Capitals Host Sentimental Street Hockey Extravaganza

Fairfax, Va. – When lifelong Washington Capitals fan Todd White tuned into Monumental Sports Network to watch one of the team’s preseason games, he did a double-take.

A picture of White’s younger brother, Jason, appeared on the screen, the photo showing the then- three-year-old holding a hockey stick at one of the many Capitals Youth Hockey Extravaganza tournaments from the 1970s.

“My dad, he’s the one in the family who loves the spotlight,” White said of his father Russ, who covered the Capitals as a beat reporter for The Washington Star from 1974 to 1981. “My brother and I were always more ok with just being in the shadows so to speak, so I got a kick out of it. I said, ‘Jay, you get the glory before Dad, how about that?’”

On Nov. 16 at EagleBank Arena, the Capitals hosted a youth ball hockey tournament that paid tribute to the Capitals original street hockey tournaments that the White brothers attended nearly 50 years ago.

The scaled-down version of the original events saw around 70 kids between the ages of 10 and 14 playing in two simultaneous games. Each of the 11 teams played at least four 10-minute games and enjoyed an appearance from Slapshot.

“We’re really excited to be able to host this event,” Capitals manager of youth hockey development Andrew Nash said. “It’s been a way for us to bring the community together to showcase one of the great arenas we have in our community to celebrate the team’s 50^th Anniversary season in the best way we know how, which is playing hockey.”

Teams were seeded based on their morning pool play performance for a single-elimination playoff tournament held after lunch. The final saw the Gold team cap off an undefeated day with a hard-fought 5-2 win over the Grey team.

“It’s really good for the youth,” said the Gold team’s assistant coach Scott Lyon, who has also been a Capitals’ season ticket holder for the past 12 years. “It just brings the kids in and allows them to play, and it’s great. We hope they have more of this, that would be awesome.”