{"id":342868,"date":"2025-12-11T10:52:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T10:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/342868\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T10:52:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T10:52:08","slug":"ovechkin-enjoys-great-time-hosting-clinic-for-american-special-hockey-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/342868\/","title":{"rendered":"Ovechkin enjoys \u2018great\u2019 time hosting clinic for American Special Hockey kids\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ARLINGTON, Va. &#8212; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/player\/alex-ovechkin-8471214\" title=\"Alex Ovechkin\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Alex Ovechkin<\/a> became the NHL\u2019s all-time leader in goals last season, but to the players, coaches and leadership with the American Special Hockey Association, the Washington Capitals forward hasn\u2019t changed.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout their 11-year relationship, Ovechkin has been a friend and a champion for their cause. That was evident again Wednesday when the Capitals captain hosted a hockey clinic for approximately 50 ASHA players at their practice facility.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s great to spend time with those kids,\u201d Ovechkin said. \u201cYou see parents smiling, they\u2019re smiling, they have some fun and I\u2019m enjoying to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Founded in 2007, ASHA uses hockey to provide a therapeutic outlet for players with intellectual, developmental and physical disabilities. This is the eighth season Ovechkin hosted ASHA players for an ice hockey or street hockey event since he became an ASHA ambassador in 2014.<\/p>\n<p>During that span, ASHA has grown from 45 programs to 140 across the United States, with more than 8,750 athletes participating and 11,500 total members including coaches and volunteers. Players from six teams participated Wednesday: the Washington Ice Dogs, NOVA Cool Cats, Montgomery Cheetahs, Frederick Gargoyles, Richmond Retrievers and Hershey Heroes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s super special because you have an organization and the athletes that participate with it taking part in activities that truly help grow the sport, but help grow the sport in a population that is often times forgotten about,\u201d said Mike Miller, a coach and founder of the Hershey Heroes, whose son Nate plays for the team. \u201cOvi\u2019s commitment to American Special Hockey is beyond belief and expectation, quite frankly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe gives tickets, he gives time, which is even more important, and he just gives of himself, as has been witnessed on countless occasions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARLINGTON, Va. &#8212; Alex Ovechkin became the NHL\u2019s all-time leader in goals last season, but to the players,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-342868","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}