Mike Ribeiro skates what’s likely his last pre-game warm-up in Washington (Caps Outsider)
It’s fairly natural for people to think of the future and have a positive outlook. That ‘Where do you see yourself in five years?‘ question in interviews brings out the best in our imaginations. We’ll each be retired millionaires, hanging out on a yacht all day.
Capitals fans are no different. Some of us have had that ‘There’s always next year‘ attitude since 1974, but that outlook was renewed during the 2007-8 season when Bruce Boudreau took over and turned the team into regular season winners again. At that point, and especially after the 2009-10 regular season, that future outlook saw multiple Stanley Cups in D.C. And as the core players signed multi-year contracts, such as Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, we breathed a sigh of relief, as we knew they would be the ones who would win it.
Few Caps fans in 2008 would have envisioned that five years later, the Caps wouldn’t advance to the third round even once. There’s all sorts of reasons for this, everything from the simple bounce of a puck that changed the outcome of a series, to outright unravelling, like the Capitals did in Game 7 against the Rangers on Monday.
There is absolutely no good reason why the Capitals can’t advance past the first round, the second round, the third round, and eventually hoist the Stanley Cup. But with each elimination, the hopes – and renewed hopes – are dashed yet again. And eventually we ask ourselves why we even bother.
Then we come back. After a long summer to shake this off, we’ll be right back in our seats, ready to Rock the Red, and continue to believe the Capitals will one day win a Stanley Cup. That’s what we do, and there’s no reason to stop.
Go Caps.
