Alexander Mikhailovich Ovechkin was born on September 17, 1985 in Moscow. His mother, Tatyana Ovechkina, is a famous Soviet basketball player, winning the Olympic twice. Father Mikhail Ovechkin is a former soccer player who used to play for Dynamo Moscow.
Ovechkin started playing hockey at the age of 8, and his brother, Serge, took him to the competition. Soon, he was invited to the school of Dynamo Moscow, playing as a left winger. In 2000, he was transferred to a mature team. Ovechkin made his debut in the Super League season 2001/2002, when he was 16 years old.
The seasons
In the first season he played for Dynamo 25 matches (three of which were in the playoff round), in which he scored four points. As part of the Russian national team (players not older than 18), Ovechkin played 8 games at the World Cup, won the silver prize of the tournament, becoming the best player in the championship by points ( 18) and set a sniper record (14 goals).
In the 2002/2003 season, Ovechkin played 45 matches for Dynamo in the Super League (5 of them in the playoff round), scored 15 (8 + 7) points, won the Russian youth team (players under 20 years old) Golden chapter of the World Championship, and a part of the teenage team – Bronze.
A year later, Ovechkin launched his main Russian national team at Eurotour, and then played in the adult world championship, where he scored 2 (1 + 1) points after 6 matches. In the summer of 2004, Ovechkin was selected according to the general first number in the Washington Capital Club‘s NHL Draft, becoming the second Russian after Ilya Kovalchuk was highly selected.
Ovechkin was able to come to NHL in the 2004/2005 season, but due to being locked out in the North American League, he stayed in Russia for another season. As part of Dynamo, Ovechkin won the Super League and spoke to Russian national hockey teams, he won the silver medal of the World Youth Championship and the bronze medal of an adult.
In the summer of 2005, Ovechkin announced that he was leaving NHL. At the end of the season, the striker ended his contract with Dynamo. The club hopes to extend the agreement with the hockey player to receive compensation in case the player transfers to NHL.