ARLINGTON, VA — Washington Capitals players celebrated Halloween together earlier this month, but they weren’t the only ones dressing up for the holiday.
Spencer Carbery hosted his fourth annual Halloween party on Friday for the team’s coaching staff, complete with an award for best costume.
“I feel like the staff gives (the players) a good run for their money,” Carbery said last week.
With plenty of experience helming the metaphorical ship of the Washington Capitals, Carbery went as Captain Jack Sparrow from “Pirates of the Caribbean,” with his wife Casey as heroine Elizabeth Swann. The couple decorated their house with pirate-themed decor for the party.
“’Not all treasure is silver and gold, mate,’” Casey wrote on Instagram. “What a night with my Captain Carbs Sparrow and such an amazing crew! 🎃”
“I think it was pushed to another level again on costumes,” Carbery said on Saturday.
Historically, head athletic trainer Jason Serbus has been the man to beat in the annual contest, covering himself in body paint last year for a Shrek costume.
“(He was) as good as you possibly could do with Shrek, and fully committed to it. It wasn’t minutes — it was hours in the shower to get off the green off.”
This year, however, assistant coach Patrick Wellar and his wife Jennie dethroned Serbus for the top prize, coming as Rockford Peaches players from “A League of Their Own.” Jennie dressed as Madonna’s character Mae Mordabito, while Patrick donned a wig to portray Marla Hooch.
Carbery was surprised to find out later that few of his players had ever watched the film.
“Unbelievable costume, even though only three of our players have seen the movie,” Carbery recounted. “I’ve seen that movie probably 50 times, and it was so good. Wellsy had the whole wig, everything. They had the Rockford Peach uniforms, the ball gloves, the Rockford hats, so they took home the best costume.”
After Carbery’s three seasons coaching the Hershey Bears, his family takes Halloween very seriously. And he promises that trick-or-treaters will leave his house with considerably heavier candy buckets.
“We’re like — dig your hand in and just get a good, good (handful),” Carbery said. “But I like to have like an assortment of all different kinds (of candy), so we go full in: have at her. We learned that in Hershey. Hershey, it’s just like, floodgates, let’s go.”
Carbery may have left “The Sweetest Place on Earth,” but he and the rest of the Capitals’ staff are certainly in the Halloween spirit.
