The Washington Capitals’ Screaming Eagle jersey scored another vote of confidence — this time from pop superstar Tate McRae.
McRae, the celebrity coach who drafted Tom Wilson at the 2024 NHL All-Star Game, threw on a bedazzled version of the sweater during Hot 99.5’s Jingle Ball at Capital One Arena.
Photographer Rachel Kaplan snapped several great photos of McRae rocking the Screagle.
The popular singer, who has 5.1 million followers on Instagram, took the stage on Tuesday night for the last time in 2024, performing alongside other big acts like Jason Derulo, Meghan Trainor, and Kesha.
McRae is a noted big hockey fan, growing up in Calgary, Alberta. Her brother plays collegiate hockey. In her latest full-length album, Think Later, McRae wore goalie pads on the album art. While touring in years past, the singer would wear a single hockey glove while on stage.
McRae’s jersey was personally designed by local painter and artist, Taylor Kampa Olson, who did the project through Capital One Arena. Not only did Taylor prepare hockey and basketball jerseys for McRae, but she did so for the other musicians as well.
“The jerseys were customized for each artist and were all hand-painted then bedazzled!” Taylor said. “Each rhinestone was glued one by one. It was so much fun. Capital One Arena sent me the jerseys, it was six Capitals jerseys and ten Wizards jerseys. They told me to just deck them out! I wanted each one to represent each artist. I’m so pumped Tate wore hers! The whole project took about three weeks.”
The new mom called the bedazzling process “very time consuming”, but “so calming and fun.”
“I would put my son to sleep, go into my studio, put a show on and bedazzle until like 3 am,” she said.
Taylor has been working for Capital One Arena over the last year, producing stunning paintings and wearable artwork for some of the biggest musicians in the world.
“It’s impossible to pick a favorite – this project obviously!” she said. “But I also loved working on the custom roller skates and skate cases for Usher. A custom corset for Madonna (that was a year ago!) The painting for JellyRoll and the painting on an oversized wooden puzzle for RodWave. I’ve worked with TD Garden on similar projects and that has been amazing as well!”
Taylor also did hand-painted bags for Third Eye Blind who performed at Caps 50 Fest.
Taylor, a DC native, initially made waves in Caps fandom for her brilliant paintings of Capitals players celebrating with the Stanley Cup. She made personal paintings for several important members of the team, like Nicklas Backstrom, Lars Eller, and Ted Leonsis, after the team won its first championship. She also designed the logo of the Capitals’ popular Cherry Blossom jerseys.
