(Caps Outsider)
Former Caps captain Jeff Halpern, now an assistant coach with the Tampa Bay Lightning, won his first Stanley Cup after Tampa Bay defeated the Dallas Stars, 4 games to 2, on Monday. Even though we would have preferred he won the Cup with Washington, we couldn’t be more proud of the Montgomery County, Md. native, who as a child played for the Little Caps youth team. The undrafted forward, who attended Princeton University, played for his hometown team from 1999-2006 and again in 2011–12.
As captain of the Caps in 2005, he sat out a game on Yom Kippur.
Just like this year, where the stakes were far higher, he came one day from having another game on Yom Kippur. In 2011, the Caps’ home opener was a few hours after the holiday ended.
“I won’t skate that morning,” Halpern told The Post’s Dan Steinberg. “I’m ok to play. It’s sundown to sundown.”
Halpern sitting out in 2005 also may have been personally more meaningful because earlier that year, his mother, with three others, was killed in Florida when a tanker truck driver recklessly crashed into their car. The man was initially sentenced to 36 years in prison but it was reduced to 17, and the family settled with his company for millions.
Halpern is married to former Redskins cheerleader Kelley Cornwell. They have four children. Halpern is co-founder of Astro Doughnuts in D.C. Halpern is the first former player from Maryland who won a Stanley Cup, and likely the first person from Maryland.
Once again, congratulations, Jeff Halpern. It’s serendipitous that this happened right after Yom Kippur.
More than two decades after making his NHL debut and after more than 1200 games as a player and assistant coach, Maryland native (and @LittleCapitals alum!) Jeff Halpern is heading to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time as an assistant coach with #GoBolts pic.twitter.com/GsJR2kjLbQ
— Ben Raby (@BenRaby31) September 18, 2020
