Alex Ovechkin reveals the team he cheered for growing up.

When you idolize a player like Washington Capitals superstar Alexander Ovechkin it's easy to forget that player is a human being like any other, but this week we got some interesting insight into the regular life of Ovechkin.

While Ovechkin has a times talked about players he himself admired while growing up but he hasn't often spoken of the NHL teams he followed as a young man. In a recent interview with The Washington Post's Isabelle Khurshudyan Ovechkin opened up about his early introduction to hockey.

“Back then, we don’t have a TV,” Ovechkin said as per the Post. “We don’t have all the news, but what we heard of was the NHL. Of course, we knew Fedorov, Larionov, Lemieux, Gretzky, and you only watched on videotapes. You know, you buy in the store videotapes with highlights and the goals, like hits and fights and all of that kind of stuff. Obviously, like Lemieux, Iginla, those guys, you know, [Owen] Nolan. My favorite team was San Jose. I was cheering for them, especially when Nolan was there. … You grow up and you watch them and you want to be just like them.”

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Had you asked me to guess, the Sharks would have been one of the last teams I would have listed as Ovechkin's favorite team, and it begs the question why was he so enamored with the Sharks?

“Actually, it’s fun story,” Ovechkin said smiling. “One of my teammates back then wear the hat with a shark, and we were like, ‘What is it?’ Because we don’t know the team. He said it’s the team over in San Jose, so I have a hat, I have a hoodie and like a jacket. Ulf Dahlen, I remember, my dad gave me a jersey of Ulf Dahlen. It was on my wall. That was kind of fun.”

It's some interesting insight into one of the best players in the world, and it's pretty awesome compliment to Ulf Dahlen, should he ever come across this story.