SO FUCKING HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Best sports moment of my entire life! I was pacing around frantically during much of the third period, especially in the final 7 minutes when we had the lead. There were definitely times when I just couldn't look at the TV.
A few things:
1) Seeing the pure fucking joy in Ovechkin's face was amazing. You could sense that all the years of heartbreak, all the years of taking blame for the Caps' failures, all the years of being beaten by Crosby and the Pens, all the years of people saying "yeah Ovechkin is great but no Cup," all of that was washed away in a moment. I'm not going to lie (and I feel a bit embarrassed by this), but I teared up when I saw him lift that Cup.
2) Conn Smythe trophy too? Yes fucking please. He deserved it. Yeah sure not as many points as Kuzy, but leading goal scorer, Captain, and just leading by example with the sacrifices and physical play and defensive effort.
3) I will also be the first to admit that I doubted the fuck out of this team. Mind you, I was spot on when I said early on in the season and even during the off season that the Caps would still be a playoff team and would probably be in the top 5-8 teams in the league. I was definitely spot on about that. But I thought there was no way the Caps would beat Columbus down 2-0, no way they would beat the Pens, and no way they would come back from 3-2 against the Lightning. I also didn't think they stood much of a chance against VGK and a "hot" Fleury. I thought there was no way that Ovie was the right Captain for this team (boy was I wrong), and I thought that Gruby should have been the goalie for the playoffs and that Holtby wouldn't recover his old form (funny how Gruby lost his first two games, and Holtby got us to the Cup). Never been happier to be wrong.
4) After having tasted victory, I'd of course love to see the Caps win again, but goddamn I will die happy knowing that the boys won it this year. The Caps might have fallen short of another Presidents' Trophy, and Ovie might have fallen short of another 50 goal season, but goddamn they did not fall short of the Stanley Cup.
5) Round of applause for VGK. Stellar season considering they have a bunch of young "misfits." VGK fans shouldn't feel bad. Their team wrecked in their first year, and it seems like a championship will not take too long to achieve if they keep it up. Still, considering VGK is an expansion team and has a wide "window," it was way better to see Ovie win it all, cementing his career before his window shut for good.
6) I'm sure I sound like a nerd, but I'm also excited to watch like every documentary about this championship team, and just relive their journey over and over again.
