Your Cup'pa Joe tastes better with OFB.
Over some summertime puck sodas, we thought we would lift a page from a very popular (non-sports) blog. Now we don’t have a Wii Fit to give away, but we do have some cool stuff in the OFB Store.
Periodically — perhaps the final Friday of every month — we are going to give away some of our booty to an OFB reader. Think of it as a thank you for helping make OFB the fun forum that it is today. We thought it would be appropriate that our first giveaway would be an OFB coffee mug — the perfect accompaniment to your morning cup’pa joe. May we also recommend a weekend additive to said joe.
Here is how the inaugural Free Loot Friday will work. In the comments section of this post, tell us about your favourite / most memorable moment as a Caps’ fan. It can be from this past season, your first season as a fan, or any time in between including the cup-run season of ‘98. We’ll accept comments until Monday, July 28th at 5:00 pm EDT. We will randomly select a qualified comment and mail you an OFB branded coffee mug*. Be sure to use a real working address in your email field of your comment so that we can notify you in the event that you are the winner.
* OFB Staff and their immediate families are not elligible for Free Loot Friday.
65 Comments
I have three favorite moments…
My brother got tickets for us to see one of the Eastern Conference Finals games vs. Buffalo my senior year in college as a graduation present. Just an awesome time with tons of energy. Playoff hockey is so special.
My second favorite is watching the Caps drop a 10 spot on Boston last year while having dinner at my favorite pub in Clarendon. I kept drinking G&T’s and not wanting the game to end.
My third favorite was the Caps game against Montreal where Ovie scored 4 goals, had an assist, broke his nose and needed stitches. I got tix from my boss at the last minute and was able to bring my brother with me. The seats were about ten rows from the ice and right at the red line. Best seats I ever sat in and the best game I ever saw in person. It was fire wagon hockey in the third period.
I think one of my favorite Caps memories is the night we won our way into the Stanley Cup Final… I jumped around my livingroom like a crazed monkey when Juneau buried the winning goal… Then made my way over to Piney Orchard and waited for hours on end with MANY others waiting and riding the wave of victory… From the guy in the wheelchair that raised Caps flag and went from end to end to the chants of ‘Let’s go Caps’ on and off thru out the night until 3 something in the morning when they finally arrived and the place became an asylum of crazed monkeys
Yes, we didn’t win the Cup but damn what a ride…
Its really a very recent thing in my long history as a Caps fan (going back to when I was a small boy), but i’m going to go with Alexander Ovechkin’s very first shift in the National Hockey League against Columbus.
I can still see it so clear in my mind. Poor Radoslav Suchy goes back to get the puck for Columbus, and gets absolutely CRUSHED by this flying bronze and black blur. That was a moment that made me sit up in my seat like never before and just say “whoa”. In all the years I had spent as a Caps fan, we had NEVER had someone that made me say “whoa”. It literally took my breath away, because at that moment, I kinda got this feeling like “this guy is going to be something very very special”. We had always seen other teams who got the Marios and the LaFontaines and the Bossys…we had NEVER had our own “superstar”, and this was it. In that one moment, as the game was delayed so they could pick up the glass and Suchy’s teeth, I began to say to myself “this guy could win us a Stanley Cup….”
I had only been watching the Caps for a year or two. But I had heard many times how the Caps had never gotten to the conference finals. The came John; Druce, that is. “The Druce is Loose” became a favorite saying in the playoffs that year (until Boston, but we won’t talk about that). I can still remember jumping up and down when Drucie scored the huge goal against New York. That’s a series I will never forget. (see the Post story on it here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/capitals/longterm/1998/stanleycup/articles/rangers1.htm)
Mike Green’s first overtime game winner against the Rangers. When I met him at the ESPN Zone appearance, he mentioned that that game winning goal was his favorite moment as a Caps player. When he saw that the item I wanted him to sign was a photo of him celebrating that goal, he asked me for a copy of the photo! That signed picture sits proudly on my desk at work.
When Peter Bondra tripped Dominick Hasek behind the net in the Eastern Conference finals. Hasek was so perturbed that he threw his blocker at him. It was hilarious. If memory serves correctly former President Bill Clinton was in the house for that game.
One of my earliest memories as a Caps fan at a playoff game against the Rangers at the old Caps Centre (1991?). No one in my immediate family is a sports fan (my parents watched the nightly news to get the Super Bowl score) but I talked them into taking me to see a playoff game. We were running a little late, so as we’re waiting in the Will Call line, the puck drops. Caps score a quick one to take the lead. Then score another, then another, while we are still in line at Will Call. I can still picture watching a tiny TV up in the corner, while hearing the crowd go nuts. We finally get in, missing most of the first, and 3 goals by the Caps. Final score was 4-2, although the part I watched live was 1-2, so I was happy, yet sad since I missed the best part.
Although, watching Ovie’s first playoff goal? Priceless.
I was only 9 during the Stanley Cup Finals run of 1998, but those days will be in my memories forever. I alternated between my white and blue jerseys (and t-shirts) for basically a whole month at school. I still have my Joe Juneau/Olie Kolzig poster on my wall in my room and am damn proud of it.
I remember as if it was yesterday. The 1989 tour of NHL teams in the Soviet Union. The Washington Capitals and the Calragy Flames, who at the time were the Stanley Cup champions. The Caps played Dynamo Moscow. The arena was packed! I can’t imagine how difficult it was for my father to get us tickets. The Caps were beat 7:2 (Ciccarelli scored both goals for the Caps). I was the happiest guy in attendance
Here’s a pic from the event:
http://www.visualrian.com/images/item/140189
I can only imagine what would happen if the Caps come back to Russia after 20 years.
NOTE: in 1989 the Caps were the Patrick Division champs.
The Russan’s submission, delivering as it does the bad news of a Caps’ loss, is grounds for disqualification. He is free to try again.
I am ineligible, but the season before last, Fox5’s Holly Morris remoted live from VC on the morning of the season opener, wearing a Caps’ sweater. I found it inspirational.
April 1990. Patrick Division finals. Druce’s series. Sitting in the nosebleeds at the Cap Centre. The Caps went up 3-1 in the fourth game on Druce’s back-to-back tip-in goals on both sides of a 5-on-3/4 PP that bridged the 2nd/3rd period. Then the Rangers roared back in the final minutes, and tied in the last minute, I believe. They goal they scored counted, even though Brian Leetch was *playing with a broken stick*, which was in direct and clear violation of the rules.
Overtime, Caps fans feel the momentum slipping away, we’ve seen this movie before. First minute, Langway takes a weak shot from the point, blocked by Gartner who charges out, ready for a breakaway. But the puck bounces right back to Langway’s stick and he just takes a step around Gartner and flings it towards the goal. Through the bodies, it somehow evades everyone, including Mike Richter, and flutters into the net. The crowd explodes. Total madness, strangers hugging each other, jumping up and down. Dancin’ Decibels lights up. Marv Brooks: “Capitals goal, scored by Number Five, CAPTAIN Rod Langway! 54 seconds of overtime!”
Won the game, and Druce’s series ending OT goal happened 2 days later. Good times.
I forget the year (91 or 92?) - but seeing Al Iafrate rip a 105mph slapshot in the old Cap Centre at the team’s skills competition was something I’ll never forget.
I object.
I have 3 moments in my mind that stick out like crazy:
1) 1988 Game 7 When Hunter scored. That was the first game I can remember watching in the basement of our old house. I was about 7 years old I watched most of the game with my dad, my brother and a neighbor who was ‘teaching’ us the rules. When Hunter scored I can remember that was the moment I fell in love with hockey. To this day Hunter’s still my favorite player of all time. Even though I can’t fit into my youth jersey now, my wife proudly wears it.
2) When Rod Langway scored the GWG against the Rangers in OT in ‘90. I still can’t believe the old man’s shot hit the back of the net.
3) Ovie’s GWG in Game one. That elation of Ovie trying to jump through the glass is WHY people watch sports. I’ve never seen my wife so into a game before. I can honestly say that is one of my top 3 sports moments I’ve seen live.
Here’s one of many for me:
In college I worked as a legal assistant for a solo practitioner in Greenbelt. He was a great mentor to me, and a passionate sports fan. Except that he knew little about hockey and the Caps. He slowly warmed to it however, after hearing me discuss the past night’s games endlessly, trades, signings, and the like. I worked for him for a couple of years, and we’ve kept in touch ever since.
During the 1998 Cup run, interest in the Caps was booming everywhere (much as it is now). My former boss and a friend got lower bowl tickets for Game 5 vs. Ottawa, the second round clincher.
I bought my own student-budget ticket elsewhere, not knowing he was there. I ran into him during the second intermission, and he was beaming, so excited about the game. He told me that his friend had a family emergency and had to leave early, leaving the seat unoccupied for the third. I happily joined my mentor and friend for the final period. When the final minute ticked away toward that 3-0 final, and the crowd erupted in deafening, unrestrained joy, he was awe-struck and said to me: this is the most exciting sporting event that I’ve ever attended.
It gave me great pleasure to introduce a new fan to the sport and to our beloved team, and each time we catch up, we always spend some time chatting about Caps hockey.
“Inspirational” is not a word I would use to describe Holly Morris. “Irritating” or “obnoxious” is more apt, IMO.
@katzistan — Your writing is much more eloquent then mine. Well said. I remember (maybe it was Smokin’ Al Koken) who interviewed Captain Rod Langway after he FINALLY came off the ice after a 5 minute celebration; You could tell there was going to be a party that night.
I’d have to go with Ovie’s game winner in Game one also. It is the closest I’ve ever been in a game and he did it right in front of us. In a word it was spectacular. My wife was next to me and so were a couple of dejected Flyer fans, some of the few in the building that night. For me it was the end of one era and the beginning of a new one.
My favorite memory of this past season was taking my then six year old daughter to her first game - home opener shutout versus the Hurricanes. The Caps did not lose in regulation when she was in attendance (2-0-1).
This is a strange one, but I was a late convert to “The Good Ole Hockey Game”…
I think it was the ‘96-’97 season and I was in my 2nd year at West Virginia U. My roommate was a goalie for the school’s team and he was a rabid Pens fan. We stayed up to watch the marathon OT game despite it being Finals week. The pure excitement and adrenaline of knowing that any second, the series could be over was thrilling and totally addictive. The next day I went online and ordered my first hockey jersey, a white Peter Bondra jersey that I sleep with sometimes like a “woobie”, haha!
Don’t enter me in the giveaway, I’ve just always loved that story as being the night I officially became a hockey fan (I was too young when the ‘80 Miracle happened). Glad to have an excuse to tell it to a bunch of fellow Caps fans. May there be an OFB ‘Party With The Cup’ when we win it, we’re getting close!
I’ve only been going to the games for three years now, and my most memorable was OV’s game winner in game one. I took my friend, a big college hoops fan who “kinda” liked hockey, and we were both screaming our heads off when OV broke away and made the goal. He made me promise to take him to any games I go to in the future.
May sound kinda stupid, but I think for me it was at the STH party last season when they announced AO’s contract. Everyone started cheering and I knew that we would be watching good hockey from the team for many years to come.
Game one of the playoffs wasn’t bad either.
Wow so many memories, but the funniest was at a playoff game this year. we have season tickets in section 400 and the guy seated in front of my son James (7yrs old) took off his jacket to reveal he was a Flyers fan so for most of the game James just stood behind him and yelled “BOOO Flyers, BOOO Flyers” the look on the guy’s face was priceless when he turned around to realize he was surrounded by a sea of RED and he is being taunted by a little kid. after the second intermission he returned but was wearing his jacket over his jersey. The power of a 50pound Caps fan….
Excellent story, Johnny.
My 4 1/2 year old is the same way… he sees a Penguins logo and instantly yells “Boo Penguins”.
Some may view that as rude. I view it as proper parenting.
My most memorable moment as a Caps fan came when OFB broke the story of Ovechkin’s contract [remainder of comment truncated per the Comment Policy]
In 20 years, there have just been so many moments. But I’d have to say that the top is one of the most recent. With a Game 7 ticket in hand that just night prior, it appeared would never have the chance to be put to use, watching Alex Ovechkin fly up the ice and seal the Game 6 win on a beautiful break away goal. I don’t know that I’ve ever jumped around my living room for any sporting event the way I did that goal. Caps were going to win Game 6, and that meant that my Game 7 ticket wasn’t just some worthless piece of paper! It was fantastic. (And Game 7 was just as amazing…except for the losing part)
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This is an easy one: Joe Juneau scoring in OT to send the Caps to the finals for the first (and only) time. After years of disappointment the team finally came through, and we could all exhale. The only way it could have been better would be if Bondra had scored it.
@Dan-
Ovechkin’s Game 6 breakaway goal was one of the past year’s finest moments. I jumped up in my living room and shattered the glass in my chandelier, the shards raining down on the porkchop my guest was eating. It was still a great moment.
I have been a Capitals fan my entire life and I have many so many great memories. From sitting in a skybox at the Caps Centre to welcoming the team at Piney Orchard after beating Buffalo to make it to the Cup. But I think my favorite moment of all time occured this past season when I was at Verizon center and witnessed the incredible 13 round shootout. It was an amazing game and the shootut was the most nerve racking thing ever, and seeing Kolzig in action was great. He was awesome during the shootout, and seeing the team celebrate with him after he stopped the final shot was great. It is a shame we will have to see him in another jersey this season.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCuLZRGzQjg
Schony’s gesture to the crowd at the end of this clip is awesome. I was still in high school during this game, and immediately after the game, I was so fired up I wrote Schony a letter basically telling him he was awesome for sticking up for his team and not backing down from the fans
What a fun Friday contest. And the idea of running it on the last Friday each month is excellent. Thanks so much for giving hard-core hockey fans this vehicle to help pass the non-hockey time. Now I need to get my thinking cap on and come up with a winning answer.
One of my most memorable moments as a Caps fan was back in January 2006. Now while I was raised on the Murray Brothers-era Caps by my dad, my day-to-day interest in the sport had faded when I went off to college in 2000. The lockout further soured my interest, but once I began reading reports about this amazing new Russian star that the team was developing, I was intrigued. However, after seeing “The Goal,” I knew that things would be different. Never before could I remember a Washington Capitals team with a player that had the audacity AND skill to pull something like that off. My love of hockey was reborn that day - I remember e-mailing all of my friends with the simple line, “you have got to see this!”
I’ve got 2, for different reasons.
1. Sitting way up in the last row in the corner of the Cap Center as a kid with my dad, watching some guy named Bondra pot 6 against Tampa (free pizza, too!).
2. Piney Orchard, after the Caps dispatched the Sabres in OT. So many people out and cheering so late on a summer weeknight. The excitement there was unbelievable.
-d
forgot to Add that Schonny wrote me back, and sent an autographed photo with the hand written letter on the back of the photo
I meant 5 goals. Stupid typo.
-d
During the 2006-2007 season I retired all my Hartford Whalers merch for posterity. The Washington Capitals became MY new team, 10 seasons after the Whale moved to North Carolina.
I’m not a Caps fan. I’m a Ducks fan. But more importantly, I read your blog EVERYDAY, sometimes more depending on how often you post…..Doesn’t that count for something? Maybe I could win the empty box the mugs arrived in?
Definetly the first caps game I ever saw- I believe it was during the 93-94 season, a 3-3 tie against the sabres. i went with my dad, who at the time was a pens fan (boo.) He later converted to the good guys when i would get upset because he would root against the caps, and we started going to a lot of games. caps hockey was one of the things my family always shared together (my sister lives in boston, and when she visited us in april we all watched game 5 together, something we hadn’t done in a long time.) Anyway, that first caps-sabres game started it all, so it is my favorite moment.
I haven’t been a Caps fan long, just a few years. I haven’t been a hockey fan long - only a few years longer than that, but that final moment, as the Caps became SE Division Champs stands out in my mind - the raising of the banner by fans at the glass, VT Caps fan’s shocked and delighted expression, the pure joy shared by all in section 426 was magnificent.
There are so many. I will tell of one from days of old and my favorite memory from this season.
1. First is from the old Cap Centre Days. Went to a Caps/Pens game. Caps crushed the Pens and scored a “pizza goal.” But what I remember was this little kid in front of us who was a Pens fan. We were way up high but he held up this little piece of notebook paper the whole game with Let’s Go Pens written on it. As my husband and I now watch our kids cheer on their favorite players, we always think about that little kid and how he cheered on his team the whole game even in a loss. I actually thought of that little kid again the other day when the Karl Alzner Thank You Postcard was posted.
2. From this season the last home game where we clinched the Division stands out. Pregame warm-up was the most crowded I have ever seen at Verizon Center and the crowd was electric. You could just feel that something special was going to happen, and it was just so great and so much fun! But the best part was watching the player and coaches celebrating when it was all over and they knew they had done it.
Wow - there have been so many memorable games since my first Caps game vs. Buffalo on Tuesday December 3, 1974. Like a great many other games those early seasons, yes we lost (5-3), but I was hooked on the sport and this team.
The first of two particularly unforgettable games forever etched in my memory took place at the Capital Centre in Landover on Sunday April 6, 1974, the final game of the Caps inaugural season. Going into the game with a 7-67-5 record, the Caps, led by Stan Gilbertson’s four goal scoring outburst, absolutely crushed the not so-beloved (even back then!) Penguins 8-4. For the long-suffering fans from that first season, that particular game still ranks as one of the finest games in Caps history.
The second also took place at the Capital Centre on Saturday December 11, 1976 against the short-lived Cleveland Barons (nee California Golden Seals)(later to merge with the Minnesota North Stars)(later to move to Dallas). This particular night happened to be a “Date Night” promotion - for the cheapskates in the audience, buy one ticket, get one free for your date. A high school senior that winter, I of course took a lovely young lady out on our very first date that cold December evening to see the Caps play. The relationship that subsequently developed was far more successful than the on-ice results (sadly the Caps lost 4-2), with plans to celebrate our 27th wedding anniversary this coming season at Verizon Center cheering for a more successful result by the home team!
My favorite moment was in 2000. My GF, now wife, and I took a weekend to travel to TO to watch the Caps v TO. We obtained 5th row seats and watch the Caps and Leafs tie 5 to 5. We happened to say in the same hotel as the team and with a few others welcomed them back to round of applause. We also visited the HHOF and the CN Tower. What a way to spend the weekend.
This is not my favorite but it is a close second. In January 2007 we played the Thrashers at home and with seconds ticking down in OT, Steve Eminger blind feeds Semin and he rips it top shelf sniper style. The entire arena went crazy, as did the team. I literally got goosebumps and I was lucky enough to be sitting in that end. I was already becoming a Semin fan but witnessing that first hand solidified my adoration.
My favorite caps memories are from when I played at piney and would see the caps around the rink or they would be on the ice before/after us. They generally had no problem interacting with us which made playing there especially cool. But the best memory I have is a couple of us handing nachos through the glass to Chris Simon and a couple other players during a preseason power skating session (back when it was socially acceptable to like Simon), and having Marsha Perry - the Caps small, old, naziesque skating instructor - skate over and and scream “DON’T FEED THEM!” She scared the heck out of us!
There are way too many great moments to think of, so my more general favorite moments include all of the games in the past few years when I purchase loads of seats for when my family comes to town or I we fly out to visit them. Even though I am a hardcore Caps fan, it is still pretty cool when everyone shows up as a rainbow of colors, wearing their team’s jersey respective to their geological location. Caps, Thrashers, Pens, and Sabres, what a rag-tag unit of misfits, but it’s awesome to watch this amazing game as a family.
For me I’m sort of between two memories. I guess the first was being at the 4 OT game vs. the Pens where Nedved scored that goal. I had seats on that end and had the perfect vantage behind Kolzig. Was just a cool experience to have with other caps fans when one would look around for those that soldiered on.
The 2nd would probably be that 5 goal game that Bondra had vs. Tampa. Watched that one on TV and at the time I was trying to figure out whose authentic jersey to pick up and that game cemented it for me (was almost Kristich, hah). To this day the only jersey I’ve ever bought.
My favorite moment would have to be this season when the Caps won the South East Division. We (my husband and I) took our two boys, ages 3 and 5, to their first Caps game. We spent the weekend in the DC area and also went to practice both Friday and Saturday before the game. On Friday morning on our way into the practice facility we ran into Eric Fehr in the elevator and he made sure we found our way. He was also really nice to the boys and talked to them about hockey! On Saturday we had the chance to meet Alex Ovechkin-my kids favorite Cap. Though it was a brief stop, he signed the boys stuff and we got a few pictures. They also talked to Dave Steckel, Alex Semin, and Brad Johnson. Then we went to the game Saturday night and the rest is history. It was a trip that they and I won’t soon forget!
I’ve got three, but can only share two in this forum due to language issues. (OrderedChaos, you know my wife. You know the type of things she can say.)
The first was at Verizon Center in 2003 when the Caps beat Florida 12-2. The Caps were up 10-1 and my brother and I yelled, “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. WE WANT ELEVEN!!!” As we were at about “seven” Gonchar passed to Jagr (I believe) at the Caps’ blue line. By “ten” he had passed to Bondra at the Florida blue line. Not two seconds after we finished, Bondra scored. Never seen anything like that ever again.
The second was watching the Caps-Bruins game in 1998 with Tim Taylor’s toe in the crease overturning an OT goal. As soon as they went to review, I called my girlfriend (now wife) and said, “Did you turn off the TV?”
Dejectedly, she said, “Yes.”
“Well, you better turn it back on, they’re reviewing it.”
“You’re JOKING!”
“No, and I think they’re going to overturn it.”
Which they did, and the Caps ended up winning the game in OT.
There are many great moments, but one that jumps out in my mind at the moment actually involves some of my least favorite characters from years past.
I hope that’s not disqualifying.
In November 2002, the Caps hosted the Florida Panthers. At the end of regulation, the score was tied, which meant five minutes of four-on-four hockey.
Late in the extra session, the Caps took a dumb penalty (can’t remember who or what now) to go short-handed. Things did not look good.
Then, Coach Cassidy put Jagr out on the ice. Things looked even worse.
I remember thinking that it had to be the stupidest thing a coach could do, to skate Jagr short-handed in a sudden death situation. Cassidy was a bonehead, I thought, and this clinched it.
To make matters worse, the face-off was in our own end.
Well, Jeff Halpern won the face-off and Jagr took off down the left wing like he was shot out of a cannon.
Halpern quickly lofted a bomb of a pass from deep in the defensive zone, over the heads and outstretched sticks of all of the Florida players. The pass was perfectly placed, and perfectly timed, so that Jagr was not offsides at the center line.
Jagr collected the puck near the other blue line and skated in alone. He put two or three crazy moves on the goalie and roofed the puck.
Caps win.
I screamed and cheered so loud, I lost my voice for the next day.
It was a very exciting goal. It was featured on every highlight reel, that season and the next.
As it turns out, Cassidy really was a bonehead, and Jagr really was a disappointment. But that night, they did the right things.
My favorite Cap moment is a bit different than everyone else’s. Sometime back in the late 70’s I went with my Dad to see the Montreal Canadiens at the Capital Center.
Understand that the bleu blanc and rouge were the absolute ultimate in hockey in those days. There was no one else close to their legendary status.
Well, Washington had a pepper pot named Gary Rissling. He wasn’t very big but he must have thought he was. Anyway, at some point in the game, he got into a donnybrook and the officials had a heckuva a time breaking it up. The couldn’t control Rissling.
Then came my favorite moment. Rissling skated to the Montreal bench starting at one end and skating to the other challenging them to come on the ice and fight him. It was both hillarious and sacreligious (sp?) at the same time. I mean, he was challenging the greats of the game!
Well, for those of us that witnessed it, it was a monumental moment. Somehow or other Rissling made the statement that the Washington Capitals were here to stay and weren’t ready to take a backseat to anyone.
My most amazing hockey moment was a sad one. It was the very last second of our very last game this past season, a game that we lost and our Stanley Cup hopes were dashed for the year.
How on Earth could that be my best hockey moment? Allow me to explain.
This was my first year of hockey. My husband PJ (a life-long hockey fan) got us season tickets and I decided to go and do my best to understand what about this crazy sport he loved so much. During the preseason, almost no one showed up to the Verizon Center. “This is it?!?” I thought to myself. Pretty pathetic. But I did my best to follow along and learn the game. My goal became to figure out why the whistle would be blown and make the call before the ref did. I’d whisper “icing?” or “hooking?” to PJ and he’d either nod or correct me.
Sometime in early November I “saw” offsides for the first time. PJ had explained it to me about a million times, and while I could wrap my brain around the concept I still couldn’t “see” it because my eyes were following the puck instead of watching the whole ice at the same time. And then one day I just got it, and I’ve been able to see it ever since.
By Christmastime I knew all of the players and their strengths and weaknesses. I knew which ones I liked and which ones I didn’t. I encountered some guys at a bar one night and had an incredibly articulate and well-informed conversation with them about the Capitals. My husband stood by and watched with an amused and amazed expression on his face.
Little by little the Caps were getting better and better, and the Verizon Center seats were getting more and more full. As the playoffs approached, I found myself going online to figure out which other teams had to win and lose in order for us to be division champions and/or make the post-season. Of course, we made it, and I attended every game, wearing my red and yelling my head off. Those preseason games from last fall seemed so long ago. I was a different person then.
So back to the point (thanks, if you’ve stayed with my rambling story this far). On the last second of the last game of the season, as people started filing out of the Verizon Center with their heads lowered, I looked at my husband and quietly said, “I don’t want to leave. I don’t want hockey to be over.” And that’s when we both knew that I wasn’t just a hockey fan’s wife. I am a hockey fan in my own right.
My best hockey moment was this year’s 5-3 comback win over Atlanta, also the game Ovechkin scored #60, late in the season.
I live in Savannah, Georgia, and Atlanta is only 4 hours away so every Caps game in Atlanta me and my family make the trip up to the game. The entire drive up to Atlanta I was saying “It’s going to be 5-3, and Ovie’s gonna get #60.” So the game starts and Ovie scores #59 early in the game, and then Atlanta scores 3 straight to go up 3-1. Before the start of the 3rd period one of my friends looks over at me and says, “How are we losing? We can’t make the playoffs if we keep playing like this” And I looked at him and said, “5-3, 5-3.” So the 3rd period starts and Ovie gets #60, and makes it 3-2. Then about 3 minutes later Backstrom ties it up. Then 30 seconds later Backstrom scores again to make it 4-3. Then Boyd Gordon scored the empty netter at the end. We were going crazy. And while we’re walking out the areana my friend looks at me and says, “Dude, 5-3.” I had forgotten all about my prediction. I didn’t even realize it. Then we went to the bathrooms and one of the Atlanta fans says, “How many of you can believe we just lost that game?” And all 6 of us Caps fans rose our hands. The Atlanta fan just rolled his eyes and left.
Looking back at the game I realize that that’s the game started the 7 game winning streak, and without that comeback we wouldn’t have made the playoffs. It was the greatest comeback ever.
The best moment—-no contest. That would be the time that Bobby Gould knocked Mario cold with one punch—an uppercut. Watching Mario’s knees buckle & him slowly slide down the wall to the ice—priceless.
Best memory was my 9th birthday party - Portal seats at the old Cap Centre.
Of course, the crushing news was that due to a basketball game, we arrived late and missed a Dale Hunter fight that night.
My best hockey moment had nothing to do with what was on the ice, but with the lengths I had to go once to get tickets.
I first got interested in hockey when my roommate from the Univ. of MD took me to a Caps/Devils game at MCI in 1999. He had gotten tickets as a birthday present, and offered one to me. I had never been to a game, never followed the game, but after going just once, I was hooked, and have been a loyal Caps fan since.
In 2000, the Red Wings were coming to town for a game, and I found out my sister’s in-laws were coming down from Detroit for the game. They tried to get tickets for my roommate and I, but to no avail. That’s when I remembered the Caps offered tickets to college students the day of the game. Early on Halloween Day 2000, we Metro’ed from College Park to Chinatown to be there right when the box office opened. Got to the ticket window, and upon asking the agent for two, she said the game was sold out. I promptly brought up about the student ticket program, but she said there was nothing she could do. She did however say if I would like, I could take up the matter with Capitals management, and provided me with their address to their offices.
Well, after following the directions she gave us, we ended up at the old Convention Center. It seemed odd, but, we both thought maybe they temporarily had their offices there while more permanent ones were being constructed. So we went in, wandered around a bit, but couldn’t find anything in the building about the Caps. Still wandering, we turned a corner and ended up in the middle of an Oracle convention going on. We continued to walk around, with no one saying anything to us. 2 college kids in t-shirts and bluejeans, carrying backpacks, in the middle of a major tech conference. Sadly, we didn’t get any free software.
After leaving the center, I pulled out the cell and called the number the ticket agent gave us. In speaking with the receptionist, she said we were told to go the wrong way on F Street. So promptly turning around, we ended up at the correct address, signed in with Security, and made our way to the 7th floor to the Capitals brand-new offices. The floor was done up in white to look like ice, with a lot of glass in the office instead of drywall. The receptionist called out one of the ticket sales managers to speak with us, and in telling him our situation about getting tickets to the game, said the student ticket offer was only valid if the game wasn’t sold out. I pointed out to him (I graduated with a degree in Marketing, so I am keen to this) that none of the team’s printed materials mentioned this fact. He quickly excused himself, and game back with two tickets to the game, saying a school group just canceled their tickets, and would sell them to us for face value. So about 3 hours after this trek began, we had tickets in hand. Fans 2 - Capitals 0. The fact we won the game made the whole experience sooooo worth it.
This whole ordeal is something we still talk about today, though it would be even better to talk about it with a new OFB mug in hand…
Attending the January 1, 2008 game between the Caps and Ottawa provided an epiphany about what was to become the most exciting spring watching the Caps that I’ve ever experienced.
The Sens got on the board quickly with 2 goals; yet, the Caps ended the 1st by answering with 4. At the end of the 1st, my husband turned to me and said he’d never seen the Caps play this well. It was at that moment we agreed that something was happening with this team and that things were starting to gel. Toward the end of the 3rd, with the score Caps 5, Sens 3 the crowd started chanting “We Want Wings!” so that all would be able to take their game ticket to Austin Grill for free wings. Boyd Gordon obliged the crowd with less than 2 minutes left in the game. What a way to start the New Year! I think the Caps resolved to get their act together for the New Year, and I resolved to go to as many games as I could.
The next day I went into the office and started proselytizing to fellow hockey fans, telling them there was something good going on with the team and that they had to start paying attention. And, I treated 2 co-workers to a wings lunch. I can’t wait for October!
My favorite Caps memory seems so farfetched in retrospect that I’m not even really sure it happened, because I can find no evidence that the event took place!
I think I was 8 and in Ocean City for a family vacation. My aunt took my cousin and I to an ice hockey clinic that Yvon Labre and Craig Laughlin sponsored at one of the hotels there. I had never been on skates before, but had been to games with my dad. I was petrified of stepping on the ice, so to “help” me, each of them took one arm and toured me around the rink so I could get my “ice legs”. I got a signed stick at the time, but still no evidence as my mother got rid of it a few years later.
In any case, they turned that scared, shy girl into a fan for life!
Selection of a winner here probably isn’t a democratic process, but I’d vote for Jed and the “Dont Feed Them!” incident. It would make a great commercial for the Caps, come to think of it.
One of my favorite memories was watching Detroit kill us at Landover, launching all five Russions on the ice at the same time and dropping a big bomb in our net. It was too bad for our guys, but it was the most beautiful hockey I’ve ever seen. I had my niece and six of her little friends, all of whom came away with big crushes on Fedorov. Who could blame them.
My all-time favorite, though, involved a former Caps player, not the team per se. I took my sister and brother-in-law (quiet, law-abiding people) to their first game, in Tampa where they live. The Bolts were playing Les Habitants in temporary quarters, and we sat on metal bleachers close to the ice, similar to the Iceplex here. I assured them that Jacques Demers, coach of the Habs, was known as a purist, and they would see hockey as it should be played, with skill and precision — none of the distasteful goonery that my dear family had heard about. In fact, this turned out to be the bloodiest game I’ve ever seen, due in part to the enthusiastic participation of one Enrico Ciccone who, after breaking Dale Hunter’s jaw at Piney Orchard, had been traded to the Bolts. They were wiping it up with towels the entire game. It froze into little pink balls all around the net, which, being so close, we could clearly see as the players skated through it. Appalled at the extreme visciousness, I worried that my sweet baby sister would never extend another invitation to visit, and hastened to assure them that this was not the norm!!! I must say, it was a pleasant surprise to hear them yelling, “Get that guy! Don’t let him get away with that!” (and so forth). They have been season ticket holders in Tampa Bay ever since, and thanks to them, I’ve been able to see the Caps on the road there whenever our visits coincide.
I will always be grateful to hockey for bringing me closer to my family!
My first Caps game away from home ice in Atlanta. I saw Ovie bag his 50th goal as a rookie…history in the making!!!
No question: November 26, 1997. Last game at the Cap Centre (a building I liked for the atmosphere, filled with lots and lots of families); Rod Langway’s jersey is retired (just knowing I was able to watch one of the last helmetless ones is still a thrill); great game against Montreal (lost, 6-5. Best of all, we (my wife, my six year old son and I) were sitting right behind the goal. As the second intermission was ending, the goal judge came of the locker rooms carrying a broken, game used Scott Thornton stick. With hardly a word, he walked over, smiled and gave the stick to my son. When we got home it went up on his wall. It’s stayed there ever since, both in Maryland and in East Tennessee where we moved two years ago. My son plays Midget travel and high school hockey (and scored the overtime winner to send his team to the state championship; they lost, but they got there!). No matter what, I relish the memories of many great nights at the Cap Centre. And we’ll always be Caps fans!
My favorite Caps moment was when Bruce Boudreau won coach of the year. He is so deserving of the award. To come to a struggling team and remind them that they’re warriors was fantastic. It’s a joy to listen to him in the press. He makes his players accountable, yet always stands behind them. We loved him here in Hershey, and we’ll love him when he leads the Caps to the Cup!
without a doubt the final buzzer of the last 2007-2008 regular season game vs Florida, when the Caps officially secured a playoff berth. the arena was absolutely electric. i remember driving out of DC with people honking their horns and cheering. smiled the whole freakin way home. awesome.
Mine’s a little different than most. My favorite memory was watching what was, until that point, impossible to imagine. The Caps beat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-1, for the first time on Feb. 19, 1980. When Bengt Gustafsson scored the game-winning goal (or was it the third goal?), the resulting celebration might as well have been the clinching goal for the Stanley Cup. They must have felt it coming, because it was one of those infamous “guaranteed win” nights — if they had lost, everyone would have got a ticket to another game. There’s an idea for next year, Ted!
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