Greetings Programs! Time to blog.
On Thursday something occurred that I never thought I’d get to witness in my lifetime. The Washington Capitals won the Stanley Cup. I’ve been a Caps fan since the late eighties. I wasn’t into hockey but my friend Gilles was a Caps fan. That was good enough for me. They’ve been my team ever since. And they started the year I was born. That’s like an omen or something, right? Having a team means you follow the sport a little more closely. I’ve never been HUGE into hockey but I’d always at least check out how the Caps were doing. And generally speaking they weren’t doing very well. There have been ups and downs. They made the Finals back in 2008 only to get swept by the Detroit Red Wings. Other than that it’s often been the same story, they’d make the playoffs only to get bounced in the first or second round.
The Caps’ fortunes changed when they drafted Alexander Ovechkin in 2004. He’s a superstar player. Most of today’s Caps fans are fans because of Ovechkin. He’s a passionate player and a prolific scorer. And he got the reputation of a superstar who couldn’t win the big one as the Caps kept their losing ways alive, made worse because they were clinching division, conference and league regular season titles. Like in 2010 when they lost to the 8th seed Montreal Canadiens. Living in Quebec, that was a particularly hard pill to swallow as all my Habs-fan friends took a special joy in rubbing the loss in my face.
That all changed on June 7, 2018. Their first Cup. Sure, it’s nowhere close to Montreal’s tally of 24. But it’s sweet all the same. I wore my Caps shirt and jersey with pride over the weekend. I always temper my expectations of the Caps. When someone says this might be their year, I’ll say “I hope so!” never, “For sure!” To be honest, until the end of game 4 of the Finals, I still didn’t think it was going to happen. Even though they’d been down 0-2 to the Blue Jackets in the first round only to win in six. Even though they’d finally succeeded in downing the Penguins. Even though they recovered from letting a 2-0 lead slip and closed out the Lightning with back-to-back shutouts in games 6 and 7. Vegas looked unbeatable going in. The Golden Knights won a wild one to start the series. But the Caps fought their way to a game 2 win. They held off a end-of-game flurry to win game 3. They were dominant in game 4. And they came from behind to win it all in game 5. I only caught the last two minutes of that last game. I watched stretches of the last two games against Tampa Bay and games 3 and 4 against Vegas. Even though they’re my team, I’m not a big enough hockey fan to watch an entire playoff run. But at least I caught the ending. Woo boy! What a feeling. Seeing Ovie lift the Cup in the air, the joy on his face to have finally won the big one. Knowing that Lars Eller, one of my favorite unsung players, scored the winning goal. It was good.
So, the Armello mash-ups are going to get preempted this week. You may be able to guess the flashback that’s going to go up on Friday. If not, then you’ll just have to check in on Friday to see.
Until then, have a good seven and we’ll see if we can’t do something similar next Monday. Carja V.