When Peter Laviolette came to Washington, he started a new tradition by having teammates hand out the Cobra Kai headbands of the victory to the defensive and offensive players who they thought deserved it. A year later, he binge-watched Vikings, so after wins, they handed out a viking shield (which sold for $5,000), and a viking axe.
This year, Laviolette and his wife said they had a hard time coming up with a new thing, but wouldn’t divulge anymore information when I tried to weasel it out of them at the Caps’ alumni party.
After Saturday’s 3-1 win against Montreal, the first win of the young season, we know what the thing is, and it’s not from a show that Laviolette binge-watched during the offseason. It’s a rope (or oversized piece of spaghetti, or Rapunzel’s hair), from the Arlington Volunteer Fire Department.
The rope is part of the team’s slogan this year, “I won’t let go,” with the Caps eagle holding onto a rope. Unclear if there’s any backstory to that.
The first winner of the rope (in the regular season, at least), is defenseman Erik Gustafsson, though there are shenanigans with a camera and some other contraption I’m sure we’ll learn more about:
NEW LOCKER ROOM RITUAL JUST DROPPED#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/e3IKfSBPzS
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 16, 2022
