The Ovechkin Effect

Midway through the month of September, Caps’ captain Alex Ovechkin celebrated his 38^th birthday. In April of this year, he celebrated his “half-life” with the Caps; Ovechkin has now spent more than half of his life with the Washington organization.

Over that span of nearly two decades, the hockey landscape has changed drastically in this area. Caps’ games draw consistently strong attendance, and the team has been successful on the ice during the Ovechkin era. Washington has made the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 14 of the last 16 seasons, and it won its first Stanley Cup championship in 2018.

Those are just the differences and improvements visible to those who follow the team, though. Another impact of the Ovechkin era of Caps hockey is the growth of hockey participation in these parts over the last two decades.

When Washington released its rookie camp and training camp rosters for this fall’s training camp, four local products who played youth hockey while growing up in the area were among the players listed. At the Capitals’ main camp were Garrett Roe of Vienna, Va., Joe Snively of Reston, and Alex Limoges of Winchester. Additionally, the Caps invited Ashburn’s Ryan Leibold to their rookie camp in Annapolis in the days leading up to training camp.

The 35-year-old Roe is the oldest of the quartet, and the 24-year-old Leibold is the youngest. The 27-year-old Snively is the only one of the four to ascend to the NHL thus far; he has played a dozen games for the Caps in each of the last two seasons, and he helped the AHL Hershey Bears to a Calder Cup title last spring.

The NHL has been in existence for over 100 years now. Adding up all the players in hockey-reference.com’s birthplace data base, a total of 8,353 players have suited up for at least one game in the League as of the start of this season. Just under 65 percent of those players were born in Canada, while 16.4 percent come from the USA and 18.8 percent of them come from the rest of the world.

Of those Americans, only 13 were players born within what constitutes the DMV – the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. Seven players hail from Virginia, and three each were born in Maryland (including former Caps’ captain Jeff Halpern) and in D.C. Of the Virginia contingent, the most notable ones come from downstate: Eric Weinrich (1,157 NHL games) is from Roanoke, Scott Lachance (819) is from Charlottesville and Scott Darling (126) was born in Newport News. Those three are the only Virginia natives to skate in as many as 100 NHL contests.

Since Ovechkin’s arrival in the area in 2005, youth (and other) hockey participation has increased significantly. There are currently 21,949 total registered USA Hockey players in D.C., Maryland and Virginia (USA Hockey’s Potomac Valley) through the 2022-23 season, representing a 71 percent increase in USA Hockey registrations since Ovechkin’s arrival on the scene 18 years ago.

The total number of USA Hockey-registered youth hockey players (ages 18 and under) in the Washington D.C. area more than doubled from 2005-06 through 2022-23, climbing by 161 percent over that span.

According to USA Hockey registration figures, girl’s hockey registration (aged 19 and under) has also more than doubled since pre-Ovechkin days; climbing by 155 during that time. The total of all players (youth and adult) has risen by a total of 71 percent beginning in 2005-06.

With more participants and some new facilities in the area, hockey participation is expanding in the DMV. And given the interesting crossover with four former local youth hockey players – now playing professionally – from the area attending Caps’ camp this fall, it’s a good time for them to tell their stories, and to reflect on what they’ve seen along the way.

Garrett Roe

Roe is the elder statesman of the local professional contingent. He grew up in nearby Vienna, Va., and his dad Larry co-founded the Reston Raiders more than three decades ago.

“My dad was from Long Island, and he was a multi-sport athlete growing up,” remembers Roe. “So he played different sports, and obviously hockey was a passion of his. But he never played professionally or anything like that. He started to work with the program, and he helped start the Reston Raiders.

“My brothers played, and every kid grows up wanting to be like their brother. I’d sit at the ice rink watching him practice, and I’m three years old, so I basically was skating by the time I could walk, so it was a fun little way to come up. My kid is maybe going to do the same thing, or maybe not. It’s fun to be able to pass it down, but my dad just got my brothers into it, and then I just followed their lead.”

Roe was such a good player at such a young age that he needed to go elsewhere (Shattuck St. Mary’s in Faribault, Minn.) to be able to play prep hockey with and against a higher caliber of players.

“I had to leave here when I was younger, to kind of find the hockey,” says Roe. “I played here until I was in ninth grade, so I was gone for prep school. But that was the plan the whole time; that’s just how the area was for hockey. And the area has obviously grown and has more players playing collegiately now, and definitely more guys playing professionally.”

Roe made enough of an impression that he attended a couple of the Caps’ summer development camps in the years before the Los Angeles Kings used a seventh-round pick (183^rd overall) in the 2008 NHL Draft to select him, following his freshman season at St. Cloud St.

“I was at one in Hershey and one at Piney [Orchard] back in the day,” says Roe of the Caps’ camps. “They needed some guys in camp and they wanted to call a local guy at the last minute, and I was one of the few at the time.

“It really started with [Jeff Halpern]. He was the first guy who was able to carry the torch, and I never was really able to replace him. But we have way more guys coming out of the area, which is really fun to see. There are guys in different organizations now, and obviously a lot more collegiate [players]. The skates in the summer now are actually pretty good; before they weren’t at all. There has been a lot of improvement in the area, and it’s been really, really fun to be a part of it.”

One of the common themes from the four local players is their impression of how many more collegiate hockey players come out of the area these days.

“From when Halpy started up to now, and I think it’s probably 30 or 35 more [local collegiate players] now,” estimates Roe. “Ovechkin has obviously grown the game here. I remember going to Caps’ games when I was younger, and we were fans. But it wasn’t to the extent where Ovi really brought the craze to another level. He is a bona fide great player and we’re all lucky to have that come to this area. He has been a big part of that.”

When Roe was playing collegiate hockey a decade and a half ago, Halpern was one of the few local players playing collegiately or professionally. These days, the group is larger and growing, and the players are happy to have each other to talk about the ups and downs and ongoing grind of their chosen profession.

“In professional sports, it’s a dog-eat-dog world,” says Roe. “You’re on a team, but you also want to be the best for you, too. That’s just how it is. With the guys from the area, I’m in a different position than Joe Snively. But he can absolutely trust me, and he can go to me, and I can ask him things, and we can root for each other. We try to help bring each other along, and just make the most of our time together.”

After forging an excellent career for himself in Europe over the last decade, Roe returned to the States and has signed a contract with AHL Hershey for this season.

Joe Snively

Snively was born in Herndon, and he also left the area after playing for the Little Caps, moving on to South Kent School (Conn.) and eventually, to the USHL. Snively starred at Yale for four seasons, signing with the Caps as a free agent in March of 2019.

“My dad grew up in Canada, in an English-speaking neighborhood in Montreal,” recalls Snively. “He’s American, but my grandfather moved there for work, so he fell in love with the game that way. He never played at a really high level, but he just always loved the game. He taught it to my older brother and I, and he was our hockey coach growing up. He brought us to Capitals’ games, and he brought the game of hockey into our lives. We’d go to a couple of Caps’ games every year, and I eventually played there in the mini-mites and the shootouts and stuff like that.”

Snively has achieved his dream of playing in the NHL, and he has played well, totaling six goals and 11 points in 24 games over the last two seasons with Washington. Snively was also the AHL Hershey Bears’ leading playoff scorer (two goals, 15 points in 20 games) on the team’s run to a Calder Cup championship last season.

“There have always been two triple A teams in the [DMV] area,” says Snively. “But from those triple A teams, there may be a handful of guys that would go on to play Division I maybe, and maybe some Division III players. And a lot of those players had to move away when they get to high school. So every year, maybe one or two guys were going on to the next level.

“Now, when I go to local skates, I’ll see four or five kids from the same age group – same birth year – going to play junior hockey, committed to a Division I school. The Capitals’ success – especially through the Backstrom and Ovi years, those two leaders who've been here for almost 20 years now – brings excitement to hockey, and then kids want to play hockey.

“We’ve seen a couple new rinks built; the St. James facility, and the one in Leesburg, Ion [International Training Center]. It’s been really interesting. And I said this when I was asked during my first development camp here, but there’s going to be more kids coming. There are some really good players from this area that’ll be coming. They’re in college now and they’ll become pros soon. It’s very exciting.”

The quartet of players in Caps’ camp this fall represents a significant chunk – but not all – of the pro hockey playing contingent from the DMV area.

“It’s pretty cool because I’d say the four guys within the organization here [in camp] this fall is a pretty big concentration of the professional players in this area,” notes Snively. “Sam Anas (Potomac, MD) was here last year, and there are a couple of guys who skate with us in the summer here, Ture Linden (Great Falls, VA) and Patrick Giles (Chevy Chase, MD).

“But a big chunk of the guys who play from this area are in the Caps’ organization, which is pretty cool, that the Caps are looking at local talent. And they also do a good job of investing in the youth here, the youth hockey community. And this is a big area; it’s not like we all live 15 minutes away; there are guys from Leesburg and Winchester. A lot of guys would go to train at their college for the summer, and it’s pretty cool how we can all train here now, together. It’s nice.”

Even in short conversations, Snively's passion for the game is evident, and coaching is something he could see in his future.

“It’s crossed my mind," he says. "I have nothing set in stone for when I’m done playing. But it’s something that interests me, staying involved in hockey, even if it’s staying involved in youth hockey and coaching that way. I haven’t thought about it too much, but I do love the game of hockey and would love to stay around it when I’m done playing.”

Alex Limoges

Born in Colorado, Limoges grew up as a fan of the Colorado Avalanche before moving to Texas, and eventually, to Winchester, Va.

“My dad played all his life,” says Limoges. “He was born in Montreal and raised in the Canadian winters up there. He played professionally in Germany in one of the second or third leagues. I started skating after his men’s league games out in Colorado, and then in Texas I started playing on a team and stuff. And then when I came to Virginia, it just took off from there.

“I followed the Avs, and they won a Cup while I was there. And then when I went to Texas, they won a Cup and I left school to go to the parade, which was a highlight. It was awesome, sitting on my dad’s shoulders. But it’s weird. As soon as I moved here, I became a Caps fan right away. I still follow sports from back there, and from here, too. But the Caps became my go-to team and still are.”

Winchester is further from the District than Vienna, Herndon, Ashburn or any of the other homes of local pro players, so Limoges’ road to the pros may have been a bit more arduous. He went to play for ex-NHL forward Bill Muckalt’s Tri-City Storm squad in the USHL in 2015-16, just after his 18^th birthday. Following two seasons in that circuit, he starred at Penn State for four seasons, posting nearly a point per game with the Nittany Lions.

“I think it was harder for me, being out in Winchester and being so far away from rinks,” says Limoges. “It wasn’t a hockey crazy area, and I had to travel a lot. But now, it seems like so many rinks are popping up, and there are more organizations and options for kids around here nowadays. It’s cool to see what the Caps have done in local communities and just how they’ve grown the game. I think in Virginia now, hockey is on the map. You’re starting to see kids get drafted and going to Division I [schools] and all that stuff. So it has really come a long way since I was young.”

Upon finishing school at Penn State, Limoges moved directly to the AHL, a big jump for an undrafted player. But upon signing with AHL San Diego in 2020-21, Limoges hit the ground running as a pro. He racked up 11 goals and 21 points in just 23 games in his first half season in the AHL, and he has authored successive 20-goal seasons in the circuit since.

“Honestly, it was one of those things where everything lined up,” recalls Limoges. “Everything happens for a reason. It was a very frustrating year with COVID and all the hoops that we had to jump through with the NCAA, the Big Ten and Penn State. We didn’t play too much in college [that ’20-21 season]; it was only an in conference schedule. And we lost a month there because the team got COVID, unfortunately right before the playoffs, and it was hard to come back after that. We had one weekend of games and then playoffs right after that.

“I came back hungry and I found my legs. And luckily, the AHL started late. When I got there, there was a taxi squad [in the NHL] and the top guys were up [in Anaheim]. I remember getting a call – and back then you had to quarantine for a couple of days before you got to the rink – and they said, ‘Hey, you can come and practice today. And, by the way, you’re playing tomorrow.’

“It was good to be thrown in there; I didn’t have a lot of time to think about it and get anxious. And the top guys were up [in the NHL], so there was opportunity and room. I had five games before they came back down, and I did really well. And when they came back down, I kept doing well. I’ve always heard that in the pros, if you get your opportunity, you need to run with it because most of the time – especially for [undrafted] free agents, they don’t happen twice. That launched my professional career, and I’ve tried not to look back.”

As he has moved from the USHL to NCAA to the AHL, Limoges has found that his unusual “hometown” of Winchester raises some eyebrows.

“It was definitely a conversation starter out there,” he says. “You’ve got those hockey hotbeds, and being from Virginia, I was probably the only guy they’d ever met or played with from Virginia at that time. It was cool to kind of tell them the story of hockey in Virginia, and it was an experience, but now you’re seeing people from everywhere [playing the game]. It’s been being not just another number in the Michigan, Minnesota and Boston areas. It’s been fun being in my own little category.”

Ryan Leibold

At 24, Leibold is the youngest of the quartet and the newest to pro hockey; he will start his first full season as a pro this fall. After playing five seasons of collegiate hockey – four at Holy Cross and one at Merrimack – Leibold signed a contract with ECHL South Carolina last spring, and he got into nine late-season games with the Stingrays, putting up a goal and four points in nine games.

“I started playing because I lived super close to the Ashburn Ice House,” says Leibold. “I was driving by there and wanted to see what was inside, and I got hooked when I got in there. Probably one of the coolest things that happened to me at a young age, the Caps held their training camp at the Ice House many years ago [in 2006], so I got to see all those guys up close and it was a super cool experience.”

The Ashburn training camp to which Leibold refers was ahead of Ovechkin’s sophomore season in the NHL, and before Backstrom’s arrival on the scene in D.C. Leibold was able to grow up watching both players as their careers flourished and his own skills began to evolve and blossom.

“I went to some games growing up, a couple of playoff games, a couple of Game Sevens,” says Leibold. “Went to both of the Winter Classic outdoor games, and that was super awesome as well.

“Everywhere you look, you see an Ovechkin jersey. As he has played all of his years here, I think hockey has only grown and grown and grown. I do a lot of coaching in this area these days, and there are just so many teams now. It’s pretty cool to see how much the game has grown now, especially since I was a little kid.”

Leibold was appreciative of the opportunity to attend the Caps’ rookie camp this September, before he headed down to Charleston for Stingrays training camp.

“It’s pretty cool,” he smiles, pointing at his Caps’ sweater. “No ‘Little’ [Caps] up here anymore. It’s a pretty cool experience. Over the summer, I was training in Arlington, which helped me relax a little bit with all the Caps’ stuff and not be starstruck or anything like that. But just being around the guys having the big logo on their chest has been super awesome.”

Asked about which of his interactions with the Caps’ veteran group may have stood out to him at camp, Leibold didn’t hesitate.

“Nick Backstrom,” he answers. “First time I met him, he walked up to me and said, ‘What’s up man, my name’s Nick.’ And I just thought in my head, ‘I know. I’ve got your jersey in my closet.’”

Leibold isn’t sure how far his pro hockey career will take him, and he knows he has his degree to fall back on, should he decide at any point to seek employment in the business world or to pursue a graduate degree. But for now, he’s all in with the game of hockey.

“I still love the game,” he says. “I still feel like I have more to give to the game and if I have the opportunity to keep playing, then I’m going to do it. I still love it, so I want to keep going.”

Leibold cracked the South Carolina roster this fall, and he believes the nine-game late season trial was useful in getting him acclimated for his pro career.

“That was a super valuable experience, coming into this and kind of knowing what to expect from the program,” says Leibold. “It was just super helpful this summer, knowing how to train and what I need to get out of myself.”

Leibold also has the rest of the quartet in his corner now, too, as they all continue to pursue their dreams.

“I train most summers with Alex Limoges, Joe Snively, Sam Anas and Garrett Roe, Patrick Giles, Ture Linden, all guys that are playing pro now. We kind of bounce ideas off each other and talk about experiences. It’s pretty awesome to have all those guys in the area.”

It surely is, and it’s pretty awesome to have more on the way, too.