I have not been to a hockey game in over ten years. It isn’t that I don’t follow the Caps. I know every player on the team by name and number. In fact, I can do a pretty good play by play for the Caps.
For a long time I spent too much on sporting events. I had season tix to the Wizards, Redskins, Terps basketball, Terps basketball and the Orioles. Too much money. Something had to go, so it was hockey.
15 years ago and further back, I was a frequent visitor to the Cap Centre to see the Caps. I have been following them since I was 8 years old or so. I had my bachelor party at a Pens v Caps playoff game. I still have an original CCM Capitals jersey.
In the year when the team takes on the challenge of being the best on ice in the world, I am returning. With two kids in tow. My children own Federov and Ovechkin jerseys. The Redskins, Wiz, Orioles tix are gone.
On this Sunday afternoon at 3p the hometown Capitals host the Florida Panthers. The Panthers are a good fit, sorta of a second home team, as they play 45 minutes south of my parents B
oca Raton home. The kids know of the hockey team because the Panthers new arena is close to the Sawgrass Mills outlet center.
The atmosphere on this dreary 1st of March outside the Verizon Center is vibrant. Thousand of fans sporting Caps jerseys, jackets and hats mill about the rejuvenated Chinatown area. The Capitals even have their own pep band outside the arena.
Taking the Metro train from Rockville was a snap. After a quick stand-up snack at the McDonalds attached to the juncture of Gallery Place and the Verizon Center. The crowd outside the building is a great testement to Abe Pollin’s vision of a city arena. 10 years later, without reservation, it worked.
The Caps beat one of the best teams in the NHL yesterday. The team did not have much left in the tank today. Panthers 6 and the Caps 2. Most of the crowd stayed until the end. We had fun, we will be back.
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