The Stanley Cup-champion Capitals are celebrating the city’s first major four pro sports championship in 26 years with a parade down Constitution Avenue.
It’s the first sports parade in Washington since the NFL’s Redskins in 1992. Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, T.J. Oshie, Braden Holtby and his teammates will travel from 17th to 7th on Constitution to a rally on the National Mall by the afternoon.
They were joined by four F-16 Fighting Falcons from the D.C. Air National Guard who performed a flyover about 25 minutes in. Season-ticket holders who have remained from the team’s eight-win inaugural season in 1974-75, high school marching bands and the D.C. fire department pipes and drums are among those participating in the parade.
Alexander Ovechkin raises the Stanley Cup in the first Capitals championship parade in franchise history
The Stanley Cup championship parade and celebration moves past the Washington Monument
Fans cross Pennsylvania Ave., as they head towards the Washington Capitals Stanley Cup victory parade route on the National Mall in Washington on Tuesday morning
A fan carries a home-made Stanley Cup made of mostly empty beer cans as people begin to arrive for the Washington Capitals Stanley Cup victory parade on Constitution Ave., along the National Mall in Washington
Capitals right wing Devante Smith-Pelly (25) celebrates after his goal in the first period during Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Washington Capitals and the Vegas Golden Knights at Capital One Arena on Saturday, June 4
Fans gather on the steps of the National Archives Building as they wait to watch the Washington Capitals NHL hockey Stanley Cup victory parade along the National Mall in Washington
The Capitals have been one of the most successful NHL franchises since Ovechkin was drafted with the first pick of the 2004 draft. Following a lockout that year, the Caps went on to reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs nine times, but had never advanced to the Finals until this year, when they overwhelmed the expansion Golden Knights.
So naturally, the players and fans have had a lot of celebrating to get out of their system.
Ovechkin is taking every chance he can get to lift the Cup, whether it was coming off the plane with Backstrom on Friday or on the field at a Washington Nationals game on Saturday before and after his two tries at a ceremonial first pitch. (The first one sailed over the catcher’s head, but Ovechkin connected on his second throw).
‘I just Cup holder right now,’ Ovechkin said.
Chugging beers during a TV interview, Capitals players broke out into an impromptu rendition of Queen’s ‘We Are The Champions’ and swayed together when it was played during the seventh-inning stretch. The first Cup is bringing out the deepest emotions for the superstar captain and his teammates and coaches.
‘I still can’t believe it,’ Ovechkin said Saturday. ‘I think no one still can believe like we did and we are right now Stanley Cup champions. But it’s great, I think. Something you will never forget.’
People wait on the platform to use the escalator as they begin to exit the National Archives Metro Subway station and head towards the Washington Capitals Stanley Cup victory parade on the National Mall in Washington on Tuesday morning
Washington Capitals fans board the DC Metro at the Shady Grove station before the Stanley Cup championship parade and celebration
Just seeing the Cup in person was a thrill for the Nationals’ Max Scherzer and Ryan Zimmerman, who dressed up in full hockey gear to pump up fans before Game 4 of the Cup Final. They got a sneak peek that night, and the trophy was in their clubhouse Saturday on its annual whirlwind tour that includes the District of Columbia for the first time.
‘It’s easily the best trophy in all of sports, just the stories and how it’s the same Cup every year,’ Zimmerman said Saturday. ‘I’m big into that history and it’s awesome how they’ve kind of maintained that throughout the years.’
The start of the next quest for the Cup begins in less than three months, and the coming days and weeks will bring clarity on the future s of Carlson, coach Barry Trotz and Washington’s other free agents. On Saturday, the 55-year-old Trotz brushed aside any conversation about a new contract.
‘I’m not in any state to talk,’ Trotz said. ‘I always talked about having really good clarity and calm and all that. I don’t have a lot of clarity right now. That’s self-inflicted.’
Washington Capitals fans line up to by DC Metro passes at the Shady Grove station
Alex Ovechkin and teammates pose with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump in Georgetown at Cafe Milano
People gather to celebrate the Washington Capitals’ first ever Stanley Cup Finals victory
Washington Capitals fans make their way past the U.S. Capitol prior to a victory parade for the Stanley Cup champions
No one’s going to take issue with the Capitals having a good time after they became just the second team in NHL history to win the Cup after trailing in all four playoff series.
Players aren’t doing much in the way of recalling moments during their run, but Backstrom said immediately after winning it hit him how important Lars Eller’s double-overtime goal was in Game 3 of the first round to keep the Capitals from going down 3-0.
That feels like forever ago, and the Capitals are only now decompressing – without a whole lot of sleep.
‘Not much,’ Carlson said. ‘A couple naps.’
‘You’re on adrenaline for two months,’ Trotz added. ‘An adrenaline rush after the game, then you’re up for the next 36 hours. You get to do something great like this and meet the Nats and bring the Cup here, and meet some of their players and all that, so, you realize it, but I think it’s not going to really sink in until it actually stops a little bit.’
It’s not going to stop until after today’s parade.
‘It’s going to be amazing,’ Backstrom said of the parade beforehand. ‘Not just for us, (but) for the city of Washington I think that has waited a long time for this. It’s going to be great to share that with them.’
Caps backup goaltender Philipp Grubauer, of Germany, points to fans during the Stanley Cup victory parade in Washington
Washington Metropolitan Police Officer Robert T. Fennell, right, helps hand out posters to a pair of young fans before the start the Stanley Cup victory parade on Constitution Ave.
People use the turnstiles as they exit the National Archives Metro Subway station and head towards the Washington Capitals Stanley Cup victory parade on the National Mall
Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin, left, of Russia,, and center Nicklas Backstrom, of Sweden, right, hold up the Stanley Cup as the Capitols arrive at Dulles International Airport in Sterling, Virginia on Friday, the day after defeating the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals