A year and one day ago, the Washington Capitals defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in two decades. Here is all of RMNB’s amazing coverage of that fateful day.
But I want to celebrate the anniversary of what happened after midnight: A brief love affair began between two historic NHL hockey figures, Alex Ovechkin and the three-foot tall Prince of Wales Trophy.
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Alex Ovechkin is in love with the Prince of Wales Trophy 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/0nhV8A9RZ4
— Bar South N Celly™ (@BarSouthNCelly) May 24, 2018
After beating the Lightning in Game Seven, Ovechkin, wearing a black Eastern Conference Champions hat, snapped a photo with NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly.
He then picked the Prince of Wales trophy with both hands. He was instantly struck by its majestic beauty. You could even say it was love at first sight. Previous winners of the Wales Trophy thought that it was bad luck to touch the artifact as it was the championship before The Championship, but Ovi wanted to enjoy the moment.
Photo: @Capitals
Inside the locker room, Ovechkin snapped a photo with his buddy and longtime center Nicklas Backstrom.
Eventually, a very happy Capitals team departed Tampa Bay. Ovechkin held the trophy like it was his baby.
Wheels up! #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/BfBadKB3yw
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) May 24, 2018
The Caps would touch down back home at Dulles Airport a little after 3 am. Ovechkin was still holding the trophy.
Back home. Still got it. See you soon, #Caps fans. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/tHRsutJ5bK
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) May 24, 2018
Ovechkin let a Caps fan, Claire Altman, touch the Wales Trophy as he approached his ride home. The Capitals captain said hello to two dozen of his adoring fans and took a pic with one lucky idiot.
99% of the time @russianmachine is not a fan blog. But on this night a year ago: definitely a fan blog. pic.twitter.com/tqPpuFarna
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) May 25, 2019
Then, the most challenging moment of Ovi’s evening occurred: trying to squeeze the gigantic trophy into his jeep. The trophy didn’t fit in the trunk, so Ovechkin carefully laid it across the backseat on his friends’ laps, which included his personal trainer Pavel.
Ovechkin drove back to his Northern Virginia home and took an even better picture with his wife Nastya.
The relationship would flame out two weeks later when Ovi fell in love with a different, heavier trophy.
But on that night, nothing was forbidden anymore.
Highlights of Game 7 (May 23, 2018)
- Game Seven. Sixty-two seconds. Alex Ovechkin. Ovi Spot.
- Perfect child Andre Burakovsky put the Caps up 2-0.
- Then, perfect child Andre Burakovsky put the Caps up 3-0
- Nicklas Backstrom got credited for the ENG to make it 4-0, but it should have been Beags.
- Braden Holtby cried and then so did we.
- Unlike the Bruins, the Capitals touched the Prince of Wales trophy and brought it back to DC.
- The recap: Um, y’all, Caps beat Lightning 4-0, advance to Stanley Cup Final.
- Numbers the morning after
- After the game, we got to see Nicklas Backstrom’s grotesquely broken finger.
- Ovi is the most GIFable hockey player of all time.
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