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After the Washington Capitals closed out the Vegas Golden Knights in five games to win the Stanley Cup, Alex Ovechkin was asked on live television if he had a message for fans back in D.C. "It's going to be so crazy," said Ovechkin. "Get some beer. Get some whatever. Start celebrating. We're the Stanley Cup champions." The unspoken inference here was, apparently, to get some beers "for me, Alex Ovechkin." From the moment he hoisted the Cup through the hours before the team's championship parade in Washington, Ovechkin has led the wildest booze-soaked Stanley Cup party ever captured on smartphones and social media. Previous champions have been content to celebrate at the homes of team owners and behind velvet ropes. Ovechkin? Let's just say he's turning public spaces into revelry zones like a one-man flash mob. As Ovechkin said as a video game pitchman eight years ago: "Is Party Now." Here are the top five Ovi moments with the Cup. So far.
5. Ovi takes GeorgetownNot since Patrick Ewing has an athlete conquered Georgetown with the fervor of Alex Ovechkin. He paraded the Cup down the sidewalks like it was his own personal parade. Later, the Capitals took to the facade of Café Milano to raise the Cup again. This isn't hockey. This is Beatlemania. 4. We Are the ChampionsOvechkin and the Capitals have been singing Queen's "We Are the Champions" since last Thursday, in Vegas and on various modes of transport and in D.C. and pretty much wherever they are. Here's a great mega-mix of their warbling. 3. The water angelsThis was taken at the Washington Harbour waterfront near Georgetown, as Ovechkin doffed his top, jumped into a fountain and made snow angels before flipping over and doing some pushups, which we believe is also how a horseshoe crab flips itself over. The sheer, drunken "I don't care who's watching" joy of this is itself intoxicating. 2. Sleeping with StanleyOvechkin took a few photos of himself (shirtless, naturally) in bed with the Stanley Cup and his pregnant wife, Anastasia Shubskaya. This is beautiful for a number of reasons, including the fact that our sweet hockey prince appears to finally be getting some rest. But for the final coda of the great Alex Ovechkin vs. Sidney Crosby wars, please recall Sid taking a snooze with the Stanley Cup after he won it the first time. Symmetry, thy name is Stanley. 1. The Cup standAlex Ovechkin used the Stanley Cup for a keg stand while wearing a customized Washington Nationals jersey. He then stood up, looked as self-satisfied as Grandpa finishing a jigsaw puzzle, put on two hats at the same time and then did the Hulk Hogan "hand to the ear" thing as the crowd chanted "O-vi! O-vi!" I hereby call on the NHL and the NHLPA to amend the CBA and make Alex Ovechkin the designated party guy for the time between the end of the series and the parade every year. Because there was a time I thought I knew what catharsis looked like. But thanks to Ovechkin, I realize I had no idea what it actually looked like.
Parade day addendumAlex Ovechkin was the final speaker at the Capitals' Stanley Cup parade rally, with the U.S. Capitol behind him. He had clutched the Cup for most of the parade, standing atop a double-decker bus. At the rally, he gave a pleasant speech that featured a "We Are the Champions" sing-a-long and ended with him echoing T.J. Oshie's "back-to-back!" battle cry from earlier. The speakers played "I Will Wait" by Mumford & Sons, but Ovechkin asked them to cut the music. He had more to say. Ovechkin referenced an infamous statement he made before the season, a declaration of faith, really. "I'm just gonna say it ... We're not going to be f---ing suck this year!" he exclaimed, the assembled masses of Capitals fans in D.C. going crazy. "We're Stanley Cup champions! It's yours! Boys and girls and babes! Let's go!" Just when we thought the Capitals' party was over, Ovechkin kept it going. How appropriate.
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