The Capitals’ Stanley Cup win was a moment that Washington faithful were beginning to doubt would ever come.
For years, Alex Ovechkin had been dogged by naysayers and those who believed he couldn’t get the job done when the chips were down.
The Ovechkin-led Caps experienced fits and starts and heartbreaking playoff disappointments. And it had been suggested, including in The Hockey News, that Washington couldn’t move forward so long as ‘Ovi’ was the franchise’s focal point.
But under coach Barry Trotz and with Nicklas Backstrom by his side, Ovechkin silenced his doubters. He led the playoffs with 15 goals, won the Conn Smythe Trophy and, as the cover shows, was overcome with joy upon hoisting the Stanley Cup. Ovechkin’s first Cup victory was also the first in the then-43-year history of the Capitals, as the franchise had not won since its inception in 1974-75.
And it would be a dereliction of duty to fail to mention the “A Thousand Words” photo. Ovechkin is in his glory, making an adult-beverage angel on the Caps’ dressing room floor post-Cup win. Ovi’s antics foreshadowed his eventual fountain-diving revelry, all part of one of the most enthusiastic Cup celebrations in memory.
Read the full collector's issue online here.
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