After a few days of parading the Stanley Cup around the nation’s capital, swimming in public fountains, and just doing anything they can to go nuts in celebration of their first ever championship, the Washington Capitals finally had their official victory parade on Tuesday.
Based on what has unfolded over the past few days it was every bit as wild as you might have imagined it to be.
First, the National Mall with celebration sandwiched between the Capitol building and Washington Monument made for one of the coolest settings a championship celebration could take place in.
Thousands upon thousands of raucous fans made sure to pack the space.
Then the players took over.
There was Jakub Vrana, one of the goal-scorers in the Capitals’ Game 5 series-clinching win, dancing on stage.
Jakub Vrana is out here living his best life (COMPLETE WITH A BACKPACK KID DANCE) #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/G4wjn5KqvT
— NBC Sports Hockey (@NBCSportsHockey) June 12, 2018
There was a “We are the Champions” sing-a-long.
Perhaps the weirdest moment of the day featured T.J. Oshie chugging a bottle of bud light ... through his jersey?
Hey, whatever works for you, man...
CAN'T STOP WON'T STOP OSH BABE#ALLCAPS #AuthenticFan pic.twitter.com/fOVKxQikRP
— NBC Sports Capitals (@NBCSCapitals) June 12, 2018
Then the whole thing ended with team captain Alex Ovechkin taking the stage and repeating his promise from before the season that the Capitals were “not going to be the suck” this season.
Well, this time he said it a little more colorfully.
.@Ovi8 had a NSFW message for all the @Capitals fans at the championship parade today 🤬🙏 pic.twitter.com/xhffU3b0at
— NBC Sports Hockey (@NBCSportsHockey) June 12, 2018
Yes, the Capitals and their fans are going to enjoy this summer. Quite a bit. After all of the disappointment that followed the fanbase and organization around for the past four decades they certainly earned it.
Related: Capitals congratulate Golden Knights with full-page ad
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.