No, the Stanley Cup Playoffs weren’t cancelled this year. They are ongoing, and the first round series between the Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs has been one of the more entertaining ones so far, what with the Caps barely hanging on after another President’s Trophy season and all.
During Game 4 on Wednesday night in Toronto, fans who couldn’t grab tickets gathered in their blue and white in Maple Leaf Square, just outside of Air Canada Centre. Three Capitals fans took the spotlight, though:
These three Washington Capitals fans at Maple Leaf Square are the bravest people in this city right now pic.twitter.com/1mAFlVZN0G
— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) April 20, 2017
But, a twist. As it turns out … one of these “brave Caps fans” is actually a fan of your Philadelphia Flyers. He lives in Toronto, and as a good Flyers fan, his gravitational pull was to troll his entire city.
The Washington Post has the story:
It’s unclear whether the kind Canadians in the crowd would’ve mustered so much as a curse word had they known [Suleimon] Raji is actually a Flyers fan who just happens to despise the Leafs, despite living in Toronto all his life. He said he bought the Ovechkin T-shirt at the SportChek in Maple Leaf Square a couple of weeks ago, when it was clear Philadelphia wouldn’t qualify for the playoffs.
“I’m not a real Caps fan,” he admitted Thursday. “I’m a Flyers fan, but for the playoffs, I needed a team to support to watch playoff hockey, so I said, ‘Hey, let’s jump on the Washington bandwagon,’ because I know a lot about the Capitals, so that’s how I made my decision.”
Raji also said he wouldn’t think of pulling a similar stunt in another city.
“I live in Toronto, so I know how the people are,” he said. “I could not do this in Pittsburgh, Philly or New York. No way. Or Montreal.”
We can all debate the merits of a Flyers fan choosing the division rival Capitals as his playoff bandwagon, but … well, I don’t know. Ovi’s mostly fine when he’s not playing against the Flyers. I’m cool with this.
Also, he basically just celebrated a Flyers fan without even realizing it, which is pretty gold:
