SPONSORSHIP - BUDWEISER ZERO
Budweiser sends special cans to goalies who Ovechkin never scored against.
After Alex Ovechkin broke Wayne Gretzky’s all-time Goal scoring record, Budweiser decided to share a toast with the 28 goalies who never gave up a goal to Ovechkin. Collectively, these 28 goalies faced 199 shots from the greatest goal scorer in NHL history, but did not let a single shot get by them.
The NHL Alumni Association worked with Budweiser to identity and track down all 28 goalies to participate in their celebration of “Zero Goals Let In”. They each received a customized can of Budweiser Zero to commemorate their achievement!
The cans include the goalie’s jersey number, the number of shots each goalie faced, and a customized written paragraph.
“The most fun part was making the cans in the first place,” said Patrick Heembrock, marketing director for Budweiser. “Just getting into what the designs were and how we can make them feel very hockey and goalie forward.”
“The vibe of the whole thing worked really well,” Heembrock said. “The response from the general public has been amazing.”
NHL Alumni Executive Director, Glenn Healy, himself a goalie, was very pleased to give recognition and a bit of love to the goalies who managed to stop every shot they faced from Ovechkin. “It’s not easy having the greatest goal scorer in the world coming down on you and letting one rip knowing that he has scored more goals than 99% of other players in NHL history. That’s a lot of pressure, so good for these guys to have stopped him and now be recognized and congratulated by our friends from Budweiser Zero.
Heembrock added that working with each of the goalies has been “super fun,” given that all 28 are getting some unexpected recognition from one of the biggest days in League history.
Included on the list is former NHL goalie Curtis Joseph, who took to social media with his Budweiser Zero can to congratulate Ovechkin on the achievement.
Ovechkin saw the message and came out of the social media woodworks with a witty response.
Other goalies on the list congratulated Ovechkin on social media, including former All-Star Manny Legace, who stopped all 14 shots he faced from the new record-holder.
“Congratulations Ovi for breaking the record and becoming the greatest goal scorer of all time,” Legace said in a social media video. “I also want to thank you for taking it easy on me. Zero goals and 14 shots in the chest. Congratulations again Ovi, you deserve it.”
The initiative was inspired by a similar Budweiser campaign from 2022 when soccer superstar Lionel Messi broke the record for most goals scored. That time, Budweiser sent bottles to all 160 goalkeepers he scored against.
This time around, Budweiser marketing director Heembrock and his team wanted to try something similar, but with its own flare.
“We thought we needed to do something a little bit more and creative on top of that,” Heembrock said. “So when we saw that stat that there was a handful of goalies that Ovi never scored on, it all just fell into place.”
The NHL Alumni was very pleased and proud to partner with Budweiser Zero for this innovative sponsorship program.
