The Washington Capitals’ rookie party in 2009 was apparently so epic that it’s still being talked about 16 years later.
The latest to chat up the event is retired NHL defenseman Shane O’Brien, a notorious partier, during his appearance on the Missin’ Curfew Podcast.
The veteran of nine NHL seasons said he received permission from Alex Ovechkin to crash the party despite being a member of the Vancouver Canucks.
Per O’Brien on the Missin’ Curfew Podcast:
I’ll always love [Alex Ovechkin] because he let me crash the rookie party in Vancouver.
I went up to John Erskine first, and I’m like, ‘Hey, am I okay here?’ He’s like, ‘Go ask Ovi’. And I’m like, ‘Ovi…’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, have fun. Don’t worry. Don’t worry. Go have fun.’
I’m like, ‘Okay.’
I was last man standing. They had a suite at the f***, whatever hotel it was. It was a sick rookie party.
Girges threw it. I’ve told this story before, but I came out, we played somebody else that night, and they were in town… And I come out and f***, I’m down in the L town, and we just won the game and the city’s like, ‘What the f***?’
‘Girges, where are all these babes at? Where is everyone?’ Where are you at, buddy?’
‘I’m throwing a rookie party for the Capitals,’ [Girges responded.]
What was that D-man’s name? He was from BC (British Columbia). Mike Green? Morrissey? Oh no, Shaone Morrisonn.
So he was boys with Peter, and this was like when Peter was first starting the rookie parties, and he’s like, ‘Ah, get over here.’
I’m like, ‘Ah, f***. I’m not coming.’ Like this is… and I had the day off the next day and I’m like, well, f***, I’m not going home. I said, ‘I’m coming. Come grab me.’ And (he) brought me up and yeah. What a shaker.
While O’Brien shared few actual details about the actual party, there are some fun layers here that add to previous reporting from nearly two decades ago.
The Girges fellow that O’Brien speaks of is well-known Vancouver restaurateur and nightlife entrepreneur, Peter Girges. Girges was indeed a friend of defenseman Shaone Morrisonn, posting an Instagram photo with the former Caps defenseman at MedStar Capitals Iceplex in 2012.
The Capitals’ rookie party that O’Brien attended was on Wednesday, December 16, 2009, two days before the Caps played the Canucks. The Loden Hotel in downtown Vancouver hosted the event in its Penthouse suite, and according to reporting by the Vancouver Sun, the night ended up being a milestone one for Ovechkin as a young human.
It seems the Canuck Nation owes a small thank you to the staff at The Loden Hotel in downtown Vancouver. When Russian superstar Alexander Ovechkin was held to just three shots in the Canucks’ 3-2 win over Washington on Dec. 18, it could have had something to do with the fact the Capitals’ rookie party had gone long into the previous night in the penthouse suite of the boutique hotel overlooking Coal Harbour. Some say Ovechkin saw his first sunrise on Canada’s West Coast.
O’Brien getting the okay from Ovechkin to attend the party came just three weeks before the Russian sniper was named captain of the Capitals on January 5, 2010, suggesting Ovi was already operating as the team’s leader 10 days before then-captain, Chris Clark, was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets on December 28.
One of the Capitals rookies that night was goaltender Semyon Varlamov, who spoke about the event with Championat.
“It’s a downside for rookies, that we pay for it all. I also had big bill,” Varlamov said, laughing, as translated by RMNB’s Fedor Fedin. “It was not very nice, but I had to pay. But the party was really very fun. A rookies party happens once in a career. And I remember that party. We sat in a restaurant, had a great time. It was great.”
Tarik El-Bashir, then with the Washington Post, added that another one of the then rookies, Karl Alzner, actually called his credit-card company in advance to warn them about an unusually expensive charge that was coming.
Corey Masisak, then of the Washington Times, reported that Alzner, Varlamov, Michal Neuvirth, and Quintin Laing were supposed to split the bill, with Tyler Sloan contributing some.
Laing was included despite being a veteran because he had never attended a rookie dinner before.
Newly recalled Kyle Wilson, a member of the Hershey Bears’ back-to-back championship teams in 2009 and 2010, was believed to be exempt due to having just joined the team. The forward joked to the media that he’d gladly pay for dinner every night if it meant he could stay in the NHL.
