 10-year-old girl with Down Syndrome by the name of Ann Schaub, has developed a friendship with Ovechkin and even went out for a sushi dinner with him back in September.

After Ovechkin was not picked last on Friday and did not win the MVP award during Sunday's game, the folks at Honda reached out to him and gave him the keys to a new car anyway. He will be donating it to the Nova Cool Cats program.

According to NHL.com's Dan Rosen, the folks at Honda were intrigued by Ovechkin's lobbying for a new car, including a pre-game Tweet that featured a picture of the new Honda that was reserved for the All-Star MVP.

I still need it!! I will pick u up after all star game ))))haha pic.twitter.com/g6vBEpYi3M
— Alex Ovechkin (@ovi8) January 25, 2015

At that point, Honda reached out to Ovechkin's agent to find out why he was so determined to get a car this weekend. When they were told why he wanted it, they decided to give him a new car whether he won the MVP or not.

More, from NHL.com:

"The idea was if he doesn't win the [All-Star Game] MVP award let's see if there is something else we can do," said Nick Lee, the national advertising manager for Honda. "Once we learned there was a charitable component to it we thought how great is that? At Honda we do a lot of charitable efforts ourselves, tie it in with youth hockey, and Alex has got a nice couple of charities he works with so we thought that could be a nice angle and a great story for everybody. That's the capper for us. It's not just for him, it's also for his charity and the kids, ultimately."

After the game, Honda presented Ovechkin with a gigantic key to a brand new Honda Accord.