In what may be the silliest and most effective promotion in recent Washington Capitals history, Dylan Strome jumped into an ice cream truck and put in an honest day’s work — well, for 15 minutes or so.
The Assistman on Alex Ovechkin’s 895th career goal handed out Caps-themed ice cream and autographed hats to fans in support of the team’s new third jersey released on Monday, featuring the Screaming Eagle in red, white, and blue.
The *checks notes* Ice SCREAMMMM truck featured the Screagle sweater decal’d on the side along with the slogan “coolest drop in DC.” The delectable desert machine arrived at Nationals Park at 5 pm after making stops at the National Mall and Capital One Arena previously in the day.
A smiling Strome, wearing one of the new third jerseys and a backwards cap, took his job especially seriously according to fan reports, signing autographs, smiling for photos, and carefully handing the frozen treats to fans. Capitals legend Peter Bondra also participated.
“This was a perfect example of why I love the Caps,” Maddy M., who attended the game, told RMNB. “Events and pop-ups like this make me feel really lucky to be a fan because you can tell how much the players care about the community. Dylan was, of course, really kind and patient.”
Strome even surprised fans with autographed “Washington Capitals Hockey Club” rope hats.
“Getting a hat from him was absolutely unbelievable,” Maddy added excitedly.
Once inside, Strome did a costume change and switched jerseys, throwing on the Caps’ tribute jersey to the Nationals that was released last week. WASHINGTON is emblazoned on the front of the sweater, utilizing the font from the Nationals’ inaugural season in DC.
In an unadvertised surprise, Strome was joined on the field by six of his Capitals’ teammates, John Carlson, Aliaksei Protas, Connor McMichael, Ryan Leonard, Brandon Duhaime, and Trevor van Riemsdyk.
While Leonard tossed a baseball around with Strome before the ceremony, the warmup pitches ultimately did not help Strome fire a good pitch.
“OHHHHH NO!!!!!!” one of the Capitals could be heard screaming as Strome bounced the ball over the plate. They bent over laughing from the Nationals dugout.
Caps social asked the players to rate the pitch.
“Out of 10? Probably a 2. It barely made it to the dirt,” van Riemsdyk said.
“I’ll take 4,” Protas said. “Good effort.”
“Yeah, 5,” Leonard said.
Carlson smirked and gave a thumbs down.
“3,” McMichael voted.
Duhaime just shook his head in embarrassment.
“That was brutal,” Strome said.
Pregame, the Nationals also saluted their friendship with the Capitals, wearing red Screaming Eagle t-shirts during batting practice.
Strome’s honor at Nationals Park comes nearly a month after Logan Thompson participated in a first pitch at Nationals Park. There, Thompson revealed that he had never “thrown a ball before,” but still managed to outperform Strome.
Before these two heaves, the last Caps player to throw out a first pitch at Nationals Park appears to be Alex Ovechkin in 2019. The Capitals captain got fans excited and participated in the ceremony ahead of Game 4 of the NLDS against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
