Alex Semin’s team defeated Team Datsyuk 10-9 in Semin’s farewell game from hockey on Thursday. Semin, 38, announced his retirement in May.
Semin’s farewell game, entitled The Match of World Hockey Stars – the Legendary Overtime, featured former Capitals teammates Alex Ovechkin and Viktor Kozlov. Other notables included Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov, former Capital Andrei Nikolishin (1998 Stanley Cup Final team), and Dallas Stars goaltender Anton Khudobin. The proceeds from the ticket sales went to orphanages in the area as well as to the development of sled hockey in Krasnoyarsk.
Semin and Ovechkin both netted hat tricks in the victory. Arguably the most beautiful play came when Semin assisted on an Ovechkin goal by chipping a pass overtop the net that fell perfectly in the crease for an Ovechkin put back.
LOOK AT THIS BEHIND THE NET FLIP PASS FROM ALEXANDER SEMIN!!! 😱#ALLCAPS Alexander Ovechkin just keeps on scoring. pic.twitter.com/7JuQ3fOmP6
— Hockey News Hub (@HockeyNewsHub) June 30, 2022
The end of the game featured all of the players coming onto the ice in a chaotic scene.
What is going on here? 😂
Here's the end of the Alexander Semin farewell game. pic.twitter.com/Q3jjayte5g
— Hockey News Hub (@HockeyNewsHub) June 30, 2022
“On behalf of all hockey players, I want to say a huge thank you to Alexander for inviting us to such a wonderful event,” Ovechkin said according to sports.ru and per a Google Translation. “We will miss you very much in the hockey arena. We want to wish you all the best off the ice.”
The jerseys were red and white and featured a crest that includes Semin’s name overtop the silhouette of a hockey player’s head.
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On Semin’s Instagram, he was tagged by a fan giving away a signed jersey during the game.
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Afterward, there was a big party for Semin that Ovechkin and his wife Nastya attended.
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Perhaps the best gift for Semin came earlier in the day. The governor of Semin’s hometown of Krasnoyarsk announced before the game that the city would begin discussing the creation of a KHL club. The city already has a minor league team that plays in the VHL currently.
“We are thinking about this [participation in the KHL] now,” the governor, Alexander Uss, said per sports.ru. “I think that with the arrival of Sasha [Semin], we will seriously begin to approach this goal.”
“Krasnoyarsk deserves a KHL club,” Ovechkin said of the news per TASS. “You can see how people here support hockey. I hope everything works out.”
Semin, Ovechkin, and Orlov planted apple trees in the city before the game.
Semin retires as the sixth-leading goal scorer in Capitals history with 197 goals. His 40-goal season in 2009-10 remains the only season a Caps player has reached the 40-goal mark in the Ovechkin era outside of Ovi himself.
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