Caps / Dreams for Kids - 2/8/19

Today was Zachary's 7th time participating in Dreams for Kids DC's hockey clinic with the Capitals. Check out the difference between today and his first one in 2013.

If you're interested, here are the previous years' recaps: 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013.

Zachary is almost 11 and finishing his last year of elementary school, which we can hardly believe. His gross motor and fine motor skills continue to improve every year, but his cerebral palsy means he will always be a little uncoordinated. We hope that he will one day get to try actual ice skates (his preference) but he doesn't have the muscle strength for that just yet so he gets to ride a sled on ice.

We're all huge hockey and Caps fans and it's Zachary's dream to one day play on an actual hockey team; he repeatedly says he'd like to play at Capital One arena with everyone cheering for him! He attended his first Caps game last April and we all got really caught up in the playoffs as the Caps went on to win the Stanley Cup. That was a very exciting time in our house.

We arrived at the Medstar Iceplex and met Zachary's volunteer Marie. She was great! We taught her a little about hockey and hope she becomes a Caps fan for life!

We got to watch a little of the Colorado Avalanche practice while we waited to go on the ice. We spotted former Cap Philip Grubauer out there. It's always so hard for my boys when a player moves to a new team, so it was great to see him on the ice.

Zachary has gotten much more patient in waiting for his turn, but once he was on the ice, he was ready to go, go, go. As always, he wanted to score some goals!

Towards the end we were able to sneak in some quick photos with Capitals forwards Travis Boyd, Nic Dowd, Lars Eller, and Brett Connolly. I say this every year, but hockey players are the greatest. They take the time to meet every kid, volunteer, and starstruck parent.

Zachary always enjoys looking at these photos of himself and then identifying the players by jersey number when they are playing on TV.

But when I ask him his favorite part of the day, he always says Slapshot!!

Our thanks to both Dreams for Kids DC and the Capitals MSE Foundation for organizing.

All of the photos and videos I took today are in my Google photo album. Please don't republish any photos without attribution.

I'll link to other stories, photos, and videos of the event as they become available. Thanks for reading!

• Capitals press release, with group photo
• NoVa Caps blog post, lots of great photos here!
• WUSA9 story and video
• ABC7 story and video

Caps/Dreams for Kids 1/30/18

I'm back with my annual blog update! Today was Zachary's 6th time participating in Dreams for Kids DC's Caps hockey clinic. Read about our previous experiences here: 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013.

Zachary is nearly 10 and in fourth grade. He has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, which means that his brain can have trouble controlling his muscles. He is much stronger and more coordinated now, but he's still not cleared to wear ice skates, so this clinic is the only time he gets to go on the ice. Zachary is a huge hockey fan and loves to play floor hockey with his brother at home, but he much prefers to play hockey on ice!

We arrived to Kettler in time to see part of the Caps practice. The Caps haven't played much in the past month, so Zachary was very excited to watch.

As soon as practice wrapped up, we headed down to the ice to get ready to go. Zachary's volunteer Ellen is a firefighter in Northern Virginia. She was so great! And she's being profiled on ABC7 so look for a Zachary cameo in that story soon!

Zachary immediately asked for a stick so he could play hockey. That was the focus of his time on the ice this year. He wants to be scoring goals all the time!

Caps defenseman Taylor Chorney took Zachary for a spin around the ice and even gave him some pointers about how to hold his stick. He was very impressed that Zachary celebrated after scoring a goal. I told him that he likes to emulate what he sees on TV!

Taking a spin around the ice, courtesy of Taylor Chorney! @capitals @msefoundation @dreamsforkidsdc #Caps #ALLCAPS

A post shared by Ann-Marie Ward (@annmarieward) on Jan 30, 2018 at 12:12pm PST

We also met Caps defensemen Brooks Orpik and Matt Niskanen, as well as Caps forward Jay Beagle. As always, the Caps players are so friendly and warm to all of the kids. We are so appreciative that they take time out of their busy schedules to participate in events like this!

And of course, no Caps event is complete without a visit from Slapshot!

Once again, thanks to both Dreams for Kids DC and the Capitals MSE Foundation for organizing.

Zachary's favorite day of the year! Thank you Jay Beagle, Brooks Orpik, Matt Niskanen & Taylor Chorney!! #ALLCAPS @Capitals @MSE @DreamsforkidsDC @JapersRink @russianmachine pic.twitter.com/srWQ07lGps

— Ann-Marie Ward (@martina09) January 30, 2018

Capitals on the ice today, skating with @DreamsforkidsDC, a charity helping kids with physical and developmental disabilities: pic.twitter.com/6sFC4jz7VR

— Nancy Chen (@NancyChenNews) January 30, 2018

To see all the photos and videos I took today, please check out my Google photo album. Please don't republish any photos without attribution.

I'll link to stories, photos, and videos of the event as they become available

Thanks for reading!

Caps/Dreams for Kids 2/10/17

Today was Zachary's 5th time participating in Dreams for Kids DC's Caps hockey clinic. Read about our previous experiences here: 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013.

Zachary is now almost 9 and in third grade. His cerebral palsy causes his brain to have trouble communicating with his muscles. Every year, he gets stronger and more coordinated but he still can't stand on skates, so this clinic is the only time he gets to go on the ice.

Zachary was very excited to discover the Anaheim Ducks practicing on the other rink when we arrived at Kettler today. Though we watch the Caps practice quite frequently, he has never seen another NHL team.

After watching the Ducks practice over a quick lunch, we headed down to get the sleds and hit the ice. Special thanks to Zachary's volunteer Anum and all of the other volunteers who helped everyone get their gear and onto the ice safely.

Zachary still enjoys being pushed around the ice, but his focus has changed to wanting to play hockey. As soon as we got onto the ice, he began looking for the foam pucks and sticks to play with.

The first person with a stick that Zachary saw happened to be Caps defenseman Karl Alzner. Karl nicely gave Zachary his stick to use; once Zachary got his hands on it, he wasn't letting go!

Both Karl and defenseman Brooks Orpik were so great with the kids - you can tell they are fathers themselves.

Zachary had a great time shooting the foam pucks with the other kids and volunteers and played happily for an hour until it was time for the group picture.

We really look forward to this event every year and can't thank both Dreams for Kids DC and the Capitals MSE Foundation for organizing.

To see all the photos and videos I took today, please check out my Google photo album. Please don't republish any photos without attribution.

Here are a couple of stories about today's event. I'll link to more photos and videos as they become available

• Here's the Caps press release (with Zachary's photo prominently featured) and MSE foundation photo gallery
• The blog NovaCaps took tons of great photos!
• WUSA 9 story and video
• ABC 7 story and video

Thanks for reading!