On Christmas Day, the Vegas Golden Knights wished their fans a Happy Haula-Days by releasing a video featuring Nate Schmidt as Schmidty the Elf. The former Capital dispenses joke gifts to all of his new teammates.
The video is quintessential Schmidt: Nate’s joy for life is on full display.
This year, Christmas was extra special in my house because it was my nine-month-old son’s first Xmas holiday ever. And of course Ethan got a bunch of fun Capitals-related gifts. What kind of dad would I be without unsubtly forcing my favorite sport on him?
My son received a customized ETHAN 17 Capitals jersey, a Caps outfit (Thanks, Santa Brock!), and a stuffed animal Ovi, which ended up being Ethan’s favorite gift of all.
Jay Beagle, the man who put the Caps up 2-1 in the second period, was Hockey Night In Canada’s guest during the second intermission. Yes, Beags got the esteemed HNIC towel.
Usually intermission interviews are irrelevant and chock full of cliches. Instead, Beags revealed a tasty nugget about what the Caps did on their flight home from Raleigh Monday night.
For many of us, the winter holidays are an opportunity to spend quality time with family, enjoy a good home-cooked meal and reflect on the blessing of the year that’s passed and our hopes and dreams for the year to come. It’s also the perfect time to stock up on sweet Caps gear on your friends’ and families’ dime.
My own son made out like a bandit, hauling in more Caps gear than even I did. The pièce de résistance was the excellent burp cloth pictured above. Gotta stoke the fires of rivalry as early as possible.
We asked what other great new paraphernalia and memorabilia you all received this season, and you all did not disappoint.
By Nathan Burchfiel 4 years ago
Your day is about to get better: the Washington Capitals released their holiday video and it’s a doozy. Featuring Alex Ovechkin wearing a pink bunny costume, Michael Latta getting his tongue stuck to a pole, Rod Langway as Santa, and Alex Ovechkin in a pink bunny costume, this video is an instant classic.
By Rachel Cohen 4 years ago
It’s Thanksgiving weekend, which means you’re ready to unload your cash quicker than at one of those rigged carnival games. Just one more try, honey. I’m going to get that ring around that damn milk bottle. I got this.
This year, RMNB is here to help you find the perfect gift for that cherished Capitals fan in your life. And if we miss any good gifts or Black Friday deals, we’re sure one of our readers will let us know about it in the comments below.
Let’s begin!
Book cover art courtesy Potomac Books
Look I might be an intellectual, but I’m not much of a reader. Hence why when I go over to Redskins Insider for my daily visit, I generally get bored after the 6th straight paragraph about how much Carlos Rogers sucks. I just can’t help it, you know? I guess it’s ADD.
But there are some things that I will force myself to sit down and read. And one of them is the new book written by both Tim Leone and Capitals Head Coach Bruce Boudreau called “Gabby: Confessions of a Hockey Lifer.”
Over the summer, our friends at Japers Rink pretty much sold us on the book after the first teaser. But then JP shared with us 4 more (Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5) , and we pretty much wanted to drive to the nearest Barnes and Noble and rip through all the bookshelves until we found it. But alas, the book wasn’t going to be released until the upcoming October, so I decided to play the waiting game and just get it then.
Well months passed by, and I tried to keep the book in the back of my mind, but I kinda just forgot about it. Well, that is until our other friends at On Frozen Blog mentioned that Bruce Boudreau was having a book signing on December 21st after practice at Kettler.
Oh, if I didn’t work in Columbia, I could just drop on by during lunch!! But taking a 3.5 hr lunch break wasn’t going to fly especially with having to have 6 websites done by the end of the year. Sigh.
Well, a few days ago, I posed a question to my Twitter Followers. I asked them “What’s the Best Thing About Caps Fans?” And here are some of the responses:
Beautiful Nicklas Backstrom Color Pencil Drawing By Kaitlyn
Other than Nicklas Backstrom’s terrible attempt at a water-color painting, we here at Russian Machine Never Breaks LOVE, LOVE, LOVE artwork. And so that’s why we love high schooler and avid hockey player Kaitlyn(Please follow her on Twitter).
After seeing one of her beautiful color-penciled masterpieces of the aforementioned Backstrom (shown to the right), the Russian Machine put in a special request for an Alex Ovechking drawing. And Kaitlyn sweetly obliged…
But the project was not without its own setbacks – as all artists can attest to. She even managed to put us through a whole gamut of emotions during the process (like only a high school girl could) as she updated her progress on Twitter:
Merry Christmas from Terry Dobbins, Mike Green and the 7 Raccoons That Perished to Make That Hat
Merry Christmas Eve from everyone here at Russian Machine Never Breaks! As our writers disperse across the state to spend time with their respective families, we wanted to thank you for welcoming us into the Capitals Diaspora with open arms and giving us a chance to entertain you for the last two weeks.
To give back, tomorrow on Christmas Day, we wanted to release to you some true stories and artwork that warmed our cold, Russian hearts and made us believe that the Christmas spirit of giving is still alive and well.
While we are away chugging alcoholic eggnog, dropping our mitts and fighting our in-laws, we wanted you to get on Twitter and let the Russian Machine know, what’s the best thing about Caps Fans? ie: @russianmachine The Best Thing About #Caps Fans is… [your answer]
We’ll post some of the best answers tomorrow! Take care and have a Merry Christmas!
