Ovie the Bulldog dies at age 12

Ovie the Bulldog, an English bulldog and popular Washington Capitals fan, died Friday at the age of 12.

Ovie's owner Michael Robertson announced the bulldog's passing on Twitter.

Ovie, named after Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin, battled heart tumors and a valve disease the past few years, forcing him to slow down from game appearances. After crashing outside arenas for nearly a decade, Ovie made his last road trip appearance on Feb. 17, 2020 when the Capitals played the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena. It was a fitting final road destination, where the Capitals defeated the Golden Knights in Game 5 of the 2018 Stanley Cup Final on June 7, 2018 to win their first NHL championship.
Ovie traveled to the championship destination then, too. In what was his

road trip, after moving from Rockville, Maryland to San Diego in 2014, Ovie and Robertson traveled 2,700 miles to attend Game 3 of the Final in Washington.
"This is, like, his retirement ride," Robertson
told NHL.com in 2018
. "He's 8 now. He gets stressed on drives. So there was no better way for him to make this final drive than to come for the Cup."
Ovie and Robertson visited different arenas together often. They went to Capitals road games against the Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Coyotes, New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings and Golden Knights. The two hung outside the arenas, where Ovie greeted and garnered the attention of fans in his custom No. 8 jersey. The four-legged fella made it into arenas a few times while participating in charity events, such as Dogs on Deployment.
Robertson will travel to games without his furry friend from now on, but the Capitals will always have a super fan in Ovie.