Congrats Washington Capitals

The Washington Capitals are going to win the Stanley Cup. It might happen in game five in Las Vegas on Thursday or back in DC on Monday, but it's going to happen. Teams with a 3-1 lead in the Stanley Cup Final are 32-1 with the only one being in 1942. Even with their history of losing 3-1 series leads in earlier playoff rounds, the Caps are going to win their first Stanley Cup. I've resigned myself to this and am actually okay with this. I've lived in Northern Virginia since 2001. Professional sports teams here have had limited postseason success, and this is the first time in the nearly 17 years I've been here where the city is truly excited about one of its teams. Take a look at this picture from outside Capital One Arena for game 4.

How can you get upset at this? There are thousands of people who don't have tickets to the game who just want to be part of the excitement. Many people who have never been hockey fans are totally into the Caps now. I guarantee that youth hockey participation is going to increase over the next few years as a result of this playoff run. I'm actually happy for my friends that are Caps fans who have witnessed so, so, so many failures. (Fortunately, my friends that are Caps fans are pretty rationale people, and aren't the ones saying "F the Pens.") As a Penguins fan, I haven't liked Alex Ovechkin because of his personal (not team) success against Pittsburgh. However, he really is a special player as the best goal-scorer over the last 15 years, and it's been fun seeing him out there blocking shots and playing defense during this Stanley Cup run. You can tell that he really wants to win. Matt Niskanen was great in Pittsburgh, and he capitalized on that with a fantastic contract in DC. If you're a Pens fan and don't want to see Brooks Orpik lift the Cup again, I don't know what's wrong with you. He played the 7th most games in Pens history. Plus he did this:

So congrats to the Caps and to their fans (well, at least the rationale ones) on winning the Cup. I also hope that Tom Wilson isn't able to participate in the victory parade since he's in a Vegas jail for trying to break a slot machine.

(In case you're wondering, yes, my opinion has changed some in the last month. Except on Tom Wilson.)

Photo by Monumental Sports Network.