Sarah Mills: We came so close to the zipper merge
Three block of two lanes of traffic merging one by one, with everyone inching forward. It was the zipper merge in action...
Although it seemed a bit odd, Duane Kohl didn’t think twice when his daughter Lauren asked to watch Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final with him last week.
He said he turned on the TV as soon as he got home Monday night to watch his beloved Washington Capitals take on the Vegas Golden Knights.
Kohl has been a super fan of the Capitals since the team first began, or as he puts it: “hardcore since ’74!”
He said he had to pick a different team back then as he was getting tired of the rest of his family cheering for the Montreal Canadians.
“I don’t know if there is a bigger fan out here,” Kohl said. “I just picked the Capitals because they were a new team and I liked their logo.”
As the Montmartre native was watching the game, his daughter asked him nonchalantly if he’d seen the new Capitals promotional video.
“I said no, so she (grabbed the iPad) and turned the video on and of course I’m telling her, oh I remember that game and this game like you could see in the video,” he said.
“All of a sudden my oldest son pops up on the video and I thought ‘what is going on here?’”
As his son Bradley often travels, Kohl thought he might have gotten himself tickets, but that’s when he really started to pay attention to what his four kids were saying in the video.
“The rest is kind of history — it was pretty emotional.”
All four of his children, Bradley, Cheyne, Mack and Lauren surprised their dad with a trip of a lifetime.
Knowing how much of a Washington fan their dad is, each of them chipped in to pay for a 24-hour trip to Vegas on Thursday including airfare, hotel and a ticket to game 5.
“I’ll have to choose a jersey, I have about 10 of them,” he said. “I’m thinking I’ll be wearing my red Ovechkin jersey — it should stand out well in that Vegas arena.”
Still in shock, Kohl said he’s trying his best to be level-headed when it comes to the outcome of the game. There is the possibility the Capitals could win the Stanley Cup as they currently lead the best-of-seven series, 3 – 1.
“I’ve gotten excited in past years and have been disappointed so, so many times … it hurts,” Kohl said. “So I’m trying to keep level headed and I’m sure once in Vegas I’ll be excited.”
He added even though it’s a quick trip, it’ll be one that he will never forget.
