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Capitals fans began arriving at 10:30pm the night before to get their picture taken with the Stanley Cup

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23 days after winning the Stanley Cup, the Washington Capitals gave a first opportunity to (non season-ticket-holder) fans to take a photo with the championship trophy at Kettler Capitals Iceplex.

The response was overwhelming.

Video

During a sweltering day where the high was expected to reach close to 100 degrees, the Capitals set up a small tent and platform outside where the Stanley Cup would sit and fans could pose. Hiring event security and setting up metal guardrails, the team wrapped a line that extended thousands of people long down the eight-floor parking deck. The Capitals had water and other Pepsi products available for fans while waiting.

The first fans to arrive actually arrived the night before.

“My daughter and me got here at 10:30 last night,” a fan, wearing the team’s championship hat and shirt, told special RMNB correspondent for the day, Gene Wu. “What inspired us to get here was the Caps winning the Cup. We’ve been waiting a looooong time. A loooooong time.”

He then showed off the team’s old eagle logo on his left bicep.

“We were here at 3:30 in the morning,” two Caps fans, who were at the very front of the line, said. “We’re inspired to be here because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

The organization, caught off-guard by how many fans would arrive, instructed a photographer to begin taking photos of fans with the Stanley Cup 30 minutes earlier than the 10 AM starting time originally scheduled. The photo session was supposed to go on only until 2pm. Fans kept arriving late into the morning, prompting team officials to tell those people the Cup would promptly leave at 2pm and they were unlikely to get a photo. The fans waited anyways and the team extended the photo time until 4pm.

Caps fan Gene Wu and the rest of his family woke up at 4am and arrived at 4:45am. There was already a line of approximately 15 people.

The parking deck was completely full of cars at 8:49am.

At 9:30am, the Stanley Cup made its way outside to a loud roar from Caps fans standing in line. A Let’s Go Caps chant broke out.

As fans continued to arrive by the dozen every minute, a line, which started on the eighth floor and eventually zig-zagged down the bottom of the parking deck.

But despite the heat, the even hotter summer sun, the early wakeup calls, the hours of traveling, and the hours upon hours of waiting, fans who got a picture with the Stanley Cup felt vindicated for their decision.

“I was getting a little choked up when we were near the front of the line,” reader Stephen Luhman said in a tweet. “I walked away, after kissing the cup, with the biggest smile on my face.”

“Yes! It was so worth it,” Gene Wu said. “You never know the next time it will happen.”

And now, a salute to all the warriors who went today.

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