October 17 - Washington Capitals vs. Nashville Predators

Whewh! This was a close one. The Caps won in a shootout. The plus side, Varly played really well. He let in one soft goal, but he stopped two short-handed breakaways in the first period and he shut Nasahville down in the shoot out! Ovie was on fire again and got the two goals in regulation and one goal in the shootout.

Caps fans were just dying to throw their hats tonight and dozens of them threw them after Ovie's shootout goal. Hmm. It was fantastic that he beat the goalie and helped us win the game, but the goal doesn't count toward his tally (He's scored 9 goals already this season, for those of you who are counting). It didn't give him a legitimate hat trick for the game. Seeing all the hats cast onto the ice made me wonder what the team does with them. Hopefully they donate them to charity. Many people throw brand new Capitals hats onto the ice that they recently paid at least $20 for! They could also have a cheap used hat sale and give the money to charity... but that might present issues with germs and possible head lice or whatever other gross things people have on their heads. Eeew.

I don't think the Caps were playing at the same level as they were against San Jose. Also, Nashville exceeded expetations. All the press leading into today's game said things like, "Capitals take on slumping Predators." Really, the Predators played pretty good hockey.

Section 419 was lively this evening. The cowbell people were in full effect and were even wearing their "Section 419 Has More Cowbell" T-Shirts. They're pretty awesome, but I am happy they sit a few rows ahead of me because the cowbell sound is rather shrill.

Something that I love about our section is that last year, Neil started yelling "Who cares?" after the announcer announces the opposing team's goals and it's caught on in a major way. He picked it up from his youth playing hockey and brought it to Verizon Center. Last year we had a group of people to the front and left of us who caught on, but it's spread significantly and people to the right and even behind us are yelling "Who cares?" It's fun to start traditions and to stick around to see them grow. I'm guessing that people in 419 yell "Who cares?" even at games when we're not there, which was definitely not the case a year ago.

After the game on our walk home, Neil noticed Secret Service vehicles outside of Oyamel and we decided to go in to see who was dining tonight. We got through the wanding and patting down and took our seat at the bar next to some fellow Caps fans just in time to glimpse Michelle Obama as she left the restaurant. Then the bartender asked us if the Caps won, we said yes and he told his co-worker, a young woman around our age who let out a whooping cheer upon learning of the victory. Hooray for living in Washington and getting to see the First Lady around town and running into hockey fans everywhere we go!