Washington Capitals: 10 things you didn’t know about Capital One Arena
#8 The Stanley Cup outdoor watch parties were the biggest crowd the city has seen in DC in a long time
I’m not going to say they were the biggest ever in the city, I would get blasted by the trolls for “spreading fake news” but they were pretty darn big.
Game 3 looked big. Game 4 looked bigger. Game 5 was so big the metro on the way there was crowded!
Stanley Cup Finals ticket prices were outrageous and for good reason, the Capitals were the first team with the legitimate chance of ending the DC Sports big four curse and they did exactly that.
I was lucky enough to be around at Game 3 and 5 of that series. I’m glad I did. I had the experience of what a watch party was like when the Caps were home and away.
Funny story I felt like I HAD to be in DC the night the Caps clinched the Cup. Well duh. My original prediction that year was Caps in 6 so when I hit up my father I was like “dad let’s go to Game 6 over the course of several days”. When pops was hesitant at the prices I said let’s do the Game 5 watch party while they’re away instead.
Little did he or I know.
#7 The war on ice surface issues
Back in December 2007, then team captain Chris Clark said what Alan May says on TV all the time about how he believes the ice surface at then called Verizon Center was the worst in the league.
"“There’s a lot of ruts in the ice. It’s soft. It’s wet half the time. I could see a lot of injuries coming from the ice there. It could cost [players] their jobs… Even guys on other teams say the same thing. When we’re facing off, they say, ‘How do you guys play on this?'”"
Team owner Ted Leonsis addressed that issue directly in his blog post from Ted’s Take. Believe it or not the quality of the ice has gotten better since Leonsis purchased the team.
The ice quality issue had been a persistent one since the Caps played their games back at the Capital Centre. However, there have been less complaints about the quality of the ice surface under Leonsis’ watch.
During the warmer time of year when the Stanley Cup playoffs take place there is a system in the arena to help remove the air and humidity that would otherwise negatively affect the ice surface.