Game 13 of 122

Game 13 of 122

Washington Capitals at The Verizon Center (vs New Jersey Devils):

As a Pittsburgh Penguins fan, I’m not supposed to like the Washington Capitals as the Pens / Caps has become a huge rivalry and each team boasts league superstars (Sidney Crosby for the Pens and Alex Ovechkin for the Caps – no contest from my point of view – Sid the Kid is the man), but when we lived in the DC area, we went to a lot of Caps games and kind of became fans, but only when they are not playing the Penguins.

He is no Sid the Kid

As part of our holiday visit with Deb’s family (read more about it in the Ravens blog), we snuck in a Capitals’ game with Deb’s cousin Heather and her husband Danny.

Heather and Danny

I didn’t get any pictures of the outside of the building because we simply took the Metro (subway) to the game, which stops right under the Verizon Center.  I was able to get some pretty good seats off of Stubhub for the four of us – behind the goal the Caps shoot at two of three periods during the game.

View from seats.

The Capitals won a blowout, 5-1. 

The Verizon Center is extremely convenient to get to and I will be back again sometime in the future as it is the same arena where the Washington Wizards play (I thought about trying to get in a Wizards game while I was there, but that seemed a bit much with everything else going on for the holidays).  I mentioned in my Penguin’s blog about how loud the Constellation Energy Arenas was.  Compared to that, this game was very quite; however, someone mentioned to me that it might be due to the fact that we were sitting so high at the Pens game and the sound bounces off the ceiling and feels much louder….I’m not an engineer, but that kind of makes sense.

I cheered for the Capitals while at the game, but refused to participate in the “we want Pittsburgh” chant toward the end of the game.  I did mention to Deb that maybe they should be careful what they wish for…..as it turns out, two nights later the Pens beat the Capitals – HA HA…Merry Christmas!  They will meet again on New Year’s Day in the Winter Classic – outdoor game being hosted at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh this time.

All in all, a very eventful trip and two more games checked off the list.  This ends my 2010 season with 13 games completed and $230 donated for cancer research (1 point for every point scored).  As of now, I have nothing official on the schedule, but am always looking for suggestions, company and places to go. 

Record:  8-5.  I have now seen 4 wins in a row by the home team.

Official Box Score of the Game

To learn about my fund-raising efforts, visit:  http://www.firstgiving.com/christopherapel