A Caps-decorated Jeep is becoming a familiar sight for fans leaving Capital One Arena after home games.
Often parked across the street from the arena on F St, the white Jeep is covered in Capitals logos and decked out with flags. The front windshield reads “Holtbeast” and the back windshield reads “Back to back.”
But most striking of all is the massive six-foot replica of the Stanley Cup that is strapped to the top of the car with Alex Ovechkin‘s face on the Cup’s base, along with the slogan he gave the Caps at the start of the 2017-18 season: “We’re not going to be suck this year!”
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It’s a sight that draws crowds. After home games, people congregate around the car to snap photos. The Jeep caught the attention of the Capitals official Twitter account and even got a like from Alex Ovechkin on Instagram.
The owner of the Jeep, Ed T. said that the reaction and smiles from fans has been “truly amazing and heartwarming.” Ed and his family are longtime Caps fans who started decorating the Jeep in 2017, at first with just a few flags and decals, which grew and grew as the season went on.
Then the Caps won the Stanley Cup in 2018, and, as Ed told RMNB, “that’s when things went a little overboard.”
Ed had this to say in an email.
Our family has been Caps fans for 25 years and attends multiple games every year during the regular season and playoffs. The Caps Jeep was designed at the beginning of 2017 and built throughout the year. In the beginning, it was intended to show support when our family attended games with just a couple of flags. As the Caps progressed through the playoffs, more and more accents were added. Multiple accents were added after they won the cup and continue to be added.
A couple of special things added recently were a flagpole utilizing a Braden Holtby-signed Hockey Fights Cancer stick and when Braden Holtby was kind enough to sign the hood.
Wanting to capture the sense of pride sweeping through the entire DC area after the Capitals’ Stanley Cup win, Ed set out in search for an actual-size replica of the Stanley Cup that he could mount on a trailer hitch platform on the back of the Jeep. His search turned up an artist in Canada who had designed and created a one-of-a-kind six-foot replica using a 3D model to cut the Stanley Cup out of Styrofoam. Ed bought the replica and sent it to a local artist who painted the cup with the names of the players, coaches, trainers, and owner.
But Ed added one additional name: that of his late friend, Jeff Dorworth.
Although the cup was designed to recognize what the Caps had accomplished, it was also intended to be an inspiration piece for a dear friend of mine that has been battling kidney cancer over the last couple years. Jeff played for the Little Capitals growing up, was an avid Caps fan, coached his two sons’ travel hockey teams, played in a men’s league hockey and was finally able to see his Caps win the Stanley Cup. I visited Jeff a couple weeks ago after surgery to remove a tumor on his spine and brought him a Stanley Cup banner that was signed by the players to help cheer him up during his recovery. My goal was to get as many signatures as possible on the Cup and bring it to him before Christmas. Unfortunately, after an unbelievably tough fight, Jeff lost his battle on Tuesday November 13th with this dreaded disease.
Surviving is his loving wife, Carolyn (Zulewski) Dorworth and his cherished children, Chase, Cole. A college fund has been established for the Dorworth children. My goal is to still get as many signatures as possible on the Cup and bring it to one of his son’s hockey games to honor his dad.
Photos: Ed T.
Headline photo: @Dean_J6
