Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that the Washington Capitals’ captain and super sniper, Alexander Ovechkin, broke Wayne Gretzky’s goal-scoring record this weekend when he beat countryman Ilya Sorokin on a power play. A celebration followed on the ice, but American beer giant Budweiser had another celebration in mind.
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In a fantastic marketing coup, the company produced limited edition beer cans 0 of 895 and sent one to each of the 28 goalies who have faced the Great Eight without surrendering a goal. Montreal Canadiens’ backup, Jakub Dobes, made the list, alongside three former Habs goaltenders, Jocelyn Thibault, David Aebischer, and Mike Condon.
Dobes only faced Ovechkin once and turned aside his only shot in a 3-2 Canadiens win over the Capitals in January.
Meanwhile, Thibault, who landed in Montreal in the much-maligned Patrick Roy trade alongside Martin Rucinsky and Andrei Kovalenko, faced five Ovechkin shots without being beaten.
As for Aebischer, who was acquired in a goalie swap with the Colorado Avalanche that saw Jose Theodore head to Denver and spent parts of two seasons in Montreal, he faced two Ovechkin shots and stopped them both.
Budweiser sent special-edition cans to the 28 goalies who faced shots from new all-time NHL goalscoring king Alex Ovechkin and did not give up a goal 🍺 pic.twitter.com/fcndiX3nLy
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) April 7, 2025
Finally, Mike Condon, who played 55 games with the Canadiens and was parachuted into the number one role because of a knee injury sustained by Carey Price in 2015-16, faced the second-highest shot total without being beaten with 18.
It will be interesting to see if anyone ever beats Ovechkin’s goal today. He still has another contract year to improve his 895 total. To put things into perspective, the best goal scorer in Canadiens history, Maurice Richard, scored 544 goals, and the highest goal total for an active player not named Ovechkin belongs to Sidney Crosby, with 622 goals. Congratulations on the record Ovi and cheers!
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