Two of hockey’s greats will clash — well, at least virtually — as Washington Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin is set face NHL legend Wayne Gretzky in order to provide food for those in need.
Billed as “The Great One vs. The Great Eight Showcase,” Gretzky (The Great One) and Ovechkin (The Great Eight) will compete in a best-of-three contest in the NHL 20 video game on XBox.
The competition will be streamed on the Capitals’ channel on streaming site Twitch, on Wednesday, April 22 at 8 p.m.
During the match, viewers will be able to make donations to either the Edmonton Food Bank or Monumental Sports Entertainment’s “Feeding the Frontlines” fund to help out during the coronavirus pandemic.
Gretzky is a four-time Stanley Cup champion and holds league records for goals (894), assists (1,963) and points (2,857). He is the only player to ever record more than 200 points in a season and has 31 individual trophies — the most in NHL history. He retired in 1999.
Ovechkin became a Stanley Cup champion in 2018 and was the first Russian-born captain to do so. He currently ranks eighth on the NHL’s all-time goals list with 706 and is the only player to ever win the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy for most goals in a season eight times.
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