NHL: Ovetschkin gives up his Olympic dream:”This sucks”

Russian hockey superstar Alexander Ovetschkin has backed down and abandoned his hopes of participating in the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang/South Korea,”It sucks we’re not going to play there,”the Washington Capitals striker wrote in a statement posted on his website by the club.

The NHL had declared at the beginning of April that it would not hire any pros for the 2018 Winter Games.The 31-year-old Ovetschkin then announced that he would travel to Pyeongchang on his own initiative if necessary.Now The Great Eight has given up.

“Since the past Olympic Games, I have explained time and again that nobody can tell me that I am not allowed to play.Now the IIHF and the NHL have announced that my country must not ask me and there is nothing more to discuss.”

NHL players at the Olympics are good for hockey and good for the games,”Ovetschkin wrote.The NHL pros have been in the Winter Games since 1998 and will be missing in South Korea “I hope things will change and we’ll get another chance in 2022,”Ovetschkin said.