Alexander Ovechkin Washington Capitals 2005-06 Upper Deck The Cup Hockey Autographed Rookie Patches Gold Rainbow 8/8 #179 BGS 8/10 Autograph | Rookie Card | On-Card Autograph | Game-Used Patch | Jersey Number Match

For many hockey collectors, 2005-06 Upper Deck The Cup is to hockey cards what Upper Deck’s high profile Exquisite Collection basketball set had been for basketball hobbyists: a game changer. Priced similarly to its Exquisite counterpart except in a six-box per case configuration, the set heavily featured what Upper Deck had become so well known for around the turn of the century thanks in no small part to Exquisite: rookie patch autographs (RPAs). In the years since, The Cup has become one of the most beloved hockey card sets of the 21st century and is considered by many to be one of the most important ever produced.

The Cup shared another fortuitous feature with the 03-04 Exquisite set: an incredible incoming rookie class. Headlined by RPAs of Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals and Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, The Cup also featured the incredible Property Of set that featured 1/1 relic cards with pieces of game-used sticks from legends Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Hull. Also included, the much loved Limited Logos, Emblems of Endorsement and Stanley Cup Titlists sets from Exquisite as well as Shield Autographs and Dual Shield Autographs. Each of these have become mainstays in the hobby since and in many cases, entries from The Cup have represented record setting card sales, including for Ovechkin. His RPA limited to 99 copies currently holds the public record sale for his trading cards, with a PSA 10 selling for $182,400 in 2023.

Presented here is the Gold Rainbow parallel of that record setting card. Limited to the player’s jersey number, this parallel features gorgeous gold-rainbow foiling alongside often-striking patches and bold signatures that serve to make the already impressive RPAs even more vibrant. Thanks to his famous number eight, there are only eight prints of this incredible card featuring Ovechkin, with this being the last in the print run. The incredible four-color patch beautifully complements a fantastic signature from hockey’s all-time leading goal scorer that has garnered Beckett’s highest autograph grade, making for one of the most important cards ever produced for one of the greatest hockey players to ever take the ice. The subgrades add to the magnitude of the card; it has received a 9 in centering and 9.5s in both edges and surface. This is the first example to surface in four years for public sale, so do not miss the chance to own this historic piece. There is no telling when another may surface again.

The BGS certificate number for this card is: 0016998216.

Going Deeper - Alexander Ovechkin

“Russian Machine never breaks.” That has been the refrain the Great 8’s fans have sung since a puck hit Alexander Ovechkin’s foot in 2006. Ovechkin made that remark somewhat in jest when confirming with reporters that he was fine after a teammate’s shot had forced him from the ice in their previous game, however it has turned out to embody the longevity of his career. 

Ovi entered the NHL at a turbulent time for the league. After being drafted first overall by the Washington Capitals in 2004, a labor dispute erupted that, for the first time among the four major North American Sports leagues, resulted in a lockout that forced the cancellation of a full season of play. When play resumed in the fall of 2005, there were two freshly minted number one picks on the ice, with his 2005 counterpart being his soon-to-be career-long rival Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Ovechkin proved worth the wait for Capitals fans. Ovi made his NHL debut on October 5, 2005, and immediately let the hockey world know that an elite scorer had arrived in Washington. With 12:39 left in the second period, Ovechkin fired a laser from the middle of the ice to score his first goal to tie the game, and then came back four and a half minutes later to tie the game again with a lightning-fast rebound shot. Thus began the most prolific scoring career that the NHL has ever seen. Ovechkin set his pace with 52 goals, the third best total for an NHL rookie on his way to the Calder Trophy for Rookie of the Year. 

His extraordinary abilities were on full display when he scored what has since been called simply “The Goal,” in front of Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky no less. Already up 5-1 with 8:12 left in the third period, Ovechkin took the puck from the Caps’ side of center ice, skillfully maneuvered around Paul Mara, and then as he fell to the ice released a rocket of a backhand to score Washington’s sixth goal of the game. The Great One remarked ““That was pretty nice…He’s a phenomenal player. He’s that good. He deserves all of the accolades he’s getting.” Auston Matthews, a player many see as a potential successor to Gretzky and Ovechkin’s goal scoring prowess, also witnessed the goal as a fan in the stands and said it was the best that he had ever seen. Glen Hanlon, the goalie who Gretzky had scored his first NHL goal against and was now coaching Ovechkin, looked on in awe and could only muster “holy mackerel.”

During the 2007-08 season, Ovechkin made his next step toward all-time greatness. Ovechkin became the first player to score 60 or more goals in the 21st century with 65, played in his second NHL All-Star game, earned the Hart Memorial Trophy for MVP, and earned a playoff berth for the first time in his career while leading his team to their first playoff appearance since 2002-03, all the while negotiating the largest contract in NHL history to date, a $124 million, 13 year deal. It was clear that, to Washington, Ovechkin was the future. Of Ovechkin, owner Ted Leonsis said at the time “if you're going to make a long-term investment, who else would you do it with? This takes away any of the issues of how committed we are to winning a Cup, how committed we are to keeping a team together.” 

Ovechkin continued to reward the Washington faithful with stellar play. He followed up his 65 goal season with two more consecutive 50 goal seasons to round out the decade and was named captain in January 2010, the second youngest in Capitals history. The 2010s would see Ovechkin etch himself into the minds of hockey fans around the world and take a giant leap toward all-time great status. 

Beginning in the 2012-13 season, the NHL saw Ovechkin lead the league in goals for seven out of eight years, including four straight between 2012-13 and 2015-16. It was in January of 2016, after becoming the 43rd player to reach that milestone as well as the fifth fastest, that in the pages of the Washington Post, speculation began on Ovechkin’s chances to claim a record once thought unbreakable: the Great One’s all-time goal record. More than that though, Ovi wanted to win. His first overall pick rival, Sidney Crosby, had already won Stanley Cups in 2009 and 2012 and would go on to in 2016 while Ovi had only ever made it as far as the second round. This would soon change.

The 2017-18 season saw the Great Eight on a mission. Ovechkin once again claimed his goal scoring crown after relinquishing it in the 2016-17 season while reaching another major milestone: 600 goals. The 20th player to ever achieve the feat, and the fourth fastest, Ovechkin was hardly finished. 

Ovechkin and the Capitals stormed into the playoffs, with a number of pundits predicting that they would win it all. They dispatched the Columbus Blue Jackets in six games before seeing off Crosby and the Penguins to reach Ovi’s first Conference Finals and the Caps’ first since the 1997-98 season. There they faced the Tampa Bay Lightning and, despite falling behind 3-2 in the series, Ovi and the Caps held strong and came back to win the series in seven games. 

The Russian Machine went on to lead his team to a five-game romp over the new expansion Vegas Golden Knights, clinching their fourth straight series on the road and Ovechkin, as well as the franchise’s, first ever Stanley Cup and ended the city’s 26 year major sports championship drought. During the trophy presentation Ovi was called to lift the cup first. His name would literally be etched into NHL history. He had reached the NHL summit.

In the years since, Ovechkin’s goal scoring has not let up. He put together another two straight seasons where he led the league in goal scoring and became only the eighth player, as well as the fastest and youngest, to score 700 goals in NHL history in 2020. The COVID shortened 2020-21 season saw him score less than 30 goals in a season for the first time in his career and saw the end of that mammoth 13 year contract. Ovechkin signed a five year extension that would take him to age 40 and then sprang right back to his old ways, scoring 50 in the 2021-22 season before becoming only the third player to score 800 goals in an NHL career in December 2022 and break Gretzky’s record for 40 goal seasons with his 13th. 

The Russian Machine now stands on the precipice of history. He is on the verge of a feat that, despite his early promise, no one could have predicted that he would achieve: 895. 2023-24 saw Ovechkin’s longest goal scoring drought ever and some began to wonder if he was finally beginning to slow down. He finished with 31 goals and early this season suffered a fractured leg that kept him out for 16 games, the longest stretch of his career (until then he had only missed 35 games for injury in his 19 year career). For most 39 year-olds, this may have been the death knell for a record chase. But as Ovechkin’s loyal fans say: The Russian Machine Never Breaks. Ovi returned to action in December 2024 and has been on a tear ever since. On April 6, 2025, Ovi claimed his place in history, notching his 895th goal against the New York Islanders with The Great One in attendance. .. He has a chance to become the first player to score 900 goals this season against meaningful opponents, with a two-game stretch in April against the Blue Jackets, the same team as he debuted against in 2005, or against his longtime rival Sidney Crosby and the Penguins in the final game of the season. With his Capitals tied for first in the NHL in points, he has a chance to win his second Stanley Cup after sealing the all-time record. One thing is for sure: The Great 8 has earned his nickname and then some.

895

“I don’t think somebody [is] going to beat this record. In this…league I think it’s impossible.”

Alex Ovechkin in 2016 on the prospect of besting Gretzky’s then all-time goals record

The world of sport is populated by famous numbers: 100 points in a game; 7 Super Bowls; 756 home runs; 894 goals in a career. On April 6, 2025, Alexander Ovechkin introduced a new number: 895. 

With 12:34 left in the second period in a matineé at UBS Arena against the New York Islanders, the same team that had conceded Gretzky’s 894th career goal, with a capacity crowd including his wife and children, his mother, and the Great One, Ovechkin secured his place in hockey history. With an absolute classic of an Ovi goal from “The Ovi Spot” at the top of the left circle, Ovechkin blasted a screamer past countryman Ilya Sorokin to notch his 895th career goal, officially moving past Gretzky and taking sole possession of a record that had stood for almost 26 years to the day and that many, including himself, had once viewed as totally impossible. As it turns out, it took him exactly as many games as Gretzky to break the record. 

As unlikely as the record once seemed, it seemed truly impossible, at least within this season, when on November 21, 2024 it was announced that Ovechkin would miss four to six weeks with a fractured left fibula. The injury sidelined Ovi until December 28, the longest absence of his 20-season NHL career. When he came back, his work was cut out for him: he needed about a goal every other game in order to break the record in the 24-25 campaign. Perhaps the adversity lit a fire. 

Ovi wasted no time returning to form as soon as his skates touched the ice. In each of his first five games back, he scored. He notched his 32nd career hat trick in February. His pace was electric, and despite the injury he extended his own record of 40 goal seasons to 14 with a stellar two-goal effort against the Chicago Blackhawks on April 4, 2025.

His two goals against Chicago put him dead even with Gretzky with one less career game played, and set Ovechkin apart as the player with the most career game winning goals in NHL history. Gretzky and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman had begun traveling with the Capitals, and Ovechkin had a chance to clinch the record that night against an open goal that would have also given him his 33rd hat trick, however Ovi declined: he had too much respect for Gretzky’s record to take it in that fashion. This brought the entourage to UBS Arena in Elmont.

The Sunday matineé was in many ways a pleasing bookend to Ovechkin’s career thus far. 21 years to the day since the Capitals had won the draft lottery that saw Ovi begin his career with the only NHL team he has ever known. The same broadcasters that had called his first ever NHL goal. The crowd may technically have been an away crowd, but you would hardly know it looking at it: among the Islander fans in attendance was a sea of #8 Capitals shirts, jerseys, and other apparel. The shot that made up almost half of his career goals: from the top of the left circle. The pandemonious, thunderous cheers from the crowd. The euphoric joy that clearly took hold over the 39-year old Ovechkin as he belly flopped at center ice, showing the same emotion and love for the game that Ovi has shown for decades. It is rare for the world of sport to descend on a moment like it did on April 6: such displays are reserved for the highest achievement. Ovechkin now stands alone as the NHL’s all-time leading goalscorer, and does not seem to be slowing down. 

As tributes from the likes of Michael Jordan, Simone Biles, Derek Jeter, LeBron James, Michael Phelps, and Gretzky poured in over video and in person, Gretzky issued Ovi’s next challenge: get to 900. With five games left, the 2024-25 NHL season may hold yet more history for hockey fans. For Ovi, he achieved the impossible. The Great 8 is second-to-none as a goal scorer. The only question is: how many more can he score?