Tuesday is Stanley Cup parade day for the Washington Capitals when they resume celebrating their first NHL championship with a ride in front of their fans down Constitution Avenue to the National Mall.
If Capitals right winger Brett Connolly gets his wish, he’ll be bringing the Cup home for a Prince George parade on George Street in the third week of July, right around the time he tees off for the Prince George Cougars Alumni Hospital Charity golf tournament.
“He’s trying to tie it into the Cougars alumni golf tournament if at all possible but it will depend totally on the availability of the Cup for him,” said Dawn Connolly, Brett’s mom.
The NHL will co-ordinate the Cup tour so that all four Capitals players from Western Canada will get their time with the trophy around the same time. Jay Beagle is from Calgary, Chandler Stephenson is from Saskatoon and goalie Braden Holtby is from Marshall, Sask.
Connolly got his hands on the Cup for the first time in his hockey career Thursday night to take a victory lap around the rink at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, where the Capitals beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3 for their first NHL championship.
The 26-year-old former Cougar captain played a big role in deciding Game 5, drawing the primary assist on the Cup-winning goal. Connolly took a feed from linemate Andre Burakovsky and rifled a bullet from the slot that just about had enough steam to split through the legs of goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and Lars Eller was there to sweep the loose puck into the open net for the goal that guaranteed the Caps the Stanley Cup.
That goal, 12:23 into the third period, was scored in the same end of the rink where Dawn Connolly sat 25 rows up in the end-zone stands with her husband Pat, their 23-year-old son Josh, Brett’s wife Katrina and his grandfather (Dawn’s father) from St. George’s, Nfld., Richard McDonell.
“There were some pretty tense moments, there was still seven minutes left in the game before the final buzzer went,” said Dawn. “It was a long seven minutes, it felt like an eternity. At one point, with just under two minutes to go the clock screwed up and it said 14 seconds and they had to stop the game and figure out how much time was left.
“The hockey gods were looking out for Washington. It was amazing, the joy, all the hard work all these years, everything came together for Brett and those members who have been together for 12 or 13 years. You could tell it was absolute emotion on the ice, for sure.”
The players went into the locker-room for their champagne celebration while the Connolly family went for a bite to eat, then rejoined the Capitals at their hotel for the team party.
“There were lots of people, the Cup was there, it was pretty neat,” said Dawn. “It was pretty hectic but super-enjoyable. It doesn’t feel real, actually, but we’re pretty happy, pretty proud. I would not have wanted to miss that for the world, that could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
The Capitals partied all night in Las Vegas with Lord Stanley’s mug hogging all the attention, then boarded an 8 a.m. flight back to Washington. Dawn said the team was probably considering its Sin City surroundings when the Caps decided to take the early flight.
Joked Mrs. Connolly: “It was, ‘Let’s get on the plane and get out of here before we have to leave some players behind.’”
The Stanley Cup parade in Washington will be broadcast live on Sportsnet starting Tuesday at 8 a.m. PT.
