Ryan Leonard’s goal song choice is one he got used to hearing a lot earlier in the year.
Leonard, playing in his first career home game for the Washington Capitals on Friday night, will hear “Freebird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd blare over the speakers at Capital One Arena if he lights the lamp. The song has extra meaning to the 20-year-old rookie as it was also used as Team USA’s goal song when they won gold at the 2025 World Juniors with Leonard as their captain.
Leonard posted 10 points (5g, 5a) in seven games en route to winning his second World Juniors gold medal in as many years. The 2023 first-round pick was named the tournament’s MVP after chipping in two assists in the final game against Finland.
Team USA officials told ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski that defenseman Zeev Buium was responsible for picking the song at the Ottawa-based tournament. Buium, a Denver Pioneers standout, helped knock Leonard and the rest of the Boston College Eagles out of this year’s NCAA Tournament.
“I don’t know, we were kind of on the bus, hanging out, trying to figure out a song,” Buium said. “We were all throwing out songs, and we all kind of clicked on it. So we thought it was a good tune to go with.”
The Americans heard the song a tournament-leading 37 times, including after Teddy Stiga scored the golden goal in overtime on January 5. Capitals prospect Cole Hutson helped trigger the old-school tune the most, finishing the tournament as its leading scorer and becoming the first defender ever to do so.
Leonard, who scored five goals for the US, admitted his excitement to play in front of a DC home crowd for the first time ahead of puck drop on Friday.
“It should be a lot of fun,” Leonard said. “All I’ve heard is good things about the environment there, so I’m really excited for tonight.”
