2018: Las Vegas, NV

2018 the year the Capitals won the Stanley Cup, and what an incredible year it was. For a lot of Caps fans this year was a roller coaster ride to say the least. For my family and I it was an extremely intense roller coaster ride. I come from a long line of hockey players and have three older brothers. My big brother Sean and I shared a very special connection both of us were born on October 14th but 11 years apart. He was who spurred my love for the Capitals. He was by far the biggest Capitals fan I’ve known and unfortunately, we lost him unexpectedly in March of 2018. His dear friends and our family in Pittsburgh posted countless messages on his Facebook about commenting on the fierce rivalry but the unexpected happened. John Walton and the rest of the world watched as Kuzy skated down ice and “The demons have been exorcised.” The rest was history the Capitals went on to continue to play hard and had a new found tenacity about them. My family continued to cheer along believing that my brother was up there watching and giving out boys on the ice the extra motivation needed to go the extra mile. I remember the tears of joy my friends and I cried after we advanced past the Penguins.

I was browsing reddit one day when I saw a post in the Capitals subreddit when I saw a post from Brett who is honestly one of the most genuinely nice people, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. We spoke about how he takes fans to see their team lift the cup because he knows first-hand how exciting it is to see. I was shocked when he emailed me and said that he chose me to attend game 5 in Las Vegas! He went above and beyond to make this happen to and after such a hard year this came as a truly blessing, just gave my family another reason to believe my brother was up there looking out for me.

So, I took a chance and flew out to Vegas on my own to meet a nice man from online. Now most of my friends thought I was crazy, but I can honestly say it was the best experience of my life. Brett and I grabbed some food and coincidentally met up with one of my friends who was there for the game again. Brett and I quickly hit it off and realized we not only loved hockey but IPAs as well. I still can’t believe what a game we saw that night. There was even a special guest appearance by P. K. Subban who was only a few rows away from us.

From Vrana’s opening snipe to Ellers dig out goal from behind Fleury it was a nonstop thrill ride with clock malfunctions and all. One of my friends even sent me a picture of me playing a little defense in the game haha.

I know in my heart that my brother somehow played a hand in making all this happened and led Brett to me.

He was so warm and helped me in a hard time and really helped me feel better about a lot of things in my life. After the games we were treated to an insane street party full of true fans of hockey.

We grabbed ourselves from burgers and sodas and reminisced about what a phenomenal night we, two strangers just shared all because of the kindness of one stranger. I can’t say enough nice things about Brett and all the incredible things he does for complete strangers just because he loves the game and giving back. We’ve kept in touch after the game and I envy whoever gets the chance to attend a Stanley Cup playoff game with him this year not only because they will get to experience something incredible but because of the incredible man they get to spend time with. Thank you, Brett, for everything you did for me and my family. You were an extremely incredible friend and helped me and my family turn a terrible experience into an incredible one.

The Gift of The Cup is a phenomenal organization and one that does so much good for the hockey community and people in general. As I look back on this trip I learned that the love hockey brought two strangers together and now I’ll have a memory of a lifetime and I had the pleasure of making an incredible friend in Brett. Thanks for everything Brett you’re an amazing man and a better friend.