The Washington Capitals earned a reputation for partying just a bit harder than the average Stanley Cup-winning team this summer, as documented by videos on Twitter and Instagram.
Goalie Braden Holtby and forward T.J. Oshie said at the Capitals’ 2018 media day Friday that the team’s party attitude became exaggerated in the public via social media.
“I’m not gonna deny that we had a great time, and we definitely celebrated. But it was a lot of times, people would ask me to drink a beer through my shirt,” Oshie said. “That’s the only beer I drank that day, so you’d think that I’m going crazy but people have actually asked me to do it. But you only see that one snapshot and think that’s all that we’ve been doing.”
It became Oshie’s famous go-to move to chug a beer through his shirt at the 2018 Stanley Cup parade. In fact, he first did it at a private team function and his teammates egged him on to do it more when they were celebrating.
But do fans really keep asking him to do it again?
“It’s happened a lot. I’ve told probably 90 percent of the people, ’No, I’m good,’” Oshie said.
Oshie implied the Capitals’ celebration did not mean they were still suffering a hangover.
“With the social media and how welcoming a lot of us were with it, it makes it look like we haven’t done anything all summer,” he said. “When really you look at the guys in camp and the numbers and the testing, guys have had good summers and we’re ready to roll.”
The ever-stoic Holtby, who avoids social media, agreed.
“Everything’s blown up that way,” Holtby said. “I think we were just a bunch of guys having fun — harmless fun — enjoying that we accomplished something that we worked really hard for. I don’t think it was any different than past teams or anything.
“Maybe we’ll tell our guys to put their phones away and enjoy it a little more next time,” Holtby added.
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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