A Night to Remember

I mentioned last week that I'm a super ginormous Washington Capitals fan, and that I had won a contest to receive a player jersey after a game.

This past Saturday was the big night. I went to the game with four of my girlfriends and waited anxiously and impatiently for the game to end.

After the second intermission I met up with the other "Shirts off our backs winners" to get ushered down to event level to get ready to take the ice.

Before heading down we were each given the chance to pick a giant envelope which contained the number of the player whose jersey we would be receiving.  I have never wanted to open an envelope more in my life.  Not even when I was applying to colleges.

Now, let me pause this story for a minute to answer a quick question that I had been getting nonstop when people heard about this event.  Who did I want to get?   I feel like that is kind of the same as when people ask you what sex you hope your baby is.  I mean you are supposed to say, "I don't care as long as it is healthy" but what you really want to say is "OVI, OBVIOUSLY, OVI!"

In this case I actually had a top three (not including Ovi).  I was hoping for Matt Perreault (been a favorite since he was in Hershey), Mike Rebeiro (filled the soft place I had missing in my heart when Knuble left), and Braden Holtby (in addition to being pretty awesome, people say he is my husband's doppleganger - I don't really see it).  But, as I said, I picked an envelope at random and had no idea who was inside.

Our first stop was outside the Dewars Bar Coaches Club to watch the third period, up until the 5 minute mark when we were ushered down a hallway to wait RIGHT BEHIND THE BRUINS BENCH.  It was pretty cool, but also pretty frustrating.  I am a hockey fan.  I come to games to watch hockey.  Thankfully the game didn't matter much, but when they went into overtime we were all dying as we listened to the crowd give us cues as to what was happening on the ice.

I am not really sure how I managed to get the best place in line, but I did!  Not only was I first, but I was also next to Kati - another one of the Community Service Leaders that had won and was awesome!  Kati had won for starting a mentoring program, that you can read more about her on the Caps Community Service Leader Voting Page.  

Kati and I hit it off instantly and were equally excited and nerdy about getting to go on the ice and took several photos together and of each other as we counted down the minutes to get on the ice.  Then we heard the crowd going crazy - we won!  Came back from a 0-2 deficit to beat the Bruins!  Seconds later a team the Bruins team was marching by us and into their locker room.  While they were walking by, I might have gotten reprimanded for saying, "walk of shame" a little too loudly, but I digress.

As soon as I was on the ice, I scoured the crowd for my friends and found them right next to me (taking pictures of me taking pictures of them).   

And then we saw the Caps players lining up across the ice from us - how cool, right?!?!?

Next thing I knew, I had a video camera in my face and was being told to, "open the envelope."  As I pulled the number out I thought I had gotten Ovi, and just about had a heart attack - that just would have been too good to be true.  When I realized it was Ribeiro I was delighted!  Ever since I found out he was going to be a Capital I loved him.  I think he is the kind of player that everyone hates, but really wants on their team.  He has been a lot of fun to watch this season, and I was thrilled to meet him.

As he approached me he took off his jersey and we had the following conversation -

Mike - So, I'm supposed to give you this right?

Me - Thats the idea

Mike - Are you going to put it on so I can sign it.

Me - Hell no, I need to wash it first.

Mike - What are you talking about, I don't sweat!

Me - Sure you don't!  Do you mind signing it to CAPS MOM?

Mike - Sure, Caps Moms (signs jersey and hands it over to me) Hey, we have matching scars!

Me - I doubt we got them the same way.

Mike - You don't take many hockey sticks to the throat?

Me - Nope, mine is from thyroid surgery.  Do you mind taking a picture with me?

Mike - Absolutely (and he snuggled right up like we were best friends).

Now at this moment I was apparently being shown on TV.  I know this because when I tried to use the camera on my cell phone I was getting nonstop Facebook and text message notifications.

If you watched the Post Game Show you will see me raise my phone up to take a picture, then I make an annoyed face because I couldn't get it to work while my phone was going bananas.

Finally, I got it to work, brushed the hair out of my eyes and started snapping photos.  Rebeiro was totally patient with the whole thing.

Mike - Wait, I didn't look good in that one - take another!

So I did...

Afterward I said, "thank you so much" and "hope you are back next year!" and he just smiled at me before skating away (PLEASE RESIGN, REBEIRO!)

It was only after he skated away that I noticed that Matty P. was about a foot away from me, and Ovi was next to him - pretty cool moment!

I got a few pictures of other players as they gave their jerseys away, and couldn't help but notice that non of the other guys seemed to stay and talk or take pictures for as long, so I felt extra excited to have gotten Rebeiro.

I guess I was totally caught up in the moment, watching players and talking to Kati, because before we knew it everyone had started walking back and Slap Shot had to kick us off the ice.

The whole thing was totally surreal and I cannot thank the people who got me there enough.

Oh, and yesterday we found out that we had shown up in photos from Russian Machine Never Breaks (my favorite blog) and The Capitals Outsider, which was super cool as well.

I think I will go wash my smelly jersey now, so I can wear it on Thursday!