The Capitals suffered a glass-shattering hit during the 1976 season... and they weren't even playing hockey at the time.As the team was returning from a road trip, a large-antlered deer started running alongside their bus. The deer then rammed the bus, shattering windows and ripping the fabric of a empty seat.
(No word on if it was a Milwaukee Buck looking for a ride into town to play the Bullets.)
The early Capitals often found getting to and from the rink as baffling as a Canadiens power play.Like the time in 1975, when immigration almost denied coach Red Sullivan re-entry to the U.S., because he couldn't produce a green card.
"'I see they let you go,' a Washington Post reporter commented as Sullivan, coatless and snow covered, returned to the bus. 'Yes, darn it,' Sullivan replied." No wonder ulcers forced Red to resign after just 18 games behind the bench.Ron Lalonde told McClatchy News, "You didn't know what to expect next. There was supposed to be a bus waiting for you at the hotel in Buffalo or somewhere, and there wouldn't be one. It was like a traveling circus."
And that was even before a deer joined the act.