Wayne Gretzky, Alex Ovechkin play to a draw in charity NHL 20 fundraiser

Alex Ovechkin and Wayne Gretzky may not be as good at NHL 20 as they are with the real game of hockey, but Wednesday’s event was for a very good cause.

If someone were to tell you that Alex Ovechkin and Wayne Gretzky — two of the greatest goal scorers in NHL history — played in a friendly competition of NHL 20, you’d probably be confused at what universe you ended up in. Well, thanks to the coronavirus, it’s this one, but the competition between the two stars ended up being for a great cause at the end of the day.

On Wednesday, Ovechkin and Gretzky played two matches of NHL 20 on the Washington Capitals’ Twitch channel that had over 300,000 concurrent viewers at its peak. The pair faced off in the virtual space to raise money for coronavirus relief, which in total helped raise $40,000 that will be split between the Edmonton Food Bank and MSE Foundation’s Feeding the Frontlines fund.

In the first matchup, Gretzky prevailed with a 5-4 overtime victory, while Ovechkin handily won the second game 4-1. The series was supposed to be a best-of-three, but after two games, the pair called it quits.

“We both are not very good at this game, but what a great cause, right, when everybody’s so down and out,” Gretzky said to NHL.com. “So, a fun night and hopefully everybody’s having a little bit of enjoyment laughing at us.”

Neither Ovechkin or Gretzky are avid gamers, so the pair had help behind the scenes to get things rolling. Gretzky was joined by his sons Ty and Trevor, while Ovechkin got help from esports star John “JohnWayne” Casgranda of Caps Gaming.

It was, it seems, incredibly fitting that the event ended in a tie. Ovechkin still remains in the hunt for Gretzky’s goals record, sitting 189 goals shy of usurping the record from the greatest hockey player of all time. To Gretzky’s credit, he is incredibly supportive of Ovechkin in his quest, even going so far as to root for him to break it.

“I can’t help but cheer and root for him every day. I watch a lot of his games. I probably watch almost every game he plays,” Gretzky said, via Russian Machine Never Breaks. “I hope for them to score goals. I pull for him to score goals. I think it’s great for the game. I think what he’s doing is tremendous.”

Of course, Ovechkin and Gretzky never played on the same ice during their careers, but at least this virtual NHL 20 matchup gave us the head-to-head rivalry we’ve been longing for. And for a good cause too!

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