However when the Capitals hit the ice to start the Stanley Cup playoffs Tuesday on the Florida Panthers, Kessler gained’t be watching. She has not watched a Capitals recreation since February, when Russia invaded Ukraine.

Her husband’s household is from Ukraine, and Kessler is conflicted about rooting for the staff due to its Russian captain, Alex Ovechkin. Like different followers from Ukraine or with ties to the nation interviewed for this story, Kessler is indignant about Ovechkin’s help for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I nonetheless love the Caps, however I don’t love Alex Ovechkin,” Kessler stated. “It’s going to be actually unusual to not watch the playoffs, however I don’t suppose I can do it.”

The overwhelming majority of Capitals followers seem to nonetheless help Ovechkin and appear to be empathetic to the place the warfare has positioned him and his household in. Because the face of the franchise for greater than a decade, Ovechkin nonetheless brings plain star energy to each recreation — there are much more No. 8 jerseys worn by followers at residence video games than these of some other Capitals participant, and followers regularly chant his title after he scores. On the Capitals’ common season residence finale final week, the group gave him a standing ovation to have a good time a historic season during which he rose to No. 3 on the NHL’s all-time aim listing. The ceremony included messages from his mother and father, spouse and kids, who appeared by way of video from Russia.

However some Ukrainians dwelling within the D.C. space have felt their voices drowned out by the group they as soon as rooted for. Some have used Capital One Enviornment as a spot of protest, waving Ukrainian flags. Others have signed an internet petition demanding the Capitals lower ties with Ovechkin. Some, corresponding to Kessler, have boycotted the staff, believing Ovechkin and the Capitals haven’t gone far sufficient to sentence the warfare.

Ovechkin was booed throughout video games in March at Calgary and Edmonton, which have massive Ukrainian populations. Ovechkin has made probably the most in depth public feedback on the warfare of the roughly 40 Russian gamers within the NHL, a lot of whom have been refrained from the media by their groups. Russian athletes in different sports activities largely have been thought-about pariahs, together with at main occasions — Wimbledon will prohibit gamers from Russia and Belarus from its upcoming event, and FIFA banned Russia from worldwide competitors, which stored it out of this yr’s World Cup.

However maybe no participant has confronted as a lot scrutiny as Ovechkin, certainly one of Russia’s most distinguished athletes who has fallen into the crosshairs of public outrage due to his shut relationship with Putin.

“I used to be a Caps fan for a very long time,” stated Maryna Baydyuk, a Ukrainian who’s president of United Assist Ukraine, a Washington nonprofit. “In sports activities particularly, and on this case with Alex Ovechkin being a supporter of Putin, it simply actually ruins the sense of group that basically needs to help a staff, a neighborhood staff right here that’s doing effectively. We’ve seen the Caps fail, and we’ve seen them win … and we’re all the time rooting for them. It takes away from all the group, as a result of now we’re divided. We’ve followers that say that Ovechkin wants to go away the staff. We’ve followers that at the moment are saying, ‘We don’t know.’ We’ve followers which can be saying we help Ovechkin and the staff. Now you will have this division.”

The Capitals declined to make Ovechkin or proprietor Ted Leonsis obtainable for interviews and declined to remark for this story. The staff condemned the warfare in Ukraine in a March assertion.

“Monumental Sports activities & Leisure and the Washington Capitals be a part of the Nationwide Hockey League in condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the lack of harmless life,” the Capitals said in the statement. “We urge and hope for a peaceable decision as rapidly as potential. The Capitals additionally stand in full help of our Russian gamers and their households abroad. We notice they’re being put in a troublesome scenario and stand by to supply our help to them and their households.”

Ovechkin took a pro-Kremlin stance following the invasion and annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and he acquired a marriage present from Putin in 2017. That yr, the Capitals star launched an internet social media motion known as PutinTeam to help the Russian chief. Although he hasn’t posted because the invasion, Ovechkin’s Instagram profile image nonetheless depicts him alongside Putin.

Alex Ovechkin, the Russian star of the Capitals, says, ‘Please, no extra warfare’

In Ovechkin’s solely public feedback on the invasion in February, he pleaded for “no extra warfare.” When requested whether or not he nonetheless supported Putin, Ovechkin replied, “Effectively, he’s my president.

“However … I’m not in politics,” the 36-year-old continued. “I’m an athlete, and, you understand, how I stated, I hope the whole lot goes to be finished quickly. It’s onerous scenario proper now for either side and the whole lot, like how I stated, the whole lot I hope goes to be finish. I’m not answerable for this case.”

The Capitals confronted backlash in early March after a fan, Margaryta Suvorova, reported on social media that she was not allowed into the world for a house recreation as a result of she was carrying a Ukrainian flag. “I wasn’t even sporting the flag; I used to be simply holding it like a shawl. The safety individuals instructed me I couldn’t convey the flag into the stadium,” stated Suvorova, a Ukrainian who lives and works in D.C. and has attended a number of Capitals video games over the previous few years. “After which I went to Ovechkin’s [Instagram] profile and noticed that he nonetheless has a profile image with Putin. So I used to be like, ‘Okay, it is smart.’ … He nonetheless helps Putin, so that they don’t need all this battle, and so they don’t need to see Ukrainian and Russian flags.”

Capital One Enviornment reiterated its policy the next day — the stadium permits nationwide flags so long as they don’t impede views or hinder followers’ expertise however doesn’t enable indicators which can be political in nature. When Suvorova and a buddy went to a different recreation lower than two weeks later, they have been allowed into the world with Ukrainian flags draped over their shoulders. One of many flags had a printout of Ovechkin’s Instagram web page pinned to it, with a crimson field outlining his image with the Russian chief and textual content beneath that learn, “Ovechkin condemn Putin’s warfare.”

“They will do extra, and they need to do extra,” stated Suvorova, whose brother and grandparents are nonetheless dwelling in Ukraine. “[Ovechkin] has thousands and thousands of followers. … Folks, particularly younger individuals, they give the impression of being as much as Ovechkin. They give the impression of being as much as these stars. You’re on this place, you will have this energy to be an instance, and what instance does he present proper now to individuals? He’s simply not solely silent. … [The Capitals] simply don’t need to do something.”

After studying about followers not being allowed into the world, Kessler wrote to Leonsis. As a fan over time, she had regularly written the proprietor to congratulate him on the staff’s success or to inquire a few participant, and he would typically reply, she stated. This letter was completely different. She wrote that she hoped followers wouldn’t be restricted in expressing their help of Ukraine. She didn’t obtain a response, she stated.

Kevin Blackistone: Alex Ovechkin’s voice is highly effective. His feedback on Ukraine have been a missed alternative.

“I don’t want something unhealthy on the Caps. I really like the Caps. I actually do,” Kessler stated. “The truth that Ovechkin’s profile photograph on his Instagram is himself with Vladimir Putin, it sickens me. It actually does.”

There have been no protests outdoors Capital One Enviornment earlier than the staff’s remaining common season residence recreation, when scores of followers in crimson and blue Ovechkin jerseys lined up outdoors. The vast majority of followers nonetheless help the staff, and near-capacity crowds are anticipated when the Capitals’ first-round playoff sequence strikes to Washington.

Baydyuk, who’s an assistant analysis professor at Georgetown, has taken half in protests on the White Home almost each weekend because the warfare started, and in March she rallied help to carry an indication in opposition to Ovechkin and the Capitals in entrance of Capital One Enviornment. However she and different supporters of Ukraine confronted backlash on-line from Capitals followers, and she or he didn’t really feel a protest earlier than a house recreation could be secure. She as an alternative launched an internet petition calling on the Capitals to half methods with Ovechkin, and greater than 200 individuals have signed it. The group didn’t publicly reply to the petition.

Baydyuk has felt a way of loss for not having the ability to root for her native staff. She remembers the enjoyment she felt when she and her household would attend video games and the way they cheered the Capitals’ Stanley Cup victory in 2018.

“All the massive video games, we all the time watched. … We’ve been Caps followers — up till now,” she stated. “It simply fully ruins the camaraderie of the game, the sensation that you’re enthusiastic about your staff, that you just cherish each participant, that you just help the staff absolutely. It’s not there. For all of us, we misplaced this nice feeling about having this glorious staff in our capital that all of us help. It’s gone.”

As Ovechkin was making ready to play what could be his final recreation of the common season (he was injured within the contest), a few of the space’s Ukrainian hockey lovers gathered on Orthodox Easter Sunday in Baltimore to have a good time their very own NHL stars, submitting right into a theater on the east finish of town. They ate pierogies and drank Ukrainian beer earlier than settling of their seats to view the documentary “UKE,” which depicts the tales of NHL gamers from Ukrainian immigrant households — together with Ken Daneyko, Johnny Bucyk and Wayne Gretzky, who in his analyst function with TNT publicly commented on the warfare and the criticism Ovechkin confronted within the days after the invasion.

“All of us agree that this can be a mindless warfare. … Alex isn’t driving this bus. It’s this one man that’s driving this bus,” Gretzky stated on the telecast, referring to Putin. “And it’s not good.”

Volodymyr Mula, the director of “UKE,” lives in Kyiv however traveled to Baltimore for the viewing. The 32-year-old started engaged on the movie in 2017; it took him greater than two years to safe an interview with Gretzky, he stated, and the pandemic interrupted the discharge date. However he additionally discovered it troublesome to broach the topic of Russia and Ovechkin throughout improvement of the movie.

“I noticed that lots of people doesn’t need to speak about political [issues]. I began to speak about Russian aggression, what they consider Ovechkin making an attempt to help Putin,” Mula stated. “And lots of people instructed me, ‘Don’t ask about it.’ And that’s an enormous downside. I believe politics and sports activities will not be a unique area.”

After displaying his movie, Mula acquired a $10,000 test from the Dnipro Ukrainian Membership, which promotes Ukrainian heritage within the Mid-Atlantic, and he deliberate to return residence and provides the cash to the warfare effort.

Again in D.C., as Ovechkin and the Capitals put together to start their eighth consecutive postseason look Tuesday, Baydyuk shall be serving to handle her nonprofit, which has raised greater than $22 million for Ukraine. Suvorova shall be attending upcoming fundraisers that convey extra consciousness of the warfare. “There’s different issues — they’re extra necessary than simply the Caps,” Suvorova stated. “We simply must do what we will.”

That is probably the most thrilling time of the yr to be a hockey fan, however as an alternative Kessler feels a way of void. She has fond recollections of rooting for her favourite Capitals within the playoffs over time — Scott Stevens, Peter Bondra and Tom Wilson amongst them — however she doesn’t know when she would possibly add extra.

“It’s troublesome. It stinks as a result of I really like the Caps. However I simply really feel like I can’t help them proper now on this scenario,” she stated. “Which makes me unhappy as a result of I nonetheless love a number of the gamers on the staff and I need them to do effectively. However I simply can’t.”