It was a win 44 years in the making for the Washington Capitals and a win 13 years in the making for Alexander the Great.
So Alexander Ovechkin can silence his critics once and for all – or at least for the next 12 months – after the Washington Capitals won it all on June 7 over the Vegas Golden Knights. And it appears the 13 years it took for Ovechkin and company to claim the Stanley Cup was worth the wait.
You couldn't look at anything on the Internet without Ovechkin or a collection of Caps players doing things with the Cup and to be honest, I don't blame them. I don't know what I would do if I had the Cup in my possession for the one day each person on the team gets with it but I would make sure it was legendary.
Ovechkin made sure he enjoyed every second of it all. There he was with his teammates on The Tonight Show, dipping Jimmy Fallon into the bowl. There he was in his backyard, raging fire from the barbecue, belting out We Are The Champions to whoever was listening within earshot. There he was sleeping with the Stanley Cup in bed, leaving people to wonder if he relegated his wife, Nastya, to the couch. She appeared on an Instagram post safe and sound, saving us from the Melania Trump-type mystery that would have certainly popped up.
The team's social media guy was having fun during the Stanley Cup parade when there was a military fly-by in the missing man formation, which is the usual celebratory formation. The camera pans over to Ovechkin, casually holding the Cup above his head like it was any other day in his life.
And weren't they having all sorts of fun at their parade on June 12? Ovechkin, who looked like he was still on his perpetual winning bender, reminded the crowd that the Capitals weren't “going to be suck” this year. Recall at the start of the season when he said that and the ribbing he took? Proof that winning solves everything.
Even more fun from the parade was Jakub Vrana, who did what anyone else does when they have a beer tossed at them during the parade: you crush it like a boss. There he was, chugging it for all to see without a care.
In fact, I'm willing to wager any amount of money that no one, especially Ovechkin, has been sober since the evening of June 7.
But among the happiness, there was some real class shown by the Capitals organization toward the Golden Knights and their fans. The Capitals took out a full-page ad in the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper to thank them and congratulate them on the best inaugural season in the history of professional sports. They're right, too. The handshakes after a playoff series are still the classiest of things in professional sports but for the Capitals to put their thoughts on the record is a whole other deal.
For the Golden Knights to get all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals in season-one is some kind of accomplishment. They bucked the trend of expansion teams who are lucky to hit double digits in the win column in their first season and gave their fans something to cheer for in a hurry. Let's hope it doesn't go to rubbish in a hurry and the buzz fizzles out because the potential is there for a great organization.
Perhaps the best part of any win is the players with their families and it came no better, or emotional, than T.J. Oshie with his dad, Tim, who was diagnosed with the early onset of Alzheimer's disease in 2012. Oshie was talking with Hockey Night in Canada after the win and was asked about his dad. The response was legendary:
“He doesn't remember a lot of stuff but you bet your ass he's gonna remember this one.”
That's what is all comes down to – family. Amid all of the boozing, celebrating and cheering, you always go back to what matters and that's the people you love. They were the ones that got those players to that moment with all of the sacrifices they made in life and are a big part of it all.
So the Capitals are your new Stanley Cup champions and have shown the world what a celebration looks like. One question remains: will Ovechkin score 50 goals while slightly hungover? Hey, it could happen.
Now all we need to do is teach Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress that what the Capitals play isn't “sportsball”. Yes, this guy actually called the Capitals' parade a “sportsball parade.”
Honestly, if you're going to insult something, at least be informed. Dingus.