Washington Post beat writer Tarik El-Bashir wrote an excellent story about it this morning. You can read it here.
My memories of bittersweet playoff disappointment still sting. I still get worked up talking about Joe Juneau whiffing on an open net during a penalty shot in triple overtime against the Pens in '95 than watching Petr Nedved stuff one home to kill us a few minutes later. Bastard.
Watching Detroit come storming back in Game 2 of the Finals. A game in which they were down and out after 1 period. Esa Tikkannen missing an empty net goal that may have iced the whole thing. Yeah, they lead to a Detroit sweep I got to see live in DC.
The blood boiling anger in '03 as a talented Caps team, up 2-0 in the series, dropped 4 straight to Tampa bay once they figured out Bruce Cassidy was shit for a coach. As evidenced by his brainless benching of super defender Calle Johanson for journeyman suck-ass Jason Doig, who was exploited repeatedly.
We haven't been back since then. Only one player from those teams remain - Olie Kolzig, who may be spending the post season as back-up.
Gone are former Caps greats - Hunter, Bondra, Konowalchuk, Johanson.
They have been replaced by a team of unbridled energy and youth - Ovechkin, Green, Backstrom, Semin, Backstrom and a talented supporting cast that have come together to do what no team in history had done before. Last place in the conference the day before Thanksgiving to Division Champion on the second to last day of the season. They are confident, dangerous, and ready to sit at the table with the big boys.
Thanks Coach Boudreau.
And it's infectious, not only did it spread around the DC area, soon it crossed the border north to Canada, then across the ocean to Sweden, Russia and other European nations.
I've never seen that before from this team. True most of the attention spawned from Alex Ovechkin and his quest for 60 goal, but as Alex rose up, he made sure to take the team with him.
The trade deadline brought in three new faces - Cooke, Fedorov, Huet. Cooke is physical and has played his tail off in every game he's played. Fedorov has been rejuvenated, winning somewhere around 70% of his faceoffs, tossing crisp passes around the ice and the occasional timely goal. And Huet? Well, when we couldn't afford to lose a game, he didn't. Reeled off 9 in a row. Ties the franchise record.
The Caps have been around for 30 years. But not like this. They were NEVER like this. Last Saturday Verizon center was a level of loud that I don't think I've ever heard before, I was there for the cup run in '98.
I'm excited for this team in way I've not been in a very long time. Go to a game, watch on TV and try to tell me you don't feel it. They believe, we believe and starting tonight it's time to make the rest of the league believe.
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