The son of a footballing dad and a basketball-playing mum, Aleksandr Ovechkin is now the biggest thing in ice hockey. His record-breaking multi-million dollar contract has fired him into the league of sport's superstars and made him an increasingly eligib

In Ice Hockey he's known simply as Alexander the Gr8, because he wears the number eight shirt, Ovechkin's $124 million contract with Washington Capitals has made history. He's the first NHL star ever to command a seven figure deal.

Specialists say he is a sportsman with the potential to go beyond his own game.  He's being tipped to become an icon.

And he already is for younger players now training under his first coach, Ramil Valiluev.

“I took over the team when they were all twelve-years-old. He was one of the leaders and you could see right away that the boy had fine potential and would make an excellent player in the future,” Valiluev said.  

But Ovechkin’s former teammate Andrey Kopentev believes celebrity and money won't turn his head.

“And he'll live up to his potential to dominate the sport for a decade and bring the Russian national team along for the ride. He is young. We all hope the national team will be winning gold medals, and he will be the main contribution for the next ten years. Everyone writes about it, and we, all of us – his friends, hope it’ll be that way,” Kopentsev said.

Think David Beckham, think Tiger Woods, think Aleksandr Ovechkin – young, successful and Russian.

Ovechkin just can’t stop scoring 

In Tuesday’s NHL Russian goal parade in Pittsburgh, where the Capitals overcame the Penguins in penalty shootout 6-5, Alexandr the Gr8 scored twice as well as his compatriots Evgeniy Malkin and Viktor Kozlov.

The second goal became the 36th for Ovechkin this season and he's just one goal behind Ilya Kovalchuk of Atlanta in the league's top scorer race.