ELMONT, N.Y. -- Pat Sajak has seen it all as a longtime Washington Capitals fan, from the team drafting Alex Ovechkin in 2004 to the Stanley Cup championship run in 2018.
Well, maybe now he’s seen it all.
The former “Wheel of Fortune” host was in attendance at UBS Arena on Sunday to watch Ovechkin score his 895th career goal, breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record for most all-time.
Sajak has been a season ticket holder with the Capitals for two decades, since Ovechkin entered the League, and has seen countless Ovi goals throughout the years. But this one, Sajak said, takes the cake.
“It’s the top for a couple of reasons, one of them hockey, one of them personal,” Sajak told NHL.com. “We’ve had our glass seats in the arena for 20 years now, from the time they [drafted] Alex, and my son, who’s now a father and a doctor, was a teenager. So, we have seen so many of his goals over the years.
“It’s a touchstone for us as a father-son thing,” Sajak continued. “[My son] grew up with Alex, and I’ve had the privilege of watching all these years, so it was kind of an emotional thing for us, coming full circle.”
Sajak and his son, also named Patrick, were in Washington on Friday for the Capitals game against the Chicago Blackhawks when Ovechkin still needed three goals to break the record at that time.
Even though Ovechkin was still a hat trick away from history at that point, Sajak knew he had to be there, just in case.
“A hat trick is a very hard thing to do, but if anyone can do it when they need it, it’s [Ovechkin],” Sajak said. “I was pretty confident he was getting a hat trick, and he was very close."
Ovechkin scored twice in that game to tie Gretzky in the record books.
On Sunday, the father-son duo made their way to Long Island, taking in the game from the same suite as Gretzky and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.
Also in the suite was Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper, who’s team played in Buffalo on Saturday and will take on the New York Rangers on Monday at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Sajak was talking with Cooper at the time of the goal and was taken aback by the emotions of the moment.
“It was fun to see him,” Sajak said. “He’s a hard-boiled hockey guy and he was on the verge of tears.
“It was more moving than I thought it would be,” Sajak said of the moment. “We saw it coming, it’s not like it came out of the blue. We were all prepared for it, but when it happened, it’s kind of a goosebumpy kind of thing.”
Sajak was also part of the celebrity tribute video that played for Ovechkin during the in-game ceremony after Ovechkin scored his 895th career goal. Along with Sajak in the video were greats from all walks such as NBA star LeBron James, Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps and more.
