Arlington, VA – The Washington Capitals announced today the Capitals Street Hockey Extravaganza, a youth ball hockey tournament in celebration of the team’s 50th Anniversary season. The Street Hockey Extravaganza will take place on Saturday, Nov. 16, at EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Va., and pays tribute to the Capitals original Street Hockey Extravaganza tournaments, which took place in the 1970s.
The tournament is for 12- through 14-year-olds and interested parties can register as a team or as an individual for placement on a team by the Capitals. 14 teams will play four games each, from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Prior hockey experience is not required. To learn more about the event and to register, visit Capsyouthhockey.com/extravaganza.
In the 1970s, the Capitals made their mark on growing the game by hosting the largest street hockey clinic in existence: the Capitals Youth Hockey Extravaganza. In 1975, more than 2,000 boys and girls between the ages of 9 and 14 participated in 50 simultaneous street hockey games at the Capital Centre in Maryland.
They were bussed from across Prince George’s County after the Capitals and the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission teamed up for a summer street hockey program to celebrate the growing interest in street and ice hockey in the region. The Capitals continued hosting the event throughout the 1970s, eventually expanding the invite to all children in the Washington, D.C. region.
The Washington Capitals continue to offer an array of on- and off-ice programming to engage with the game. USA Hockey registration of adult and youth players across Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland currently totals 21,949 individuals, of which 12,749 are youth players. Inline hockey participation in the Capitals market continues to grow and a large population of players reside in the I-95 corridor of Virginia. To date, the Capitals have also refurbished or built 14 outdoor ball/inline hockey rinks across Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia to further encourage participation in hockey. In addition to on-ice programming, the Capitals also offer a robust lineup of off-ice programming to grow the game, including initiatives surrounding ball hockey and inline hockey.
