by Chris Williams, Reporter

Although singer, Andy Williams, may believe that the holiday season is “the most wonderful time of the year,” I, along with millions of other hockey fans, strongly beg to differ. To people like us, no other time of year comes close to comparing to the battle for the Stanley Cup that takes place during April to June of every year in NHL Playoffs. Without a doubt, the 2018 NHL Playoffs have certainly lived up to and exceeded these expectations, especially if you are a Washington Capitals fan like I am. 

The first sport that I was introduced to as a child was hockey, which is no surprise being that everyone, and I mean everyone, in my family grew up living, eating, and breathing hockey. Since then, I have easily watched over a thousand hockey games, and I have followed my Washington Capitals with a passion ever since I can remember.

Following the Caps over the past couple of years has been, well, heartbreaking to say the least. After

 finishing first in the entire NHL in the 2016 and 2017 seasons, they entered the playoffs with the high expect

ations of being the team to lift the Cup in June after sending all of their opponents to the golf course. In both playoffs, they met these expectations in the first round, but could not get past the curse that has haunted all D.C. sports team for nineteen years – getting past the second round of their respective playoffs. They had the most talented team in hockey, and everyone knew that as long as they played well, the Washington Capitals had the best chance of being the last team standing. In both 2016 and 2017, although they fought long and hard, this extremely talented organization shattered all of the diehard Caps fans’ hearts who “rock the red” and “unleash the fury” at every home game as they fell to the eventual back-to-back Stanley Cup champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins (and I had to hear about it for two years straight!). On top of that, they had to trade away some great players following the playoffs due to salary cap restrictions and the 2018 NHL Expansion Draft for the league’s newest team, the Las Vegas Golden Knights, who are surprisingly awaiting to play the winner of the Eastern Conference Finals in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Going into this season, no one knew what to think about the Caps. They signed some “no-name” players in the off-season that nobody had ever heard of before, and they signed some rookies to professional contracts to fill the voids that the likes of Nate Schmidt, Marcus Johannson, and Justin Williams left with their off-season departures. They did not start the season off very well, and everyone in the hockey world counted the Capitals out of a playoff spot and a chance to win the organization’s first Stanley Cup.

However, in a season in which everyone has been doubting on the teamfrom the nation’s capital, the boys in red have been putting on a show and proving everyone wrong. After being doubted to make the playoffs, the Caps finished first in the Metropolitan Division, finished sixth in the league out of thirty-one teams, and were seeded first in the Metropolitan in the playoffs. They then wenton to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, who all of the analysts and pundits predicted would beat Washington, 4-2 in the series in the first round.

Entering the second round, the Capitals were matched up with their archrivals and their kryptonite, the Pittsburgh Penguins, for the third straight year in a row. The same analysts and pundits who predicted them to lose to Columbus were unsure whether the Caps could get over the hump and finally take down the Penguins in the second round, and they ended up picking the Penguins to win the series. Little did they know, the Caps faithful have called this season “Our Year” all season long, and the boys in red took a step closer to making it “Our Year,” spanking the Penguins 4-2 in the series, winning the sixth game in overtime in front of the thousands of Pittsburgh fans in attendance. Finally, the Washington Capitals had broken the nineteen-year D.C. sports curse by advancing to the third round, the Eastern Conference Finals, to play the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Caps took a 2-0 series lead on the road after winning the first two games 4-2 and 6-2 in Tampa Bay, but they would end up losing the next three games to the Bolts before evening up the series in a desperate, yet extraordinary 3-0 win at home in Game Six. As of today, May 23, 2018, the series between the Capitals and the Lightning is currently tied 3-3, requiring a Game Seven showdown to be played tonight at 8:00 p.m. in Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay, Florida.

After suffering years of constant heartbreak and in a year in which everyone doubted them, the Washington Capitals have finally defied all odds, and they are now playing for their first bid in the Stanley Cup Finals since 1998 and the first Stanley Cup Finals bid of the Alexander Ovechkin era. If the Caps “unleash the fury” tonight in Tampa and do make history, they will face a matchup against the NHL’s Cinderella team, the Las Vegas Golden Knights in the Finals. I have never had as much faith in a Capitals team before as I do in this one, and for the first time in my life, I might have the chance to not only see my favorite hockey player, Alex Ovechkin, life the Cup, but I might too have the chance to finally celebrate a Stanley Cup championship. Rock the Red!