On June 7th, the Washington Capitals won the franchise's very first Stanley Cup, bringing the city of Washington, D.C. its first major sports championship since 1991, when the Redskins won their last Super Bowl.
D.C. is a city that has been absolutely starved for a championship. The Capitals and Nationals have been incredibly good in recent years, but up until this year, neither franchise has ever won a championship. The Redskins won two championships in the 80's and the aforementioned one in 1991, but have been plain awful since not to mention that the organization is a bit of a mess. The Wizards won one championship, back when they were the Washington Bullets in 1978. Needless to say, it has been a very long time since a Washington sports team tasted any sort of playoff victory. The last time any one of the teams had even gone to a conference final was the Capitals in 1998. A 20-year drought. They said that D.C. sports were cursed. The Capitals couldn't get past the second round. The Nationals couldn't get out of the first round. They were doomed to forever experience playoff failures and choke away hope in new and different ways every time, and Washington fans would forever suffer through disappointment after disappointment. Until now.
In the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Capitals exorcised their playoff demons and made it past the second round. This would mark the first time Alex Ovechkin, the greatest goalscorer of this era (possibly ever) and an eventual first-ballot hall of famer, would reach the conference finals. And, in an improbable run, the Capitals banded together and beat Tampa Bay in seven games to reach the Stanley Cup Finals, and then beat Vegas in five games for the honor of hoisting Lord Stanley's Cup over their heads. And thus they cemented their names into D.C. sports history.
In my lifetime, I have never seen D.C. come together to support anything like they supported the Capitals on their run to the Stanley Cup. Everywhere in D.C. and the surrounding DMV region was rocking the red, declaring their Capitals love far and wide. If you wore Caps gear out and about, strangers would shout "Let's go Caps!" at you, and you'd shout it back. Flags, banners, shirts, stickers, jerseys — they were everywhere. The Capitals hosted watch parties in their arena to watch away games on the jumbotron — and the place was sold out. In fact, over 70,000 people tried to attend the watch party for game five of the Finals, and the arena only seats 20,000 people at the very most. People would crowd the streets around the arena for home and away games. Bars throughout the city were packed full of Caps fans, and there were watch parties at places like National Harbor. I have never seen fervor like this. The city could barely contain the excitement everyone had for their team and the prize they would ultimately bring home to them.
When the Capitals threw off their gloves and celebrated that final win, I couldn't help but think of my uncle, who grew up in the D.C. area, played hockey when he was young and has been a lifelong Caps fan. I thought of some family friends, who have lived in the area all their lives and been a diehard fan of all D.C. sports. They've spent their lives wallowing in D.C. sports misery, decades longer than I have. And despite all the happiness and joy I felt, I can only imagine what it felt for people like them, who have been waiting and waiting for this moment for so long. And finally, after all this time, they were rewarded.
On Tuesday, June 12th, the Capitals had their victory parade in the streets of Washington, and I was lucky enough to get a chance to go. It was an experience I'll never forget. Thousands upon thousands of people packed in alongside the streets of watching, cheering, and screaming as the team paraded by. We joined together in chants and cheers, all excited for the same thing in common. And then filling the National Mall to the brim as players and team personnel took the stage and thanked us, the fans. It felt like they were speaking directly to you. And it was a remarkable sight to see people, as far as the eye could see, finally celebrating something and coming together as a city. D.C. has been through a lot. It can have a bit of a bad reputation, considering all the horrible politics that are done here. But the people here are great. The sports fans, in particular, are amazing.
In the past, some people have said that D.C. isn't a sports town. Well, rest assured, D.C. is very much a sports town. Hundreds of thousands of people flooding to downtown D.C. proves it to you. A hockey team brought a city together and taught them to believe. Those fans and these people aren't going anywhere anytime soon.
