A 50th Birthday for the Books

There are few things that compare to the bond fans have with their favorite sports teams and for life-long Caps fan Eric Stevens that is especially true.

He was born just two days after Washington played their first game as an NHL franchise, and the rest is history.

The two of them are now celebrating their big 5-0.

Eric has shared his love for the Capitals with his kids and his daughter Raya had a fun idea to try and reach out to the team to help plan a 50th birthday surprise for her dad.

Everything snowballed from there.

The whole Stevens family was invited out to the home opener to get the full experience.

“There’s no place I’d rather be than at the home opener for the 50th year and my 50th year,” said Eric.

For Rock the Red Carpet, he got the special opportunity to participate as an escort with newcomer Jakob Chychrun.

“I turned around and there was Ovi walking right by me which doesn’t happen all the time,” said Eric.

After the festivities of the red carpet ended, they headed over to District E for a big birthday dinner celebration.

The band performing for the block party also sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to Eric along with a very special cake.

Eric is a lifelong sports card collector, especially hockey cards and he decided to bring a few special ones along with him because he had a feeling he’d be able to get a few signatures.

Some popular Caps Alum happened to stop by District E and Eric jumped on the opportunity to get his cards signed by the likes of Yvon Labre and Rod Langway.

“These are moments I’ll never forget,” said Eric.

Following dinner, Eric and Raya had the opportunity to experience warmups up close and personal from the crash box.

Afterwards, they took a trip up to the press box where Eric got to meet two of his heroes Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin.

Son Noah said, “I grew up mostly watching the games on TV, so being here together and doing this as a celebration is very meaningful for us.”

Then they headed down to their lower bowl seats to take in the home opener.

“I love my parents and they’ve done so much for me, so I’ve been so happy to see him so happy all night,” Raya said.

“It’s like a dream, I think tomorrow we’re going to wake up and be like ‘Wow what just happened,’” wife Reba Stevens said.

A very happy 50th indeed.

Are YOU also turning 50 this year? This 50^th season, we want to celebrate all the 50 year olds out there, you can pick up special birthday buttons at guest services outside section 102.