(Photos by Caps Outsider)
While most folks were at home icing their beer and basting their buffalo wings in preparation for the biggest, most watched sporting extravaganza of the year, hockey fans came to a matinee at the Verizon Center to see the Caps take on the St. Louis Blues. But why would anyone come to a regular season hockey game on Super Bowl Sunday?
“It’s the best day of the year to go to a Caps game,” said Mike Norris of Colesville, MD. Norris attends a few Caps’ games a year. He is hockey fan and a football fan.
“The hockey game is over in plenty of time to see the Super Bowl pregame show,” Norris continued. “The Caps and the Super Bowl make for a great day. Can’t beat it!”
Dan and Alesia of Silver Spring, MD don’t watch football at all and were only looking forward to the Caps’ game on Super Bowl Sunday.
“I like hockey because of the constant action,” said Dan, a season ticket holder and twenty year Caps fan. ” It’s harder and faster than any other sport. It takes more skill than any other sport.”
“I think hockey is more about the teams and not the individual players,” added Alesia citing the Winter Classic as a good example of the media highlighting each team as a unit or family.
Israel Krause, also of Silver Spring, is another longtime Caps fan who is not really interested in football. Krause, a season ticket holder for 33 years and a partial season ticket holder for 6 or 7 more met his son-in-law, Adam, and his granddaughter, Haley, at the Verizon Center for an afternoon of hockey.
“I became a hockey fan by accident,” explained Krause. ” I attended a Caps game with a friend 39 years ago. Since then I was hooked. It’s an exciting game, and a big part of my family.”
The Caps have traditionally played a matinee on Super Bowl Sunday. And whether fans were out to simply enjoy a day of hockey or immerse themselves in 10 plus straight hours of puck+pigskin bliss, there was a lot of fun and action as the Caps unfortunately fell to the Blues 4-3 in round 1 of Super Bowl Sunday.
After the game, Coach Barry Trotz had this to say about today’s not so super loss and his decision to use goalie, Justin Peters.
“Justin played really well. He made some key saves at critical times. I don’t have any problem with how he played,” said Trotz. “Every game there’s always concerns about attention to detail. If you don’t pay attention your opponent will make you pay.”
Trotz also spoke about playing back-to-back games, “It’s hard to get a true evaluation playing back-to-back, but that’s no reason to makes excuses. We need to keep our eye on the team ahead of us (Penguins). We need to get points.”
The Caps’ next game is Tuesday, Feb. 3 against the L.A. Kings.
