Dear Ted,

I have been a Caps fan since the mid 80’s when I was around twelve years old.  I turned my husband on to the Caps and we are now a family of die hard fans.  It’s not in our budget to attend many games but we watch every game on TV.

I want to share with you an experience that my son and I had while attending the game against Dallas on March 8th. 

As a special treat for my son Jacob’s 9th birthday I got tickets in Section 110 for him and me to see the game against Dallas on the night before his birthday. We got to Verizon Center early enough to watch warm ups.  My son had made a sign that said “It’s my 9th birthday and I love the Caps!”  He worked his way down to the glass and held up his sign right next to the blue line on the Caps side of the penalty box.  He stayed there waiting and watching, so excited to be closer to the action than he ever thought he would get.  At one point, Ovi skated by and looked at Jacob.  He skated away and picked up a puck, came back and tossed it over the glass to Jacob. When Jacob picked up the puck and turned around I saw sheer joy and excitement on his face.  All the people around him were clapping and congratulating him on his coup.  After that the game itself was anti-climactic, there was no way his night was going to get any better.  He was telling everyone seated around us and in line at the concessions about how Ovi read his sign and gave him a puck.  He even got to see his favorite player Backstrom score a great shootout goal but his night had already been made. 

We took him to watch practice (instead of school) the next day, his birthday, hoping to get Alex to sign the puck.  Unfortunately Alex did not practice on Tuesday but he was able to get several other players to sign his hat.  We will continue to attend practices and try to get that puck signed.

I wanted to tell you this story because it says a lot about Alex as a person. He did not have to acknowledge the sign or my son, but cared enough to do something special for a little kid, even though he was getting ready to play.  That small gesture on his part will stay with my son forever.  Your organization is filled with players like that who care enough about their fans to sign and take pictures for all who ask.  They symbolize everything that is great about Caps hockey. 

We extend our thanks to you and your staff for putting this team together, a team that our community can be so proud of.  We hope to be watching Caps hockey well into June this year.

Go Caps!!

Sincerely,

Debbie Gemma

(mom of a 9 year old who is the envy of all his friends)