It took 44 years but the Washington Capital washed away all their playoff disappointments with a stream of tears of joy as they captured the Stanley Cup with a 4-3 win over the Vegas Golden Knights, finishing off Cinderella’s team in five games.
See related: Washington Capitals win first Stanley Cup
Greg Theberge, local colour man for YourTV OHL Tonight broadcasts, is a former Washington Capitals defenceman himself.
Theberge played 153 games all with the Washington Capitals in the National Hockey League from 1979 to 1984.
See related: Local Capitals alumnus enjoying Stanley Cup run
Like former Capital Jaromir Jagr, who was at game five to see his former team hoist the cup, Theberge still feels a special connection to the team and the franchise that hoisted hockey’s holy grail for the first time Thursday night.
“The way I feel tonight after watching my former National Hockey League team win Lord Stanley Cup, Is very gratifying,” Theberge told BayToday.ca.
“I reflect back to the first year the organization ever made the playoffs in 1982-83. I’m so happy for the fans of Washington who have paid their dues and the old cliché is they’ve started from the bottom and now they’re here.”
Theberge is thrilled for the current players and alum who wore Capitals red, but he also feels very good for any and all Capital fans who stuck through all that past playoff disappointment.
“The fans deserve this recognition and now they have their place in history,” said Theberge.
“That will be etched in their memory banks forever.”
Jason Marchand is one of those fans. The North Bay native is the Northern Ontario Hockey Association's Executive Director and is a proud Washington Capitals fan.
Marchand traveled to game five of the Eastern Conference finals and attended game three of the finals in Washington last week.
"I’ve been a Caps fan for about 25 years," noted Marchand, arguably North Bay's most dedicated Washington Capitals fan.
"I was a fan of Jim Carey and Peter Bondra at the time. I remember my Dad buying me one of the new style jerseys with the eagle logo and the rest was history," he recalled.
He says today he is especially proud to be a Caps fan.
"When I was listening to TJ Oshie say last night that aside from getting married and having two kids, winning the Cup was the most amazing feeling in his life, that’s pretty much exactly what I was feeling and thinking.
"Seeing Jose Bautista’s bat flip live and experiencing that was near the top of my list, but having an opportunity to not only see the Caps win a Stanley Cup Final game live in game 3 but to see the team you’ve followed very closely, and invested so much time and money into supporting over the last 25 years, finally win it all when pretty much everyone never would have expected this, this definitely is up there."
