Ovechkin Learns Twitter

Alexander Ovechkin might be the best hockey player in the world, but learning to use Twitter was a challenge for the face of the Washington Capitals.

Ovie had no idea what the microblogging platform was a month ago.  He was too busy bruising Sydney Crosby, lighting up Tim Thomas and leading the Caps to what is shaping up to be the best record in franchise history.  But as the All-Star Game approached in late January, the NHL and the Capitals thought they would try a innovative way to promote the league’s top player by having him connect with fans.

NHL Director of Communications Mike DiLorenzo hatched the idea for Ovechkin to set up a Twitter account for All-Star weekend as a way of giving fans updates of what he was doing and provide insider insights about what kind of tricks he had up his sleave for the Skills Contest.  DiLorenzo called Caps Director of Media Relations Nate Ewell to share his idea, and the Caps, already a tech-savvy organization under the leadership of owner Ted Leonsis, immediately jumped at the idea.

@Ovi8 was born.

Alexander the Great himself was unfamiliar with Twitter but loved the concept of sending personal updates to his fans.  Despite his superstar status, Ovie is relatively low-key – he lives in a townhouse in Ballston, often walks to the Caps practice facility, and doesn’t carry a Blackberry.  His means of a communication is a cell phone with Cyrillic keys.

So Ewell and Ovie devised a system where Ovie would tell Ewell what to write, and Ewell would type in the updates for @Ovi8 on his mobile device.  The first message went out on January 17 at 3:46: “Thought I'd use this to give you quick updates as I go to the Breakaway Challenge and All-Star Game. For now, big game tonight vs. Boston.”

One might suspect that the message was a little too polished to come from Ovie himself.  The second message surely put any doubts to rest: “Big win last night on a sick shot by Semin. Now we're in Long Island with 2 games left before the break.”  Anyone who is familiar with Ovie’s vernacular knows that he wouldn’t describe Semin’s 1-on-2 slapper over Tim Thomas’ shoulder any other way than “sick.”

Over the next couple of days, @Ovi8’s followers caught a glimpse into the Great No. Eight’s daily routine via Twitter.  They learned he was “At DC airport with tons of obama fans” and “Had a great break with Sergei Fedorov in Miami.”  Up in Montreal, where the All-Star game was being hosted, we learned he was “catching up with [fellow Russians] Markov and Kovy.” 

But his comments about another Russian were perhaps most interesting. “Had a chance to talk with Malkin,” Ovie wrote about the Pittsburgh Penguin whom he’s reported to have had a feud with.  They evidently talked it out, because that night Malkin helped Ovie out in the breakaway contest by feeding him his hat, a Canadian flag and a squirt of Gatorade before he went in for the shot.

@Ovi8 attracted over 1,500 followers in matter of days and has nearly 2,000 today.  Ewell related that the Caps sent out a message through the @washcaps account (600 followers), but that the Ovie account grew organically.  Many of the people following were wishing him well and responding to his posts.  Ewell told Ovechkin that people were writing him back, and #8 told him, “We gotta answer em. Tell em I’m gonna reply.”

So a couple of days later, Ovie responded to his fans.  One individual named @lonesome_hobo wrote “@ovi8 I think you should follow more people.”  Oveckin wrote back, “@lonesome_hobo ok I follow you!”  Indeed, most of Ovechkin’s replies were merely thank you’s to fans for their congratulations on his breakaway contest victory.  He told one fan who joked about his Canadian flag that “I wanted a Russian flag to but couldn't find one.”

Unfortunately, Ovie’s latest updates were his responses to fans and on January 30, and he proverbially hung up his skates on the @ovi8 account, telling his followers, “thanks everybody - I think I take a break from this for a bit but you never know when I come back - see you then.”

As a Caps fan and Web 2.0 enthusiast, I’m hoping that he can fire up that account again soon.  Of course, we wouldn’t want to distract him from scorching goalies on the Bruins, Wings and Devils, as he has in games since the All-Star Break.  But hopefully we’ll see @ovi8 sending messages and thank you’s to the newly-formed @lordstanley account in a couple of months.