Story from a Sabres fan

 Sabre Chaser, Jan. 2, 2008 "WHY ALEXANDER OVECHKIN STOLE MY HEART":

Our supervisor, Betty, is like, in her mid 70's. She's pretty awesome, and she's got a son in his late 40's/early 50's, who has real bad MS. What I didn't know is that her son is a hockey fanatic.

I guess he used to play hockey when he was younger, and was friends with Danny Gare and some of the other Sabres from that era. But since his MS has gotten so bad, and considering his age, he and his friends have stopped playing hockey, but have taken up competition through a fantasy league.

Now, Betty's son bleeds blue and gold, more so than I do, which is a lot. But his favorite player is Alexander Ovechkin. Not surprisingly; I mean, he has amazing skill, and I honestly think he's the best player in the league (Crosby, who? Malkin, who?). Anyways, he has Ovie on his fantasy team.

A while back, he writes a letter to AO, just briefly explaining his situation, where he's come from and what he's become, and told Alex that he loves his game, blah, blah, blah, and basically just says something along the lines of "if you wouldn't mind, I'd love it if you could send me an autographed picture of yourself."

So a good amount of time goes by, and Betty and her son never heard a thing. Until the other day.

The phone rings, and it's the Sabres calling for him.

Whoever it was said, "Mr. Lawson, the Washington Capitals were in town recently, and I have instructions from Mr. Ovechkin to deliver a package to you."

"He is very adamant that this gets to you as quickly as possibly, and made sure to tell us that he will be checking back with us to be sure that it got to you."

So obviously, Betty and her son jump in the car and drive down to HSBC Arena immediately, and sure enough, there was a package waiting.

Betty's son opens it up and finds a handwritten letter from Alex himself. The letter goes on to say how his story is very touching, and Alex appreciates the support, blah, blah, blah.

The best part, though? This is how the letter reads: "I don't have any pictures of myself to send to you, so I hope this will be alright."

What was "this" you might ask?

An autographed, game-used All*Star jersey.

So this is why I love Alexander Ovechkin, because he would give up something so valuable, something so memorable to himself, and something so rare collector-wise, to a person he's never met, just because of a touching letter. Not only is this story heartwarming to me because it's a hockey player doing something nice for a fan, but because Alex's gift made the world for Betty's son. Ovie isn't just a good hockey player, he's a damn good human being, and his act of kindness, which wasn't really too much for him to do, makes me feel better about humanity in general. So next time I hear someone trashing AO for whatever reason, I'm going to think of this story and know how wrong that person is.

Do you think Sidney or Evgeni would do this for a random stranger, who isn't even someone from their hometown, the town they play in, or a town they have a personal connection to? I don't think so.