RMNB reader Josh Robinson traveled from Ohio to see both Caps games this past weekend. Proudly holding up a handmade Believe In Beagle sign, Josh watched Jay Beagle score two goals and the Caps shutout their opponents 11-0. He also met Beags at Kettler. Josh describes his trip below. 

It all started out as a joke. At the beginning of this season, I started howling at the television to make my roommate laugh whenever Jay Beagle would win a face off or do something spectacular. I noticed that I was howling at my TV more and more as the season went on. I quickly realized that Jay Beagle is a big deal.

Source: http://puckbase.com/stats/faceoff-percentage

So I hatched a plan to start a movement to get elite NHL Centerman Jay Beagle the praise he deserves. Thanks to Reddit users BlueMacaw and berch13 I was able to give the classic Beagle.jpg some new flair. I then combined these updated pictures with a phrase that every Capitals fan should recite for the rest of the season: Believe in Beagle.   

Day One

My journey to spread the good word started on Friday afternoon. I carried the sign all the way through security at the Cincinnati airport to my parent’s place in D.C. I received a lot of puzzled looks on the way but mostly I got smiles and laughs out of the people I met.

My dad and I started the night at the Green Turtle. The laughs and smiles continued as we sipped down our Guinness. The doors to the stadium opened an hour before the game and we quickly made our way in to see the warmups. I could not have predicted the next couple of hours.

The first of my weird series of events started when I was walking out of the men’s restroom. A nice woman asked me for a picture with my sign which I happily took. As I walked away she yelled “Thanks for reading Russian Machine!” I yelled back “I love that site!”

My dad and I then made our way to the glass to see the warm ups. Another nice woman from the Capitals organization informed me that she saw my sign on Reddit. She then asked if we wanted to be on the Caps’ Snapchat. We happily obliged.

After enjoying the warmups, we made our way to our seats on the 400 level. Our trip up consisted of people yelling “Believe in Beagle” and wanting to get pictures with the sign. I made sure to take pictures for anyone that asked. When we got to our seats I noticed that we were seated right in front of the Charlie, tshirt guy himself (who also might be one of the nicest guys ever).

The game began and right away you could tell that the Caps were on their game. And then it happened. Jay Beagle scored 6 minutes into the first period. I lost my shit. Charlie (tshirt guy) then informed me that I need to check the RMNB site because they just wrote an article about me. I lost my shit yet again. Beagle ended up scoring again in the 3rd period and almost scored a hat trick at the end of the game.

My dad and I decided that the night wasn’t over yet and made our way to the Turtle. The walk to the Green Turtle consisted of more chants and more pictures. We then had the pleasure of meeting Courtney Laughlin (sorry again for referring to you as the Snapchat girl from Hockey ‘N Heels night). My dad and I volunteered mom for the next event in February and decided to call it a night.

Day Two

The next day started off a bit rough, but turned around quickly. My mom, dad, and myself made our way to the Capitals’ practice after I chugged some water. This morning was especially fun because my mom had never been to a practice before. I brought the sign along to try and get some more laughs.

A nice fan then informed me that I should get a picture with Jay and told me how to do it. Hanging out in a cold, damp garage was not fun and was honestly a bit weird, but the results were well worth it. I got to meet NHL centerman Jay Beagle in person.

My mom even took a selfie with him!

Jay, I’m not sure if you read RMNB, but if you do, thank you so much for taking a few minutes out of your day to do this. You made my whole family’s day. You were also the nicest professional athlete I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. You called me and the sign your “good luck charm” and I went complete fan boy on you. (P.S. I’m sorry for hanging out by your car.)

The rest of day two was spent hanging out at the best pub on earth, Ireland’s Four Courts.

Day Three

The final day started where the previous day ended: at Ireland’s Four Courts. They have the best brunch in town (gotta work on the Bloody Mary’s though). Today was my day with mom. We headed to the Green Turtle and made sure to line up next to the door for quick access. I quickly dragged her down to the ice and sat us next to the tunnel where the players walk out of. She enjoyed her first NHL warmup almost as much as I had enjoyed my whole weekend.

The Caps went on to shut out the Flyers and Jay Beagle notched another point. I even got my mom to chant “Flyers suck!” whenever they started their own chants.

Sunday came to a close where I spent my evening at the airport bar defending Alex Ovechkin from the naysayers. I even got one final picture with an RMNB reader who recognized the sign.

I wanted to say thank you to everyone. Thank you to my parents for making this weekend possible and putting up with my school-boy-like-giddiness. Thank you to everyone who got a picture with the sign. Thank you to everyone who commented on Reddit or said that they recognized me from there. Y’all gave a lot of love and it was greatly appreciated. Thank you to RMNB for writing a very nice article about me and retweeting all of my goofy tweets. Finally, thank you to Jay Beagle for everything you did. You gained a fan for life.

I’ll sign this off by reminding everyone to, as always, Believe in Beagle.

All photos courtesy of Joshua Robinson.