Capitals raise a Stanley Cup banner for the first time

The Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., has added a fairly meaningful piece of fabric to its rafters.

For the first time in franchise history, the Capitals stood on their blue line before the team’s home opener and watched a Stanley Cup banner get raised to the roof of their home barn.

To put their own unique spin on the festivities, the team brought the Cup out on the ice for one more twirl, this time in front of the home fans after closing out the final round in Vegas last spring. Of course it was Alex Ovechkin who did the honours following his Conn Smythe Trophy, playoff MVP performance last spring.

After a long, long summer, Ovi finally had to give his, err, dish back — but not before a little kiss goodbye:

The Caps pulled out the first championship in franchise history in the most unlikeliest of fashions after they looked dead and gone early in the first round against the Blue Jackets. Washington dropped the first two games of that series before storming back to win four straight. In Round 2, the Caps finally got over the Pittsburgh hump and slayed the Pens in six before coming out on top of a gruelling seven-game set with the Lightning and polishing off the Golden Knights in five.

Of the 20 players who were dressed for the clinching fifth contest in Vegas last June, 18 are still with the team and were on hand for Wednesday’s celebration. The most notable omission was former coach Barry Trotz, who wasn’t mentioned in the pregame festivities or shown in the montage video.

Now that the dust has settled on a wild Cup run and the subsequent months-long bender, time to play some hockey, I guess.

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