Capitals forward could break The Great One's mark as early as Friday
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By Dan Rosen
@drosennhl NHL.com Senior Writer
RALEIGH, N.C. -- NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and many other League executives were at Lenovo Center on Wednesday to see Alex Ovechkin score his 892nd goal, moving the Washington Capitals forward to within three of breaking Wayne Gretzky's NHL record of 894.
Gretzky is expected to join Bettman, Capitals chairman Ted Leonsis, Ovechkin's family and the NHL's full traveling party in Washington on Friday, when THE GR8 chase resumes against the Chicago Blackhawks at Capital One Arena (7 p.m. ET; NHL Network, SN, TVAS, CHSN, MNMT).
"We want to make sure we're here when magic happens," Bettman told NHL.com Wednesday night in Raleigh.
The NHL has been preparing for Ovechkin's record-breaking 895th goal for months. It’s in overdrive now, evidenced by the strong League presence at the game Wednesday and all the bells and whistles they had with them.
"We want to ensure that this moment gets the attention and the respect that it deserves," Bettman said. "When you think about, for example our trophies, in particular the Stanley Cup, it is the most magnificent trophy and trophy presentation in all of sports. We want to afford this that kind of respect."
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The League's traveling party led by Bettman and Gretzky will be at every Capitals game until he breaks the record. But this isn't as simple as just getting on a plane and reserving a suite in the arena to be there for history.
"We're treating this game and every game he plays like a Stanley Cup Playoff game," NHL president of content, events and productions Steve Mayer said. "We've traveled camera crews from all over. It's the crews that do all the all-access shows. We're micing up like everyone. We're working with the networks with mics and additional cameras. You have reporters from networks traveling. People are treating it almost like a Stanley Cup Final game.”
For perspective, the Hurricanes on Wednesday had to make room for 46 camera positions throughout the arena for TNT, Monumental Sports Network, FanDuel Sports Network, NHL productions, and digital crews from the Capitals, Hurricanes and the NHL.
On Jan. 9, when the Toronto Maple Leafs were at Lenovo Center for a nationally televised game on ESPN+ and TSN, the Hurricanes had 26 video camera positions in use.
On Friday, when the Montreal Canadiens were here with their substantial traveling media group there were 70 occupied seats in the press box. On Wednesday, there were more than 100, many of which were added after Ovechkin scored his 891st goal in Boston on Tuesday.
Emily Kaplan was here for ESPN doing SportsCenter hits throughout the day from the arena.
Bettman was in the building doing interviews with all three networks broadcasting the game (TNT, FanDuel Sports Network, Monumental Sports Network). He was originally scheduled to do a pregame press conference, but travel delays due to weather in Toronto forced that to be cancelled.
The Hurricanes expanded their press conference room to the layout they use in the playoffs, allowing Ovechkin to do a postgame press conference in front of a special backdrop featuring the NHL shield and the GR8 CHASE logo.
Visit NHL.com/GR8Chase to watch classic milestone goals & highlights, read exclusive stories and more!
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Four-and-a-half hours before the game there was a rehearsal for the on-ice ceremony the NHL will stage the moment he breaks the record.
"I have to say, it is extra work but it's also extremely cool for us," Hurricanes vice president of communications Mike Sundheim said. "We've had a second-row seat to Ovechkin's entire career -- he was drafted here, he's played an All-Star Game and Stadium Series here and he's played more games against our team than any other in the league. Obviously, we'd prefer to win every game against him, but I think our fans really have an appreciation for the privilege we've had to watch him that much, even as an opponent."
The NHL is getting that level of cooperation from every team the Capitals have played and will play along the way on Ovechkin's record chase.
"All 32 teams are all in on it," Mayer said. "I was watching Utah the other night, 'Ovi' scores and within seconds they broke into the Utah game, they showed a highlight, they put up the graphic, the leaderboard. He wasn't playing there. Every team is all in and it's been a coordinated effort. It's not their moment, but they all want to be part of history."
Mayer said pregame rehearsals for the on-ice ceremony will be held in every city Ovechkin plays in until he breaks the record.
He is at home against the Blackhawks on Friday. The Capitals play at the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Sunday. They're at home against the Hurricanes on April 8, at the Columbus Blue Jackets on the 12th and home against them the next night before closing out with road games against the Islanders on the 15th and Pittsburgh Penguins on the 17th.
"We're traveling all the materials for the ceremony to every city," Mayer said. "They're traveling with the Caps. So, the equipment manager of the Caps (Brock Myles) is literally packing everything up for us at the end of the night and putting it on their plane. It's going with all their equipment from city to city. Every place we go there's a full-blown rehearsal. There's video that's going to be part of it. The ribbon board, everything. The whole place is going to turn into 'Ovi Land,' but it takes coordination. And whether we're in Carolina or at the New York Islanders or in Columbus, we've got to rehearse. We're going to rehearse over and over and over again because want to get it right and we want to make it feel big."
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The League began putting together plans for the record-breaking goal months ago. They brought them to Leonsis and the Capitals at the Board of Governors' meeting in Florida in early December.
"At that December meeting is when we walked through the whole plan," Mayer said. "Ted was blown away. We gave him pages and pages, graphics, here's what we're doing everywhere."
Said Leonsis, "I thought that they were paying proper homage to the most important player or one of the most important players of the last two decades."
Leonsis wants more attention on it now that Ovechkin is so close. He said he would like to see major news networks like CNN, Fox, NBC, CBS and ABC break into their programming for Ovechkin's next three goals.
"I remember when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were able to crossover. I'd like to see a little bit more of that," he said. "But what the League has done and what we've done and all of the teams has been great. The NHL is a growth stock right now and I think he's fueling it."
Bettman compared the impact Ovechkin's record chase is having on the League and the sport to the surge in interest during and after the 4 Nations Face-Off in February.
"The great thing about sports is amazing things can be accomplished and to see Alex Ovechkin have an amazing career and now be on the verge of breaking a record that nobody ever thought was possible, it's historic and it's a testament to both Wayne and to Alex," Bettman said. "You don't have to be a hockey fan or sports fan to know something special is about to happen."
