Posts by Day: Thursday, September 18, 2008

The Capitols have been around for over 20 years. In 1974, along with many other hockey teams, they joined the National Hockey League. Today, they play in the Verizon Arena in downtown Washington. In their first years, the Capitols had very few players with any type of professional experience. The very first season for them was a pretty bad one. They finished in the lower ranks of the NHL. In 1975, the Capitols did not have a much better year. This year they went 25 straight games without a win. During the middle of this season, the Capitols underwent two critical changes. There was a new GM and a new head coach hired.

By 1982, the Capitols had several wins under their belt, and were headed to the state playoffs. Not only did they make the playoffs that year, but, they would go to the playoffs for the next 14 years. They were now known as a team who started off slow, but ended up one of the best teams in the NHL.

In 1993, the Capitols had become favorites among the crowd, but that was quickly lost because of their six straight losses. By the mid 1990's, it had seemed that the team had went back to their old ways again. By this time, the Stanley Cup seemed to be only a dream for the Capitols. Despite the Capitols having new players waiting to come aboard, most of their seasoned players were up in age by this time.