It doesn’t matter if your name is Wayne Gretzky, Sidney Crosby, Brett Hull or Alex Ovechkin. Like kids today, they also had idols growing up and players they looked up to.
For many young players coming into the league, they often get to play against the ones they once had a poster of over their beds.
For Miles Wood, that happened with Alex Ovechkin. But it seemed like it could get off to a rough start.
There are many players that have grown up as Ovechkin fans. Miles Wood was one of them, and when he was 10 years old he decided to send “Ovi” a letter.
“I had a little note that said ‘if you don’t sign this, I’m checking you when I get to the NHL. Sincerely, Miles Wood’,” he said to the New Jersey Devils website back in 2016.
Miles wanted Ovechkin to sign the hockey card and send it with a self-addressed stamped envelope back.
But Ovi never did.
On December 29th 2016, Miles Wood was a New Jersey Devil. And it was also the night he was going to play Alex Ovechkin, his childhood idol, for the first time in the NHL.
Everyone, especially the Wood family, waited to see what was going to happen. Would he actually check the Russian star?
No collision happened, and Ovi got out of the game without getting checked by Wood. However, the Caps forward knew about the story and decided to get Miles a gift before the game.
Ovechkin sent him an autographed picture before the game,
“To Miles, take it easy tonight,” Ovi wrote together with his autograph.
It’s fair to say, Miles Wood probably was pretty happy with the outcome. Even though it was 10 years late.
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