Alex Ovechkin Skates Into Canada’s Ukrainian Enclave as a Scorned Star

The hockey star Alex Ovechkin, middle amongst Russian skilled athletes within the public’s anger over the battle in Ukraine, performed earlier than essentially the most unsympathetic crowd but.

Ovechkin, President Vladimir V. Putin’s high-profile supporter, and his Washington Capitals teammates confronted the Oilers on Wednesday evening in Edmonton, Alberta, residence to considered one of Canada’s largest concentrations of the Ukrainian diaspora.

Andriy Tovstiuk of Edmonton works with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress organizing fund-raising, rallies, demonstrations and humanitarian aid efforts in Alberta for Ukraine. He was at Wednesday’s sport at Rogers Place.

“I feel we’re going to be loud, we’re going to be fired up,” mentioned Tovstiuk, whose group is working with each the Oilers and the Calgary Flames to lift cash for Ukraine by its 50-50 attracts, which incessantly hit greater than $1 million. “However we’re all actually desirous to give attention to supporting Ukraine and actually getting behind all the pieces that’s occurring proper now.

“It’s an emotional time for everyone, and we actually encourage everyone to make use of this as a rallying level for Ukraine.”

Ovechkin is considered one of Russia’s most well-known athletes, and his friendship with Putin, who has a singular ardour for ice hockey, is broadly identified. The friendship was unwavering after Putin invaded and annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, with Ovechkin beginning an internet social motion in 2017 to help Putin successful the 2018 Russian election.

Edmonton is residence to 160,000 folks of Ukrainian descent, and there are 370,000 in Alberta, based on the 2016 Canadian census. There are roughly 1.4 million folks of Ukrainian background residing in Canada, greater than wherever outdoors Ukraine and Russia.

Officers from the Capitals, who’ve 4 Russian gamers on their roster together with Ovechkin, had mentioned safety measures at Rogers Place with their Oilers counterparts. The Oilers didn’t reply to requests for remark. The Capitals declined to talk on the report.

Tim Shipton, an govt vp of Oilers Leisure Group, issued a press release on Monday: “The Edmonton Oilers stand in solidarity alongside the folks of Ukraine. As we noticed throughout Saturday’s residence sport, Oilers followers had been very respectful in displaying their help for Ukraine.”

On Wednesday evening, Viter, a Ukrainian people choir, carried out the Canadian anthem in English and Ukrainian. Oilers gamers continued to sport Ukrainian flag stickers on their helmets. Followers sporting the blue and yellow colours of the Ukrainian flag dotted the stands and hung flags all through the sector. Each time Ovechkin touched the puck, he was loudly booed. He didn’t rating, and Edmonton received, 4-3, in additional time on a purpose from the star middle Connor McDavid.

On Tuesday, forward of their first sport of the season in Alberta, the Capitals issued a press release saying they “be a part of the Nationwide Hockey League in condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the lack of harmless life.” The assertion continued: “We urge and hope for a peaceable decision as shortly as attainable. The Capitals additionally stand in full help of our Russian gamers and their households abroad. We notice they’re being put in a troublesome state of affairs and stand by to supply our help to them and their households.”

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, Ovechkin, who is without doubt one of the N.H.L.’s greatest stars — two objectives in a 5-4 victory on Tuesday in opposition to the Flames tied him for third on the profession objectives listing with Jaromir Jagr at 766 — has been jeered and booed throughout highway video games. His picture was even scorned in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday when he appeared in a tribute video for the previous Blue Jackets star Rick Nash.

Ovechkin held a information convention on Feb. 25 supposed to distance himself from Putin and help for the Russian invasion. “I’m not in politics. Like, I’m an athlete,” he mentioned. He added, with out mentioning Putin, “Please, no extra battle.”

As an alternative of calming his detractors, Ovechkin discovered himself beneath criticism from supporters of the battle in his residence nation and opponents of it in the remainder of the world. This resulted in a extreme backlash on Ovechkin’s social media accounts from Russian supporters, and he was suggested to not change his Instagram profile image as a result of it could not go over nicely in Russia.

That’s the reason Ovechkin’s profile image, displaying him with Putin, on his verified Instagram account, which has 1.6 million followers, remained as of Wednesday afternoon. There was a plan to vary the image to a logo for world peace after the information convention, however since Ovechkin’s spouse, two kids and fogeys are presently in Russia, it was determined the picture of him and Putin would keep.

Up to now, Ovechkin and Flames defenseman Nikita Zadorov are the one Russian gamers to publicly point out the battle. Zadorov posted a Ukrainian flag emoji and the phrases “No battle” and “STOP IT!!!” on Instagram the day after the invasion.

In response to the participant agent Dan Milstein, who represents dozens of Russian and Belarusian gamers with N.H.L. contracts, his purchasers and their households are dealing with a barrage of abuse and profanity on platforms like Instagram and Twitter.

“I’ve had wives of my gamers receiving very disturbing messages,” Milstein mentioned. “The feedback beneath kids’s footage are Nazi child, get again to Russia, we don’t want you right here, go residence, amongst different issues.”

Milstein, who’s a local of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, was the one individual linked with the N.H.L. who would agree to talk on the report for this text, with others citing worry of repercussions for associates or purchasers who’ve relations in Russia.

An N.H.L. spokesman didn’t reply to requests for remark from Commissioner Gary Bettman. However the league is working with police providers in a few of its 32 group cities to offer further patrols across the arenas and houses of gamers.

Milstein mentioned his Russian purchasers on N.H.L. rosters need nothing to do with the battle in Ukraine however worry the results of talking out.

“In fact, they’re apprehensive not solely about their households but additionally they’re extraordinarily apprehensive about what is going on in Russia,” he mentioned. “My purchasers don’t need the battle, my purchasers need world peace. My purchasers are involved for all of the folks in Ukraine and Russia, everyone.”

The hockey gear maker CCM mentioned final week it could cease utilizing Ovechkin and different Russian gamers in international advertising and marketing campaigns.

Russian and Belarusian gamers and groups have been barred from all worldwide competitions by the Worldwide Ice Hockey Federation. In addition they face requires sanctions from followers, some governments and even the Hockey Corridor of Famer Wayne Gretzky.

Gretzky, 61, and nonetheless some of the influential folks in hockey, referred to as for Russia to be barred from the rescheduled 2022 males’s world junior event shortly earlier than the I.I.H.F. barred the nation. He later defined on the Toronto radio station Sportsnet 590 that he was considering of the big numbers of individuals of Ukrainian descent who reside in Canada, particularly Edmonton, the place the event will probably be performed in August.

“I simply couldn’t relate to how we had been going to welcome a rustic that’s at battle, to a metropolis that has tons of Ukrainian relations which can be nonetheless residing in Ukraine,” mentioned Gretzky, who received 4 Stanley Cup championships with Edmonton. “And I received some pushback from people who mentioned, ‘Why punish the Russian youngsters?’

“It’s not about punishing the Russian youngsters. What concerning the Ukrainian youngsters which can be being killed every day? The Ukrainian youngsters which can be 12 or 14 years outdated, going to battle. I don’t need anyone to be punished. I simply suppose it makes frequent sense that we shouldn’t compete in opposition to this nation proper now, whereas they’re at battle in opposition to an harmless nation.”

Final week, the N.H.L. condemned the Russian invasion in an official assertion and mentioned it was instantly suspending enterprise relationships in Russia. The league suspended ties with the Kontinental Hockey League, which is essentially based mostly in Russia, this week. N.H.L. groups had been informed to cease communications with Okay.H.L. groups and brokers based mostly in Russia.

The N.H.L. assertion additionally made clear the league’s place on Russian gamers, saying they “play within the N.H.L. on behalf of their N.H.L. golf equipment, and never on behalf of Russia.”

Milstein and different participant brokers mentioned barring Russian N.H.L. gamers made no sense and would play into the arms of Putin, who continues the Russian authorities custom of utilizing elite athletes as propaganda.

The participant brokers additionally criticized the Canadian Hockey League, the umbrella group that oversees the three main junior leagues. The C.H.L. lately introduced it canceled this yr’s Russia-Canada sequence. It is usually contemplating a ban on Russian and Belarusian prospects from its import draft, which distributes teenage gamers from international locations outdoors North America to C.H.L. groups. Doing so, Milstein mentioned, would primarily assist Russia, which has reluctance over athletes enjoying elsewhere.

Whereas some observers essential of Ovechkin, just like the Corridor of Fame goaltender Dominik Hasek, would really like him barred for his help of Putin, others suppose suspending him and different Russians wouldn’t assist the state of affairs.

Slava Malamud, a instructor in Baltimore who was a journalist for a few years in Russia, has a powerful following on social media as a staunch critic of Ovechkin. Whereas Malamud mentioned he wouldn’t have an issue with Ovechkin’s being barred from the N.H.L. due to his help for Putin, he didn’t suppose punishing all Russian gamers can be truthful.

“We’re not punishing Russians for being Russian,” he mentioned. “You’ll be able to’t assist the place you’re born. However gamers who’ve explicitly supported Putin, initially Ovechkin, have this on their conscience. He’s stained by this. He did it very willingly.”