A new game in town: jersey spotting

By WP BrandStudio

There’s a new game in town. You can play it at the arena, at the mall or just walking around. With the Capitals advancing to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 20 years, there are more fans rocking more Caps sweaters than ever. You can spot them everywhere. There’s another Alex Ovechkin jersey. Another Braden Holtby going the other way. Here comes one more Tom Wilson. You can’t miss seeing them.

But that’s not what this game is about.

This game is about finding someone sporting a jersey that best symbolizes the Capitals continuing 43-year journey to win their first Stanley Cup. Can you spot the fans who have pulled on, say, the No. 7 of Yvon Labre?

Perhaps you’ve seen Labre’s No. 7 livery hanging from the arena rafters as one of four the Capitals have retired. Labre was with the team in its inaugural season of 1974-75. He scored the franchise’s first home goal, in a 1-1 tie against the Kings at the old Cap Centre in Landover.

That first season for the Caps was the polar opposite of what’s been the experience of their Stanley Cup opponents, the Las Vegas Golden Knights. The Capitals premier outing still ranks as the worst in NHL history. They went 8-67-5 and won only one road game. Labre emerged as the face of the franchise in those early years. He became team captain and later served as an assistant coach, broadcaster and executive.

If you haven’t seen any Labre jerseys yet, liven up the game a bit by widening your target range to include the other three Capitals whose numbers have been retired: Rod Langway (5), Mike Gartner (11) and Dale Hunter (32).

You’d think there would be more Hunter jerseys circulating around out there. He was the last of the three to retire as a player and later became the Capital’s coach. And of course he was part of the first Capital’s team to reach the Stanley Cup Final back in 1998.

But there’s another twist to the game of Hunter jersey spotting, and that is to distinguish which version you’ve found.

Here’s the story. In Hunter’s first eight seasons with the Capitals, the team wore a slight variation of the original red, white and blue jersey design. In 1995-96—Hunter’s ninth year in Washington—they dropped the red, changed the shade of blue and added the new eagle logo with “Capitals” written at an angle below it. In 1997-98, when they made it to the Cup Final, the word “Capitals” had been removed from the front of the jersey.

Another wrinkle in this capitol scavenger hunt is to find the jersey that might have been worn by the player you consider to be the most obscure member of the Cap’s lineup. Labre, Langway, Gartner and Hunter have all earned places in Capitals’ lore, so even if they aren’t the stars of today, you won’t be completely stunned to see one of their jerseys.

Whose number would cause you to do a double-take?

Bates Battaglia, anyone?

(He was No. 13, but you knew that, right?)

The obscure player quest could take some interesting twists, however, as Al Iafrate was an All-Star defenseman, but if you see anyone wearing his old No. 34 Caps jersey AND sporting his signature skullet, it’s game over.

You win.

But if you’ve set your heart on styling with the jersey of a current Caps player and don’t want to be the bazillionth fan to go with Ovechkin or Backstrom or Holtby (not that there’s anything wrong with that), we do have a suggestion. This will require teamwork, though.

Please consider Lars Eller and Chandler Stephenson.

Think about it. Eller is No. 20. Stephenson is No. 18.

Now this is where the teamwork comes in. You’ll need a friend to wear one while you wear the other. You’ll sit next to each other—in the proper alignment. It’s 20 and 18: 2018—this is the Caps’ year!

If you have to go solo, maybe lean toward Eller. Run the numbers. How many assists did Eller have in the regular season? 20. How many goals did Eller have in the regular season? 18.

20. 18. 2018. It must be fate.

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