Why This Meant So Much
by Mike Lunsford
Maybe you haven't heard yet, but the Washington Capitals won the Stanley Cup. It's on the front page of the site, it's on our Facebook page. We've only touched on it briefly, I know. Any time your favorite team wins a championship, it's a great feeling but why does this particular championship mean so much to me? In the grand scheme of things, it was essentially watching a T.V. show that had the outcome you hoped for. Sports are different though. No matter how much you hope your "heroes" will win the day, they're competing against another city's heroes who, for all intents and purposes, are just as deserving to bring home a championship for their city. And, it is not pre-planned for the most dramatic effect, despite what sports conspiracy theorists claim. It's all a matter of the stars aligning, having the right players and the right coaches in the right place at the right time for a championship to happen. That, in itself is often magical and makes a championship quite satisfying. When it comes to the Capitals though, there's so much more to it. There's a story that makes this victory mean a great deal not just to me, but to the entire fan base of long-suffering Capitals fans.
The Washington Capitals have been around since the 1974 season. They were an expansion team along with another squad, the Kansas City Scouts. The Scouts didn't last long in KC, they moved to Denver a few years later and by 1982, they were the New Jersey Devils. A lot of those early expansion teams moved around a bit. The Cleveland Barons, California Golden Seals, Atlanta Flames: they all picked up stakes and moved to another city or folded. The Caps managed to stick around because of a patient owner, Abe Pollin. And it's not like they were good when they first started. They sucked, big time. They only won 8 games out of 82 in their first season. Ouch. That is still a record in futility to this day. While these other teams bounced around and tried to make a quick buck, the Capitals hung on for dear life.
Ron Low in goal for the Caps
the old Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, the first home of the Capitals and Bullets/Wizards.
In 1982, the Capitals fate changed for the better, but it almost was halted before it could begin. While a patient owner for the most part, Abe Pollin was taking a huge loss in owning the team. He was looking to relocate or merge with another team if his needs to make back some of his losses were not met. He needed the entertainment taxes lowered in Prince George's County, the rent to be lowered by the landowners where the Capital Centre was located, the first 10 games to be sellouts and for season ticket sales to increase. The community responded in a big way. Local NBC affiliate WRC, lead by their sports anchor George Michael, started a telethon to "Save the Caps." With the financial support of local businesses like People's Drug, The Washington Post and many others, the area was able to keep the Caps. What made this all the more impressive was this team had only been around for 8 years. Most D.C. residents were completely unfamiliar with hockey or how it worked, but they rallied for their new franchise. Many in the area were still hurt from the Senators leaving D.C. 11 years prior and the prospect of losing another D.C. sports team was unbearable. This was the turning point for the franchise.
In 1982, The Capitals hired GM David Poile. He single-handedly started the Caps conversion from cellar-dwellers to perennial playoff contender. Poile's first move as GM brought in Capital legend Rod Langway who helped transform the team. They started making the playoffs in a very competitive division against the likes of the New York Rangers, New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers. The team was consistently making the post-season appearances but rarely got past the first or second round.
Washington did break through in 1990. They made the Eastern Conference Finals (then called the Wales Conference) after defeating division rivals the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers. Unfortunately, they were swept by the Boston Bruins, a team that was a founding member of the NHL. They wouldn't get anywhere near the Conference finals again until 1998 when they beat the Buffalo Sabres to advance to the Stanley Cup.
Remember in the 90s when teams were changing their colors, going with new logos and generally pissing off their fan bases with ugly jersey choices? Ahhh, nostalgia.
Exciting, huh? The Caps were in the Stanley Cup Finals! The only downside? They were playing the Detroit Red Wings, another one of those original 6 NHL franchises, and Detroit had just won the Stanley Cup the year prior. They were easily one of the best teams in the last few decades and steamrolled the Caps to the tune of a 4 game sweep. It was gut-wrenching for anyone who had followed this team from those old days to watch their team get beat down in their only opportunity to play for the NHL Championship.
The early 2000s were a time of change for the organization. They had attempted to make a successful roster of experienced, high priced veterans that netted only more playoff disappointment. They got rid of all of those seasoned players in a complete roster reset. In 2004, they won the NHL Draft lottery. Their pick would end up going down as another pivotal moment in Capitals history as they selected Russian phenom Alexander Ovechkin.
The drafting of Ovechkin brought something this team had never had before: the best player in the league. Sure, there are people who will argue that Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby is the better player because he has lead the Penguins to 3 Stanley Cup Championships, but Ovechkin is the better goal scorer, period. Crosby may be the better leader, but Ovi is the better athlete. It took the Caps a few years to put a team together around Ovechkin that was good enough to make the playoffs but they've been a mainstay since. Since 2008, the team has been in the playoffs every year with the exception of one. They were relevant again and with Ovechkin leading the charge, and the league in goals more often than not, they always had at least a puncher's chance.
Since that first year of playoff appearances in the "Rock the Red" Era, the Capitals have found new and terrible ways to come up short of a championship. In fact, that '98 team was the only Capitals team to appear in the Stanley Cup Finals, and along with the '90 team, the only 2 to appear in the Eastern Conference Finals. Ovechkin and his most promising group of running mates: Backstrom, Mike Green, and Alex Semin (dubbed the "Young Guns") never made it past the 2nd round of the playoffs. As time went on, Semin was released and Mike Green moved on to the Red Wings. They were replaced with new pieces such as Brooks Orpik, Matt Niskanen, T.J. Oshie, and more role players but the results were the same; the team couldn't get past the second round. Most of the time, the losses were to the Pittsburgh Penguins. In fact, in the 9 times the Caps and Penguins met in the playoffs, the Penguins had won 8 of those series. The Penguins had ousted the Caps in back to back years after the Capitals had been the best team in the regular season. It was maddening.
The 2017-2018 Capitals season started off without nearly as much hope as years prior. The all-star squad they had acquired for their runs the prior 2 years was being dismantled. Long time Capital Karl Alzner had moved to Montréal, Kevin Shattenkirk to the New York Rangers, Marcus Johansson was traded to the New Jersey Devils, and young defenseman Nate Schmidt was allowed to be drafted by the expansion Las Vegas Golden Knights. This Capitals team wasn't supposed to be nearly as good as the prior 2 years. They were going to be expecting great things from youngsters who hadn't seen much ice time and from cheaper veteran acquisitions who didn't have much success in the past. In fact, few people were picking them to make the playoffs. Their coach was on an expiring contract and that very rarely leads to great results. The core was still intact though. The Caps had Ovi, they had Backstrom, they had new Russian phenom Evgeny Kuznetsov, enforcer Tom Wilson and Vezina-Award-winning Braden Holtby in net, so they might be able to squeak into the playoffs. There's always hope.
The season made no sense, as far as being able to predict it. The team got off to a slow start and what many predicted seemed quite likely; a losing season and no playoff birth. However, this team was getting production from those young guys like Jakub Vrana and castoffs like Devante Smith-Pelly and Brett Connolly. They started catching fire and rattled off an impressive win streak that put them in first in their division. However, not all was right with the Capitals. Braden Holtby, one of the most reliable goalies in the NHL the past few years, was not himself and was getting scored on with ease. His backup, Philipp Grubauer ended up being the starter for the majority of the 2nd half of the season. The Caps would enter the playoffs as the number 1 seed in the Metropolitan Division, but Holtby would be on the bench.
I talked about the insane narrative that happened this postseason for the Caps in my previous sports article: they managed to beat a coach who had bedeviled them in the past in John Tortorella, the former Rangers bench-boss and current coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Let me tell you a little bit about that. So, Grubauer started in net for the Caps in Games 1 and 2 and looked unimpressive and the Caps found themselves down 2-0. Holtby was called on for Game 3 and the Caps managed to win on a miraculous OT goal by Lars Eller. Not only did they manage to catch a break with an OT win, a shot from Cam Atkinson of Columbus hit the post and bounced off harmlessly in the waning moments of the 3rd period. In years past, that would have gone in and the Caps would have been looking at a 3-0 hole. There was something different this year. The Caps rattled off 4 straight wins to take the series from Columbus. Things were going their way, an unheard of prospect in the playoffs for Washington. Not only that, this team wasn't mired in self-pity like prior years. They stepped up, turned the series around and showed why they were the number 1 seed. Up next: The Pittsburgh Penguins.
This time around, fate would give the Capitals a new hand in their battle against the Penguins. With the series tied 2-2, The Caps managed to turn a 3rd period deficit into a rout. They scored 4 unanswered goals to win 6-3. In fact, you can hear me gush about it here. This was the turning point of everything. In years past, the Capitals would have found a way to lose this game, but instead a rookie scored the biggest goal of his career, and that was AFTER he made an amazing pass to Kuznetsov to tie the game in the first place!
Good game, rookie!
They went back to Pittsburgh for Game 6, which could clinch the series for the Capitals. It felt different this time around. The team possessed a different energy. They weren't just saying positive things, you could see it in their body language. They knew they could win this series. The fans were the same. Typically, negativity and sarcastic laments of "Same ol' Caps" were all over social media. This time around, it was nearly non-existent. My other project, ROCKDEEP ROGUE RADIO started a hashtag on Twitter last year specifically for a positive DC Sports scene. It got a massive workout during this series to help fuel the positive vibes.
If another D.C. team wins a title, I'm definitely copyrighting this.
There wasn't a "waiting for the other shoe to drop" feeling that so often befell the fan base. In fact, we were mad. Caps fans had finally had enough. Typically, when the Penguins beat the Capitals in D.C., they congregate on the steps of the National Portrait Gallery to celebrate.
gross. Go home Yinzers.
Capitals fans had resigned themselves to this fact in the past. There was nothing we could do about Penguins fans gathering after they beat our team for the billionth time. Let them have their little party and sandwiches with french fries on them. Whatever.
NOT THIS YEAR THOUGH. The fanbase of loyal Capitals supporters had finally had enough, as I think the Caps themselves had, too. They took back the steps and had raucous celebrations on the Portrait Gallery stairs when the Capitals beat the Penguins.
Yes, that is a Terrible Towel ablaze. Caps fans gave no effs anymore. THESE ARE OUR STAIRS!!!!
In fact, it became a tradition for the rest of the playoffs for Caps fans to gather on those same steps.
Their Game 6 win against Pittsburgh defied logic, just like the rest of their season. They were without forward Tom Wilson and center Nick Backstrom. They were undermanned, they were starting rookies for their first playoff games ever, AND they were doing it in Pittsburgh against the defending Stanley Cup Champions. Yet, this team found a way to survive. Not only did they survive, those rookies starting the place of Wilson and Backstrom? Nathan Walker was one of them, the first Australian born NHL player, had a primary assist in the games' first goal. That goal came from Alex Chiasson, his first of the playoffs. The Penguins did tie the game and there was no other scoring for the length of regulation.
As the O.T. period moved on, Pittsburgh had a golden opportunity to win the game...that clanged harmlessly off the post. Luck was on the Capitals side, too. It wouldn't take long for Ovechkin to push a pass forward to countryman Kuznetsov who buried a game winning/series winning goal under the pads of Matt Murray.
They had finally beat the Penguins in the playoffs. If this team would go on to win a championship, you couldn't write a better story for them. Besting their long time nemesis in the playoffs was something you could see this team needed. Their journey wasn't over though, as they had another series up next that started in Tampa.
As the Capitals took on the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Final, there was a different feel to this series. The Caps and their fans had confidence. It was odd experiencing this because it was uncharted waters. We actually BELIEVED this team would win? This couldn't be right. The Capitals proceeded to beat up on the Lightning in Games 1 and 2, which were in Tampa, and had a 2-0 series lead. Our confidence was paying off!
Since the Capitals were doing so well, there had to be something to bring them and their fans back to reality, and that was the next 3 games. Tampa won all 3 of them to put the Caps on the brink of elimination for the first time in the 2018 playoffs. There was a little bit of the negativity seeping in. "Same ol' Caps" "Chokers" "#DCSportscurse" started to show it's ugly head again. For me though, it didn't feel the same. Yeah, it looked bad being down 3-2 in the series, but anything they did after beating the Penguins was just icing on the cake. Would a Stanley Cup be nice? Of course, but at least this team was showing a level of heart they had never shown before. If they lost to Tampa, the best team all year in the East, it wouldn't be crushing. But that never happened. In fact, what any reasonable Capitals fan of the last 20-30 years would have expected, any reasonable sports fan for that matter, never occurred.
The Capitals had game 6 at home against Tampa and they thoroughly dominated the Lightning. They were physically imposing against the Eastern Conference favorite. Their defense was stifling and Braden Holtby was back to his Vezina caliber self in a 2-0 shutout, his first of the season as a matter of fact.
Forcing a Game 7, a typical thorn in the side of the Capitals, was completely one-sided. An early goal from Ovechkin took the wind out of the building. Tampa tried to rally some momentum with some scrapping in front of the net, but Caps enforcer Tom Wilson set the tone and laid out Braydon Coburn for disrespecting Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov.
Tampa never had a chance as the Caps scored early and often. Ovechkin's goal was just under a minute into the game and they never trailed. Holtby notched his 2nd shutout and the Caps cruised to their first Stanley Cup finals birth in 20 years.
The Stanley Cup is often referred to as the most prestigious of all championship trophies. There have been many great players who have never had their name inscribed on it's silver plated body, many great teams that couldn't quite achieve greatness. The Capitals were one of those teams. They were matched up against a surprisingly good Las Vegas Golden Knights team. They were in their first year of existence and shocked the Western Conference by getting through the playoffs relatively unscathed. No team challenged them at all. Now, this was no ordinary expansion team full of rookies, free agents and the like. The expansion draft gave them a great deal of experienced players, including Stanley Cup winning goalie, former Penguin, Marc-Andre Fleury.
Since this was a playoffs full of redemption, beating Fleury and the Knights, who were created by former Capitals GM George McPhee, the architect of the current "Rock the Red" era Capitals, would be a great bookend to it all. This entire playoff run was full of opportunity for Washington to exorcise their playoff demons, why stop at the Cup Final?
Game 1 was quite a spectacle. In Las Vegas for the series opener, the Knights pulled out all the stops and had a pre-game show that was worthy of a show on the Vegas Strip.
A castle, a drumline, the "Golden Knight" fighting a guy "rocking the red", Michael Buffer and Lil John? I'm surprised we didn't see Seigfried and Roy, and Elizabeth Berkley, too. Didn't think you were going to get a "Showgirls" joke from GGR did you? Come for the podcasts, stay for the Paul Verhoven box-office-flop references.
The game followed this same formula as the teams traded goals. Vegas ended up victorious 6-4. Many Caps fans were worried about the team's performance and anxiously awaited Game 2 in hopes of a better outcome. What ended up happening in Game 2 effectively changed the fortunes of the boys from Washington.
The game was a close affair, the Caps were clinging to a 1 goal lead late into the 3rd period. As the Golden Knights pulled their goalie for the extra attacker, a flukey bounce off the boards put a puck right in front of the Capitals net. This was what every Capitals fan saw coming: a strange bounce that would put the other team back into a game that the Caps would go on to lose in overtime. This is what they did. And then, this happened:
Of all the things I've seen watching sports, of all the miraculous, game saving moments I've witnessed (mostly by the opposing team) this one was the most incredible. Am I biased because it's my favorite sports team doing this amazing thing? Yes, duh. You're just now noticing this trend? We're like thousands of words into this article.
The series was tied 1-1 going back to D.C. It's easy to say in hindsight that I knew that Capitals would win this series and bring the Stanley Cup home. I didn't. I wish I could say there weren't moments of doubt. There always are. That's how sports work, you never really know who's going to win. There's no such thing as a "sure thing." I did believe though. I always believed they could do it. And that's what made this so magical. The 2 games that were played in D.C. were both won by the Capitals and they never trailed in either game. They looked poised to win their first Championship.
Game 5 in Vegas would not be an easy task though. It was a back and forth affair and there were many times that it looked like the Capitals would have to settle the series in 6 games or 7. As the title states, that's why this championship meant so much. The Capitals fought back like they never had before. They were known for rolling over, for choking, for crumbling under the immense pressure of being the number 1 seed, whatever the reason may be, they couldn't find a way to win. This season they found a way. This playoff run defied every narrative that we had known for the Washington Capitals.
In years past, the Capitals were always the more talented team. In 2018, they were the hardest working team. They showed the most heart and more determination than their opponent. You could see it on their faces in Game 5; they would not give up until they had won that game. Whether it was a diving-across-the-ice-to-tie-the-game shot from Devante Smith-Pelly…
...or a sneaking-behind-the-goalie-game-winning-Stanley Cup-clinching-goal from Lars Eller...
This team refused to be denied. They fought so hard every single game of the playoffs. There were no nights where they "phoned it in." There were no games where you could tell their nerves got the best of them. This team fought every second of every period of every game.
Why did a stupid championship in a stupid game played on ice skates by mostly Canadians and Europeans mean so much? Because D.C. fought hard to get a hockey team in 1974. We almost lost the team in 1982 and the city rallied behind folk heroes like George Michael to "Save the Caps." We had our hearts broken year after year in the playoffs by the likes of the Islanders, Rangers, and Flyers. We finally broke though to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1998 and got steamrolled by the Detroit Red Wings. We built an incredible team full of young talent in the "Rock the Red" era lead by Alex Ovechkin and never made it past the 2nd round. We saw the Pittsburgh Penguins raise their Stanley Cup Champions banner twice on opening night after ousting us from the playoffs. We watch our former G.M. build a Stanley Cup contender with Las Vegas in their first year of existence. We watched Penguins fans rally on OUR stairs at the Portrait Gallery after beating the Caps. We've watched every Canadian hockey commentator trash talk Ovechkin's style of play or any of the other Capitals that didn't "play the game the right way." This team is in the community doing charity work and playing hockey with underprivileged kids at the Fort Dupont skating rink. They rally around fans of theirs who've had tragedies befall them. A young boy named Bensten was injured in a sledding accident and the team visited him in the hospital and at home and invited him to games. Cancer patient Amanda Wilson was brought to the Eastern Conference Finals and given a custom jersey signed by all the players. They created a fundraiser called "Courage Caps" that sells hats and t-shirts to raise money for a charity that helps family members of deceased military members. They care about D.C. They care about their fans and their fans love them for it. And THAT is why this meant so much.
Will there be teams who win more championships? I'm sure there will be. Will the Capitals win another Stanley Cup? Who knows. Here's what I can say with 100% certainty: all of the crap that happened, all the heartache, all the losses, all the stomach pains, all of the cursing, tears and frustration were all worth it for this moment. Expecting perfection all the time is a foolish endeavor. A moment of perfection? That's about all you can expect from it. And damn, was this one perfect moment.