This past November, former Washington Capitals winger Peter Bondra made a trip to the United Arab Emirates to coach a program at the Pavlikovsky Hockey School at Zayed Sports Ice Rink in Abu Dhabi. During his time there, Bondra met a young hockey player named Fatima Al Ali, who left quite the impression on the former NHL player with her very impressive stickhandling skills.
Bondra scored 472 goals and totaled 825 points in 961 NHL games, so for him to say she has better hands than he does is quite the compliment. The former NHLer invited the 26-year-old out to Washington and she made the trip this week.
On Wednesday, Al Ali joined the Washington Capitals at the end of their morning practice and put her stickhandling skills and other skills on display for the team.
It’s one thing to get to meet your favourite player (Alexander Ovechkin) and other players from your favourite team, but to get to hit the ice with them is an unbelievable experience.
Alexander Ovechkin was already her favourite player heading into the trip, and he certainly cemented that title by making her trip as memorable as possible.
It looks like she might even make an appearance in the lineup on Thursday night…
As awesome as her day must have been with her favourite team, the best post of the entire day has to be the photo of her reaction to meeting Ovi for the very first time.
Al Ali will also be taking in Thursday night’s game against the Detroit Red Wings and will be participating in the ceremonial puck drop prior to the game.
(H/T Twitter/Capitals)
