The Washington Capitals gathered for their annual Halloween party at Don Tito on Saturday night, and the resulting group photo featured quite possibly the strangest lineup the team will ice all season.
Alex Ovechkin was a glass of beer. Logan Thompson was Puss in Boots. Cole Hutson and Vincent Desharnais paired up to be DoodleBob and Patrick Star from SpongeBob SquarePants..
And those were just four of the costumes.
Naturally, we took it upon ourselves to conduct the type of investigative journalism we’ve become known for here over the past two decades, zooming in on the team photo to identify nearly every player and their Halloween alter ego. We also talked to the players and head coach Spencer Carbery at practice Monday for reaction and how some guys decided on their costumes.
Here’s what we found.
Logan Thompson as ‘Puss in Boots’
Logan Thompson is a quiet laidback guy, who is usually the last line of defense. For his Halloween costume, he dressed up as a the mouthy, overconfident, sword-wielding feline from Shrek.
“I have nine lives, amigo. You have zero goals,” I cannot imagine him saying.
Cole Hutson as ‘DoodleBob’ and Vincent Desharnais as ‘Patrick Star’ from SpongeBob
Most players coordinated outfits with their partners, but Cole Hutson and Vincent Desharnais — two of the only single people at the party — went a different route, coming up with a joint costume as a D-pair: Hutson was DoodleBob, while Desharnais dressed as Patrick Star.
“Lots of guys have girlfriends and wives who usually do it as pairs and all that,” Desharnais said. “Hutty and I don’t have anyone so we just (said), ‘Hey, let’s do one together.'”
The funcle and nephew duo opted for a SpongeBob SquarePants theme, with Hutson as DoodleBob and Desharnais as Patrick Star.
“I saw a TikTok the other day of someone dressed as DoodleBob, so I figured why not me and Vinny go as DoodleBob and Patrick,” Hutson explained.
Hutson took the lead on costume planning, though Desharnais ultimately ordered his online.
“We were just trying to find a costume, a matching costume, and [Hutson] went to Target,” Desharnais explained. “He called me on FaceTime and said, ‘How’s this?’ I was like, “It’s perfect.”
“[Desharnais] lucked out because it was like a onesie, so it was comfy for him,” Hutson quipped, “and I was stuck in a square piece of foam all night. So that wasn’t great.”
But the 6’7″ Desharnais wasn’t free of his own wardrobe issues, acknowledging, “It was a little short, but we made it work.”
At just 20 years old, Hutson is one of the Capitals’ youngest players, and he soon found out that most of his teammates didn’t grow up on Nickleodeon.
“A lot of people thought it was SpongeBob, and I was like, ‘No, it’s a character in SpongeBob,'” Hutson said. “And they’re like, ‘What? I’ve never seen that before…’ I grew up on it, so it’s a lot of fun.”
Ivan Miroshnichenko as ‘Lord Farquaad’ from Shrek
Lord Farquaad is the comically short, power-hungry villain from Shrek, known for his enormous ego, signature black bob haircut, and elaborate red-and-gold royal outfit. The ruthless ruler of Duloc dreams of becoming king despite his decidedly unkingly stature.
Mirror, mirror, on the wall – is this not the most perfect hockey kingdom of them all?
Jonny Brodzinski as ‘Lord Farquaad’ from Shrek No. 2
There can never be too many Lord Farquaads at a Good Halloween Party. Also, Jonny gets bonus points for having a costume in less than 12 hours after getting called up from Hershey.
Alex Ovechkin as a Glass of Beer
Ovechkin is a noted beer lover, often showered in lager after his biggest milestone goals. He even went viral over the summer after surprising a group of fans in Moscow, sharing a glass of beer with them at a bar. Not only is this costume on brand, but it also works as promotion, too, coming just weeks after he came out with his own beer, entitled “Ovi,” in Russia.
“I liked Ovi and Nastya,” Dylan Strome said when asked for his favorite costume of the night. “I like the beer and the beer garden lady. So I thought that was pretty fun.”
Ryan Leonard as ‘Treblemaker’ from Pitch Perfect
Ryan Leonard dressed as a member of the all-male a cappella group from Pitch Perfect. He’s already proven he can put on a show on the ice. Now we’re wondering if his vocal range is as impressive as his stickhandling.
Martin Fehervary as a ‘Baywatch’ lifeguard
The David Hasselhoff cult classic was not only recently turned into a movie starring Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron, and Alexandra Daddario, but it’s also being rebooted as a television show this January led by actor Stephen Amell and sports celebrity Livvy Dunne.
It’s easy to believe Fehervary as an ocean-faring lifeguard when he already defends the ice with so much valor as a defenseman.
Matt Roy, Dylan McIlrath, and Charlie Lindgren as Clue suspects
Three Caps families joined together to form the cast of ‘Clue,’ with Matt Roy as Mr. Green, Dylan McIlrath as Professor Plum, and Charlie Lindgren as Colonel Mustard, plus Mikkayla Lindgren as Mrs. White. Linsey Roy and Melissa McIlrath’s costumes are hidden in the group photo, but we can only assume they dressed as Mrs. Peacock and Miss Scarlet to complete the matched set.
Tom Wilson as ‘Chuck Noland’ from Castaway
Wilson and his wife, Taylor, used their costumes to reveal that she was pregnant with the couple’s second child. Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery cited it as one of his favorites.
“Willy’s is pretty good because it plays off Taylor, and that’s a good one,” Carbery said. “I also like LT’s, (the) SpongeBob (costumes). They do a good job.”
Dylan Strome as ‘Ken’ from Barbie
Years after having blonde hair with the Erie Otters, Dylan brought the look back, complete with highlights and everything, for his tandem Barbie outfit with his wife Tayler.
“My wife’s been asking me for a long time to get the blonde streaks back in, like I had in junior,” Strome said. “The idea came up and we thought Ken and Barbie was perfect. Nice chance to go blonde again for a little bit. It’s not going to last very long, but it’ll be off in a couple days, probably. It was fun. We had a fun Halloween party.”
Days after the event, Strome’s golden hair got further attention from his teammates at Monday’s practice.
“The reaction today was like, ‘Oh, it’s still actually blond,'” Strome said. “(They were) a little shocked, I think, that it wasn’t just dye that comes out that night.”
He also wanted to be clear: “No one put this much effort in, though. I had the most effort.”
Ilya Protas as a viking
Little Pro’s size is intimidating — the young Belarusian forward is approaching 6-foot-7 — but he is a kind and gentle soul, who is always laughing and bringing positive energy. The contrast of him being a viking — a bloodthirsty agent of chaos who wakes up every morning and chooses violence — while smiling so purely is fantastic.
Also, part of me wants to believe this is an homage to Erling Haaland.
Aliaksei Protas as “Freddy Krueger” from A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Nightmare on Elm Street? More like A Nightmare on the Forecheck. As if a 6-foot-6 Aliaksei Protas wasn’t frightening enough, someone decided to give him a glove full of knives.
Boone Jenner as an agent from Men In Black
Boone Jenner arrived dressed as an agent from Men in Black, apparently trading his hockey responsibilities for the considerably more important task of protecting Earth from extraterrestrial threats. With that said, I’m a bit confused why he literally invited aliens to the party.
I presume he carried a neuralyzer to help his teammates forget their worst games.
Jakob Chychrun as a cowboy
Chychrun looked like he was one wrong turn away from a rodeo. There’s a new sheriff in town, and apparently he plays defense for the Washington Capitals.
Anthony Beauvillier as ‘Walter White’ from Breaking Bad
Beauvi dressed as the lead character from Breaking Bad, looking ready to cook up something considerably more dangerous than a scoring chance. He is the one who knocks, apparently.
Jordan Kyrou as ‘Anakin Skywalker’ from Star Wars
Jordan Kyrou dressed as the gifted Jedi that has exceptional speed and skill but who eventually turns to the Dark Side.
Hopefully, Kyrou saves his villain arc for the St. Louis Blues or opposing Metropolitan Division teams.
Alex Tuch as — I, yeah… I have no idea
Alex Tuch, meanwhile, showed up wearing a plain white T-shirt. Was he James Dean? Paying homage to the famous band with the same name? A man who forgot there was a Halloween party? Perhaps he was dressed as the concept of casual Friday. I have absolutely no idea. Whatever the inspiration, the Capitals didn’t bring Tuch to Washington for his costume creativity. They brought him here to score goals and goals he has scored, leading the team early with five in eight games.
The players may have had their fun this weekend, but that doesn’t mean the Capitals’ Halloween festivities are over. Carbery said Monday that he’ll soon be hosting a spooky party just for team staff, complete with a costume competition.
“This will be the fourth year, and every year it gets better and better and better with the costumes,” Carbery said. “The first year it was like, ‘Eh, like, is this really going down?’ And then the second year got good. And then the third year it was really good. There’s an award and a prize for the best costume of the night.”
The early frontrunner for the 2026 title is head athletic trainer Jason Serbus, who Carbery praised for the amount of effort in each year’s costume.
“He was Shrek (last year),” Carbery said. “And [it was] as good as you possibly could do a Shrek. And fully committed to it. I think it was a — it wasn’t minutes. It was hours in the shower to get all the green off.”
Most importantly, will the former Hershey Bears head coach still be giving out big bars?
“Oh, there is,” Carbery said, his eyes growing larger. “We try to go all out for Halloween.”
Note: Justin Sourdif was not in the team photo and presumably missed the event due to the illness that also kept him out of the Capitals’ victory over the New Jersey Devils earlier in the day.
Thanks to the RMNB Crashers community on Discord who helped us identify some of the costumes as admittedly I’m not nearly this smart about pop culture. If you have interest joining our Discord, you can learn more here.
