Ovechkin Sees Disruption of Dinamo-Ak Bars Match

  JEFF KLEIN reports that Ovechkin can be seen in the video from the game:

Alex Ovechkin, in Russia to visit his ailing grandfather, was on hand at the Luzhniki Arena in Moscow on Thursday as road flares set off by celebrating Dinamo Moscow fans filled the rink with enough smoke to force officials to suspend the game.



The flares were set off after Dinamo’s Aleksei Badyukov scored against Ak Bars Kazan goalie Wade Dubielewicz to tie the match, 1-1, at the 17:48 mark of the first period. Setting off road flares, or bengalas as they’re known elsewhere, is a common feature at hockey and soccer matches around the world. Usually the smoke disperses after a short while.

Play continued until the intermission, when the teams retired to their dressing rooms. But the smoke continued to accumulate, spreading a dim haze throughout the rink. Before the start of the second period, officials from the arena, the K.H.L. and both teams decided to suspend the match because the “health of the players and fans cannot be guaranteed.”

Despite the smoky conditions, the entire episode unfolded calmly and without violence or panic in the stands.

To watch the Russian telecast of the match, click on this link. The flares go off about halfway through, and at about the two-thirds mark the haze in the rink spreads and officials can be seen discussing what to do next.



Ovechkin is shown at various points near the end of the first period and during the intermission, in the stands with a friend and talking on a cellphone.

Sportbox.ru also reports that Ovechkin was at the game.