Barry Trotz earlier this season. (Caps Outsider)
The annual father’s trip, which the Caps are doing now during their west-coast swing, originally started with Barry Trotz and David Poile in Nashville back in 1998.
“When we were in Nashville, we said it’s gonna be a rough year being an expansion team,” Trotz told Caps Outsider back in December. “So we can try things that are a little bit outside the realm of thinking, if you will. One of the things we were thinking was we wanted to build a family atmosphere, and a little bit of a bond, so we came up with a father’s trip. David Poile was gracious enough to bring the idea and support it. It’s something in Nashville we’ve done every year. It’s expanded to the rest of the National Hockey League. It brought a lot of family ties to your team. There’s a bonding effect. After a couple of years, [the fathers] have their own bond.”
Though the annual tradition started in Nashville, Trotz credits the Buffalo Sabres for originally giving them the idea for the father’s trip. He said the Sabres would sometimes bring a visiting father along for a one-game trip and back.
“The families and the parents of the players had to give up a lot to get them to the rink at 6 am, drive them, the expense of the game,” Trotz said. “There’s a lot of commitment. The players appreciate it. They’re given the opportunity to do what they love, at the highest level, and the parents are a big part of it. The dad’s trip is a small way of giving back to that.”
This year, the Caps expanded the father’s trip to include the dads of staff members. But Trotz still believes the trip has room to grow.
“One of the things I got a lot of grief about is there hasn’t been a mom’s trip, and they’re just as important. Just out of the gender culture, and rooming together and all that, we thought it was really important to leave it an all-male think right now.”
So, is there a mom’s planned? Not exactly.
“I think if we ever do anything it will have to be parents trip. I’m going to have to talk to people up the chain before that will happen but we started with the father’s trip and it’s something that the Caps have implemented the last couple years, and I’m hoping to carry on their tradition that they started here.”
