Shock was replaced by nerves when Keivonn Woodard helped perform the ceremonial puck drop before the Washington Capitals hosted the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday for their Celebrating Black History game.
Woodard, a 13-year-old deaf player with the Bowie Hockey Club who gained notoriety and an Emmy nomination in 2023 for his role in the HBO series “The Last of Us,” was surprised when he was chosen to be one three local hockey heroes to do the drop.
He admitted to shaking a little as he stood between Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin and Golden Knights captain Mark Stone at center ice.
“I was a little nervous when I first went out there because I didn't know I'd be seeing all those players,” Woodard said. “I was nervous, don’t get me wrong, but I definitely got to fist bump the players, that was cool. That was amazing.”
Woodard was assisted by Duante Abercrombie, an alum of Washington’s Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club who was hired in 2024 to lead Tennessee State University’s effort to become the first Historically Black college with an NCAA Division I hockey program, and Luke Zeigler, a U16 AAA player with the Washington Little Capitals and an ambassador for the Capitals Rising Stars Academy.
“My life is where it is because of the Washington Capitals, and it just feels great to be able to come back and pretty much kick off this game as a guest of the Caps,” Abercrombie said. “The sense of pride that I have from going from never seeing anybody who looked like me at rinks for almost an entire year outside of playing for the Fort Dupont Cannons to, not even just these two, but seeing many more playing here in the Washington, D.C. area. It’s major steps forward.”
